Following the way your story takes, you’ll regularly find yourself in the midst of unfortunate circumstances. Most of the time, you can leave your sword sheathed - words may be enough to save your neck.
Rolls for attempting to act with words or gestures can be powered by each one of the four Attributes (power, finesse, volition, wisdom), depending on your intent and approach of a situation. Even when you are a brutish barbarian with extraordinary power but little brains, you need not shy away from using words to reach your goals. Of course, you’ll be most successful if your approach includes intimidation or threats.
<aside> 🪶 As much as I love the idea of it, there is no simple charisma Attribute in Satisfiction.
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When going the diplomatic way or trying to make someone do as you wish, describe how you go about it. The GM will then tell you the Attribute that your roll is based on.
Normally, a simple roll is enough to decide a social conflict. This is fine if you want to see whether the players make is past the guard at the town gate or when someone needs to talk themselves out of a minor thievery.
Sometimes however, there are bigger things at stake. Maybe you are trying to convince a jury of the innocence of a young witch. Maybe you’re sweet-talking a guardsman to let you out of your cell. In situations where a prolonged discussion is taking place, we can use a modified version of the Duelling Task introduced in the previous chapter to add both thrill and tactics to the battle of words.
In a verbal duel, there are several rounds. Each round, the participants pick one of four tactics to use against their opponent. Then the dice are rolled. Tactics are based on Attributes and are effective against each other to strongly varying degrees. Here they are.
<aside> 🪶 Should you lose a round, progress a Skill associated with the Attribute you used.
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Oppress [PWR] (strong against Reason) ****- Don’t let your counterpart have a say. Shout them down, ignore them or laugh when they want to say something. Alternatively, portrait your opinion as the only one that counts.
Deceive [FIN] (strong against Oppress and Convince) - Lead your opponent into a trap, lie, speak with a twisted tongue. Alternatively, speak in favour of a point that you actually don’t support.
Convince [VOL] (generally strong) - Show confidence in a statement. Agree with the other, but make them see that your arguments are more important. Predict that you will win this discussion. Alternatively, appeal to emotions and shared values to build rapport.
Reason [WIS] (strong against Deceive) - Use could, hard logic to make a point. Show weaknesses and flaws in your opponents arguments. Reveal a lie or feint.
It is vital that you think strategically, but also try to act as your Character would. In each round, make a short statement in accordance with the tactic you chose. Two or three sentences should be enough in most cases.
<aside> 🪶 A convincing display of rhetoric in a Verbal Duel may grant you Luck.
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First, the competing parties agree to the terms: What happens when there is a winner? Each party states their goal and agrees to the goal of the other party. Then it’s time for silver tongues to display their skill.
The goal of a Verbal Duel is to tip the balance in your favour. Like in a Duelling Task, the balance starts out at 0. One player tries to reduce it to -4 by subtracting the successes of their rolls, while the other party tries to reach 4 to win the duel.