Small Skill Name Survey

[Bjarkmundur]

Just out of curiosity, what are the different social skills you have used in all the different rpgs you've played? Are there any other you can think of that you haven't encountered in a game?



Deception
Persuasion
Intimidate
Diplomacy
Leadership
Streetwise
Cunning
Speech
Rally

[pragma]

* Etiquette
* Disguise
* Instruction
* Leadership
* Negotiation

There are also a bunch of alternate names for the standards: Con/Bluff/Fast Talk for Deception for instance.

[Zhorn]

Whole lot of charisma checks and none include seduction?
Bjarkmundur, you are not doing your avatar justice :smalltongue:

[Amechra]

Welp, let me drag out my copy of Burning Wheel...¹

To be a bit more serious for a moment, why do you ask? If you're trying to come up with a definitive list of social stuff so that you can rewrite the skills for your game... just ask that.

Skills don't line up neatly between games. Like, to give an example: if I'm playing Unknown Armies, I could have "Washed Up Car Salesman" as an Identity (read: freeform skills). Would that count as a social skill? Would "Contest" (the only social skill in Pokerole (https://pokeroleproject.wixsite.com/pokerole/resources)) count, or would you want the specialties/social stats that add to it?

¹ Burning Wheel has a massive number of social skills. We're talking stuff like "Persuasion, but only for Clerical matters" and "sucking up to people" as full skills. Which works, because the system assumes that you'll maybe use a couple of them, and the rest exist to give you bonus dice.

EDIT: Also, why are you asking this in the 5e subforum? This definitely belongs in the main Roleplaying Games (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?30-Roleplaying-Games) forum.

[BestMaster46]

Debate
Inspire
Humiliate
Dishearten
Encourage

[NNescio]

Bootlicking
Bribery
Con
Fast Talk
Forgery
Interrogation
Intimidation
Motivation
Oratory
Psychescan
Spurious Logic

Bargain
Disguise
Fast Talk
Persuade
Psychoanalysis
Psychology
C͚ͦ͋͛t̜̞͙̜͔̦̱ͤĥ͕̻͔͈̬̜̿͗u͐̽̔̌̍͒͏l̷͆ͩ̍h̟͇͝u̸ͦͬͧ ̡̱͔̗͚̱̪̐ͪ̀̓M̨̪̲̰̗͖ͮͪͅy̸̦͈͒ͥ̄̾̓́t̫̫̭͓͈͓̿hos̋ͤ͛͗ ̴ͩ Lose 2/1D10 SAN

Con
• Con (Seduction)
Etiquette
Impersonation
Instruction
Intimidation
Leadership
Negotiation
Performance

[Bjarkmundur]

So many great responses! Thank you for your time! <3



To be a bit more serious for a moment, why do you ask? If you're trying to come up with a definitive list of social stuff so that you can rewrite the skills for your game... just ask that.

It is related to the names of the skills I use in my game. But I've long since learned that there is no clean way to divide approaches to a social situation cleanly between skills. They are always going to have some overlap, be too general or too specific. This is for a specific player in my group, to better represent her uses of charisma ability check- proficiency. She loves giving features and abilities new names to better fit her character. For example, she renamed Dissonant Whispers "Shame on You", Mantle of Inspiration became "Finger Kisses", Bardic Inspiration became "Wink" and Spell Points she changed into "Princess Power" xD. She only ever uses her charisma + proficiency to get people on her side, so I thought she might like a more fitting name for the skill. I'm leaning towards "Befriend" :D


EDIT: Also, why are you asking this in the 5e subforum? This definitely belongs in the main Roleplaying Games (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?30-Roleplaying-Games) forum.

I guess it's a sense of home I feel in this specific subforum, more than the other ones, even though there's a huge overlap of users...

EDIT: For those who are curious, this is how I currently handle social skill proficiencies in my game:


In general, charisma ability checks revolve around choosing the right tone, gestures, and combination of words needed to reach your desired end-point. When you choose this skill you also choose your character's preferred approach to social encounters.
There are a hundred ways of approaching a social encounter. For an extensive list of social skill examples click here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?598175-Small-Skill-Name-Survey&p=24150287#post24150287). Examples include Deception, Intimidate, Rally, Diplomacy etc. Each approach has a different flavor, benefits and possible outcomes when put into practice.
Social proficiency is beneficial for any character, since around half the game revolves around your character’s interaction with the people of the world your DM has created. Including different variations on the skill adds a ton of variety and spice to that aspect of the game. Having one character that uses Intimidate, one using Seduction and another using Etiquette ensures each character brings something different to the table.


To keep other content in line with this approach I have specified that half-orcs are confrontational while half-elves (for example) are more diplomatic in nature.