Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Serethus Dec 16, 2014 1:36:15	Hey all, hope this question hasn't already been asked...   My group aren't really good at the social roleplaying side of things, and my encounters designed around negociation, chit chat and so on don't go down too well.   So I was thinking of making social interaction more like combat, but haven't thought much beyond that. For example, each NPC they deal with has a certain number of "tries", for example the players get 5 tries/attacks/rolls/whatever at negociation, and some are easier than others. So one NPC might have an "armour class" of 12 against charm, but 18 against intimidation, and they have x amount of hit points. If the players use the right type of interaction, they "beat" the NPC with the correct skills and rolling dice.   Anyone tried anything like this? I don't have the new DMG yet, so not sure if they've got something like this already out there.   Cheers!
#2 OrwellianHaggis Dec 16, 2014 5:38:18	No need to create such a system, in my opinion.   Each NPC has things they love and hate, things that are important to them, and so on. To lessen the importance of role-playing conversations, just focus first on matching skills to the NPCs traits. E.g. the blacksmith greatly respects soldiers who fought in a local battle. Use Persuasion or Deception to convince him you were there and you fight on his side.   To discover the vague outline of the NPCs values the characters can use Insight to try and work them out. You'd vary the DC to work that out based on the NPC (higher for secretive people, lower for talkative types).   For important NPCs I create a personality much like the Ideal, Bond, Flaw system in PC backgrounds.
#3 iserith Dec 16, 2014 6:46:28	Serethus wrote:
#4 AndyDay Dec 17, 2014 12:18:38	Serethus wrote:
#5 Noon Dec 17, 2014 16:03:37	If you're going to have a right way to approach them, then I'd suggest something simple: After they try to talk to the NPC but get nowhere (or after about thirty seconds of all the players sitting frozen, not sure what to say and being frozen in analysis paralysis), say they get a roll (on chr or wiz or even int, as you see fit or even as the player might like, vs DC 15), but each roll loses Y amount of XP they'd have gained from the encounter. After three failed rolls all the XP is gone but they figure the right way to talk to the NPC (assuming there is a right way)
#6 Moonshadow50 Dec 23, 2014 9:14:29	I think reducing social interaction to a die roll really takes away from the game. It’s a roll playing game and it seems to me your players just need practice roll playing. I give out stories awards for really good roll playing in the form of bonuses XP and sometimes even magic items. Make a point of giving a bonus only for the best roll play in each secession so the player's compete with each other to get it.
#7 Beldak_Serpenthelm Dec 23, 2014 9:21:22	Moonshadow50 wrote:
(Reply to #7) guachi	Beldak_Serpenthelm wrote: