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View Full Version : D&D 5e/Next Fleshing Out The Social Pillar [PEACH, suggestions welcome]



Amechra
2019-08-06, 11:36 PM
I'm a little disappointed by how lackluster the rules (or lack thereof) for the social pillar are. They boil down to "roll some opposed skill checks, maybe Charm or Intimidate them first, it's all good". I think we can do better than that.

Hooking into Personality Traits
You know, we roll these anyway, so why not make use of them?

Ideals
You have advantage on Charisma (Persuasion) checks made to convince a creature to take an action in-line with one of their Ideals. Conversely, you can't use Charisma (Persuasion) to convince a creature to knowingly go against their Ideals. For that, you'll need to use Charisma (Deception) or Charisma (Intimidation).

Bonds
You have advantage on Charisma (Intimidation) checks if you can supply a credible threat to a creature's Bonds.

Flaws
Creatures have disadvantage on opposed Wisdom (Insight) checks if the other creature is playing off their Flaw in some way.

Discovering Personality Traits
If you spend at least an hour peacefully interacting with a creature, you learn one of its Ideals, Bonds, or Flaws.

Creating New Personality Traits
I'm not set on the mechanics for this, but this would be a downtime action where you set to work on a creature and gave them a new Ideal, Bond, or Flaw. Maybe you introduced a formerly straight-laced judge to the joys of boozing, or maybe you convinced a peasant that joining the Royal Military was the way forward.



Any other thoughts? I'm mostly looking for ways to give the social mechanics some meat - I'm not expecting anything as in-depth as the Duel of Wits system from Burning Wheel. Though Circles might be an interesting idea to pursue...