Social Combat

Social Combat

Social combat is an expanded set of rules for social interactions. Instead of making a single check to represent getting your way in a conversation, you’ll take a number of steps that resemble a complex skill check.

The phases of social combat are generally broken down into learning about your target with insight and investigation checks, then attempting to persuade, deceive, or intimidate them.

There are five skills that are commonly used in social combat: investigation and insight; deception, intimidation, and persuasion. Other skills can be used to supplement them, but these five will do the heavy lifting. Don’t forget to mark your Passive Insight.

You’ll also need to know what your social stress limit is. Think of this like hp for your psyche. You have social stress equal to your proficiency bonus plus the highest of your Int, Wis, and Cha bonuses. Most unnamed NPCs have one or two stress. When your stress limit is reached, you’ve been beaten by your opponent, socially. This could be the loser conceding the point, believing a lie, taking someone’s recommendation, or being publicly embarrassed.

Once a participant has been beaten they get to eliminate any temporary goals and fears they had, acting on them if that was the result of the conflict. If the conflict is to continue they erase all but one of their social stress marks, then the conflict begins again. If there’s another conflict past that they don’t remove two stress marks; then a third for the next conflict, etc. If someone is left with no stress at all and can’t regain any at the end of a conflict they have had a public breakdown – it’s messy and bad, and might start actual combat.

You’ll also need to know a few things that you might not normally have on a character sheet: one or more goals, one or more fears, your nature, and your attitude.

Your goals are fluid. You’ll have short-term and long-term goals, depending on the conversation. The same is true for fears.

Your nature typically doesn’t change. Your nature also makes you susceptible to some sort of roll or technique. If you’re ruled by your desires, for example, attempts to persuade you and encourage you to pursue your goals will be more successful – these attempts get an extra d6 rolled to add to the total.

Your attitude is a little more changeable than your nature but is usually kept for years at a time. Your attitude makes you especially good at something. If you have the attitude of a Commander, for example, you’ll be successful at pushing people into the right places for them. Using the skill that’s most appropriate to your attitude gets you a bonus d6.

Goals Material goods Family Romance Revenge Power/safety Experience Perfection Fame

Fears Physical harm Isolation Ruin Loss (family/partner) Shame Exile Stagnation

Natures Ruled by fears. (Intimidation) Ruled by desires. (Persuasion) Ruled by anger. (Insight) Ruled by regrets. (Investigation) Ruled by pride. (Deception)

Attitudes Commander (Intimidation) Enabler (Persuasion) Individualist (Deception) Follower (Insight) Dreamer (Investigation)

When you start social combat with one person, or a group, you all act at once. Start with the instigator and move round-robin. Each ‘round’ is usually a few sentences or a few minutes of conversation – the scale is flexible.

You can use any of the five skills mentioned above. Their purposes are below.

Investigate: You roll your Intelligence (investigation) on a single person or a group to identify something about the target that you can use later. This can be a goal or fear that you might identify based on their history, their mannerisms, or making connections in their conversation. It is much harder to ascertain someone’s nature or attitude through outside research. This is rolled against their Passive Deception. If you succeed remarkably (5 or more over the target number) you learn two things; if you roll a natural 20, learn another as well.

Insight: You roll Wisdom (insight) to identify the nature or attitude of the target. You can also use Insight to gauge their goals in the conversation or a fear relevant to the situation, but it’s only applicable to current circumstances – it’s hard to find out about a fear of spiders from a conversation about mining rights, for example. This is rolled against their Passive Deception, and if you lose they get advantage on their next roll to deceive you. If you succeed remarkably (6 or more over the target number) you learn two things; if you roll a natural 20, learn another as well.

Deceive: You attempt to convince your target of something that is not true. This can be used to give the target a temporary goal or fear that you can then manipulate, or to take advantage of their nature or attitudes. For example, you might tell someone their kids are in danger to give them a tag like “Fear: my children in danger.” This is contested by the target’s Passive Insight, and if you lose they learn your nature if they didn’t otherwise know it. If you succeed remarkably (5 or more over the target number) you get to define two things about them. If you roll a 20 you get an extra as well.

Persuade: You attempt to convince someone to take action based on an argument. This is contested by the target’s Charisma. If they are aware of your goal the target has advantage on the roll. Succeeding puts a mark on the target’s stress track. If you fail the target learns your attitude if they didn’t already know it. If you succeed remarkably (5 or more over the target number) you mark their stress track twice. If you roll a natural 20, add one more mark.

Intimidate: You attempt to pressure someone into bowing to your will. This is contested by the target’s Charisma. If they are aware of your fears they roll with advantage. Succeeding puts a mark on the target’s stress track. If you fail the target learns one of your goals if they didn’t already know it. If you succeed remarkably (5 or more over the target number) you mark their stress track twice. If you roll a natural 20, add one more mark.

Finally, you can take your turn to shore up your argument, reinforce your beliefs, or try to turn the conversation down another path. You can regain one stress if you do nothing else during that action.

You can make a guess at any or all of the target’s goals, fears, nature, or attitude. If you’re wrong on any you get disadvantage on the roll. If you’re right on all parts you get advantage on checks to deceive, intimidate, or persuade them.