Negotiate
Typically used with: Persuasion.
In short: make friends. Diplomats, lawyers, politicians, and merchants are master Negotiators. This skill represents the ability to haggle and discuss a topic with another creature, in an attempt to lighten its disposition towards you.
The Negotiate skill is usually the one to appeal to someone's sense of reason or goodness — peace negotiations, getting out of trouble, and so forth. Appealing to someone's darker nature is the work of the Seduce skill. In addition, some characters are beyond negotiations, and only seduction or violence will make them listen.
Contents
Difficulty
There is no set DL for negotiate checks, as they are opposed between two people. The difference from the roll determines a character's new disposition. If the target gets the bigger roll, its mood is worsened. If the character performing the check gets a higher roll, the target's mood is improved.
| Roll Difference | Disposition |
|---|---|
| −20 | Down four |
| −15 | Down three |
| −10 | Down two |
| −5 | Down one |
| −4 to 4 | No change |
| 5 | Up one |
| 10 | Up two |
| 15 | Up three |
| 20 | Up Four |
- Enamored
- An enamored creature exists to bring you happiness. It would probably sacrifice itself if it could bring you an ounce of safety.
- Friendly
- A friendly creature will go out of its way to give you aid. Sometimes, it will help you at dire consequences to itself.
- Benign
- A benign creature is amicable and pleasant to you, and will lend aid, but won't help in any way that overly inconveniences it.
- Neutral
- A neutral creature has no disposition towards you; it doesn't wish you harm, nor does it wish to help you.
- Malign
- A malign creature generally wishes you ill will, but won't attack you without provocation.
- Hostile
- A hostile creature will go out of its way to harm you. In fact, it will most likely disregard its own safety to bring you pain.
- Hateful
- A hateful creature has one purpose in life: to end yours. It is almost a certainty that it will put its own life in danger to kill you.
A character can roll this check more than once to improve another's mood consecutively. After a certain point, however, some folks may refuse to listen to any more banter. Attempting to Negotiate with a target that has reached this point (outside of combat) will be sure to automatically reduce their mood one step. When both parties are at their leisure to present arguments and reason them out, the negotiation process could take a minute or more each time (as in the example of bartering with a merchant). During combat, attempting to use Negotiate as Diplomacy only takes 4 AP since decisions are being made at breakneck speed.
Attempting to Negotiate with some kind of incentive for the other party, for instance money or release of hostages, provides a situational bonus to the Negotiate check.
Haggling
Using Negotiate, a character can attempt to haggle with a merchant in order to get goods or services at a lower cost. The character can make a Negotiate check against a set DL. If the GM has stats for a particular shopkeeper, opposed rolls can be arranged as well. The character has to state what kind of a discount is desired. If the roll is failed, no discount is offered. The maximum price goods can be discounted is 50%. Period.
| Example | DL |
|---|---|
| "Give me a break, buddy. I'm only a little short." (5% off) | 15 |
| "Fifty? It's an outrage! A scandal! An insult! Forty five, on the other hand, would be a deal." (10%) | 20 |
| "I saw this over at the market for half as much. I'd settle for a split-difference if I didn't have to walk all the way back over there…" (25% off) | 25 |
| "This looks defective. I'll take it off your hands for half-off." (50% off) | 30 |
Opposed Rolls
Negotiate attempts are always opposed by Discern
Time
Each Negotiate check takes a minute or more (GM's call).
Retry
Diplomatic Negotiate attempts can be retried, but each occurrence takes time. In the case of haggling with merchants, Negotiate checks cannot be retried.
