3.4 KiB
Previous Section: 04 🔵 Resisting Influence Rolls
Social Complications
A number of considerations may arise when winning friends and influencing people.
One Target vs Multiple Targets
Much of the time, an influence roll only affects one character. Sometimes, however, a character may wish to make a single influence roll against multiple characters. The can choose to target only a select group, or to apply influence roll against anyone who hears them. However, people find it easier to ignore arguments that are not directly addressed to them. Whenever an influence roll targets more than one character, it suffers a -5 penalty.
Because the different targets of an influence roll can have varying passive Resolve scores, the success or failure of the action is determined separately for each target.
Written Social Actions
The written word can be used to persuade or manipulate others just as easily as speech. Characters who wish to convey influence through a letter, pamphlet, book, or other written work do so as a written social action. The time taken to create a writing missive varies based on the form and length of the work. The GM decides how long it takes, with a minimum time of five minutes in most cases. Likewise, the time needed to read the missive is decided by the GM based on length.
The skill used when rolling for a written social action is always Culture. When a character reads the message, compare the result of the roll to the target's passive Resolve to determine if it succeeds, as with normal influence rolls. Written social actions can be written to apply either against a single intended reader or against anyone who reads them, with the usual effects for targeting multiple characters.
Gestures and Body Language
When a character attempts to communicate through gestures, appearance, and body language alone, the target of such silent influence adds a +2 to their passive Resolve. This is normally only useful for attempts at intimidation or seduction, but players are free to be creative and think up other applications. Many things are impossible to communicate silently. No amount of handwaving or quirked eyebrows can explain the intricacies of court politics.
Overturning Influence
Character's are generally loathe to abandon a course of action once they've set themselves upon it, and so overturning existing social influence with additional social influence is difficult. First, a character who has already been persuaded to do something receives a +5 bonus to their passive Resolve against any influence that would cause them to abandon or disregard that persuasion. This bonus stacks with the intimacy bonus from a relevant intimacy. Second, a petitioner who wishes to overturn existing persuasive influence must spend a point of willpower before making their argument and roll.
If the contradictory persuasion succeeds, the targeted character may use a decision point to resist by citing a conflicting intimacy, without spend a point of willpower to initiate the decision point because it's easier to stand by a hard fought decision than to abandon it and reverse yourself. Conversely, if a character wants to abandon their present course and accept a new influence, the character must spend a point of willpower and cite the intimacy which was used to change their mind.
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06 🔵 Retrying Social Actions