The Easy Way, and the Hard Way: Diplomacy. - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

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#1 the_one_true_shea_dup Apr 09, 2005 8:34:35	This is an attempt to explain a subject the author knows a great deal about in real life, but doesn't wholly understand in the game rule. The Easy Way These are the rules as writ in SRD. The Diplomacy skill only does a couple of things. More if you play with Modern Diplomacy, but that comes later. First, the most irregular thing about the skill is that weird Diplomacy DC table. Read real good and it reads to say that the DC to make a Hostile character into a Hostile character is "less than 5". What happens if you fail, well, "the other character has probably become more firmly committed to his position", Hostile. "I like checks I can't fail". And! What is the point of having a DC of "less than 1". Those are not Crit Fail ranges. The DC to make a Fiendly Friendly is 1. Like wise with the concept of advantage. You can, could, sorta be advantaged by a large number of factors. It could be in your advantage to not buy anything from the merchant you are negotiating with. The decision as to what an advantage gets you is up to you know who, and the lovely resolution, brought to us by the Open IF High Roll Takes all Diplomacy of opposed advocates, "function" misses a few circumstance that some, but not all, are aware of. There is not much to explain but here are three for you: First function (Change Attitude) You designate your target attitude (DC on that Table) and if you fail nothing happens. Diplomacy is not an open check, but you can target multiple NPCs (and NPCs only) with one check. The target attitude remains the same, the DC to beat varies by the NPC's initial attitude. Remember, you can target a crowd. Attitude means about as much as alignment. Not much as far as predictability is concerned. Attitude gives an NPC a why, not a what. You can tell them what to do, but they might think that you don't know what is good for you. Most of the time what you want out of Diplomacy, why you should change an attitude in the first place, is to be accomplished by way of negotiations. Second Function (Negotiation) You want something from someone, or you want them to do something for you. Really buying things is a negotiation, and in the MSRD it could be. Wealth could be seen as a form of Diplomacy, and down below I have a rule for you. Negotiation is the only thing that can help you gain an unusual advantage in a transaction, or allow you to make a transaction that does not count cash. The barter of goods for services, or services for services, is handled through Diplomatic negotiations. One of the questions about negotiation that many still have is: what does it do to the PC? That secret lies in how negotiation should be played. At the beginning of the negotiation every participant should declare what they want and what they wont do. This should be an interchange between the participants so that everyone knows what they are getting into. Bluff checks come into play here.;) Once, the initial terms are agreed to, all participants are given a chance to back out or option to aid another instead of negotiating for their own interests. Then, all the participants open IF and the high IF is allowed to add or subtract one of the terms. A participant who cannot accept those terms can exit the negotiation or hope for the advantage on the next check. This process repeats until all participants have no opposition to any of the terms they are agreeing to, and they have no more terms they wish to add. Sidebar (results) Show What does this resolve? Well just about nothing as far as I am concerned. Not to mention that no matter what you do with a negotiation roll the PC or NPC is under no abnormal compulsion of any kind, and does not have to do anything that they do not want to. Checks that you get the same result from winning or loosing, and a contract conflict that no one has to respond to. At least Opposed advocates does something!

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the_one_true_shea_dup

Apr 09, 2005 8:34:35

This is an attempt to explain a subject the author knows a great deal about in real life, but doesn't wholly understand in the game rule.

The Easy Way
These are the rules as writ in SRD.

The Diplomacy skill only does a couple of things. More if you play with Modern Diplomacy, but that comes later. First, the most irregular thing about the skill is that weird Diplomacy DC table. Read real good and it reads to say that the DC to make a Hostile character into a Hostile character is "less than 5". What happens if you fail, well, "the other character has probably become more firmly committed to his position", Hostile. "I like checks I can't fail". And! What is the point of having a DC of "less than 1". Those are not Crit Fail ranges. The DC to make a Fiendly Friendly is 1.

Like wise with the concept of advantage. You can, could, sorta be advantaged by a large number of factors. It could be in your advantage to not buy anything from the merchant you are negotiating with. The decision as to what an advantage gets you is up to you know who, and the lovely resolution, brought to us by the Open IF High Roll Takes all Diplomacy of opposed advocates, "function" misses a few circumstance that some, but not all, are aware of. There is not much to explain but here are three for you:

First function (Change Attitude)
You designate your target attitude (DC on that Table) and if you fail nothing happens. Diplomacy is not an open check, but you can target multiple NPCs (and NPCs only) with one check. The target attitude remains the same, the DC to beat varies by the NPC's initial attitude. Remember, you can target a crowd.

Attitude means about as much as alignment. Not much as far as predictability is concerned. Attitude gives an NPC a why, not a what. You can tell them what to do, but they might think that you don't know what is good for you. Most of the time what you want out of Diplomacy, why you should change an attitude in the first place, is to be accomplished by way of negotiations.

Second Function (Negotiation)
You want something from someone, or you want them to do something for you. Really buying things is a negotiation, and in the MSRD it could be. Wealth could be seen as a form of Diplomacy, and down below I have a rule for you. Negotiation is the only thing that can help you gain an unusual advantage in a transaction, or allow you to make a transaction that does not count cash. The barter of goods for services, or services for services, is handled through Diplomatic negotiations.

One of the questions about negotiation that many still have is: what does it do to the PC? That secret lies in how negotiation should be played. At the beginning of the negotiation every participant should declare what they want and what they wont do. This should be an interchange between the participants so that everyone knows what they are getting into. Bluff checks come into play here.;)

Once, the initial terms are agreed to, all participants are given a chance to back out or option to aid another instead of negotiating for their own interests. Then, all the participants open IF and the high IF is allowed to add or subtract one of the terms. A participant who cannot accept those terms can exit the negotiation or hope for the advantage on the next check. This process repeats until all participants have no opposition to any of the terms they are agreeing to, and they have no more terms they wish to add.

Sidebar (results)
Show

What does this resolve? Well just about nothing as far as I am concerned. Not to mention that no matter what you do with a negotiation roll the PC or NPC is under no abnormal compulsion of any kind, and does not have to do anything that they do not want to. Checks that you get the same result from winning or loosing, and a contract conflict that no one has to respond to. At least Opposed advocates does something!