Niche D20Associated Ability Modifier: Psyche
Diplomacy is used to persuade others to agree with you, gather information, or improve your standing with a creature.
Common Uses
Gather Information
Diplomacy may be used to gather information about a topic or individual. This requires 1d4 hours around a town at various public locations to gather information from the locals. The DC will vary on how readily known the information is with common information being DC 10, while obscure and secret knowledge may take a DC 20; though some topics may always be unknown to the common folk.
You may attempt to retry, though each attempt requires an additional 1d4 hours, and the DM may restrict trying again for another 24 hours, such as situations where there’s no new people, or the existing group are unwilling to talk again.
Influence Attitude
You may attempt to change the attitude of a creature with a successful check. The DC is usually dependent on the creature’s starting attitude plus their charisma modifier. Diplomacy only can be used against creatures who are capable of understanding you and possess an Intelligence of 4 or greater. This usually requires a minute of interaction, making it difficult or impossible to change a creature’s attitude once combat has begun.
Success improves the creature’s attitude by one step, plus another step for every degree of success you exceed the DC, though this should not be more than two steps normally.
Failing by less than one degree does not change their attitude, but failure by one degree or greater reduces their attitude by one step.
These shifts in attitude last for 1d4 hours, though if a creature was shifted to neutral or better standing their attitude will usually not shift below indifferent unless you perform some sort of action that would change their attitude, such as a hostile action. You cannot influence a creature’s attitude more than once in a 24 hour period.
Diplomacy is not the only way to influence a creature’s attitude and is only a tool to assist; your actions and interactions with a creature will overall determine permanent attitude shifts, and diplomacy is mostly helpful for short-term scenarios or initial interactions.
| Starting Attitude | Diplomacy DC |
|---|---|
| Hostile | 25+ target’s Psyche Modifier |
| Unfriendly | 20+ target’s Psyche Modifier |
| Neutral | 15+ target’s Psyche Modifier |
| Friendly | 10+ target’s Psyche Modifier |
| Helpful | 0+ target’s Psyche Modifier |
Influence Attitude in Combat
At the start of combat, if neither you or your allies have attacked yet, you may attempt to influence a creature’s attitude, but doing so assumes the creature is hostile and raises the DC by an additional 15. This does not immediately shift their attitude, but rather allows the dialogue to begin as your character usually says something to give the creatures pause for continuing their attack.
During this time combat may be halted, and if the full minute passes without a hostile action occurring from you or your allies their attitude may be successfully shifted.
Make a Request
You may attempt to make a request of a creature of at least neutral standing. This is an additional diplomacy check against the creature’s current attitude with an additional modifier determined by the nature of the request. Some requests may automatically fail if they go against the creature’s nature.
| Request | DC Modifier |
|---|---|
| Give simple advice or directions | –5 |
| Give detailed advice | +0 |
| Give simple aid | +0 |
| Give lengthy or complicated aid, or reveal information. | +5 |
| Give dangerous aid | +10 |
| Reveal secret knowledge | +15 or more |
| Give aid that could result in punishment | +20 or more |
| Additional requests | +5 per additional request |
Situational Modifiers
Diplomacy is a skill that is meant to be a tool for a player, to either enhance their roleplaying, or provide a skill check similar to other skills that a player can use for their character to be much more charismatic than themselves.
It is assumed the player should be saying something, or at least providing an outline of what they wish to say to a creature when making these checks. A GM should provide bonuses or penalties based on what a player said.
For example in a hostile situation a creature mentioning an allegiance to a faction or person that the other party might be familiar to outright loyal to would make sense to give them pause; as opposed to a creature giving a generic speech about peace not having the same swaying power.
A player giving a great speech should be awarded, while a player using correct knowledge of what to say should also be rewarded. Conversely a player attempting diplomacy through sheer insults or haughty attitude may not help the situation and rather worsen it.
Usually bonuses/penalties can range from +1 to +5, though greater bonuses may be granted situationally such that a player showing a secret insignia as part of their check may grant a large bonus such as a +10 if it would be something the opposing party would recognize and be friendly towards.