According to the PRD, Sociable is defined as;
Sociable: Half-elves are skilled at charming others and recovering from faux pas. If half-elves with this racial trait attempt to change a creature's attitude with a Diplomacy check and fail by 5 or more, they can try to influence the creature a second time even if 24 hours have not passed. This racial trait replaces the adaptability racial trait.
And the key parts of the Diplomacy skill for my question are;
A) If you fail the check by 4 or less, the character’s attitude toward you is unchanged. If you fail by 5 or more, the character’s attitude toward you is decreased by one step.
B) Try Again: You cannot use Diplomacy to influence a given creature’s attitude more than once in a 24-hour period. If a request is refused, the result does not change with additional checks, although other requests might be made. You can retry Diplomacy checks made to gather information.
So my interpretation of the Sociable Alternate Racial Ability is;
If you fail to improve someone's attitude towards you, then that's just how it goes, but if you fail to improve someone's attitude towards you, fail, and actually degrade their attitude towards you, you can try again (Breaking part B, above) and attempt to improve their attitude towards you using their now lowered (because of your previous failure) attitude DC?
Is this interpretation correct? Am I missing something not included that would affect this interpretation?
It's basically turning critical failure into the possibility for critical success. Say something inappropriate that throws them mentally off-balance then turn it around to your advantage. It won't work if your initial attempt was simply ineffectual rather than completely off-putting. In other words, yes, if you fail, you want to "FAIL" rather than just "no harm, no foul".
Thanks guys,
So by extension, it is also possible to lower their attitude towards you by two ranks using this racial ability by failing by 5 or more twice, which wouldn't be possible without it?
Strict raw, I'd say yes. The way it's written, the second attempt isn't a "part" of the first so you can't say it's a "re-try" of the first attempt and the reduction is shared by the two attempts. It's a totally separate attempt and subject to the same critical failure penalty. If you fail twice by 5 or more, you lower their attitude 2 steps.
Version 1:
Guy walks into a bar, sits down next to a cute gal as the bard starts strumming a lively beat, and says "Wow, great place. You look fat in those pants!" (8 skill, Rolled 1 on Diplomacy failed by 5 or more since he needed 15.)
Girl slaps guy, and walks away. (Attitude now Unfriendly)
Version 2:
Half elf guy walks into a bar, sits down next to a cute gal as the bard starts strumming a lively beat, and says "Wow, great place. You look fat in those pants!" (8 skill, Rolled 1 on Diplomacy failed by 5 or more since he needed 15.)
Gril slaps guy, and starts to walk away. (Attitude now Unfriendly)
Half elf stands up and clears throat, "I am sorry, have I offended you?"
Girl answers "You called me fat! You said, and I quote, "You look fat in those pants"".
Half elf looks hurt, "No ma'am, I said "Do you want to dance?" Sometimes my accent is a little thick, I am so sorry if I have offended you. Here, let me buy you a drink." (Rolls a 19+8 = 27, increasing attitude by 2 steps, from Unfriendly to Friendly).
Version 3:
Half elf guy walks into a bar, sits down next to a cute gal as the bard starts strumming a lively beat, and says "Wow, great place. You look fat in those pants!" (8 skill, Rolled 1 on Diplomacy failed by 5 or more since he needed 15.)
Gril slaps guy, and starts to walk away. (Attitude now Unfriendly)
Half elf stands up and clears throat, "I am sorry, have I offended you?"
Girl answers "You called me fat! You said, and I quote, "You look fat in those pants"".
Half elf looks hurt, "No ma'am, I said "Do you want to dance?" Sometimes my accent is a little thick, I am so sorry if I have offended you. Here, let me buy you a drink." (Rolls a 5+8 = 13 (need 20 now since Unfriendly, decreasing attitude again to 'Hostile').
Girl screams, "YOU JUST WANT TO GET ME DRUNK!!! RAPE!!!!!!" *roll initiative vs whole bar*
Version 3 is actually how all this came up. the player was under the impression racial abilities were supposed to be positive only, but sociable is more like drow-blooded, with equal parts good and bad.
Yeah, there are some racial abilities that are helpful only and others that are a mixed blessing (ie. Half-Elves count as both humans and elf for qualifying for feats and stuff but they also count as either in the case of ranger favored enemy or bane). This would be in the mixed blessing category; you could potentially rescue the situation... or decide "Who needs a frying pan when there's a nice open fire right down there?"
Recent threads in Rules Questions
|
