Diplomacy

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Diplomacy (Cha)

You can use this skill to persuade others to agree with your arguments, to resolve differences, and to gather valuable information or rumors from people. This skill is also used to negotiate conflicts by using the proper etiquette and manners suitable to the problem.

Check

You can change the initial attitudes of nonplayer characters with a successful check. The DC of this check depends on the creature’s starting attitude toward you, adjusted by its Charisma modifier.

Succeed - If you succeed, the character’s attitude toward you is improved by one step. For every 5 by which your check result exceeds the DC, the character’s attitude toward you increases by one additional step. A creature’s attitude cannot be shifted more than two steps up in this way, although the GM can override this rule in some situations.

Fail - If you fail the check by 4 or less, the character’s attitude toward you is unchanged. If you fail by 5 or more, the character’s attitude toward you is decreased by one step.

You cannot use Diplomacy against a creature that does not understand you or has an Intelligence of 3 or less. Diplomacy is generally ineffective in combat and against creatures that intend to harm you or your allies in the immediate future. Any attitude shift caused through Diplomacy generally lasts for 1d4 hours but can last much longer or shorter depending upon the situation (GM discretion).

Starting Attitude	Diplomacy DC
Hostile	25+ creature's Cha Modifier
Unfriendly	20+ creature's Cha Modifier
Indifferent	15+ creature's Cha Modifier
Friendly	10+ creature's Cha Modifier
Helpful	0+ creature's Cha Modifier

If a creature’s attitude toward you is at least indifferent, you can make requests of the creature. This is an additional Diplomacy check, using the creature’s current attitude to determine the base DC, with one of the following modifiers. Once a creature’s attitude has shifted to helpful, the creature gives in to most requests without a check, unless the request is against its nature or puts it in serious peril. Some requests automatically fail if the request goes against the creature’s values or its nature, subject to GM discretion.

Request	Diplomacy Modifier
Give simple advice or directions	–5
Give detailed advice	+0
Give simple aid	+0
Reveal an unimportant secret	+5
Give lengthy or complicated aid	+5
Give dangerous aid	+10
Reveal secret knowledge	+10 or more
Give aid that could result in punishment	+15 or more
Additional requests	+5 per request

Gather Information

You can also use Diplomacy to gather information about a specific topic or individual. To do this, you must spend at least 1d4 hours canvassing people at local taverns, markets, and gathering places. The DC of this check depends on the obscurity of the information sought, but for most commonly known facts or rumors it is 10. For obscure or secret knowledge, the DC might increase to 20 or higher. The GM might rule that some topics are simply unknown to common folk.

Action

Influence Attitude

Using Diplomacy to influence a creature’s attitude takes 1 minute of continuous interaction.

Make Request

Making a request of a creature takes 1 or more rounds of interaction, depending upon the complexity of the request.

Gather Information

Using Diplomacy to gather information takes 1d4 hours of work, searching for rumors and informants.

Bargaining

Using Diplomacy to negotiate a better buying or selling price with a merchant takes 1 minute of continuous interaction per item being bought or sold.

Try Again

You cannot use Diplomacy to influence a given creature’s attitude more than once in a 24 hour period. If a request is refused, the result does not change with additional checks, although other requests might be made. You can retry Diplomacy checks made to gather information.

Special

Bargaining

Bargaining is a classic part of the role-playing experience, and players are encouraged to try to squeeze the best prices they can manage from the local merchants. The mechanism for this has been simplified to keep it quick, so the other players don't get bored waiting for the rogue to finish her shopping.

Bargaining may only be performed by one PC, and the 'aid another' action may not be used to boost the PC's diplomacy skill. However, the bargaining PC doesn't need to be the PC who wants to buy (or sell) the item in question. Sending in the charming Sorcerer to negotiate the entire party's purchases is just a good idea, and the shopkeepers quite enjoy hanging around such charming people. Leave your barbarian at home.

The DC of the diplomacy check made by a player seeking to buy or sell an item to a magic shop is based on the size of the town or village in which she is shopping.

• See the Money and Merchants page for details.

Players may always elect to skip the diplomacy check, and accept a 50% sell value for their items, or buy items for 100% of the merchant's sale price. Note that this is exactly like failing the check to the maximum extent, so really, rolling is encouraged.

Selling an item to a merchant:

• Starting value the merchant will pay for the item is 55% of the item’s full value, if you are making a diplomacy roll to negotiate.
• +1% per 1 point over the Merchant’s Diplomacy DC, Maximum 75% of item value.
• -1% per 1 point under Merchant’s Diplomacy DC, Minimum 50% of item value.

Buying an item from a merchant

• Starting value the merchant will sell the item for is 95% of the item’s value, if you are making a diplomacy roll to negotiate.
• -1% per 1 point over the Merchant’s Diplomacy DC, minimum 80% of the item value.
• +1% per 1 point under the Merchant’s Diplomacy DC, maximum 100% of the item value.

Collector NPCs

The GM can define a few NPCs as collectors, traders, or antiquarians interested in unusual items PCs collect after their adventures. If the PCs establish an amiable relationship with these collectors over time, the GM can reduce the base Undercut Percentage to 1% or even 0%, especially if the PCs' offerings cater to the NPCs' interests. Likewise, PCs may develop bad blood with one or more buyers; such buyers' Undercut Percentage may rise to 5% or higher, or the buyers may refuse to bargain with the PCs at all.

Flooding The Market

When PCs attempt to sell multiples of a durable good, the GM may lower the offered prices by 10% or more to reflect market saturation in that location. For example, a border town patrolled by guards with crossbows can always use more +1 bolts, but has limited use for a wagonload of masterwork spiked chains, so the Initial and Final Offers for the spiked chains would be 10% lower.

Trade Goods

Trade goods are exempt from bargaining, even in extraordinary circumstances.

Using Magic to Bargain

An unscrupulous character may use magic to charm or dupe buyers into accepting inflated prices. Something as simple as charm person can alter the Diplomacy and Sense Motive DCs by 5 in the spellcaster's favor for an entire negotiation, and a specific suggestion can alter the result on a single roll by 10 in the caster's favor. If the buyer later realizes that magic influenced the negotiation, she may refuse to deal with the spellcaster and attempt to get her money back, or at least report the spellcaster to the local authorities.

Epic Skill Uses

Note: All uses below require a minimum of 21 Ranks in the skill to use.