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megaplayboy
May 25th, '03, 01:02 PM
I am trying to come up with some reasonable guidelines for difficulty modifiers to presence/interaction skills. I can think of environmental modifiers(such as a noisy dance club), mood modifiers(how favorably or unfavorably disposed the subject/target of the skill is to begin with), behavioral modifiers(how much is the attempted/suggested action in sync with the target's behavior/beliefs, or how much does it go against their behavior/beliefs?), and credibility modifiers(in the case of acting or persuasion, how believeable is the statement to begin with?).

The other issue is base time to perform different skills.
Seduction is a good example--what's the base time to befriend or seduce someone? It could be anywhere from a minute to a month, depending on circumstances. Let's toss the high and low, and just say 5 minutes(to make a good first impression, keep a conversation going, or get a phone number) to a week is a good general range of time, with up to +3 for extra time spent. You can, of course, get bonuses for roleplaying the skill use well(or just trying, if you're not joe actor).

Does anyone have any suggestions re difficulty mods, in terms of actual values?

megaplayboy
May 26th, '03, 01:25 AM
well, here's my first take:

Presence skill modifiers:

Environment:
Extremely appropriate setting:+3-5
Highly appropriate setting: +2
Appropriate setting: +1
Inappropriate setting: -1
Highly inappropriate setting: -2
Extremely inappropriate setting: -3-5
Lethal combat, subject on other side:-8-10

Mood:
Extremely favorable mood: +3-5
Highly favorable mood: +2
Favorable mood: +1
Unfavorable mood:-1
Highly unfavorable: -2
Extremely unfavorable:-3-5
Total commitment unfavorable psych lim: -8-10

Behavior/beliefs
Fully congruent with behavior/beliefs:+3-5
Highly congruent +2
Congruent +1
Incongruent: -1
Highly incongruent:-2
Extremely incongruent:-3-5
Goes against total commitment psych lims:-8-10

Credibility:
Statement has strong factual support: +3-5
Statement has some factual support:+1-2
Statement has little factual support:-1-2
Statement has no factual support, or is contradicted by facts:-3-5
Statement contradicts reality under direct observation:-10


So, convincing someone who hates you and has a total code in opposition to your suggestion that reality is not as they see it, in combat, is a mere -40 to your persuasion roll. I suppose if you have at least an 18-, you can still successfully use the skill on a 3.
:D

NuSoardGraphite
May 26th, '03, 03:14 AM
Don't forget to factor in for Psychological disadvantages and Social Disadvantages. Those are going to go a long way toward giving bonuses and penalties for social interaction.

megaplayboy
May 26th, '03, 07:40 PM
Originally posted by NuSoardGraphite
Don't forget to factor in for Psychological disadvantages and Social Disadvantages. Those are going to go a long way toward giving bonuses and penalties for social interaction.

yeah, I tend to think of those as a +/- 1-5 (each) on top of everything else. The tricky part is making it neither ridiculously easy or insanely hard to successfully use interaction skills. It should be difficult to deceive a security guard, or land a date with a movie star, but probably not impossible.

Templar Jakob
May 29th, '03, 01:22 AM
going on what NuSoardGraphite said previously, also factor if the person has a Reputation perk. a character with a Rep for a "ladies man" or something similar is attempting a seduction, then i'd award additional bonus. Perhaps, of course if the situation is fitting, a perk of Wealth or a Fringe Benefit might also warrant additional bonuses or penalties.
Just my two cents.

Bryan