Head back to Tickless Social Combat
The following pages outlines a rough "social combat system" that plays out very differently than both the regular combat system and the system from the Exalted core rulebook while maintaining many of the basic assumptions from page 170 (Social Combat and Exalted). The main goal of this rules system is to allow greater variety in social tactics, encourage a more natural pace of social combat (like a real argument), and provide more guidelines and "kick" to the system without functioning as out and out mind control.
See also: Detailed Intimacies, This System's Pappa.
The two most important concepts in Social Combat are Composure, and The Floor. Composure is measure of the character's poise and ability to sway a given social situation in his advantage, while The Floor is a measure of comparative advantage and allows the character with the Floor to take Social Actions which in turn cost points of Composure. The longer a character holds onto the advantage that is the Floor, though, the less that others are interested in what he has to say and the harder it is to influence them. This encourages him to pass it on to others, giving himself a chance to recover. The loss of Composure is more pressing, as a lack of this resource leaves the character unable to act and at a disadvantage to those who have thus far held back. It's smart to hold a bit of Composure in reserve, though Heroic Mortals and Exalts benefit from being able to stunt and thereby regain lost Composure.
A Social Combat in play has no initiative tracking system, other than the concept of the Floor and the Social Action. Simply roleplay and/or narrate out the conversation as you normally would, though other players shouldn't interrupt or otherwise cut down the person with the Floor without attempting to take it from him as described below. Similarly, the character with the Floor can ask the Storyteller to let him roll out a Social Action at any time, provided he meets any requirements for taking that action.
A character's Composure is calculated as ([Appearance or Temperance]+Socialize), with the addition of Essence if rated at 2+. People with high Appearance are more used to getting their way and generally at an advantage in Social Combat, while those with a high Temperance are more somber and better able to control themselves in Social Situation. Socialize, by contrast, simply represents a general familiarity with and aptitude toward social endeavor. You should note your Composure on your character sheet, with both a Permanent and a Temporary value, like Willpower.
Unlike Willpower, one's Permanent Composure is only a starting point. At the beginning of every distinct Social Combat, your Composure is set equal to your Permanent Composure but from there it can range all the way up to 10 and all the way down to 0. A character with 0 Composure loses the benefit of his Mental Dodge DV, and can only defend himself from Social Attacks using his Social Parry DV's. It's worth noting again, in plain terms, that Composure is not retained from Social Combat to Social Combat. It starts every distinct new Combat reset to it's Permanent Value.
You may spend Composure to:
The main ways to regain Composure are:
The Exalted naturally have more Composure than most mortals, and some chosen have charms that can raise this value even more or provide additional ways to use or regain the valuable resource.
The Floor is like a ball, passed from party to party, getting hotter the longer you hold it so that eventually you have to give it up. This effect is called the Hog Penalty, and it simply states that every "turn" after the first that you hold the Floor (or "Hog" it), your opponents gain a +2 DV bonus against all your Social Attacks, adding up cumulatively with no upward limit. You can hold onto the Floor as long as you want, and use Social Flurries to work as much into your arguments as you can, but eventually you'll have to give the other guy a turn or he'll get bored and resist your Argument to stay and keep talking.
The Hog Penalty goes away once you no longer have the floor, and certain Social Charms can mitigate or eliminate it for a given Social Action.
When a Social Combat begins, all sides roll Wits+Socialize. The person with the most successes gains the Floor; if it's a tie, whomever bids the most Composure is able to attain that initial advantage. Once the debate has begun, you can attempt to Seize the Floor if you do not already have it. This requires you to pay one Composure; the current floorholder can choose to relinquish the floor to you, or spend a Composure of his own to fight for it. If more than one person or group tries to Seize the Floor at once, the floorholder need only spend 1 Composure to "stay in the fight". The pool necessary to fight over the Floor is ([Charisma or Manipulation]+Socialize), either rolled (for any attackers) or taken as a Social Parry DV (for the defender). The hog penalty has no effect on this; a particularly cunning socialite can keep the floor against all comers simply to keep anyone else from getting a meaningful word in edgewise.
The other way to gain the Floor, however, is to tear down your opponents arguments. Any successful Social Parry can be capitalized upon for 1 Composure, one of the benefits of which is the ability to sweep the floor out from under your opponent. This also leaves the target of your zing off-guard against you, in turn giving you a +3 bonus to your Socialize Parry DV to resist attempts by the previous Floor Holder to regain his advantage. This bonus doesn't last forever; it fades once your Hog Penalty exceeds your permanent Composure.
Upon seizing the Floor, you are thereby guaranteed at least one social action. No one else can attempt to Seize the Floor or pull it out from under you until you've taken this action or the ST rules that you've forfeited it. That's the advantage of having the Floor!
Much like certain traits are most useful in physical combat, certain traits are especially important in social combat. These include the Social Attributes, each of which supports certain types of Social Attacks, and the Abilities of Integrity, Performance, Presence, Investigation, Bureaucracy, and Socialize. In addition, both Occult and Larceny can occasionally have Social applications, though are primarily suited to other endeavors. Linguistics is very important to Social Activities, but is seldom actually rolled.
Charisma
A solid, all-around useful attribute. It's used for passionate forthright appeals, and rewards you for simply being yourself rather than relying on the crutches that Manipulation and Appearance can sometimes require. It's useful in a variety of situations without any significant drawbacks or weaknesses. The downside, of course, being that you're either Charismatic or you're not. If you aren't, there isn't much you can do to improve that side of the Social Equation and you'll thus always be weaker at these kinds of appeals. Regardless, Charisma is the "default" Social Attribute, akin to Dexterity.
Manipulation
A very widely-applicable powerful attribute, with the downside that it can occasionally backfire. Raw manipulation is "getting away with less", little white lies and inspiring confidence without sincerity. It's successful enough for the Manipulative without being excessively risky. Less naturally talented people can enhance their chances of success with actual dishonesty, from manufactured situations and evidence to blatant lies, and even the Manipulative can benefit from such. The downside is that such tactics increase the potential backfire if your dishonesty is discovered.
Manipulation-based Permutations
Details to follow at a later date?
Appearance
Pretty much everything about Appearance comes down to sex. Despite that, or perhaps because of that, it's a very powerful (if limited and sometimes degrading) tool. More or less anyone can be successful with a Appearance based attack; if you want something, a Blow Job certainly won't hurt in getting it, provided the person you're dealing with is interested in such things. The Beautiful are naturally better at these kinds of attacks, and can get more for less, but still lack the ability to do things that one simply can't do with nothing but a pretty face.
Appearance-based Permutations
Anyone can raise their effective Appearance Attribute for the purposes of a Social Action by performing various sexual acts. This provides a +1 to +4 bonus, and can raise the Attribute only to a Maximum of 7. A +1 bonus is achieved simply by the exposure of flesh, and other obviously tantalizing acts, while a +2 bonus demands sexual favors such as allowing someone to touch you or pleasuring them orally. Actually having sex with someone who wants you is worth a +3 bonus, while you can get a bonus of up to +4 by submitting to the most taboo acts with someone who is into such things.
Note, Appearance-based Social Attacks and other uses of the Attribute in Social Combat involve using sex for your personal advantage. The Beautiful can get by with just flirting and smiling at someone, and get large results from this, but the offer to suck someone's cock can let even a relatively normal person make a successful Appearance-based appeal. One major drawback of Appearance, of course, is some people simply won't be interested regardless of anything else. The Storyteller has final authority on this, though other Charisma or Manipulation based actions might change the NPC's mind.
Except for Passions (and specifically Passions related to you), Appearance-based Appeals are not very suitable for building Intimacies. They can be used to erode away intimacies, in some cases, though mostly only in very select cases such as a man's intimacy toward his wife or a someone's intimacy for their homeland. The primary focus of the Appearance-based appeal, then, is in the granting of Favor and or in temporarily affecting an intimacy.
A look at possible Social Abilities, in brief.
Note, the "Strength" of an attack is the total value of all modifiers to Social DV's as well as the number of "Health Levels" that particular attack is facing. Any calculated Strength below 0 is set at 0, but some Social Actions are against "Trivial" Strength; this means Concession is impossible and a single successful attack is enough to force Deadlock.
See Social Actions for more details on individual actions, or Detailed Intimacies for Intimacy-related options.
Types of Social Actions
A social combatant may always use all applicable Special Defenses against any given attack, regardless of its Strength as determined above. See the Detailed Intimacies rules for more details on Strength, and such Special Defenses.
Upon a successful social attack, the defender normally has three options:
On a failed social attack, the defender can choose either of these options:
A concession is the "damage track" of the Social Combat system. Unless an attacker simply Concedes and gives you what you want, you influence his behavior and manipulate his Intimacies with the use of Concessions. Any concession given to you is always tagged in some fashion, i.e., if you're arguing with an Immaculate about Anathema not being Demons then a Concession you earn might involve "I've done things that are Good!". This supports your side of the argument, but by itself, it does nothing in the face of even a single Strength 1 Intimacy. In numbers, though, Concessions can have great and powerful effects.
You use Concessions to Quash an opponents Defensive Strength, and force a Deadlock. In order to do this, you must have one relevant Concession for every point of Strength the Defender arrays against you and an extra Concession to cause the Deadlock itself. If you successfully deadlock an opponent, he can no longer Compromise. He must either pay all his temporary willpower to Contest your argument or Concede.
Unlike "damage", Concessions are not invulnerable to attack! See the Revoke Concession Social Attack.
Once you have enough Concessions to match any
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