NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="KidSnide" data-source="post: 5714349" data-attributes="member: 54710">What I outlined is a perfectly reasonable extension to the existing SC system, but the existing SC system itself doesn't provide that level of support.  In a RAW SC, the objective is to maximize the number of times your best skills are rolled and minimize the number of times that anything less than the party's best skills are rolled.  Because the counter-arguments are directed at potentially unskilled PCs, they provide a reason for the 2nd and 3rd best character to make persuasion attempts.More importantly, under this system, the primary emphasis of the players is on having their characters martial the evidence in the game world to make good arguments.  This is critical because it means the players are thinking about the in-game situation at least as much as the out-of-game mechanics.  Also, because the persuasion mechanics provide a standard use for skills, it forces the scenario designer to concentrate on "what evidence is relevant" and "what does this NPC care about" instead of "what skills are applicable"....and, as I mentioned, having a standard skill challenge framework for persuasion encounters allows the creation of character abilities that apply to that framework.That having been said, I agree with you on "social combat."  I understand why hit points are a useful construct in simulating combat.  I don't understand how they apply to social encounters.  I'm all in favor of tactics, but tactics need to reflect the in-game reality.  That's why flanking is a good combat tactic, but a silly mechanic for persuasive gameplay.But I disagree with your suggestion that it's impossible or undesirable to build specific mechanics for non-combat encounters.  I think the vast majority of non-combat encounters fit into a small number of bins.  Sure, you also want a "free-form" system for encounters that don't fit into the standard categories.  But, there's a big difference between a well constructed skill challenge and a crap skill challenge.  Let's adopt some "best practices" for the common examples.  (See, for example, PirateCat's "chase" skill challenge mechanics.)-KS</blockquote>

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