Negotiate
| Skill List |
|---|
Tiered Skill — Charisma
| Disposition | Example of action |
|---|---|
| Enraged | Will put self in great danger for even a chance to injure |
| Hostile | Will attack |
| Malicious | Will destructively mislead |
| Unfriendly | Will be rude, deny service, report behavior to authorities |
| Neutral | Won't go out on a limb either way |
| Friendly | Will help a little bit beyond normal circumstances |
| Helpful | Will go out of their way to help, but not at great personal risk |
| Infatuated | Will accept great personal risk to aid in any way |
| Fanatic | Will willingly die at merest whim |
The Negotiate skill governs how characters interact with each other when they don't see precisely eye to eye. The skill shifts character's disposition towards other characters up and down on the table seen to the right.
Contents
Specific Uses
Diplomacy
Diplomacy is used specifically when a character tries to use reason to convince others to agree with him.
The base DC for the check is 25. Succeeding this check means that the characters' dispositions in relation to a specific individual or group shift one category in the direction the negotiator wishes. For every additional 10 points that the negotiator's check exceeds this DC, the character's dispositions shift an additional category.
Diplomacy may be used multiple times on the same individual, but for any particular group or person you can only influence them once per week. You can of course try to get them tho change their disposition towards many different people or groups all in the same week.
Bluff
Bluff is used when a negotiator is trying to convince other characters of a lie. The negotiator's check is opposed by the other characters' Negotiate(Sense Motive) checks.
The negotiator takes the following modifiers to his check depending on the veracity of his bluff.
| Circumstance | Negotiate mod |
|---|---|
| Target is Infatuated | +10 |
| Target gains from the information | +5 |
| Target isn't affected one way or the other | +0 |
| The target is put at slight personal risk | -5 |
| The target is put at great personal risk | -10 |
If the targets succeed their Negotiate(Sense Motive) checks, they do not believe the bluff and become Unfriendly (or lower if that was their original state). If the targets succeed by 5 or more, they realize the negotiator's intention behind them believing the bluff.
Bluffing is not always verbal, and you do not necessarily need to speak to successfully Bluff. Pretending to be wounded or dead requires a bluff check, as does pretending to belong in a place you should not be (pretending to be on official business walking around the palace).
Intimidate
Intimidate is used when a negotiator wishes to frighten a character into submission. It is opposed by the defending character's check,
Resist Intimidate Check: d20 + Character Level + Wisdom"
If the negotiator succeeds, the defender is considered "Helpful" for the purposes of helping the negotiator. For every 10 points the negotiator's check exceeds the defender's check, the defender's effective Disposition increases by an additional step. If the defender is made to be a Fanatic through this method, the defender will remain a fanatic until convinced otherwise.
In other cases, a defender's disposition falls to Unfriendly or one step worse than they were previously 1d10x2 minutes after the negotiating character is out of sight.
For every 10 points of damage taken as part of intimidation, a defender must make a Will Save equal to 20 + 2 for every previous will save, or suffer a cumulative -2 penalty on all Negotiate checks and checks made to oppose negotiate checks. This penalty lasts for 1d4+2 days from the last damage. Healing allows more damage to be done without lessening the penalty.
Sense Motive
Wisdom
Sense Motive allows a character to read into what another character is thinking. It is used to see through the Bluff action, above, but it also has other uses.
| Action | DC |
|---|---|
| Sense Disposition | 20 |
| Sense Intent | 25 |
| Discern Plans | 35 |
Sense Disposition — If a character makes this check, he determines which disposition category the target is in towards a specific character or specific group. A separate check must be made for each group or character. This may be opposed with a bluff check, to falsify your apparent disposition.
Sense Intent — If a character makes this check, he gains a general understanding of what the target is going to do next. If the target is planning to attack soon, the character that made this check gains a +4 bonus to his initiative if the target attacks within the next five minutes.
Discern Plans — If a character makes this check, he can get a general idea of the target's next few actions.
Gather Information
Gather information allows characters to glean information through asking around pubs, talking to contacts, and rubbing elbows with important people. The cost detailed in the table below covers expenses such as drinks, food, and bribes.
For every five points that the DC is exceeded, the cost is cut by a third (round down).
| Obscurity of Information | DC | Example | Cost (in uV) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Commonplace | 15 | The current gossip, breaking news | 1 |
| Specific | 20 | Basic details of relatively unimportant people | 3 |
| Advanced | 25 | The details on the city's economy, the people close to the ruler | 9 |
| Rare | 30 | The schedule of the city guard, the location of a particular religious artifact | 27 |
| Obscure | 35 | The identity of the man who brings the ruler his coffee | 81 |
Skill Tiers
This skill starts at Tier Zero. The upgrade cost of skill tiers is 2 + (Current Skill Tier x2) Upgrade Points.
Tier One
A character with Tier One Negotiate gains the following abilities:
- If the character has specialized in any Perform skill belonging to the Spoken Word (Oratory, Poetry, etc) or Acting division, he gains a +4 bonus to Negotiation checks when using the Diplomacy and Bluff actions.
Tier Two
A character with Tier Two Negotiate who uses the Bluff action no longer suffers the Disposition drop if he fails the check by less than 5. Characters trying to see past the Bluff must exceed the check by 10 or more to determine the Bluffer's intentions, instead of the normal 5.
Tier Three
A character with Tier Three Negotiate is especially charismatic. When dealing with characters that are not Hostile or Enraged against him, he may treat them as being one Disposition section more favorable. In other words, a Malicious character would become Unfriendly, an Unfriendly character would become Neutral, and so on.
