Social Conflict
Basics
Social conflict is built around making a series of Skill Checks of a Social Skill against a DC, with the goal of getting X Successes before Y Failures.
This is the baseline around which several things revolve: Personal Relations, Locks and Keys, and Convincing the Target.
Personal Relations
Personal Relations describes how the target of the Social Conflict feels about the Character attempting to persuade them.
An individual you are in combat with counts as Hostile.
Relation
Successes
Failures
Ally
1
3
Friendly
2
3
Neutral
3
3
Unfriendly
3
2
Hostile
3
1
Locks and Keys
When a Character is attempting to convince another Character to do something, before rolling begins, that player may attempt to convince them via roleplay dialogue first.
The critical aspect of this dialogue falls into the categories of Key Statements and Lock Statements.
A Key Statement is something done during this dialogue which will encourage the target to be more convinced to the persuader’s point of view, granting a Success.
A Lock Statement is the inverse, something done during dialogue which will push the target further from being convinced, granting a Failure.
A character may discover Lock Statements and Key Statements by making a Sense Motive Skill Check before they begin dialogue.
The DC of this check is 50 plus the Deception of the defender.
On Success, and for each 10 by which the DC is exceeded the character learns 1 Lock Statement or 1 Key Statement, which type of Statement they receive is the choice of the character.
In addition, if the Character has an Empathy of 80 or higher, they learn 1 additional Lock Statement or Key Statement, which type of Statement they receive is the choice of the character.
If the character gains enough Successes, then the Social Conflict is over with the initiator winning.
If the character gains too many Failures, then the Social Conflict is over, with the defender winning.
Convincing the Target
After Locks and Keys, if the Social Conflict is still ongoing, the active character must turn to Convincing the Target.
The initiator must make Skill Checks using the Social Skill of their choice against the Defender's Will Defence. These skills include Diplomacy, Intimidate, or Leadership.
Rolls are made until the initiator of the conflict gains either sufficient Successes to win, or sufficient Failures to fail the conflict.
Request Severity
DC Modifier
Example
Trivial
-40
Please pass the butter.
Minor
-20
Can you babysit for an hour?
Standard
0
I'd like a 10% discount, please.
Difficult
+20
Convince a disgruntled mercenary to switch sides for better pay.
Inconceivable
+40
Convince a loyal retainer that their Lord is suffering from insanity and needs to be placed under the character's care.