[SE] Selling fish to a fisherman

[Gigermann]

Originally Posted by whswhs

At the level of ability you're talking about, what you have is social skills that are equivalent to Mind Control.…

This is actually the origin of my issue, from the last time someone decided to play a Face Man in one of my games. As I started working on the campaign, I realized that even with a Skill 14 versus a "normal" guy (Will 10), unless some penalties are racked up, the Face Man will be able to short-circuit every fight.

Then and now, I wanted to let the player do what he's good at, and not arbitrarily decide that this guy can't be manipulated, but I also didn't want to end up with a bunch of Will 18 mooks—I dislike that sort of response immensely, as a player. I don't have a problem with saying "no," but I don't want to say "no, because the story/GM requires that you can't do that here"—I need a legitimate reason, not a meta-game reason. Effectively, you're granting a character a situation-specific version of Indomitable.

If you can assess enough penalties on the action, to the point where the attempt is pointless, as long as everyone agrees those penalties are legitimate, the issue is resolved. Then the question is "why/when?" and "how much?"

(Side Note: the player-in-question added Bad Luck to his character, to give me, as GM, a free "fail" whenever I needed it)