Quote:
Originally Posted by Sdrolion
1. A reaction roll is used mostly for the "general reaction" set on the Reaction Chart. It shouldn't in general be used for the other columns, such as getting a great deal on a transaction, getting information the person doesn't want to give, requesting aid, etc. For those, an appropriate influence skill should be used. Basically, as you said, a character may like a PC, but may not be willing to assist him in any major way, and may need to be convinced by more dedicated means. So, in order to get information a character regards as "secret" or aid the character regards as "unusual" or "risky," or get a better deal on equipment, or some such, the PC needs to use an influence skill.
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Sort of. If the PCs went to a farmer to buy a truck off him so they could renew pursuit of the serial killer, the GM should roll reaction and consult the reaction chart both to get an idea of how friendly he'll be, and how receptive he'd be to the transaction. The PC talking to him then uses any or all of Diplomacy to get the farmer more on side, Sex-Appeal (for a female PC) to appeal to "a big strong man to help", Fast-Talk to brush over why five city folk are on his land in the first place (if they can't or won't explain the "chasing a serial killer" thing) and Merchant to talk him into a good deal. The GM would bump the Reaction result up or down the table - on either column - based on the Influence checks, until eventually the PC has got his final price worked out.
You don't strictly need Influence; if you have really good Reaction modifiers, NPCs will usually be keen to help out most of the time based on the initial roll, but there'll always be those situations where you get a bad Reaction roll or where, for plot reasons, the NPCs' reactions are more or less scripted, and then Influence skills help.
Does that make sense?