Spy's and Subversion: A Problem

[scout penguin]

So, for a while now my Godfather and Myself have been working on a Espionage based RPG. However, we have hit a small snag. For one of the classes we what to give them some way to be better at long term subversion of those around him. It's not just a simple Bluff or Diplomacy check, we want this to be long term, turning someone to your cause/side/country/ect., not to you personally. Here's an example:

Lets say country A and country B are locked in a cold war. A wants a person in B to defect. While this person, let's call them Bob, has his doubts about his own country, he would not yet defect. So our spy, let's call her Selena, is charged with convincing him. This will take a long time, but in the end, Bob will go willingly, and cooperate As government. While he may be on friendly terms with Selena by the end- they have been talking for months, after all- he is now loyal to A, not Selena personally.

I hope the example helps illustrate what we're going for. So, does anyone have any ideas for how this could work? We're thinking we need a subsystem for this- with this class being especially good at it. For the record, they will have two "upgrades" to doing this, so we really need room for them to improve. This uses D&D 3.5 as a base.

[Dienekes]

It really depends on the power of other classes in the system. For example, this could be a gamebreakingly powerful ability to pick anyone and turn them to your side. Or, it could be just a worse version of a single wizards charm person spell. More details are required on how powerful your classes are.

I've seen similar abilities be once per encounter Persuasion vs Will Defense abilities to bring about conversion, or once per level. And both were seen as very useful in their respective game, only the first was from a higher powered game.

[scout penguin]

Compare it to a D&D 3.5 Rogue. That's about the power level we're going for.

[jqavins]

So, for a while now my Godfather and Myself have been working on a Espionage based RPG. However, we have hit a small snag. For one of the classes we what to give them some way to be better at long term subversion of those around him. It's not just a simple Bluff or Diplomacy check, we want this to be long term, turning someone to your cause/side/country/ect., not to you personally. Here's an example:

Lets say country A and country B are locked in a cold war. A wants a person in B to defect. While this person, let's call them Bob, has his doubts about his own country, he would not yet defect. So our spy, let's call her Selena, is charged with convincing him. This will take a long time, but in the end, Bob will go willingly, and cooperate As government. While he may be on friendly terms with Selena by the end- they have been talking for months, after all- he is now loyal to A, not Selena personally.

I hope the example helps illustrate what we're going for. So, does anyone have any ideas for how this could work? We're thinking we need a subsystem for this- with this class being especially good at it. For the record, they will have two "upgrades" to doing this, so we really need room for them to improve. This uses D&D 3.5 as a base.

Take a look at The Giant's This Old Rule rework of Diplomacy, which is more accurately called Persuation. Take the 5 catgories shown in the SRD for attitude, Hostile-Unfriendly-Indifferent-Friendly-Helpful, and expand that to 9 or 11 gradations (neutral plus or minus 4 or 5.) The character with this subversion ability, makes a persuation role ech day. Each success moves the attitude up one, and each roll that fails by more than 5 moves the attitude down one. If the attitude reaches the top of the scale then the subversion is complete. If the attitude reaches the bottom of the scale, or the suberter runs put of time, the subversion fails. A roll that fails by more than 15 causes the subversion attemt to immediately backfire, requiring a successful Diplomacy check to avoid being turned in or attached.

[Amechra]

Do you have a Diplomacy-style skill? Ie, a skill that improves someone's attitude towards you?

If so, then just give them an ability to have the attitude adjustment apply to your country as a whole instead of to you.

Simple, right?