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With the new AP being skewed towards political and role-play themes (I understand there will be things to stab still) I am already thinking of all the skill double ups.
In other games, someone will always have the concept and skill points in place and someone else will suddenly boost a skill and then there is a passive aggressive fight for who gets to use it and who is the "helper". And diplomacy seems to be the #1 skill I see happen as everyone (rightfully) wants to participate in the talking, even if they are also the main killy person.
So, with this one, I have a feeling most if not all players will want social skills (we will use Background skills from PF Unchained) and so to give everyone a fair chance, I was thinking of aligning the main three social skills (Dip, SM & Bluff) to a specialty. Each player chooses one and gets a small bonus when interacting within that specialty and a small penalty when not. That way, the person with the huge Chr who might be a noble like character isn't just swanning into the docks and getting the same results as the thief who has friends and street cred and vice versa. So here is my first mock-up, any insight or advice would be appreciated.
Etiquette: nobles, knights, government and anything do do with upper society
Street Cred: gangs, thieves, beggars, wharfies
Community: shop-keepers, locals, children, good aligned churches / followers
Dilettante: artists, singers, play-wrights, bards and philosophers
I would keep the factions separate as I guess the AP will have more involved rules for those.
* An additional idea to make it a little more distinct is maybe you start at 1 step worse with a non-specialised faction. That way, the guy with smaller diplomacy still seems like the best choice even with penalty.
I like it. I wonder what kind of bonuses you will give. Diplomacy can already get quite high...
Perhaps another way is to go with something like Perform, but I guess that might mean too many skill points.
Or perhaps use something akin to Skill Signature, but only for the specialization?
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@Pennywit I hope to still use similar skills for other activities like you describe. I ran something similar in Kingmaker as well and it was quite effective, but I find some of the skills are only used by singular characters. I think Diplomacy will be taken by everyone here.
@Dreaming Warforged I agree, a lot of skills can really jump sometimes, Diplomacy one of them. But some people won't have it as a class skill or a particularly high charisma so the bonus is okay. Against Bards, sorcerers and the like, they will always dominate the roll, so there isn't much you can do to mitigate it. Hence why I think at least dropping the starting reaction 1 level may at least help a little.
Away from pure mechanical bonuses, I hope the specialisations actually help facilitate role-play and make them think that yes, maybe it makes more sense for the rogue to talk to the dodgy guy in the alley or fighter from a noble house should speak with her fellow noble peers.
Perhaps develop a social combat mechanic that treats diplomacy like combat maneuvers or something?
One problem with current diplomacy is that it tends to be a one-way street. PCs can attempt to modify the behaviors of others with diplomacy, yet NPCs have little to no need for diplomacy since they can't affect a PC (yet they can cast spells to mind control PCs, which negates the reasoning of not taking control away from players).
A new pseudo-social combat system might allow NPCs to use diplomacy, bluff, etc. on a PC for some kind of mechanical benefit effect rather than outright telling players "you just trust that random person".
Both Rich Burlew and the Alexandrian have fixed the Diplomacy skill, btw.
But yes, I would love to see a social combat system that was anywhere near as robust as the regular combat system.
I'm planning on using Paizo's social combat deck, we'll see what happens.
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I would be tempted to allow a character to use Craft, Knowledge, Perform or Profession Ranks + Cha Bonus instead of Diplomacy on characters they might effect:
Kn. Arcana - Arcane spellcasters, magic shop owners, alchemists
Kn. Dungeoneering - Adventurers, heroes, bartenders
Kn. Engineering - Architects, builders, city planners, civil engineers
Kn. Geography - Rangers, Trappers, Sailors, Farmers
Kn. History - Scholars, historians, anyone interested in the past
Kn. Local - Criminals, underworld types, thieves, spies, lower classes
Kn. Nature - Druids, natural philosophers, herbalists
Kn. Nobility - Nobility, upper classes and their servants, royalty etc
Kn. Planes - Outsiders, summoners, cultists
Kn. Religion - Clerics, Priests, Clergy, members of major religions
Craft (Art), Perform - Dilettentes, Artists, playwrights, bards, philosophers
Profession (Soldier) - Soldiers, warriors, guards, martial types
Profession (Merchant) - Merchants, traders, shopkeeps, bartenders
That's a great point, talking shop is a great way to break the ice :-)
I had an idea. Offer them the option of doing things like the stealth synergy teamwork feat. Maybe a feat called diplomatic duo, interwoven intimidation, etc that work exactly the same as the stealth synergy feat but with things like diplo and Sense motive... Or group all the social skills and use one feat that worka with all of them.
Make it interesting. If one person uses intimidate and one diplomacy maybe give them an aditional bonus for good cop bad cop. A male and female both using diplo together could get a bonus for having multiple styles of diplomacy. Rather than saying , take a niche and get bonuses, say take a niche and use it in cool ways with other peoples niches for cool bonuses.
Just an idea