Interaction tests too difficult?
Posted: Sun Mar 10, 2019 7:47 am
I was running my group through the adventure "Lip Service" and in the section "Welcome to the Poor House", the PCs need to convince the patrons of the almshouse to speak to them. This seems harder than I think I should be.
First off, they all start off Unfriendly and must be made friendly before they'll talk. That's 2 attitude levels. According to the rules for Interactions in the GM's guide, you can normally only raise an attitude one level (by Making an Impression, at least). The First Impression talent (or skill, for that matter) says it can raise an attitude 2 levels with 3 success. Since this isn't a default skill, you shouldn't be able to raise an attitude level more than 1 level unless you have at least 1 rank in either the skill or talent.
Secondly, the lowest social defense in the almshouse is an 8. That means that these unfortunate, down-on-their luck non-adepts have charismas of at least 13+. The blind child who does nothing but stare at her feet somehow has a a charisma of at least 15. That is, unless they're somehow getting bonuses from somewhere else.
What all of this means for the players is that anyone without the First Impression skill or talent can't get anyone in the almshouse to talk without rolling at least an 18. At least not by "making an impression". Maybe this is supposed to be difficult, but even second circle adepts (this adventure is for 1st to 2nd circle adepts) with 3 or 4 ranks in First Impression, spending karma, will struggle with this roll. It will be impossible for most PCs, I think.
Obviously you can simply roleplay your way through this, but the adventure lists the GMPCs' social defenses, and references the Interaction rules from the GM's guide, so I assume the rules are meant to be used. Also, the information they need is not easily gotten any other way. It doesn't make a lot of sense to set players up to perform a specific action, using the RAW, that they will mostly likely fail. This is a sure-fire way to frustrate everyone and make the game less fun.
Am I missing something? I lowered most GMPCs' social defenses by 2, making the almshouse patrons equal to an average person. I also only required they raise attitudes one level and roleplay their questions. So far, they've succeeded in 1/4 of their attempts.
First off, they all start off Unfriendly and must be made friendly before they'll talk. That's 2 attitude levels. According to the rules for Interactions in the GM's guide, you can normally only raise an attitude one level (by Making an Impression, at least). The First Impression talent (or skill, for that matter) says it can raise an attitude 2 levels with 3 success. Since this isn't a default skill, you shouldn't be able to raise an attitude level more than 1 level unless you have at least 1 rank in either the skill or talent.
Secondly, the lowest social defense in the almshouse is an 8. That means that these unfortunate, down-on-their luck non-adepts have charismas of at least 13+. The blind child who does nothing but stare at her feet somehow has a a charisma of at least 15. That is, unless they're somehow getting bonuses from somewhere else.
What all of this means for the players is that anyone without the First Impression skill or talent can't get anyone in the almshouse to talk without rolling at least an 18. At least not by "making an impression". Maybe this is supposed to be difficult, but even second circle adepts (this adventure is for 1st to 2nd circle adepts) with 3 or 4 ranks in First Impression, spending karma, will struggle with this roll. It will be impossible for most PCs, I think.
Obviously you can simply roleplay your way through this, but the adventure lists the GMPCs' social defenses, and references the Interaction rules from the GM's guide, so I assume the rules are meant to be used. Also, the information they need is not easily gotten any other way. It doesn't make a lot of sense to set players up to perform a specific action, using the RAW, that they will mostly likely fail. This is a sure-fire way to frustrate everyone and make the game less fun.
Am I missing something? I lowered most GMPCs' social defenses by 2, making the almshouse patrons equal to an average person. I also only required they raise attitudes one level and roleplay their questions. So far, they've succeeded in 1/4 of their attempts.