Editing Age Of Dragons: Social Conflict

[[Age Of Dragons: Main Page]] -> [[Age_Of_Dragons:_Combat_And_Conflict|Combat and Conflict]]-->[[Age Of Dragons: Conflict|Other Conflicts]] -> [[Age_Of Dragons: Social Conflict|Social Conflict]]

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=Overview of Social Conflict=

Social Conflict is used for any social confrontations for example: debates, arguments and battles of words.

==The Passage of Time: Phases and Rounds==

A round in social conflict will likely represent a longer period of time than in skirmish conflict. For example, each round might represent an hour of argument in a courtroom, or a year of manoeuvring in a battle to control the hearts and minds of a kingdom.

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=The Turn: Overview=

During a character's turn he goes through the following steps:

1) Determine and Roll Dice Pool

2) Reroll Step

3) Spotting Step

4) Expend Step

==1) Determine and Roll Dice Pool==

The character whose turn it is chooses which dice pool to roll. This will determine what sort of actions he can take that turn. By default, social conflicts use the '''Pneuma''' dice pool.

==2) Reroll Step==

The character can then activate any Reroll effects he has, as per the rules in the [[Age Of Dragons: Game Systems|Basic Game Systems]].

==3) Spotting Step==

The character can then activate any Spotting effects he has, as per the rules in the [[Age Of Dragons: Game Systems|Basic Game Systems]].

In social combat, spotting effects normally relate to tactical mobility. See the section below for more on tactical mobility.

==4) Expend Step==

The character can then activate any Expend effects or actions he has, as per the rules in the [[Age Of Dragons: Game Systems|Basic Game Systems]].

In social combat, Expend effects or actions normally relate to actual effectiveness in combat. The most common expend effect is to simply deal damage. See the section on damage dealing below for more on this.



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=Tactical Positioning: Physical and Conceptual=

Position in social combat can be represented in two different ways.

For social conflicts spread across a wide geographic area (for example a city, or a kingdom) the landmarks used could be actual physical locations. In this case manoeuvring involves actual movement between these locations. Moving from one physical location to an adjacent one might requires spotting Soma dice, for example, spotting three 5+ Soma dice to move one distance step. Its worth bearing in mind the timescales here - if each round is one day, for example, then "adjacent" locations should be roughly apart a distance that a dragon could cover easily in a day, or several times over with effort - that is, about a hundred miles.

For social conflicts contained in a single area, the locations  can be more conceptual. For example, if battling to win the hearts and minds of a crowd of humans, one location could represent the nobility, another the merchant class and another the peasantry. In this case their proximity should depend on how close said groups interests are. For example, the merchant class could be 1 range step from both peasantry and nobility, but peasantry and nobility would be 2 steps apart. By default, moving from one conceptual location to an adjacent one requires spotting one 5+ Pnuema dice.

==Strategies==

In addition to tactical movement manoeuvres, it is possible to use the spotting step to achieve various strategies. Strategies are not dependent on whether you are flying or not:

* '''Strategy effect: Evade Arguments'''
To activate this Strategy, the Dragon must '''spot 5+ on Pneuma dice'''. For each dice spotted in this way the dragon gains '''+1 Social Defence'''. These points must be spent by the start of his next turn, or they are lost.


* '''Strategy effect: Focus'''
To activate this Strategy, the Dragon must '''spot 5+ on Pneuma dice'''. For each dice spotted in this way the dragon deducts '''-1 Social Defence''' from one enemy. The target must be at close quarters and who are at the same altitude. Also, this cannot reduce Social Defence below 0.



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=Expend Step: Actions=

During the expend step, the dragon can take actions by expending dice.

==Direct Social Attack==

Direct Social attacks can only be made against enemies at the same location. Making a '''Direct Social Attack''' is a standard action expending '''4+ dice on a Pneuma check.'''

For each dice expended in this way, deal 1 point of damage to the target's mental resilience.

==Indirect Social Attacks==

An Indirect Attack can be made from middle distance or closer. Making an '''Indirect Social Attack''' is a standard action.

Also, making an indirect social attack may require the character to have the means to make indirect attacks - for example via distant agents, spy networks or the like.

Making a ranged attack  requires a dragon to expend '''4+ dice on a Pneuma check.'''

For each dice expended in this way, deal 1 point of damage to the target's '''mental resilience'''.



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=Reflexive Actions=

Reflexive Actions are never taken during your own turn, but used at a certain place during other character's turns. Lifepath powers and skills will give access to additional reflexive actions, but all characters have access to the Social Defence option:

==Social Defence==

The '''Defend''' reflexive action allows a dragon to avoid and rebutt social attacks coming his way. 

The '''Trigger Condition''' for '''Defend''' is that the character must be about to be struck by an social attack or effect that would damage his mental resilience.

The defending character can reflexively spend points of '''Social Defence''', with each point spent negating the effect of one dice expended. This can reduce or fully negate a social attack.

Note that by default characters do not usually have any points of social defence. It is therefore usually very important to use the '''Strategy: Social Evade''' during your spotting step to ensure that you have at least some defence.

===Passive Social Defence===

'''Passive Social Defence''' is gained via certain skills and powers, as detailed in the Lifepath sections.

At the start of your turn, if a character's current '''Social Defence''' is less than his '''Passive Social Defence''', then it immediately increases to that value. Also, at the start of a combat, before he has taken his first action, a character automatically has '''Social Defence''' equal to his '''Passive Social Defence'''.



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=Damage and Health states=

A dragon who hits his target with a socially damaging attack directly deducts damage inflicted from the target's '''Mental Resilience.'''

If this reduces the targets '''Mental Resilience''' to 0 or less, the target is considered to be '''discredited'''.

A '''discredited''' character cannot act in social combat, and cannot use any effects that require spotting or expending dice. 

Even at 0 Mental Resilience, the character can still continue to take damage, taking him into negative values.

A character reduced to a negative value equal to his Sophis is '''humiliated'''. For example, if he has a Sophis of 9, then he would be humiliated at -9 Mental Resilience.


==Outcomes of social combat==

Generally when the GM declares the start of a social conflict it will be made clear what the benefits of discrediting your opponent are. For example, if trying to argue a court case, discrediting your opponent would be enough to win you the case, while if trying to win a lady's heart, discrediting your opponent would win you the prize of her affections.

Note also that it is generally not necessary to humiliate an enemy to achieve your goal - rather doing so just makes losing all the worse for them. The option is there for when you are feeling especially spiteful, or you want to make sure of your victory. 

Note also that while a discredited opponent may harbour some resentment, a humiliated one will often seek revenge...

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[[Category:Age_of_Dragons|Social]]