Negotiate

Typically used with: Persuasion.

In short: talk it out. Diplomats, lawyers, politicians, and merchants are master Negotiators. This Skill represents the ability to haggle, debate, and discuss a topic with another creature in order to change their mind. Negotiate is used to appeal to someone's sense of reason or goodness — peace negotiations, getting out of trouble, and so forth.

You may use Negotiate against any creature of an elemental, humanoid, or legendary Nature. You may also use Negotiate against any fabricated, plantlike, or undead creature with an Intellect higher than 1.

Suggesting

You can use this Skill to appeal to someone's sense of reason and offer up suggestions. When the situation calls for grace, etiquette, intellectual debate, salesmanship, or formalities, Negotiate can be used to get others to see things your way. Make a Negotiate check opposed by their Mind Control check. If your result is highest, they take your suggestions to heart and act accordingly. Your recommendations can't directly endanger them nor force them to do anything against their Alignment, Motivation, or personal obligations and responsibilities. For instance, you could convince a guard to let you through, but you can't convince him to leave his post.

There's no point in persuading allies into following your suggestions — anyone whose Disposition is benign or better will help you anyway. Creatures whose Disposition is neutral or worse will need some convincing, so your argument should be based in logic. In essence, you're persuading them that your point of view is preferable to theirs.

Interceding

While Seduce and Perform can be used to improve another creature's Disposition toward yourself, Negotiate can be used to improve another creature's Disposition toward someone else. It's even possible to reconcile the conflict between bitter enemies. To improve a creature's Disposition toward another creature, make a Negotiate check. They make a Mind Control check. If your result is higher, you may improve their Disposition. For each 5 points of difference, you improve the creature's Disposition towards any creature you choose by one level. If your check is Critical Failure, you actually worsen their Disposition by one level. You can only attempt this once per day per creature. Each attempt generally takes a few minutes.

Haggling

"This looks defective. I'll take it off your hands for a discount." Using Negotiate, a character can attempt to haggle with a merchant in order to purchase goods or services at a lower cost. Make opposed Negotiate checks. If the buyer's result is highest, the difference between the rolls multiplied by two is the percentage offered as a discount.

Haggling Example

Phineas and a merchant are discussing the price for a bound tome. Phineas rolls a 26 for Negotiate. The GM doesn't have stats for the merchant, but assumes a result of 15. The difference in the results is 11. The merchant offers a 22% discount to purchase the item. The GM pulls out her calculator.