Description
With threats either veiled or overt, you attempt to bully a creature into doing what you want.
Applications
You must spend at least 1 minute of conversation with a creature you can see and that can either see or sense you. At the end of the conversation, attempt an Intimidation check against the target’s Will DC, modified by any circumstances the GM determines.
Degrees of Performance
- Critical Success The target gives you the information you seek or agrees to follow your directives so long as they aren’t likely to harm the target in any way. The target continues to comply for an amount of time determined by the GM but not exceeding 1 day, at which point the target becomes unfriendly (if they weren’t already unfriendly or hostile). However, the target is too scared of you to retaliate—at least in the short term.
- Success As critical success, but once the target becomes unfriendly, they might decide to act against you—for example, by reporting you to the authorities or assisting your enemies.
- Failure The target doesn’t do what you say, and if they were not already unfriendly or hostile, they become unfriendly. Critical Failure The target refuses to comply becomes hostile if they weren’t already, and can’t be Coerced by you for at least 1 week.
Changing Attitudes
Your influence on NPCs is measured with a set of attitudes that reflect how they view your character.
- Helpful Willing to help you and responds favorably to your requests.
- Friendly Has a good attitude toward you, but won’t necessarily stick their neck out to help you.
- Indifferent Doesn’t care about you either way. (Most NPCs start out indifferent.)
- Unfriendly Dislikes you and doesn’t want to help you.
- Hostile- Actively works against you—and might attack you just because of their dislike.
No one can ever change the attitude of a player character with these skills. You can roleplay interactions with player characters, and even use Diplomacy results if the player wants a mechanical sense of how convincing or charming a character is, but players make the ultimate decisions about how their characters respond.