[Railstar]

Originally Posted by whswhs

So now Nergul is looking to acquire some hirelings. And that had me wondering: If they agree to work for her, won't they be doing so partly out of fear, not daring to turn her down or insist on favorable treatment? Could their status as hirelings, in fact, be taken as involuntary (per pp. B518-519), with rolls to see if they have poor attitudes and perhaps reduced loyalty?

Involuntary doesn't fit... but roll on the table anyway, it might give you interesting ideas that helps you develop the NPC further. If she's getting +3 from Social Regard, then a potential -1 or -2 loyalty because she scares them is still a net gain. The guy who is rabidly opposed to serving her probably has an easy way out - just do badly at the interview so she doesn't want to hire him.

What if she doesn't want that effect? I don't think it's quite right to say she can just turn it off; being Feared is the result not of her choosing to intimidate people, but of their recognizing what she is and reacting to the knowledge. Are there ways she could avoid the issue?

I wouldn't say the issue can be avoided, but it can be addressed. And she addresses it by doing work in the interviewing process.

Assess their motives (Social Engineering p. 25) to pick out a candidate who wants the job rather than just being afraid to say no.

After that, interact with them in ways other than the scary kind. Show kindness, invite input, address their fears. Let the player pick a strategy and then roll an appropriate skill based on that. If the necromancer consistently behaves in a fashion that makes her come across as approachable, then maybe they can learn to get over the Social Regard.

Or not, it is part aura. But at least the better they do on their social skill (Leadership? Diplomacy? Administration?) then the better they can make an impression on the hireling of being more than just scary.