Friendship is Dragons
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Page 171 - Overwhelming Will
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The problem with being a Diplomancer is that it requires all three sides to want to actually listen to what you have to say, and then actually use their brains to parse your words into something agreeable to their goals.
Far easier is it for people to just start swinging weapons. I know, I was a diplomancer in a party of Berzerkers traveling the land of Aggro.
._.
Far easier is it for people to just start swinging weapons. I know, I was a diplomancer in a party of Berzerkers traveling the land of Aggro.
._.
True, but again all sides have to WANT to listen to you. In my case, both the enemy and my fellow PCs are about as diplomatically skilled as a cow rolling upstairs both ways.
The lowest common denominator is to draw weapons and roll for initiative. :)
The GM says he loves PC diplomancers, but I had to call him out because all the NPCs he's thrown at us haven't bothered to accept my demands to parley. >_>
The lowest common denominator is to draw weapons and roll for initiative. :)
The GM says he loves PC diplomancers, but I had to call him out because all the NPCs he's thrown at us haven't bothered to accept my demands to parley. >_>
Have you ever tried opening with the offer of a bigger, better fight in front of an enthusiastic and paying audience?
Can't say that I have, but I'll certainly make note of that for next time.
I hope it helps.
Just out of curiousity, are knowledge checks ever relevant to your attempts at parley? I find a lot of players never bother with them simply because they assume a "monster knowledge check" requires a minor action. (Worse, I know DMs who insist on it.)
"What do I know about these guys?" can help drag your DM into negotiation. The other players can be trickier, but one option is to ask them, "what do you know about these guys?"
I'm also somewhat fond of the mistaken identity gambit.
"Hey, it's Nanoc the Barbarian Destroyer! Guys, this could solve everything! Did I ever tell you about the time Nanoc fought Tharokke of Balboa? I'd heard NO ONE came back from that one, but hey, here's Nanoc! Dude, you wouldn't believe how much we could use your help right now!"
My view is this: when all else fails, stun your table into silence by taking it as far over the top as you can go. Hook the NPC with flattery, and the PC with curiousity. The reverse can work, but this order tends to be more reliable. Still, the key here is to take the stab-happy out of their comfort zone before you make with the actual sweet talk.
Just out of curiousity, are knowledge checks ever relevant to your attempts at parley? I find a lot of players never bother with them simply because they assume a "monster knowledge check" requires a minor action. (Worse, I know DMs who insist on it.)
"What do I know about these guys?" can help drag your DM into negotiation. The other players can be trickier, but one option is to ask them, "what do you know about these guys?"
I'm also somewhat fond of the mistaken identity gambit.
"Hey, it's Nanoc the Barbarian Destroyer! Guys, this could solve everything! Did I ever tell you about the time Nanoc fought Tharokke of Balboa? I'd heard NO ONE came back from that one, but hey, here's Nanoc! Dude, you wouldn't believe how much we could use your help right now!"
My view is this: when all else fails, stun your table into silence by taking it as far over the top as you can go. Hook the NPC with flattery, and the PC with curiousity. The reverse can work, but this order tends to be more reliable. Still, the key here is to take the stab-happy out of their comfort zone before you make with the actual sweet talk.
Knowledge checks aren't very relevent with this particular GM. He keeps it so "high-level" that it reads like a Google search entry. :3
However, my character hasn't been "over the top" with her negotiation skills. more level-headed and pushy.
So I'm going to rent a dozer and pull out the stops over by my neighborhood and try your ideas.
Can't hurt :D Thanks!
However, my character hasn't been "over the top" with her negotiation skills. more level-headed and pushy.
So I'm going to rent a dozer and pull out the stops over by my neighborhood and try your ideas.
Can't hurt :D Thanks!
You're welcome. Based on what I've read, the suggestions are now in more capable hands than mine. I hope you'll enjoy the results.
I see what you did there. I took pun damage. I am going to use that as a character name next time I make a fighter.
I admittedly borrowed the first name from a guy who based his half-orc on a fairly well-known wrestler. It seemed like fair game to use it in turn for the boxer.
Fun player, as was his brother.
Fun player, as was his brother.
And then use the opportunity to be nicer to your new mindslaves than their old employer so that they stay on your side even after the spell wears off. Give new meaning to "Friendship is Magic"
...Our initial reaction *may* have been to just leave her to die, only stopped when the baddies attacked us (instead of just her) roping us into the fight one way or another.
"Well, baby, I can think of one way."
Cue sleazy jazz.
The whip is nice, though.
Well, if the dragon wants to start a jazz duo with Fluttershy that plays sleazy jazz, I don't see how that's any worry to anyone except dragon nightclub owners.
And forever more in my mind I can no longer read the dragon's lines without using the Barry White voice.
And we wouldn't have it any other way.
In a completely platonic and ruggedly heterosexual way.
And I'm most certainly not gay.
Here's a topic: Think of a time that a DM was so impressed by an idea or conversation, that they allowed it as an automatic success (or so bad they made it an automatic failure).
Can pun damage be enchanted into a weapon?
Could an insane wizard invent a spell specifically to deal pun damage?
Are there Pun Elementals?
Is there an elemental plane of pun?
Power word:pun?
Punomancer prestige class?
Wand of puns?
Pun Dragons with their trademark pun breath?
Someone needs to weaponize puns. I'm sure there's a hilarious loophole to exploit.
... ... ... ...I think... Never?
While I've granted auto-successes at times as the DM (Usually if the idea lends to "Rule of Cool" and isn't plot-breaking), the other GM in the group has never done so. Just not his style I guess.
While I've granted auto-successes at times as the DM (Usually if the idea lends to "Rule of Cool" and isn't plot-breaking), the other GM in the group has never done so. Just not his style I guess.
I'm going to get my notes.
EDIT: first dinner, then notes
Anyway, this happened during my group's Halloween Extravaganza, something that has become a kind of tradition to do. The week leading up to Halloween, we would hold several game sessions that week (as opposed to just one) with each having another theme going. Examples include the obvious PC + typical (movie) monster template and have an adventure were they are the bad guys. Another is a variant on the drinking game where everyone notes down a famed (fictional) character, passes it to someone else and then they have to role play said character role playing D&D. ROLE PLAY-CEPTION! ^^ (with various effects/bonuses/penalties tied to it)
Of course, these session were also the opportunity to cranck up the silliness/weirdness/humour and everything that happens is considered non-canon (unless the group decides it is canon)
Also Dave, the BARDbarian had joined us for Halloween Extravaganza so awesomeness will follow. Those with a weak constitution are advised to read the following in seperate fragments :)
So one of these sessions start out with the group (just the regular PC's) coming across what's fairly obvious a pastiche of every famous horror movie out there. You got your typical horror movie peasants, swamps, perpetual night with a full moon, fog, castle in the distance with lightning cracking over it, etc.
The group, having got the quest to investigate the murders around the village, walks down a dirt road until they come at a junction where they find a man who's clearly in distress, talking gibberish and shouting random sounds. With some prying and good dice rolls, they finally get the man to form some coherent sentences:
Mike: "Tell us, good man: what's going on here?"
Man: "It's close to midnight and something evil's lurking in the dark."
Mike: "What are you trying to say?"
Man: "Under the moonlight, you see a sight that almost stops your heart."
Jim: "What are you blabbering on about?"
Man: "You try to scream but terror takes the sound before you make it."
Tim: "A vampire? A banshee? what?"
Man: "You start to freeze as horror looks you right between the eyes."
Tim: "A lich?"
Man: "You're paralyzed."
BAM, group becomes stunned and they start combat. Due to them being paralyzed, the man automatically goes first. He summons a bunch of zombies to assist him. Battle goes a bit back and forth until it's Dave's turn.
Dave: "My standard and move action can also be used as minor actions, right?"
Me: "Yeah, but I don't see what you would want to do with 3 minor actions."
Dave: "Okay, first I place my hand on top of my head while looking down."
Me: "Sure..."
Dave: "I then grab my crotch with my other hand."
Me: "Are you going to do what I think you're going to do?"
Dave (with a huge grin): "I start thrusting my pelvis."
And so, Dave held a dance off versus zombie necromancer Micheal Jackson. Billy Jean against Thriller. Billy Jean won, not due to dice rolls or outstanding role playing but because Dave put on the song and started dancing IR. We had to pause the game for 10 minutes to recover from cheering and sides hurting from laughing.
Of course, being Halloween, the group has gone the extra mile and actually dressed up as their characters. Well, nothing major the levels of cosplay but more things like Tim strapping on a cloak, Jim showing up with a sword, helmet and fur rug, etc.
Once, when the rest of my party tried to figure out the best way to negotiate with bar patrons ill-disposed toward "our kind", my low Charisma dwarf threw a sack of gold onto the bar and called out, "A round for everyone, and the rest to the one that can drink me under the table!"
The DM decided that this was exactly the sort of Diplomacy one needed to win over such a rough and wild place. I'd just been hoping for either a bonus to an untrained check or to buy time for someone with better Charisma to work out something.
The DM decided that this was exactly the sort of Diplomacy one needed to win over such a rough and wild place. I'd just been hoping for either a bonus to an untrained check or to buy time for someone with better Charisma to work out something.
Perkins, "You don't even have to roll. That's genius."
And the hungry hellcow attacked their foe.
*Glares meaningfully at Stairc*
I don't think you can emote smiling innocently when your avatar is a god smiling menacingly...
"So either you agree to our terms or I let loose this here little wild magic spell. It might just make it rain or it could burn down the entire city. Wild magic is unpredictable like that. But here's the thing: are you willing to take that chance?"
So of course I had high diplomacy and bluff. "Do you want to sit down and talk things out? Wait, I don't care what your answers is. You do." =)
We were given a task to go hunt for artifacts by Celestia and were about to board the train to leave Canterlot. Our team doctor, Midnight Moon, suddenly rolls a critical failure perception check. This causes him to fail to notice his pegasus fiancee, rocketing towards him.
At this point, we learn that Midnight Moon comes from a wealthy family. His parents had placed him in an arranged marriage with Platinum Coronet, a crazy, spoiled-rotten, rich pegasus with an obsession for Midnight Moon (one which he does NOT share). He decided to escape this fate by running away, becoming a traveling doctor, eventually winding up with us.
Long story short, Platinum Coronet is hugging (read: holding in a death-grip) our team medic and his status of eligible bachelor is in serious risk, as she's about to drag him away to get married, which would make us miss our train and/or delay the mission, as well as making Midnight Moon's life hell. What's worse, our resident klepto (and general troublemaker) is supporting the marriage idea. A grim situation, indeed.
This is where my character, Night Owl, comes in. He's a gem cutter/polisher by trade and has a partnership over a gem/jewelry shop. So he comes with the brilliant idea of persuading the marriage-crazed pegasus to go visit my partner's shop and buy diamond rings. Two rolls later (one to persuade her that I'm actually a gem cutter/polisher, since apparently I don't look like one), she loves the idea and starts dragging Midnight Moon to the shop. Midnight Moon then manages to convince her to go buy rings for both of them, diffusing the hostage situation and allowing us to board the train, whilst I send my partner a note to sell the most expensive gems we have to her and keep her occupied.
End result: Midnight Moon is still happily un-married, we manage to escape the fiancee and me/my partner make a huge profit from selling two ultra-expensive gems to a spoiled-rich bridezilla.
Everyone is happy, except our resident klepto, who wanted to marry and/or ship them on the spot, for reasons. She later tried to throw Midnight Moon out the window to his fiancee (who was chasing the train, dragging my hapless partner with her).
I think we might have been forced to combat her if we didn't manage to diplomance her. Or perform a rescue of our captive party member. Or a bachelor party.
"DAAAADDDYYY! I WANNA BE A PC TOO!"
"Sure honey. Just let me write up a character sheet for you."
Heh. Intimidated DM is flustered!
On a Random Side Note: I always hear "Friendship is Dragons" in the voice of the Heavy from Team Fortress 2.
I don't know why, I just do. And it fits. Look up "Heavy is Jetpack" on youtube for the fitting timing and pronunciation for how I hear it.
On a Random Side Note: I always hear "Friendship is Dragons" in the voice of the Heavy from Team Fortress 2.
I don't know why, I just do. And it fits. Look up "Heavy is Jetpack" on youtube for the fitting timing and pronunciation for how I hear it.
Also, shoutout to Roy and Sam of the Brony Bookclub podcast, along with Lucres of the great fic Ponies Play D&D. You guys are awesome.