10-26-2020, 10:59 PM | #11 | |
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Dreamland
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Re: Thoughts on "Intimidation" in GURPS
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If we look at things from an NPC's perspective, we can say that a player succeeds an Influence skill and the npc fails. Now the npc will react accordingly. Will. All the modifiers and rolls dictate things that go into this. Now let's look at OP's situation. We have a guy trying to use Intimidation on someone, promising to hurt someone to make sure a task gets done. Let's assume the skill roll was a success but the will roll is the unknown part; A) OP does not make will roll. He complies and likely quickly, doing what this guy wanted just to make sure he doesn't get hurt. Maybe he hurries a bit into the store. B) OP does make will roll. He complies after some amount of time thinking through options (maybe even just a second). He does this through deliberate logic and reasoning, deciding it's just easier to do something easy and avoid pushing things. The guy doing the Intimidation check knows that he succeeded his side of the contest and got what he wanted. But if B was what happened, things really could have gone down differently. OP might have been ready to throw down out, even out of boredom. OP could have pretended to do as asked then pulled a gun out of the dash and turned the Intimidation around. OP could have had a great memory and called the cops once inside to try and show them they can't do that. But is A is what happened, then I don't think any of those would have happened, OP would be too scared to think. Now, we can look at two other important parts; 1) Let's assume OP was a PC. He lost the contest by 3. -3 to doing anything is pretty huge. It's just not worth it and, again, compliance is low cost. 2) There's another guy. GURPS does a really good job of showing that a 2 on 1 fight is extremely unfair. Even if the guy failed his Intimidation roll wholesale, OP didn't seem to have any advantage in this fight. This part is very important, even someone with Unfazeable can and will acknowledge the unfair fight and comply even though no fear was triggered. Actually, I think Unfazeable is a great place to compare. How often will someone with Unfazeable still do what someone trying to Intimidate them wants them to do? Even a robot might do something when threatened with an EMP if it's capable enough of understanding a situation. |
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10-27-2020, 09:51 AM | #12 |
Join Date: Aug 2018
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Re: Thoughts on "Intimidation" in GURPS
Just thought of something... Social Engineering makes "Impressive" the "I can get an intimidation bonus from my looks without suffering seduction or reaction penalties" trait group...
But couldn't you get a lot of that from Controllable Disadvantage (Horrific) ? That gives you a few moments where you can't use Sex Appeal effectively but how often does one rapidly shift between those 2 things? |
10-27-2020, 10:25 AM | #13 | |
Join Date: Jul 2008
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Re: Thoughts on "Intimidation" in GURPS
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And making new reaction rolls for people who have already had reactions but didn't expect the monster face might be appropriate.
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10-27-2020, 02:54 PM | #14 | ||
Join Date: Aug 2018
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Re: Thoughts on "Intimidation" in GURPS
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I wonder if you can take Selective Effect on Appearance too... |
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10-27-2020, 04:55 PM | #15 | ||
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Dreamland
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Re: Thoughts on "Intimidation" in GURPS
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It seems like it would be fine. I've had players take Switchable on it and Variable. Selective Effect seems like the better (and more expensive) option. Quote:
Oh, also, I posted this in the other thread but it's still relevant here. Kromm explaining influence skills (albeit 8 years ago); http://forums.sjgames.com/showpost.p...&postcount=140 |
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10-27-2020, 09:12 PM | #16 |
Join Date: Dec 2012
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Re: Thoughts on "Intimidation" in GURPS
Questions that seem to fit this thread (because my mind goes to strange random places, but I could maybe see this happening in a game): A few small children (age five-to-seven, maybe) are trying to intimidate an adult by grunting and T-posing at him. Mostly, they just look silly and adorable. What would be the penalty on Intimidation for whichever one of them is the 'leader' in this context? Does it even make sense for five-year-old humans in around the modern era to have Intimidation above default?
EDIT: In case it matters, there are about three or four of them, and they want ice cream, which the adult considers an almost trivial expense. So, they might get what they want even on a failed roll, but they'd have been much better off using Diplomacy ('Pwetty pwease wif sugar on it?') or Fast Talk, instead. Alternatively, what bonus or penalty would a few alley cats get to Intimidation if they stood on their hind legs and started grunting and T-posing? After all, that's not normal cat behavior.
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10-27-2020, 09:41 PM | #17 | |
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Dreamland
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Re: Thoughts on "Intimidation" in GURPS
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10-28-2020, 01:34 AM | #18 | |
Join Date: Jul 2008
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Re: Thoughts on "Intimidation" in GURPS
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Of course, the failure of judgement that would be required for a child from that background to try to physically intimidate an adult goes beyond stupidity and into the realms of Delusion. (A kid from a much nastier 'school' might attempt such intimidation in a pinch...with the help of a serious weapon. A 7 year old who will stab you probably still won't win a serious fight with many adults - but a mother cat won't win a fight with a bear ten times her weight either. They still have a credible threat to offer.)
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I don't know any 3e, so there is no chance that I am talking about 3e rules by accident. |
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10-28-2020, 04:08 AM | #19 | |
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Dreamland
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Re: Thoughts on "Intimidation" in GURPS
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For the second, my point was more that this kid is in a situation where they know enough that they can try to Intimidate, regardless of who they are trying to intimidate. That they've seen enough of anything to understand that they can wrap their mind around it. The kids who I've seen can actually do that very much do scare their parents and other adults around them (except for the adult that 'taught' them, if applicable). Which sounds like a kid with probably high will (the most variable attribute in real life) and some amount of points in Intimidation, especially to make up for the size difference (that, and they likely don't have Pitiable). |
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10-28-2020, 07:54 AM | #20 | |
Join Date: Aug 2018
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Re: Thoughts on "Intimidation" in GURPS
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If you have Variable at +5% it actually seems like switchable isn't even necessary, unless you rule that Variable mandates you use at least 1 level of it? (like for example a Variable Crushing Attack can't just hit with 0d right?) |
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