11-09-2015, 02:47 PM
One final note, and this is most crucial. Remember, the jerk faces argue that "social skills" should work just like "combat skills." You don't have to be good at swinging a sword in real life to win a fight in game, and thus you shouldn't have to be persuasive in real life to play a slick wheeler and dealer.
However, suppose your character is fighting a werewolf. You, as player, don't have to know how to swing a sword. But you DO have to choose which weapon to use against the werewolf. And if you choose a non-magical, non-silver weapon, no matter how great your character's stats and no matter how lucky the dice rolls, you will NEVER kill the thing. That fact is determined without deferring to the game system at all. Because some monsters have special vulnerabilities and invulnerabilities that supersede the normal rules.
Remember. Jerk faces want "social combat" to work the same. Some individuals will have special vulnerabilities and invulnerabilities to certain words, ideas, or arguments. Used properly (or improperly as the case may be) can mean the result is determined without any dice or deference to stats or rules at all. In fact, if you want to gear play towards social interaction, just like a combat-oriented adventure you're careful to have all the relevant monster stats on hand, you should have notes about the personalities and motives of your NPCs on hand just as well.
Just like the werewolf, you don't always know you're fighting a supernatural creature until it's too late, so to is the case of special NPCs who will not listen to reason.
However, suppose your character is fighting a werewolf. You, as player, don't have to know how to swing a sword. But you DO have to choose which weapon to use against the werewolf. And if you choose a non-magical, non-silver weapon, no matter how great your character's stats and no matter how lucky the dice rolls, you will NEVER kill the thing. That fact is determined without deferring to the game system at all. Because some monsters have special vulnerabilities and invulnerabilities that supersede the normal rules.
Remember. Jerk faces want "social combat" to work the same. Some individuals will have special vulnerabilities and invulnerabilities to certain words, ideas, or arguments. Used properly (or improperly as the case may be) can mean the result is determined without any dice or deference to stats or rules at all. In fact, if you want to gear play towards social interaction, just like a combat-oriented adventure you're careful to have all the relevant monster stats on hand, you should have notes about the personalities and motives of your NPCs on hand just as well.
Just like the werewolf, you don't always know you're fighting a supernatural creature until it's too late, so to is the case of special NPCs who will not listen to reason.