Diplomacy (Charisma)

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Check

You can change the attitudes of others (nonplayer characters) with a successful Diplomacy check; see the Influencing NPC Attitudes sidebar, below, for basic DCs. In negotiations, participants roll opposed Diplomacy checks, and the winner gains the advantage. Opposed checks also resolve situations when two advocates or diplomats plead opposite cases in a hearing before a third party.

Action

Changing others’ attitudes with Diplomacy generally takes at least 1 full minute (10 consecutive full-round actions). In some situations, this time requirement may greatly increase. A rushed Diplomacy check can be made as a full-round action, but you take a -10 penalty on the check.

Try Again

Optional, but not recommended because retries usually do not work. Even if the initial Diplomacy check succeeds, the other character can be persuaded only so far, and a retry may do more harm than good. If the initial check fails, the other character has probably become more firmly committed to his position, and a retry is futile.

Special

• A half-elf has a +2 racial bonus on Diplomacy checks.
• If you have the Negotiator feat, you get a +2 bonus on Diplomacy checks.

Synergy

If you have 5 or more ranks in Bluff, Knowledge (nobility and royalty), or Sense Motive, you get a +2 bonus on Diplomacy checks.

Influencing NPC Attitudes

Use the table below to determine the effectiveness of Diplomacy checks (or Charisma checks) made to influence the attitude of a nonplayer character, or wild empathy checks made to influence the attitude of an animal or magical beast.

	New Attitude (DC to achieve)
Initial Attitude	Hostile	Unfriendly	Indifferent	Friendly	Helpful
Hostile	Less than 20	20	25	35	50
Unfriendly	Less than 5	5	15	25	40
Indifferent	–	Less than 1	1	15	30
Friendly	–	–	Less than 1	1	20
Helpful	–	–	–	Less than 1	1

Attitude Means Possible Actions

• Hostile Will take risks to hurt you Attack, interfere, berate, flee
• Unfriendly Wishes you ill Mislead, gossip, avoid, watch suspiciously, insult
• Indifferent Doesn’t much care Socially expected interaction
• Friendly Wishes you well Chat, advise, offer limited help, advocate
• Helpful Will take risks to help you Protect, back up, heal, aid

If you’re familiar with the local area, you can use your diplomatic skills win friends and throw off pursuit.

Crime and Punishment
Author Keith Baker
Series Campaign Style
Publisher Atlas Games
Publish date 2003

Check: Diplomacy can be used to interfere with urban tracking. The GM should assign an attitude to the community as a whole; unless you’re already well known, people will probably be indifferent. If you can modify this attitude to helpful, the DC of any Gather Information checks to determine your location will be increased by 5. This check takes from one to six hours, based on the size of the area that you’re trying to affect; it takes longer to canvas a metropolis than to cover a thorp. The effects last for 24 hours.

Retry: You must wait for 24 hours before you can retry a failed check.

Special: You must have 5 or more ranks in either Gather Information or Knowledge (local) in order to attempt this check.

If you have 5 ranks in Bluff, Knowledge (local), or Sense Motive you get a +2 synergy bonus to the check.