[Basic] Skill of the week: Intimidation

[Kromm]

Originally Posted by Mailanka

Intimidation is not the skill of scaring people, Sex-Appeal is not the skill of seducing people, and Fast-Talk is not the skill of lying. They are the skill of "getting someone to do something you want and/or have a good reaction to you, based on a particular tactic."

Precisely! Any Influence skill can be used for any Influence roll that replaces a reaction roll for a general reaction, a potential combat situation, a commercial transaction, a request for aid, a request for information, or NPC loyalty – and if you're using GURPS Social Engineering*, add confrontations with authority, gaining admission, hiring, giving information, recreation, and romance to that list. Some skills are better than others for specific tasks, but you can try any of them.

If a given class of beings excludes all but one or two of those uses unless you have a suitable advantage, then it's functionally immune to your Influence skills. You might still be able to achieve results in a specific situation or two, but the skill isn't generally applicable – just make a reaction roll with the same modifiers. For instance, if a human tries to scare off a wild animal, roll a reaction roll with the modifiers under Intimidation; the +3 or more for relative SM vs. house cats, small dogs, birds, etc. and/or +4 for de facto "supernatural powers" when using fire or the sound of a gun will usually guarantee a "Good" or better reaction that amounts to "get lost."

Originally Posted by Mailanka

I think using intimidation as the skill of scaring people is reasonable, but you have to understand that its primary purpose, as an influence skill, is influencing people.

Obviously, Intimidation counts as "appropriate" (and doesn't take the -1 to -10 for an inappropriate Influence skill; see p. B359) when trying to scare someone or something off. Other Influence skills might take a penalty in that specific situation. That's why you use the modifiers for Intimidation for a reaction roll to shoo animals away, even when not using the skill per se.

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* The award-winning GURPS Social Engineering does a good job of explaining much of this.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Mailanka

I think this is the hardest thing to grasp about all the influence skills. Intimidation is not the skill of scaring people, Sex-Appeal is not the skill of seducing people, and Fast-Talk is not the skill of lying. They are the skill of "getting someone to do something you want and/or have a good reaction to you, based on a particular tactic." So you can use Intimidation, Sex-Appeal, or Fast-Talk to convince someone to sleep with you, for example, or to get good prices, or to talk someone into freeing you from prison.

Or, for example, if you are approaching someone sexually, you can use Intimidation to get them to submit out of fear, or Fast-Talk to deceive them; we call those "rape" and "seduction."

[PK]

Originally Posted by whswhs

Or, for example, if you are approaching someone sexually, you can use Intimidation to get them to submit out of fear, or Fast-Talk to deceive them; we call those "rape" and "seduction."

I'd call the Fast-Talk approach "pick-up artistry," myself.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by PK

I'd call the Fast-Talk approach "pick-up artistry," myself.

Well, historically, that's what "seduction" originally meant, I believe. Though it's now come to mean various less manipulative things.

[simply Nathan]

I roll Artist and Writing personally. The former at default.