Previous posts:
- Part 1 dealt with the concept of Diplomatic Attitude, and using Diplomacy to influence
- Part 2 dealt with the concept of Physical Attraction, and using Profession(Allure) to influence
- Part 3 presented a handy "ready reckoner" table to determine attitudinal shifts
An example from recent play:
The party were about to depart a town, Krytos, where they had recently rooted out a cult of worshipers of Set, who had been conducting a variety of misdeeds ranging from racketeering by day to human sacrifice by night. This had resulted in the arrest of elements of the town guard and promotion of a watch lieutenant, Kallie Winslow, to watch captain.
The local Countess, Jessica Lambard, held a farewell banquet in the party's honour.
One of the party, Sir Terricus Rathmond, had caught the eye of the Countess (a wealthy widow). Being a little choosy, her PAG baseline was +0 but Terricus was a good fit for her "type" - a slightly older man, ennobled and recently heroic so I made it best of 3d6 for attraction grade and he got +1 (while her DAG towards him was +2); I should add, out of session time I made similar determinations for her attitude towards all of the party members (this is a large party by the way). There were others whom she felt an attraction for, a couple of whom were +2, though her Diplomatic Attitude was a bit lower towards them.
The Countess is a cautious and calculating woman these days when it comes to affairs of the heart; her husband the old Count had tried to have her executed on false pretenses (long story, the details of which unfolded in a previous adventure set there a number of years ago). Krytos is kind of a border town on the fringes of civilisation and receives few distinguished visitors. Were it otherwise the Countess might prefer to hold out for a "better" match in terms of status. As it is, a heroic knight (with evident connections to the King via his nephew, who the party are escorting) wouldn't be so bad, while the other characters for whom she felt equal or greater physical attraction didn't have noble titles or were evidently unlikely to be a good long-term match.
Terricus had already attempted a little wooing on the hunting trip he and some other PCs had been on with the Countess the previous day, which was resolved with a Diplomacy check opposed by her level check + wisdom mod. This didn't succeed in changing her attitude, but didn't make it any worse so she was still receptive.
At the banquet, he tried again to woo the Countess, with a little help from some "wingmen" giving assists to his Diplomacy check (talking up his heroic exploits and making his part in the recent events sound perhaps a little larger than it was). This time his differential on the Diplomacy check was over +15, enough to raise her Diplomatic Attitude from +2 (Helpful) to +3 (Enthusiastic).
I deemed that under the circumstances, this would be enough for her to send Sir Terricus a signal that she was interested. She gave him a scarf to take with him "for good luck" - a classic "lady's favour" - and expressed her hope that he would return safely this way after his further exploits.
Meanwhile, Snorri the Bard had other ideas; he had taken a fancy to the new Watch Captain. She too was present at the banquet. I hadn't gone so far as to determine her feelings for every party member, but Snorri was the one to make an approach so I rolled on the fly. First a quick roll to see if she already had a partner, I made this a simple 50/50 check; she was unattached. I also gave her a 1-in-6 chance of being (for whatever reason) simply uninterested in men. I rolled a 6, so 'plenty interested'. My impression of her: someone wedded to the job, no time for relationships but up for the odd fling especially with strangers passing through (and taking suitable precautions such as are available).
Her PAG for Snorri turned out to be a +2, so a good start. Kallie was not a naturally friendly person, her baseline Diplomatic Attitude was generally +0 though incremented to +1 for Snorri having worked together on the party's recent exploits. I gave Snorri a Sense Motive roll to determine her degree of interest in him, and that told him that she did find him attractive and could be up for "shenanigans" prior to his departure from town. I decided that conditions were almost ideal for a casual hook-up, provided Snorri could improve her attitude by at least one stage. Snorri had excellent Diplomacy skill, and in fact brought about a transition from +1 (Friendly) to +3 (Enthusiastic).
I do sometimes require a further Seduction roll, where the outcome is in doubt (the mechanics of which I will leave to future discussion). I decided that under the circumstances, with wine flowing and the party's successes being celebrated, and Kallie herself (a career-minded individual) feeling high on her recent promotion, it really wasn't necessary. Kallie agreed to sneak off early from the banquet with Snorri, along with a bottle of Krytos' finest and find some secluded spot to talk late into the night drinking wine and looking up at the stars...and fade.
Note that in neither case does Profession (Allure) come into play; neither character has any skill ranks in it. They are just pursuing partners whose attraction for them is already naturally present (PAG > 0).
Part 5 will discuss the mechanics of persuading an NPC to follow a particular course of action.
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