Revision as of 08:08, 5 April 2010

Social Conflict

an extensive revision of Social Combat for Exalted 2nd Edition

NOTE: Bazzalisk (aka Pip on rpg.net) has made a much easier to read, modified version of this system. It can be found at [Bazzalisk's Social Conflict Revision].

Please use [THIS THREAD] on rpg.net for comments - thanks!

SOCIAL CONFLICT 1.0

Introduction

The Social Conflict system is a replacement for the Social Combat rules of White Wolf’s Exalted 2nd Edition roleplaying game. White Wolf made a very good start with their ambitious Social Combat rules, which have great potential. However, many players and storytellers have experienced problems and noted inconsistencies with the system.

The ‘tick system’ that was developed to replace turns and initiative in physical combat is used for Social Combat as well. Unfortunately, applying the tick system to social interaction results in unrealistic exchanges which do not flow naturally, as normal conversation should. The way that mental defenses are calculated make ignoring arguments far more effective than counterarguing, which discourages dramatic social engagement. There is no allowance in the system to account for a difference in resisting ridiculous arguments or ludicrous suggestions over more reasonable pressures: the “Yeddim-sexing problem”, which illustrates out that under the system it is just as easy to convince a character to do something completely ludicrous (ie have sex with a Yeddim) as it is to convince them to sit down for a cup of tea. The end results of extremely successful and marginally successful social attacks are identical, which is a disincentive to develop a character’s social skills to legendary levels. Also, there is little encouragement for the player to go along with the effect of a successful social attack on their character, other than to avoid spending Willpower. By spending a small amount of Willpower, a character may render themselves immune to another character’s social actions for an entire scene. In addition, several characteristics carry less weight than they should: the Appearance attribute is either overpowering or useless; Compassion and Temperance virtues are undervalued compared to Conviction and Valour; and the abilities of Socialize and Linguistics play little to no part in social combat, other than as sources of Charms.

Social Conflict addresses all of these problems. It keeps intact most of the mechanical aspects of Exalted 2nd Edition Social Combat, such as Social Attack dice pools and Defense values, although a few of the calculations have been altered. It still uses Intimacies, strong Virtues and Motivations as modifiers on a character’s Mental Defense Values.

Social Conflict however dispenses entirely with the ‘tick system’ of pacing, using instead a slightly modified version of the excellent “Tickless Social Combat” system developed by Democritus. The Tickless system introduces two major concepts: first, a finite “Composure” score for each character, which is depleted by taking social actions; second, a system for holding, relinquishing and seizing “The Floor” (ie the right to speak and make social attacks) to provide for a more realistic conversation model.

The results of successful social attacks are now called “Influences”. The way that both Influences and ‘normal’ Intimacies affect characters has been altered significantly. Each Influence and each Intimacy is tied to a particular Virtue, and may be of varying strengths. Based on ideas suggested by Similarian, there is now positive encouragement “The Carrot” for following one’s Intimacies and/or Influences, as well as negative consequences “The Stick” for contravening them. Both the “Carrot” and “Stick” result in the gain or loss of Virtue channels, though Willpower may be spent instead at the player’s option. The option of completely ignoring a character’s social attacks for a scene by merely spending 2 Willpower points has been removed. Instead, after failing to create a particular Influence it gets progressively harder to attempt to create the same Influence.

Social attacks have been formally codified into Emotion, Intimacy, Compulsion and Investigation attacks for the purposes of defining durations and Mental Defense Value modifiers. There is a single, simple table of MDV modifiers that take into account unlikely, dangerous and ridiculous Influences.

In order to differentiate varying degrees of success on social attacks, more ideas from Similarian have been used. Social Conflict uses “Damage” and “Soak” values for social attacks, exactly like their counterparts in physical combat. Greater social ‘damage’ results in a stronger Influence. Special rules for “Strength 0” Influences (attacks that succeed but deal no damage) and for “Overwhelming” Influences (attacks that inflict an Influence of higher Strength than the target Virtue of the character) preserve player choice in the behaviour of their character but reflect the different effects of such Influences.

Appearance, Linguistics and Socialize traits are now all useful in Social Conflict against all opponents, and high-Appearance characters are no longer invulnerable to social attack. Appearance no longer modifies mental Defense Values at all; instead it combines with Socialize to form the Composure pool, and with Linguistics to determine the base ‘damage’ of social attacks. Socialize is also used instead of Awareness for Join Debate rolls, as well as for seizing or holding The Floor.

Integrity has been removed from the Dodge Mental Defense Value calculation, and is now used in conjunction with the Temperance virtue to determine social Soak. Compassion has been broadened to cover all intense feelings about people and places: hatred and antipathy in addition to friendship and love.

Links:

[Democritus' Tickless Social Combat]

[Similarian's Social Combat Revision]

Democritus and Similarian have graciously given permission for their material to be reproduced and modified here.

Intimacies and Influences

Intimacies are feelings and beliefs that are held for long periods of time. Players choose starting Intimacies for their own characters. An “Influence” is any result of a Social Attack: it may be an Intimacy Influence, indicating that long-term feelings have been instilled, or it may be a shorter duration Emotion or Compulsion Influence that lasts only until the end of the scene. In Social Conflict, Intimacies and Influences are treated largely the same, except for their durations.

The Exalted 2nd edition rules lack strong mechanical incentives to follow both one’s Intimacies and the results of Social Combat. In Social Conflict, following or contravening these personality traits results in the immediate gain or loss of Virtue channels. Virtue channels are gained by a character acting in accordance with an Intimacy of theirs, or an Influence that has been applied by means of a Social Attack. Virtue channels are lost as a penalty for acting against one’s Intimacies and Influences. Since Virtue channels are valuable – they can be spent to improve any dice roll in the game, increasing a dice pool over its normal maximum - this provides encouragement to the players to roleplay their Intimacies and any Influences that have been thrust upon them, as they will get an in-game advantage by doing so. This idea is taken from Similarian’s “Social Combat Revision”.

Intimacy Classes

In order to make this concept work, Intimacies must be tweaked a bit. In Social Conflict, each Virtue has a specific Class of Intimacy associated with it. Only channels in the appropriate Virtue are gained and lost for behaviour regarding a particular Intimacy.

||Virtue||Intimacy Class||Examples|| || || || || ||Compassion||Passion||like, lust, love, admire, dislike, hate, jealousy|| ||Conviction||Ideal / Belief||Immaculate Philosophy; Solars will save the world|| ||Temperance||Taboo (vs something)||vegetarianism(vs meat), chastity (vs sex), honesty (vs lying)|| ||Valour||Duty||patriotism, fealty, protect one’s family, defend all women||

Note that the Virtue of Compassion has been expanded to include all feelings about people, places and things, including negative feelings. A low-Compassion character is cold and detached, not hateful. A high-Compassion character has the capacity to experience powerful feelings both of desire and of antipathy.

Intimacy Strengths and Numbers

Instead of using the Conviction rating for all Intimacies, the maximum strength of a particular Intimacy is now equal to the character’s rating in the specific Virtue associated with that class of Intimacy. Intimacies need not be at maximum strength – a player may wish to hold several Intimacies of the same Virtue at varying strengths. However, strong Intimacies are useful in order to defend against Influences inflicted by Social Attacks. For example, a Compassion 3, Conviction 1 character might have the Intimacies: Love My Wife (3), Love my friends (2), and a belief in the Righteousness of the Unconquered Sun (1). Such a character would be hard to convince to betray his wife, but easy to convince to blaspheme against his god.

A character must have a minimum of one Intimacy of the appropriate class for any Virtue rated at 3+, plus another one for each point above 3 (ie a Valour 5 character would need at least 3 Duty Intimacies). Most characters have more Intimacies than the minimum, however. There is no maximum – a character can have as many Intimacies as desired (or as are thrust upon him…). More Intimacies generally result in more control over the behaviour of your character – it is harder to convince him to do things against what you have defined as his Intimacies. As a general rule, major NPCs tend to have one Intimacy of the appropriate Class for each point of each Virtue, no matter what their rating.

Virtue Channel Gain and Loss

The ‘Carrot’ and the ‘Stick’ concepts govern Virtue channel gain and loss for acting in accordance with or against both Intimacies, and the Influences instilled by Social Attacks. In addition, there are special rules for particularly weak ‘Strength 0’ Influences, and particularly strong ‘Overwhelming’ Influences.

The Carrot

A character who follows an Influence or Intimacy may immediately regain one spent channel in that Virtue, which becomes available for use again. If the character is at full channels in that Virtue, he may not gain extra channels – however, if he loses a channel in that same Virtue during the same scene (due to acting against another Influence of Intimacy linked to the same Virtue, or channeling the Virtue for a dice roll) he may gain it back immediately if he has been acting in accordance with an Intimacy or Influence of that Virtue.

The Stick

A character who acts against an Intimacy or Influence, must mark off (spend) one channel in the related virtue. Alternately, the character may choose to spend a willpower instead. If the character has marked off all of her channels for the appropriate Virtue, she must spend a WP to act against the Influence. In the sorry circumstance that she is out of channels in that Virtue and out of WP, she may not act against the Influence.

‘Strength 0’ Influences

It is possible to instill an Influence at Strength 0, by succeeding in a Social Attack but dealing no damage (see “Damage” in the section on Social Attacks, below). In this case, only the Carrot applies, not the Stick: the character may gain a Virtue channel by following a Strength 0 Influence, but does not risk losing a Virtue channel nor a WP by acting against or ignoring it.

‘Overwhelming’ Influences

The maximum strength of an Influence is (Virtue Rating +1). Such an Influence, which is higher strength than the rating of the relevant Virtue, is called an “Overwhelming Influence”. Acting against an Overwhelming Influence causes the character to accrue a point of Limit as well as spend a Virtue channel or Willpower. Only 1 point of Limit may be gained per scene for violating a single particular Influence.

Changing the Strength of Intimacies and Influences

By choosing to act in accordance with or by violating an Intimacy or an Influence, a character’s personality may change gradually. Consistently ignoring or acting against an Intimacy will weaken it, while following a weak Intimacy may strengthen it.

If a character acts in accordance with an Intimacy (whether a pre-existing Intimacy or an Intimacy Influence) she may choose to increase the strength of that Intimacy by 1. This is never required, it is always optional and up to the player.

Every time a Virtue channel or WP is spent to act against an existing Intimacy or an Intimacy Influence, the strength of that Intimacy is reduced by one. This loss of Intimacy strength is not optional.

A given Intimacy can only be strengthened by 1 point per scene in this way. However, an Intimacy may be reduced by more than one point in a single scene, if the player chooses to spend more than one Virtue channel and/or willpower in order to do so. This may be especially advantageous in order to reduce the strength of a strong Influence to below that of a previously held conflicting Intimacy, for example. Note that the player must actually act against an Intimacy (or have the opportunity to refuse to act in accordance with a Compulsion or Emotion) in order to reduce its Strength in this way.

Characters may still reduce or increase Intimacies by meditation and contemplation, as in the Exalted 2nd Edition core rules (see p.173). Altering Intimacy strength in this way affects neither Virtue channels nor Willpower. However, a character requires an entire day of meditation to alter a single Intimacy by 1 point. Characters may only alter a single Intimacy each day in this way. It is much faster to change one’s Intimacies by action than by contemplation.

Inner Turmoil – Conflicting Intimacies and Influences

Sometimes a character will have Intimacies and/or Influences which contradict one another. Certain actions or lack of action will necessarily violate either one or the other.

If the two are based on different Virtues, then Virtue channels may be both gained and lost. For example, the character may have the Intimacy: Chaste (Temperance) and be suffering from an Emotion: Lust (Compassion). If he refrains from participating in the ongoing Cynis orgy, he may gain a Temperance channel but must lose a Compassion channel. If he indulges, then vice versa.

However, if the two are based on the same Virtue, then the relative strengths of the Intimacies/ Influences come into play. Treat the strength of each as a dice pool; roll that number of dice for each in an opposed test. Whichever gets more successes is the IntimacyStrangelooper/SocialConflict/Influence which has the effect on Virtue Channels. Note that the player must decide which way to act before rolling the dice to see what happens to his Virtue Channels.

Regardless of the outcome of the roll, the Strength of each of the conflicting IntimaciesStrangelooper/SocialConflict/Influences is affected as normal by the character’s chosen actions (ie acting against it will reduce its strength by 1, and acting in accordance with it may increase it’s strength by 1). Also, if the character acts against an overwhelming Influence, he accrues a point of Limit regardless of the outcome of the opposed roll. The opposed roll only determines whether the character gains or loses a Virtue channel as a result of his conflict.

For example: A monk with Conviction 3 has the belief: Immaculate Philosophy (Conviction) at strength 2. However, a persuasive Eclipse has instilled the belief: Worship the Unconquered Sun (Conviction) at strength 4. This is an Overwhelming Influence, as it is higher than the monk’s rating in the Virtue. The Eclipse asks the monk to join him in prayer to the Unconquered Sun.

The monk is in conflict; praying would satisfy the Influence but betray his Intimacy. Not praying would satisfy the Intimacy but betray the Influence. The player decides that the monk chooses to not pray. He must roll 4 dice for the Worship Influence (scoring 3 successes) and 2 dice for the Immaculate Philosophy Intimacy (getting only one success). Since the Worship the Unconquered Sun roll achieved more successes, he must lose one Convintion channel or pay a WP. Had the Immaculate Philosophy roll scored more successes, he would have gained a Conviction channel instead, if any had been spent previously. Regardless of the outcome of the rolls, the Worship Influence loses one point of Strength (becoming Strength 3) since he acted against it. As it was an Overwhelming Influence, the character also accrues a point of Limit. The monk may increase his Intimacy in the Immaculate Philosophy by 1 (to Strength 3) for acting in accordance with it.

“Acting in accordance with” and “Acting against” an Influence is judged over the entire scene – a character must act in accordance with the Influence for at least part of the scene, as well as not acting against the Influence at any time during the scene, in order to gain the Virtue channel. If the character gains a Virtue channel by acting in accordance with an Influence or Intimacy, but later in the scene acts against that trait, then the Virtue channel is immediately lost (or a WP must be spent if the no channels remain in that Virtue).

Initiating Social Conflict

Not every conversation needs to be a conflict, just as not every physical action needs to have dice rolled. Asking directions to the town hall does not need to use the Social Conflict rules, unless the character has a shining Anathema Caste Mark on their forehead and are asking the local Immaculates.

Social Conflict will usually arise during the normal roleplaying of a conversation, when a PC tries to convince an NPC (or another PC) of something against their will, or vice versa. Whenever a character is speaking, they may initiate Social Conflict by declaring a Social Attack. At this point all participants should roll to Join Debate, in the same way that Join Battle is rolled when someone starts a physical conflict (however, Join Debate now uses Wits + Socialize). The character may try to initiate a Surprise social attack – see Social Surprise, below)

If this is the first instance of Social Combat this scene, then everyone starts at their full Composure. Otherwise, they start with the Composure they had at the end of the last instance of Social Conflict.

Join Debate

This roll is now Wits + Socialize. Excellencies and/or other Charms may be used to boost this roll as normal, though only a single Charm may be used without a Combo. Whoever wins the Join Debate roll has The Floor and may begin speaking, taking Social Actions and/or making Social Attacks.

Join Debate is rolled by all participants at the start of a Social Conflict. It is also rolled when a speaker Relinquishes The Floor; in this case, everyone except the speaker gets to roll. In a two-person discussion, the other person automatically gets The Floor after it is Relinquished.

Exceptions: Attacking from Social Surprise may deny certain opponents the opportunity to roll Join Debate (see Social Surprise, below). Also, if the speaker Relinquishes The Floor in response to another character’s Seize Debate action, then the character who initiated the Seize Debate action automatically gets The Floor.

Social Surprise

A character who has been speaking outside of the context of a Social Conflict may attempt a Surprise Social Attack. This represents a sharp segue from a seemingly idle conversation. The attack may be any type of Social Attack; however, Surprise attacks may never be flurried regardless of Rate, as they rely on speed for effect. The speaker must first declare the type of attack and its target, then rolls a ‘Social Surprise’ dice pool of Manipulation + Socialize, which may be stunted and affected by appropriate Charms. Each other character present defends with a Surprise Mental Defense Value of (Wits + Socialize) / 2, modified for Charms as a static value.

If the speaker’s successes on the Social Surprise roll exceed all of their opponents’ Surprise MDVs, then the speaker automatically has The Floor and may continue with their intended attack.

If the speaker fails to beat one or more of his opponents, then the speaker and those opponents (only) roll Join Debate. If the speaker wins, then they have The Floor and must make their intended Social Attack. If an opponent wins the Join Debate roll, then the winning character has managed to cut off the speaker before the Social Attack is delivered, and the winning character has The Floor.

If the speaker is able to make his Social Attack after a successful Social Surprise roll, any character whose Surprise MDV was exceeded will suffer a special penalty to their Mental Defense Values against that single Social Attack. The penalty is equal to the number of successes by which the Social Surprise roll exceeded their own Surprise MDV, to a maximum penalty of –3 for surprise.

Tickless Social Combat

Composure

All participants have a Composure rating. Composure is a spendable static value (like Willpower). However, where willpower measures the mental energy of a character, Composure measures how cool, suave and level-headed a character is. As the character spends or loses Composure he will become frustrated and tongue-tied, unable to form coherent arguments. Eventually he will run out of conversational capital, start spluttering and repeating himself, and he will not be taken seriously.

COMPOSURE = (Appearance + Socialize + Permanent Essence) / 2.

Excellencies may be used to enhance Composure, but only once per scene, when Composure is first calculated. After a character has passed on using Excellencies on Composure, they may not change their mind and use an Excellency later in the scene to retroactively increase their Composure.

Composure must be spent in order to attempt actions in Social Conflict. It costs 1 Composure in order to: 1) make a Social Attack (or a single flurry of Social Attacks) 2) attempt to Seize the Floor while someone is talking 3) attempt to Hold the Floor after you make a Social Attack.

It does not cost composure to defend against Social Attacks with either DMDV or PMDVs, nor does it cost composure to roll Join Debate or take The Floor after someone else makes a Social Attack.

Composure is refreshed to its full value at the beginning of the next scene. It is never refreshed during the same scene, even if Social Conflict ends (through Join Battle or an unwillingness to talk for example) and starts anew within the same scene. All participants are simply exhausted and need a break before continuing the debate.

Getting a hold of yourself: Any character may reflexively spend 1 WP to gain 1 Composure at any time.

The Floor

The Floor represents having the attention of the other participants in the conversation, and the ability to take Social Actions and make Social Attacks. Only one person may ever have The Floor at any one time. Whoever has The Floor is referred to as the ‘speaker’.

At the start of Social Conflict, the character with the highest Join Debate roll will initially have the Floor. The speaker may start roleplaying a conversation, and may speak as long as they wish. This is considered a Monologue Action (see Social Actions, below). Others may chime in with brief comments at will, but they may neither interrupt the player who has the Floor nor take any Social Actions other than Seize Debate. At any point , the character who currently has the Floor may decide to make a Social Attack or take other Social Actions. The speaker should declare when he is making the actual Social Attack, which should be a brief summation or final statement. The speaker may not be interrupted with a Seize Debate action after declaring a Social Attack. Similarly, the speaker may not avoid a declared Seize Debate action by announcing a Social Attack.

Social Actions

Seize Debate (1 Composure, MDV-1)

By interrupting the speaker, another character may cut him off and Seize the Debate, taking The Floor by skill and force of personality. The attempt may only be made by a character who does NOT currently have The Floor. It must be declared before the declaration of a Social Attack, not during. It costs 1 Composure to attempt to Seize Debate, and it applies a –1 MDV penalty to the interrupter.

The speaker may willingly concede by Relinquishing The Floor to the interrupter, for strategic reasons and/or to reduce his own MDV penalties (see Relinquishing The Floor, below). In this case there is no roll, and the interrupting character automatically gains The Floor.

If the speaker resists the interruption and attempts to keep talking, then the interrupter must roll Appearance + Socialize against a Parry MDV chosen by the speaker. Excellencies and other Charms may be applied by either or both the interrupter and the speaker. If the interrupting character beats the speaker’s PMDV, then he has Seized The Floor and may begin speaking and making Social Attacks – the original speaker must trail off and let the new speaker talk. If he resists and loses The Floor, the original speaker does NOT lower his MDV penalty by 1.

Nothing prevents the character who just lost the floor from making a Seize Debate roll right away. In fact, many social conflicts consist of rapid fire exchanges with the initiative passing from one character to another. Players had best be careful however, because they can not make meaningful arguments if they spend all their Composure trying to Seize Debate. Such rapid-fire debates can easily devolve into pointless screaming matches in which nothing is accomplished.

If more than one character attempts to Seize Debate at the same time, each interrupter must pay 1 Composure and take a –1 MDV penalty. All players then roll at the same time. The character who gets the highest number of successes Seizes the Floor (as long as they beat the PMDV of the speaker, should he resist). If there is a tie, whoever has the higher Appearance takes the Floor. If Appearance does not resolve the issue, use the highest Socialize ability, then the highest Permanent Essence to determine who takes the floor.

Relinquish The Floor (0 Composure, cancels –1 of MDV penalty) This action may only be taken by the speaker. The speaker may willingly gives up the floor, which allows him to reduce his own MDV penalties by 1. This action is most often taken after a Social Attack has been resolved or after a Seize Debate action is declared by another character; however, the speaker may Relinquish The Floor at any time except during the resolution of his Social Attack(s).

If this action is taken in response to someone who has declared a Seize Debate action, then that character automatically takes The Floor (in this way, someone may ‘gift’ The Floor to an ally by Relinquishing upon their Seize Debate action). If this action is taken after an Investigation Attack, then the target of the attack automatically has The Floor and may begin speaking (often answering the query if the Investigation Attack was successful). If The Floor is Relinquished after a Performance or Presence attack, then make a new Join Debate roll for everyone except for the speaker.

Hold The Floor (1 Composure, MDV +/- 0) The character who has resolved a Social Attack may attempt to Hold The Floor in order to keep talking and make more Social Attacks – however, he must pay 1 Composure to attempt this. He rolls (Charisma or Manipulation) + Socialize and compares the result against the Parry MDVs of each participant in the conversation; even if the attack was a Presence or Investigation attack against a single target, all characters in the conversation may contest his Holding The Floor. If he beats all of the PMDVs, the speaker successfully Holds The Floor, although his MDV penalties are NOT reduced. If he does not beat all of the PMDVs, then the character who applied the highest PMDV automatically takes The Floor.

A character should not attempt to Hold The Floor after a successful Investigation attack, or the target will be unable to answer and the attack will have been wasted.

MonologueStrangelooper/SocialConflict/Study (0 Composure, MDV –1). This action may only be taken by the speaker. This is similar to the “Aim” action in physical combat. The speaker tells a story, makes a digression, relates an anecdote, etc. with the goal of supporting his eventual Social Attack. This action applies a –1 MDV penalty to the speaker, but grants an extra die on a subsequent Social Attack. If the speaker loses The Floor before he gets a chance to make his Attack, then the bonus die is lost, but the MDV penalty remains.

The speaker may take this action multiple times in order to gain more dice; however, the MDV penalty increases each time, and thus it becomes increasingly easy for another participant to Seize Debate and render the monologue wasted. A bonus of 3 dice from monologues is the maximum that may be applied, as otherwise the speaker has rambled too long and his audience has forgotten what he was speaking about earlier.

When used to support an Investigation attack, this action is referred to as a “Study” action, as the speaker examines the reactions to his speech. The effects are exactly the same, however.

Social Attacks

All Social Attacks target a particular Virtue of the Defender. Other Virtues may provide bonuses or penalties to the defender, but the attack itself must target a single Virtue. The player and the storyteller should agree on which Virtue is being targeted by a particular attack, before resolving the attack.

Performance Attack (1 Composure, MDV –2, Rate 1). This action may only be taken by the speaker. A Performance Attack uses a dice pool = (Charisma or Manipulation) + Performance, and represents a dramatic speech, song or dance. The speaker targets all participants of the conversation with a single attack to instill an Emotion, Intimacy or Compulsion Influence.

Presence Attack (1 Composure, MDV-1, Rate 2) This action may only be taken by the speaker. A Presence attack uses a dice pool = (Charisma or Manipulation) + Presence, and represents a persuasive argument. The speaker targets a single participant with an attack to instill an Emotion, Intimacy or Compulsion Influence.

Investigation Attack (1 Composure, MDV-1, Rate 2) This action may only be taken by the speaker. A Presence attack uses a dice pool = (Charisma or Manipulation) + Presence, and represents an inquiry. The speaker targets a single participant with an attack to instill an Investigation Compulsion (ie a compulsion to reveal the desired information).

Each investigation attack represents inquiry into a single topic: either a) feelings about a particular subject (the target will reveal if he has strong feelings about the subject and in which direction, but need not reveal whether his feelings stem from Intimacy, Motivation or a strong Virtue. Only in the case of an Overwhelming Influence must he reveal that information as well.

b) information about a subject (the target must answer the asked question; Overwhelming Influence will cause the target to tell everything she knows, even unasked-for information).  

Types of Influences

There are four types of Influences which may be instilled into the target(s) as a result of a Social Attack: Emotions, Intimacies, Compulsions and Investigation Compulsions.

Emotions are general feelings that are not linked to a particular person, belief etc. Examples are Anger, Lust, Pity etc. Emotion Influences are often the vanguard of a series of Social Attacks, as they are the easiest type of Influence to induce (see Situational MDV Modifiers), and they can make subsequent influence attempts easier. However, they are the least directed types of Influence – there is often no telling what someone will do once overcome by a particular emotion. A given Emotion can target any Virtue, depending upon the circumstances of the attack: Anger over a fallen comrade can target Compassion or Valour, for example. Pity could target Conviction or Compassion, etc. The attacker chooses the target Virtue, as long as a reasonable case can be made for the choice. Emotions are short-lived – the strength of an Emotion drops by 1 at the end of every scene, in addition to any strength decrease from acting against the Emotion Influence.

Intimacies are directed feelings. These include liking, lusting for, hating, or loving other people, places or things (Compassion); beliefs and ideals (Conviction); and feelings of duty or responsibility (Temperance and Valour). While Intimacies are more directed than Emotions in that the subject of the feeling is chosen by the attacker, Intimacies do not have the immediacy of Compulsions. Also, Intimacies are the longest lasting of all Influences. An Intimacy Influence that is at Strength 0 at the end of the scene will fade completely at that point. However, any Intimacy Influence of strength 1 or higher lasts longer. An Overwhelming Intimacy that is still Overwhelming (strength > target Virtue) at the end of the scene drops in strength by 1 at that point, to become a normal (maximum strength) Intimacy. but otherwise Intimacy Influences become normal Intimacies and just as permanent.

Compulsions are a desire to do or not do something in the moment, right now, or as soon as possible. Ie “Let me into the party” (Conviction), “Have sex with me” (Compassion). Compulsions are the most difficult Influence to induce (see Situational MDV Modifiers); it is often wise to induce appropriate Emotion and/or Intimacy Influences prior to attempting a Compulsion. Compulsion Influences expire immediately or at the end of the scene as appropriate.

Investigation attacks are treated as instilling a Compulsion (usually targeted to Temperance) to provide the desired information. Investigation Compulsions expire immediately, whether resisted or not. The attacker should give the target the chance to speak (by Relinquishing The Floor) after an Investigation Attack, or the compulsion may expire before the target can answer.

Social Defense

A character who is the target of a Social Attack may apply either their Dodge Mental Defense Value (DMDV) or one of their Parry Mental Defense Values (PMDV)s against the attack.

Dodge MDV represents ignoring the attack. Charms or particularly creative stunts (it’s hard to stunt ‘ignoring someone’) may raise the DMDV. Parry MDVs represent actively countering the attack. This is often easier to stunt, but some characters are better at parrying certain types of attacks than others.

Dodge Mental Defense Value

Integrity has been removed from the Dodge MDV calculation; largely because Integrity is now a part of social soak, but also to encourage the development of social skills to use for parrying.

DMDV = (Willpower + Permanent Essence) / 2.

Note that since neither Attributes nor Abilities are included in the calculation, Excellency Charms cannot be used to raise DMDV.

Steeling Yourself: Any character (including mortals) may commit a point of Willpower in order to ‘steel’ themselves against a particular theme of attacks. This has the effect of doubling the Willpower effect on Dodge MDV; effectively Dodge MDV = Willpower + (Permanent Essence / 2) vs a particular theme of attacks. However, the Willpower point is committed for the duration and may not be regained. Mortals often commit WP with respect to their jobs; for example, a guard may commit WP with respect to his charge when on duty. A character may only ‘Steel’ himself against a number of themes of social attack equal to his Conviction, and each costs a committed WP point - the WP may not be regained by any means until it is uncommitted by the character, which ends the ‘Steeling’ effect.

NPCs who are Steeled not only gain a higher DMDV, but they also gain the option of spending Virtue Channels or WP to act against Influences that contravene the theme against which they are Steeled.

Parry MDVs

Parry MDVs are (Charisma or Manipulation + Performance or Presence or Investigation) / 2, as in the core Exalted rules.

Parry MDVs represent actively countering the attack. Performance is used to scoff and be dismissive, Presence is used for cogent counterarguments, and Investigation is used to point out inconsistencies in the Attack. A character who uses a Mental Parry may make a brief statement or exposition to represent his parry, which may may earn a stunt bonus. However, if the character does not want to stunt then they need not say anything - the parry can be considered 'internal dialogue' as they consider the attacker's words.

It is important to note that the appropriate Excellency charms may be used with Parry MDVs, unlike with Dodge MDV.

MDV Modifiers

In addition to the bonus from ‘Steeling’ oneself against a theme of attacks (see above), other factors affect MDVs. Attacks that support or conflict with any of the defender’s Intimacies, strong Virtues (at 3+) or Motivation will apply penalties to MDV. Repeated attacks after failing at least once will provide a cumulative bonus to the target’s MDV, as they become skeptical. Finally, there is a situational modifier based on how mild, sensible, severe or ludicrous the attempted Influence happens to be.

|| ||Aligned||Opposed|| ||Intimacy / Influence||+1 each||-1 each|| ||Strong Virtue (at 3+)||+2||-2|| ||Motivation||+3||-3|| The total bonus / penalty from these factors cannot exceed +/- 3.

If two strong virtues contradict each other, then assign a bonus or penalty based on the highest Virtue. If both are equal, then there is neither a bonus nor penalty from the Virtues.

||Situational MDV Modifiers|| ||Emotions||Intimacies||Investigations||Other Compulsions||MDV modifier|| ||Laudable / Expected|| - || - || - ||-2|| ||Normal||Obvious ideas||Common knowledge|| - ||-1|| ||Unusual||Lust / like, Plausible Idea, Inconsequential Duty or Taboo||Intimacy, Strong Virtue||-||0|| ||Inappropriate||Dislike / respect, Inconvenient Duty or Taboo||Gossip||LaudableStrangelooper/SocialConflict/Expected||+1|| ||Dangerous||Unusual idea, Onerous Duty or Taboo||Confidential information||Normal||+2|| || - ||Love / hate, Dangerous / silly idea, Dangerous Duty or Taboo||Motivation, Dangerous information||Inappropriate||+4|| || - ||Devotion, Absurd idea, Very dangerous but useful Duty||Deepest secrets, repressed information||Dangerous||+8|| || -||Pointless and suicideal duty|| - ||Fatal or Suicidal || “unacceptable order” = no chance of success||

Repeated attempts: +2 per failed attempt (cumulative) The repetition modifier is cumulative with each failed attempt to instill the same (or a similar) Influence during one scene, by any speaker(s). However, this modifier resets to 0 upon any attack that successfully creates that Influence in the target; even if the Influence is only Strength 0.

If the successes rolled on the attack exceed the MDV that is being used to defend, then the attack is successful and is now called an ‘Influence’.

What happens next depends on whether the attack was a Natural Mental Influence or an Unnatural Mental Influence. Unnatural Mental Influences are rare and only result from particular Charms and Sorceries. This is indicated in the description of the Charm or Spell. Excellencies and other Charms that merely give bonuses to Social Attacks do NOT make the Influence ‘Unnatural’. If in doubt, an Influence should be considered a Natural Mental Influence.

Natural Mental Influences

Social Damage and Soak

A successful attack to instill a Natural Mental Influence may be more or less effective, depending upon the ‘damage’ dealt by the attack and the ‘soak’ of the defender. The damage of the attack depends upon the attractiveness, carriage and demeanor (Appearance) of the attacker, his skill with language (Linguistics) and the degree of success of his Social Attack. The ‘soak’ of the defender depends on his innate resistance to influence (Temperance), his mental self-discipline (Integrity) and his Essence.

RAW DAMAGE = Appearance + Linguistics + extra successes

SOAK = Temperance + Integrity + Permanent Essence

Damage Dice = Raw Damage – Soak.

Note that any successful attack has a minimum damage equal to the attacker’s Permanent Essence, just like in physical combat. There is no such thing as Social ‘Hardness’, so all successful attacks will roll at least (attacker’s Essence) in damage dice.

Roll (damage) number of dice. 10’s do not count double on damage rolls. Count up the number of successes, and that becomes the strength of the Influence.

Strength 0 Influences Even if no damage successes are rolled, a successful Social Attack still has a mild effect and should be noted as an Influence with strength 0.

Overwhelming InfluencesThe strength of a Natural Mental Influence may never be higher than (target Virtue + 1). If a Natural Mental Influence does reach (target Virtue + 1) then it is called an “Overwhelming Influence” and there are more severe penalties for acting against it.

Effects of Natural Mental Influences

The affected character may now regain spent Virtue channels by acting in accordance with the Influence, and he may have to spend Virtue channels (or Willpower) to resist or act against the Influence. See the first section on Intimacies and Influences.

Note that NPCs will rarely spend Virtue channels or Willpower to resist Natural Mental Influences. They will generally act in accordance with any Influence that does not conflict with a higher strength Intimacy or Influence, or their Motivation. NPCs will never act against an Overwhelming Influence, regardless of other factors. Since Virtue channels are rarely used or tracked for NPCs, just spend WP in order to act against Influences.

Effects of Unnatural Mental Influences

Damage and Soak are ignored for Unnatural Mental Influences. Also, Virtue channels are neither regained nor lost for behaving in accordance with or against the Influence. The ‘strength’ of an Unnatural Mental Influence is irrelevant – all Unnatural Mental Influences are stronger than even Overwhelming Natural Influences. Only by spending Willpower (often more than a single WP point), can an Unnatural Influence be resisted.

Limit: Fighting against mind control is stressful to the spirit. Each WP point spent to resist an Unnatural Influence causes the resisting character to accrue one point of Limit.

Each Charm or other Unnatural Mental Influence lists the WP cost required to resist the Charm (either for a certain time period, or entirely). If no cost is listed (ie Charismatic Lunar Trick) then assume the cost to resist is 1 WP and the duration is 1 scene. Extremely successful Unnatural Influences may increase this cost: divide the extra successes on the attack roll by 4, rounding down. The result is the number of extra WP points that must be spent to resist the influence, in addition to that listed in the Charm description.

||Extra Successes (= successes - MDV)||Extra Willpower cost to resist|| ||1-4||+0|| ||5-8||+1|| ||9-12||+2|| ||13-15||+3|| etc. etc.

Social Attack Order Summary

The steps of making a Social Attack are:

1) Pay one Composure. If the character is out of composure, he may not make a Social Attack. 2) Describe the intended Influence, and decide a) if it is Honest (uses Charisma) or Dishonest (uses Manipulation) b) the type of attack (Performance, Presence or Investigation) c) the Class of the intended Influence (ie its target Virtue) d) if it is a Natural Mental Influence or an Unnatural Mental Influence.

   NB.  Unnatural Mental Influences are only achievable via Charms or other magic.

3) Declare the target character, in the case of Presence and Investigation attacks. 4) Decide whether a Presence or Performance attack seeks to instill and Emotion, Intimacy, or a Compulsion. Investigation attacks are always Compulsions. 5) Calculate Attack Dice Pool (Charisma or Manipulation + Performance or Presence or Investigation), + bonuses for stunts, Charms, channeling Virtues for dice, and prior MonologueStrangelooper/SocialConflict/Study actions.

6) Calculate MDV: either Dodge MDV, or any Parry MDV that uses the same attribute as that used in the attack.  Apply MDV modifiers for personality, multiple attempts, and situational modifiers.  Excellencies and some other Charms with the “Social” keyword may be used to enhance MDV

9) Roll dice = Attack Dice Pool. Add any automatic successes from Excellencies or other Charms. Compare to the defender’s chosen MDV. If successes > MDV, the attack is successful; (successes – MDV) = extra successes. Attacks that are not successful have no effect. 10) a) Upon a successful Natural Mental Influence, calculate i) Attacker’s Raw Damage (= Appearance + Linguistics + extra successes on the attack). ii) Defender’s Soak (=Temperance + Integrity) iii) Damage (= Raw Damage – Soak); minimum Damage = attacker’s Essence Roll Damage dice. 10’s do not count double on Damage rolls. Number of Damage Successes = strength of the Influence. If zero successes are rolled, the Influence is still created as a Strength 0 Influence. Any Influence with Strength higher than the target Virtue is noted as an Overwhelming Influence with strength = (Target Virtue +1), which is the maximum strength of an Influence.

b) Upon a successful Unnatural Mental Influence attack, the target is affected as per the text of the Charm. He must spend the indicated WP (1 WP per scene if not indicated) in order to resist the Unnatural Influence. This cost is increased by 1WP per 4 extra successes on the attack. Each WP spent to resist an Unnatural Mental Influence accrues a point of Limit as well.

Ending Social Conflict

There are a number of ways for characters to end a social conflict or their participation in it.

No Composure left When no participant has any Composure remaining, then the Debate has run out of steam and nothing can be accomplished anymore. The Conflict ends and no new Conflict may be started in this scene.

Nobody willing to talk When The Floor is empty and nobody is wishes to Join Debate, then the Conflict ends.

Leaving the area A character involved in social conflict may disengage at any time, usually by leaving the area. Provided they are not under a compulsion to stay, this costs nothing. The character simply leaves and is no longer in social conflict. If he is under a compulsion to stay he must spend one Virtue (usually Temperance) channel or one WP in order to violate the Compulsion and leave.

Characters who walk out of a conversation together may continue the debate amongst themselves, allowing groups to split up into smaller groups. Each newly formed group starts with a Join Debate roll as usual, however Composure does not refresh. Two or more social groups may join up together if they approach one another; the two speakers must either have a Seize Debate contest (costing one Composure each) or Relinquish The Floor.

Characters forced to stay (by physical restraint or pressing business) must participate. Note that kidnapping and torture can be very effective ways to control a social conflict. Draining Temperance channels and willpower with torture will reduce the target’s ability to resist interrogation and brainwashing.

Charms and Social Conflict

Charms interact with Social Conflict in a special manner. Social Conflict does not occur in ticks, thus the Charm timing rules are different. Characters involved in Social Conflict can only use Charms when they take a social action, or when defending themselves against a social action with an MDV.

Characters may use reflexive Charms on their Social Actions and/or MDVs. Simple and Supplemental Charms can only be used to enhance a Social Action, and even then the character may only evoke one such Charm on his action. Evoking more than one Charm at a time requires a Combo of some kind. In order to be used in Social Conflict a Charm must have the Social keyword. Charms that do not have the Social keyword can not be used in Social Conflict. Or more accurately they may, but they have no effect on the Social system. A character may spend the motes for Heavenly Guardian Defense in a social conflict, but it has no effect on any social actions being taken.

Note that this system requires that the Social keyword be applied to more Charms then it currently does. Storytellers should use common sense when applying this rule.

Changes to specific Charms, with regards to Social Conflict, will be detailed below.

Social Conflict and Combat

Because of the nature of social conflict it is no longer disallowed by other types of conflict. It is possible to have a dramatic duel (or a large scale battle for that matter) and a debate at the same time.

The character with The Floor still controls the conversation as during regular Social Conflict. However, the Social Conflict must now conform to the physical combat Tick system. Social Actions may only be taken on one’s physical action tick, and any Social Action is a Miscellaneous Action (Spd 5, DV-1) as far as physical combat is concerned. Social Actions have their normal Composure costs and MDV penalties. Social Actions may be flurried with physical actions. Monologues and Attacks are limited to brief statements or queries (< 5 seconds).

Characters in the battle are more constrained in their ability to react to situations. If an opponent is attacking you he can much more easily force context, preventing you from making coherent arguments by distracting you with sharp pointy objects coming towards your vitals. This does not prevent debate, but it does make it much harder. All characters in battle automatically add +2 to their Mental Dodge DV value and remove -2 from their Mental Parry DV. This happens because the fighting characters pay less attention to what other people say and have less time to talk back themselves. This makes it harder to convince others but easier to Seize Debate. DV penalties and MDV penalties do not affect each other. Wound Penalties gained in Combat do not affect the MDV as the weakening state and the distracting pain cancel each other out. However, wound penalties are applied to Social Action dice pools.

Ticks mean that the normal Charm Timing rules of Exalted come into play. Also remember that Social effects are not affected by Charms that do not also carry the Social keyword. You cannot use Heavenly Guardian Defense to parry a social argument, even in battle.

Joining Battle during a Social Conflict

If a character currently in a social conflict wishes to Join Battle he may spend a point of Composure (or Willpower, if he is out of Composure) to do so. Everyone then makes a Join Battle roll as normal. This does not end the scene, nor does is end Social Conflict. Everyone retains their Composure scores from the debate, as well as any acquired Influences and MDV penalties.

Whoever had The Floor at the moment when everyone Joined Battle retains The Floor during Combat, until they Relinquish the Floor or someone Seizes Debate from them.

Joining Social Conflict during Battle

A Character in battle may make a Join Debate roll as a Miscellaneous Action (Spd 5, DV –1). This begins Social Conflict for the combat. This works the same as a normal Join Debate roll and all other participates may Join Debate as a reflexive action to see who has The Floor. Social Surprise attempts may not be made when initiating Social Conflict from battle, as everyone is on their guard already.

By the Dragons, Stop!

If the character in battle has The Floor and wishes to end physical combat, he may make a Performance Attack against everyone present to create the Compulsion (Temperance) "stop fighting". If in single combat, a Presence Attack is also an option. Strong Valour tends to oppose this Influence, and strong Temperance tends to align with it, though certain circumstances can change this as well as bring other Virtues into play.

If everyone is affected and no one chooses to spend a Temperance channel or a Willpower to ignore the Compulsion, then the battle ends immediately. The speaker who ended the battle automatically Holds The Floor at no extra Composure cost nor MDV penalty. Anyone who wishes to Join Battle later must spend a Temperance channel (or Willpower) to resist the "stop fighting" Compulsion, in addition to the Composure (or Willpower) cost of Joining Battle from a Social Conflict.

If a character is attacked while under a “stop fighting” Compulsion, he may defend himself and fight back at no cost. This is because refusing to defend yourself is an Unacceptable Order. For this reason an argument to end combat only succeeds if it affects everyone. Also, only the person who initiates combat must spend the Willpower (and Composure) to make the Join Battle roll.

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