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Created Saturday 27 July 2013
Use this skill to persuade the bouncer to let you into the exclusive club, to negotiate peace between feuding gangs, or to con-vince an enemy agent to release you instead of killing you. Diplomacy includes etiquette, social grace, tact, subtlety, and a way with words. A skilled character knows the formal and informal rules of conduct, social expecta-tions, proper forms of address, and so on. This skill represents the ability to give the right impression, to negotiate effectively, and to influence others. Check: You can change others' atti-tudes with a successful check. In negotia-tions, participants roll opposed Diplomacy checks to see who gains the advantage. Opposed checks also resolve cases where two advocates or diplomats plead opposing cases before a third party.
Diplomacy can be used to influence a GM character's attitude. The GM chooses the character's initial attitude based on circumstances. Most of the time, the people the he-roes meet are indifferent toward them, but a specific situation may call for a different initial attitude. The DCs given in the accompanying table show what it takes to change someone's attitude with the use of the Diplo-macy skill. You don't declare a specific outcome you are trying for; instead, make the check and compare the result to the table on the next page. Try Again?: Generally, trying again doesn't work. Even if the initial check suc-ceeds, the other character can only be persuaded so far. If the initial check fails, the oth-er character has probably become more firmly committed to his position, and trying again is futile. Special: You can take 10 when making a Diplomacy check, but you can't take 20. A character with the Trustworthy feat gets a +2 bonus on all Diplomacy checks. Time: Diplomacy is at least a full-round action. The GM may determine that some negotiations require a longer period of time.
Attitude Means Possible Actions Hostile Will take risks to Attack, interfere, hurt/avoid you berate, flee Unfriendly Wishes you ill Mislead, gossip, watch, insult Indifferent Doesn’t much Act as socially care expected Friendly Wishes you Chat, advise, ad- well vise, minor help Helpful Will take risks Protect, back to help you up, heal, aid
Offering money or another form of favor can, in the right situation, improve a character's chances with a Diplomacy skill check. Bribery allows a character to circumvent various official obstacles when a person in a position of trust or authority is willing to accept such an offering. An illegal act, bribery requires two willing participants-one to offer a bribe and the other to accept it. Business isn't normally conducted in this fashion, but you can sometimes find someone in authority who is either willing to accept a bribe or actually demands a bribe to per-form a normal function of his or her position. Of course, if you offer a bribe to an unwilling par-ticipant, you run the risk of punitive action, including fines, imprisonment, or both. Tipping a waiter to get a better table or to circumvent a reservation line is an example of a minor bribe. Slipping money to a bouncer to gain entry to an exclusive nightclub, offering cash to expedite processing by a bureaucrat, and paying an informant for information are oth-er examples of bribes. In all cases, getting help from another character that requires either a change of atti-tude or a nudge to get things moving on a time frame other than the one the character nor-mally works on demands a Diplomacy check. You want to change the character's attitude to helpful to get the character to let you skip ahead in a line, to expedite your passport or cus-toms check, to let you off without submitting an official report, or to provide you with infor-mation that you couldn't otherwise lay your hands on. Sometimes, you can do this with just a Diplomacy check. Other times, a bribe must be included to get the ball rolling. When a corrupt official requires a bribe to render services, then a character's Diplomacy check automatically fails if a bribe isn't attached to it. If the official isn't necessarily corrupt, you can add a bribe to get a bonus on your skill check. This can backfire, as some officials will be insulted by a bribe offer (their attitude changes one step for the worse) and others will report you to the proper authorities. To make a bribe, decide how many points you want to reduce your current Wealth bo-nus by. Each point by which you reduce your current Wealth bonus provides a +2 bonus on your Diplomacy check when making the bribe. The maximum bonus you can buy is +10, which requires a reduction of your Wealth bonus by 5 points.
Initial ————————-New Attitude———————— Attitude Hostile Unf Indif Friendly Helpful Hostile 19 or less 20 25 35 40 Unfriendly 4 or less 5 15 25 35 Indifferent - 0 or less 1 15 25 Friendly - - 0 or less 1 15