Dungeon Design Tips: You Need To Make Social Skills Viable If You Want Players To Use Them

(Apologies on the formatting, but I originally wrote this in my word processor, as my Internet service was down for a week. I don't know why it has chosen to appear this way, and I'm trying to fix it.)

One of the biggest complaints a lot of Game Masters have is that players will always try to solve problems with spells or steel, rather than using their wits or their words. However, while that is a valid complaint to have, it is important to first look in the mirror before assigning all the blame to the players sitting around the table.

In short, did you give them a reason to believe that rolling for diplomacy or persuasion would actually work? Or has that always led to the enemy getting the first shot in, putting the party at a disadvantage for the coming combat?

Now, stick with me here, I want you to NOT roll initiative just yet...

As always, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron! Also, be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree.

Lastly, for hundreds of extra articles on gaming, weird history, and for more free fiction, check out my Vocal archive, too!

If Words Don’t Work, Players Won’t Use Them

Generally speaking, players understand there are non-combat options to solve issues… but that understanding seems to only exist when their characters are in locations where combat is frowned upon. If they’re in a town, for example, they’ll try to barter for goods, sweet talk their way out of trouble, or threaten their way past a couple of street toughs… but as soon as the PCs step outside of the designated “friendly” zone, it’s like all their non-combat options get grayed out.

Your job, as the Game Master, is to show that just because the party is venturing through the depths of a forest, or they’re entering a dungeon, that doesn’t mean their social skills are no longer viable. And to do that, it pays to sprinkle in some encounters where players can see this in action.

Let's have a conversation, shall we sweet ones?

For example, say your players encounter a flitting fey creature (like one of the ones you might find in 100 Encounters in a Fey Forest, for instance) while they’re moving through the woods. They could attack it and drive it off, yes, but does doing so mean they find the forest ahead of them is now filled with traps? If they speak cordially with the creature, will it offer them guidance through the woods? Or perhaps tell them the location of a buried treasure, in exchange for a promise to take on a small task for it? If they’re merely pleasant, and offer it some of their rations, will the creature watch over them while they’re in its part of the forest, looking for some way to pay back the “gift” it was given?

Expand this idea out in other ways. Do the ogres guarding the wicked sorcerer’s fortress actually dislike the role they’ve been forced into, and they would love to see the spellcaster killed, as long as they get the gold they were promised? Do the rank-and-file members of the Mistwood Raiders think their war leader has gone too far in kidnapping people for ransom, and killing people who weren’t even resisting? If so, could they be persuaded to offer the party information, or even help, if they promise to end the bandit king who wears the bone crown taken from the forgotten tomb of the Mad King? Could they go so far as to open talks with a vampire who seems to be attacking a nearby town, or to engage with a dragon to establish an agreement between it and the terrified people who have lived in its shadow?

Parley? Well, I suppose...

Now, obviously, social skills won’t solve every situation. Clockwork automatons, mindless undead, and territorial magical beasts don’t respond to social overtures, and they will do what their programming, orders, or instincts urge them to do. There will always be antagonists whose goals are directly counter to what the PCs want, and so reaching any kind of agreement will be impossible. And there will always be enemies who think themselves too powerful to bend even an inch to the demands of others, no matter how soft the silk those demands are wrapped in. However, if you want your players to embrace a variety of tactics to solve problems, then it’s important to show them that there are reasonable creatures in the setting who will at least hear them out when they try to be diplomatic.

Lastly, it’s important to consider how this can affect the reputation of the party. If the sorcerer is known for an uncanny ability to bargain with fey creatures, does he earn the name Silvertongue among them (or Ironjaw for those who end up on the worse end of the agreements)? If the dwarven fighter sealed a pact with an orc clan, and upheld his end of that bargain, does that earn him respect among other members of that clan or nation? Perhaps opening doors that would have remained shut to him if he and his allies had merely slaughtered those who got in their way? And if the party takes prisoners, accepts surrender, and treats those who opposed them with honor, that’s something that should also be known to others after a time. On the other hand, if the party breaks promises, lies, cheats, and steals, then they’re going to find those bad decisions catching up with them, and their reputations are more of a weight around their necks than anything else.

For more on this, check out the article Character Reputation in Fantasy RPGs: The Small Legend.

And if you’re looking for more ways to incorporate social encounters into your next campaign, consider checking out some of the following supplements:

- 100 Random Encounters For On The Road Or In The Wilderness (general fantasy RPG)

- Social Encounters For Old School Revival (OSR system)

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Crunch post! To stay on top of all my content and releases, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page!

Again, for more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the Azukail Games YouTube channel, or my Rumble channel The Literary Mercenary! Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my dystopian sci-fi thriller Old Soldiers, my hardboiled gangland noir series starring a bruiser of a Maine Coon with Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Blue Sky, Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!

Look Upon Me And Despair: The Most Striking Changeling Build

I've been doing a lot of Pathfinder articles. A lot. So this week I thought I'd take a break from Golarion and poke about in the second most popular setting on the market, White Wolf's World of Darkness. Specifically I'd like to draw people's attention to Changeling: The Lost, which is one of my favorite games ever. Players who are big fans of characters who use their social skills and attributes to open doors and solve plot are going to enjoy this week's little bit of crunch.

I call it the Striking Looks Sledge. So, let's get started shall we?

Seeming and Kith

For those who haven't played Changeling before, you are a mortal who was stolen by a pan-dimensional being of alien intelligence and god-like power. Your soul was ripped from your body, and the holes were filled in with Fae magic that changed the very nature of who and what you are. That magic's reaction with the role you were given in the place you were kidnapped to gives you strange powers, and some of the aspects of the creatures who stole you in the first place.

The Fairest, changelings who have taken on aspects of the hauntingly, inhumanly beautiful creatures that kept them, are the best Seeming for this build. You can use a Darkling if you want, but Fairest are the heavy-hitters when it comes to social builds.

Beauty is a weapon, if put into the wrong hands.

Rather than taking a Fairest kith though (for the uninitiated, your Seeming is like being American. The kith is a more specific variety, like folks from Indiana; they are both things, and get benefits from both areas), you want to pair the Fairest with the Illes (pronounced eels) which is a Darkling kith found in Winter Masques, page 108.

This kith gives you the ability Shadow Beauty. Once per day you can spend a point of glamour to gain a bonus equivalent to the four-dot version of Striking Looks, which provides a +2 on all social checks against members of the opposite sex (or against those who find you attractive if we want to be more inclusive of gender and sexuality). This benefit lasts for one hour.

How Striking Are Your Looks?

In addition to the Shadow Beauty ability you should also get your Fairest the four-dot Striking Looks merit. This means that once per day for about an hour you have the equivalent of an 8-dot version of striking looks. Considering that the 4-dot version says you are angelic and that it's nearly impossible for people to forget your face, the 8-dot version is kind of like smashing a nine pound hammer into someone's heart.

This is what your smile looks like.

It gets worse for your enemies. As a Fairest you have access to the Contracts of Vainglory. Most purely social characters will buy the first 4 dots of this contract, but it's the third dot we're concerned about; Splendor of the Envoy's Protection, page 147 of Changeling: the Lost. This ability, once invoked, means that mortals cannot harm the individual in any way, and that supernatural creatures must succeed on a willpower check to attack the individual as long as he or she takes no harmful actions (giving orders to underlings is considered peaceful for these purposes).

It also gives you a bonus equivalent to the 4-dot version of Striking Looks while it's in effect.

That Can't Stack!

The World of Darkness is very lax about which abilities provide bonuses, and whether one bonus supersedes another or if they stack. The general rule of thumb though is that as long as the abilities come from different sources, they stack. Since one bonus comes from a merit, one comes from a kith ability, and one comes from a contract, all three of them can turn you into something out of legend if you activate all three of them at once.

Additional Touches

While a 12-dot version of Striking Looks is pretty impressive (and according to one storyteller would be enough to act under the same rules for the mechanic Incite Bedlam on page 185 of Changeling: the Lost), it's just one trick. It's a hell of a trick, but you don't want to be left out in the cold if your big gun doesn't work. So here are some other things that might make solid, additional touches.

Oh god, there's more?

Oh is there.

Dual Kith: Found on page 98 of Winter Masques, Dual Kith is a merit that allows a character to possess two kiths, and to get the benefits of both. A solid addition to the Illes is the Shadowsoul or the Flamesiren (both on page 108 of Winter Masques). They provide bonus to wyrd on all intimidate checks, or an aura that requires a resolve+composure check not to be sucked in and distracted by respectively.

Siren Song: Found on page 97 of Rites of Spring, Siren Song grants the character an unearthly, enchanting voice that causes a -2 penalty to those listening as it enraptures them. It has no off-button though, unless someone uses an electronic device to filter out the magic.

Rigid Mask: On page 96 of Rites of Spring, Rigid Mask takes a character from being a good liar to being a stone-faced tale teller. For players who are going to use falsehood as a weapon, this is an absolute necessity.

Gentrified Bearing: While not a requirement, this handy little merit found on page 92 of Rites of Spring makes it so that hobgoblins often mistake a character for one of the Gentry. Even the True Fae themselves might be fooled if they only see a character from a distance, which can be quite the feat for those who want to get away through nothing more than strength of presence.


As always, thanks for stopping by Improved Initiative! I aim to provide you the best in RPG content, so if you want to see something covered or if you have a question that needs asked feel free to pop on in and let me know. If you want to keep up to date with everything posted here, well then follow on Facebook, Tumblr, or both! Lastly if you'd like to keep up going then throw your pocket change into the jar by clicking the "Bribe the DM" button on your top right, or go to my Patreon page to become a patron today!