Previous Persuasion     Normally, persuading another character (especially a PC or other strong-willed character) is simply a matter of stating your argument and hoping they choose to accept it. Against the weak-willed or those vulnerable to social pressure, however, you have additional options for persuading them to go your way. What's more, if you truly need to persuade a stronger-willed character, you can still use the persuasion rules; although you will not be able to manipulate them reliably, you can introduce negative effects that can incentivize them to comply.

    Obviously, these rules presume at least a small degree of reluctance on the part of your "target." If they are immediately agreeable to whatever you're asking, there is no need to break out the persuasion rules to drive the point home. The goal of your persuasion can really be anything that a reasonable person could be persuaded of - doing something for you, revealing information, carrying a message, leaving you alone, etc. You cannot use persuasion (or any other social action rules) to convert a character to another philosophy, nor anything else which would change their core beliefs and worldview. The GM always has the final say regarding whether a given request can be the subject of a persuasion social action.

    Depending on your reputation, personality, and philosophy, persuasion attempts might look like anything from making a logical argument, to emotionally manipulating a crowd, to making veiled threats.

Persuasion Damage     In addition to social offense and defense rolls, these rules make frequent reference to persuasion damage; while your character might inflict various degrees of physical harm with physical attacks, persuasion damage is an abstract measurement of the degree to which your argument hits home with your listeners. By default, the amount of persuasion damage you inflict with a successful "hit" is equal to your INT; the amount can be raised with certain Appeal Abilities.

Damage Goal     The first step in any persuasion attempt is to determine the persuasion damage goal. This determines the amount of persuasion damage necessary to "win" the argument; this of course does not mean that every character believes you have won the day and are correct, but meeting the damage goal means you have argued your point so persuasively that they are at least affected, and the rules proceed forward into the effects of success. The value of the persuasion damage goal depends on your goal in the persuasion attempt itself, and how difficult it would be for your "target" to accept it. The damage goal begins at 20, and may be increased by elements of convenience and unease:

Persuasion Rounds     All types of persuasion are divided into rounds, just like physical combat. The persuader must spend 10 insight to begin the attempt (if persuading as a group, only one character needs to spend this insight, and it does not need to be the character who makes the first social offense roll). Typically, each round consists of social offense and defense rolls pertaining to one side's persuasion goal, then the other. In some cases - for example, if you are trying to persuade someone who just wants to leave the conversation and has no competing persuasion goal - only one side may be taking turns. If there are in fact two competing persuasion goals, the side who began the conversation goes first; if it is unclear who began the interaction, each side may make a social offense roll of d12 on INT (choosing one character if persuading as a group), and the side with the best margin of success (or least margin of failure) goes first. Once one side inflicts a total amount of persuasion damage equal to or greater than the damage goal, the argument is over, and the losing side suffers the effects listed later.

    It is up to the GM, your group's preferences, and the situation itself how often rolls are made in relation to the roleplaying. A courtroom case might take literal days in-game, so perhaps the GM will have you make all the rolls and only have you roleplay a couple crucial scenes. Alternatively, you might just have a few sentences to talk down a dangerous bandit, and every sentence might be punctuated with social offense and defense rolls. As long as both the rules and roleplaying are fulfilled to everyone's satisfaction, the possibilities are endless.

Persuasion Turns, Rolls, & Failed Persuasion     When your turn arrives in the persuasion round, you may make a social offense roll of d12 on INT. If successful, your opponent makes a social defense roll of d20 on INT. If they fail the defense roll, you inflict an amount of persuasion damage as described above.

    A persuasion attempt fails (with no effects) if the defending side successfully avoids persuasion damage for two consecutive rounds (whether by you failing offense rolls, or them succeeding on defense rolls). The argument is unconvincing or inconclusive; onlookers are bored, both sides are out of points to make, or the jury is hung. Some Appeal Abilities can be used to reinvigorate the argument. The conversation may continue if the successfully-defending side was simultaneously trying to persuade the other side, which can now only make defense rolls.

    Once a persuasion attempt concerning a given subject ends, it normally cannot be re-attempted unless the situation notably changes. For example, if you use the persuasion rules to try to convince a character to heal you after a fight and you do not succeed, you cannot simply keep restarting new attempts until you succeed. However, if another battle occurs and you take more serious injuries, the situation might be different enough to qualify as a new topic. It's always up to the GM to determine how much time must go by before a similar persuasion can be attempted.

    Unless the GM decides otherwise, a failed persuasion attempt also cannot be re-attempted by a different character. For example, you cannot ask another character to persuade someone else to do the same thing you have already failed to persuade them to do. You can, however, make the first persuasion attempt as a group (see below).

    If you attempt to persuade someone in a way that contradicts a previously successful persuasion from another character, it may either be impossible, might comprise an indirect persuasion attempt against the other character (if they're still present), or may simply increase the persuasion damage goal.

Resisting a Persuasion Defeat     Once you win a persuasion attempt by inflicting sufficient persuasion damage, the other side is affected with the results of your victory. For characters/groups of 1-2 bWILL, this means they must fulfill whatever request you were persuading them to; regardless of how they feel about your argument, the social and psychological pressure to comply is simply too great. City and village crowds, as well as the vast majority of commoners individually, will have 1-2 bWILL. Characters of 3 bWILL or more can choose not to do what you asked. However, if such a character elects not to comply with your persuasion, they take 1 degree of social injury, and must make a social endurance roll of d20 on WILL. In-character, the social injury may appear differently depending on one's personality and philosophy, or the context of the social defeat. For example, some characters may be plagued by self-doubt, realizing they lost an argument and are acting irrationally (a Confidence injury). Others might not think of themselves as defeated, but seethe with distracting rage (Acceptance). Still others may be constantly rehashing the conflict in their mind, worried what their friends will think if they don't do better next time (Security).

    Sometimes a persuasion goal may be such that it is not immediately apparent whether the other character will comply (for example, persuading a merchant captain to send word if he spots your enemy's ship tomorrow). If a strong-willed character initially intends to comply with a successful persuasion, but later decides to defy it, they must make the social endurance roll at that point; they cannot evade the roll simply by indecision.

Individuals & Groups     These rules describe an argument between two characters just as much as between two groups (or an individual speaking to a crowd). If you are addressing a group (or part of a group), your arguments affect them all; persuasion damage is really applied against an argument or position, not an individual. The GM will generalize convenience and unease for the entire group. Usually, this means choosing the highest unease and inconvenience amongst all individuals in the group, within reason.

    Because it's not productive for everyone to speak all at once, only one individual at a time (per side) can make a social offense or defense roll. Characters can switch out from one offense/defense roll to the next, but multiple characters cannot attempt the same roll. A side can wait until after the offense roll (and therefore after knowing which character and Abilities they're responding to) before choosing their defending character. If there is a lengthy disagreement about who should make an offense or defense roll, the roll is considered to have failed. The risk of everyone being affected by a loss is offset by certain Appeal Abilities and other social actions that can assist allies in persuasion, and alternating between competent persuaders can help prevent any single character from running out of insight for their Appeal Abilities.

    If you "win" the persuasion attempt, you affect all individuals in the group. However, unlike offense/defense rolls, each character makes a separate social endurance roll if they defy the persuasion.

Indirect Persuasion    Indirect persuasion describes a situation where the character(s) you are trying to persuade are not the character you are speaking to. The most common example is a public debate - perhaps the point is not to influence the character you are arguing with, but to influence a third-party audience.

    Indirect persuasion follows the same rules as above, except that the character(s) you are persuading may have the character you are actually speaking to make their defense roll. This defense roll follows the same rules as a normal social defense roll (just as if the character was defending against persuasion of themselves), except that it protects the third-party characters from persuasion damage instead. In some cases, both characters may have competing persuasion goals for a crowd, and each will make the crowd's defense rolls against the other character's argument.

    Indirect persuasion may come into play for an actual scheduled debate when someone wants to hear both sides of an issue, or it may interrupt a "normal" persuasion when a more capable character sees fit to oppose your attempt.

    For the rules below concerning reputation and Rapport, your reputation and Rapport with the third party (not the opponent making defense rolls) is considered. That is, those rules always refer to the person(s) actually being persuaded.

Conceding/Leaving Early    Weak-willed characters (1-2 bWILL) will typically hear you out until the conversation ends. Stronger-willed characters are free to walk away, plug their ears and shout, seal themselves in another room, or even attack you in the middle of the conversation. However, this essentially functions as conceding the argument. When a character acts to end the persuasion attempt early in any way, they are affected just as if they had lost the persuasion, and must either comply with your request or take the social injury and social endurance roll.

    These rules do not apply to a persuasion attempt that is interrupted by something external to the conversing characters. In such a case, the persuasion attempt is "paused" until the conversation can continue. It also does not apply when characters immediately attack each other; they must at least begin a conversation to count as ending it.

Persuasion and Combat    Persuasion rules cannot be used during combat - a fight is too fast-paced and distracting to have a decent conversation. Persuasion can be used before combat, perhaps to avoid the fight altogether (though not all enemies will give you a chance to speak). But once the fighting starts and combat turns begin, persuasion rules must either be discarded or wait for later.

    Remember that if a fight breaks out in the middle of a persuasion attempt, the rules above for conceding the argument apply, and the effects are resolved before combat begins.

Effects of Rapport     As characters get to know you as a "real person," your prior reputation has less of an impact in persuasion. Only characters with whom you have No Rapport are affected by a positive reputation during persuasion (see below).    The closer your relationship with a character, the more difficult it is to bring the persuasion rules against them. Such conversations are often simply roleplayed out, without resorting to the debate techniques and argumentative manipulation implied in the persuasion rules. You may still make a persuasion attempt against characters of higher Rapport, but you have Hindrance in your social offense rolls. The Hindrance is 1 for a Low Rapport character, 3 for a Medium Rapport character, or 5 for a High Rapport character. Keep in mind that Rapport categories depend on the GM's perception of your characters, and are generally not protected by any rules; repeated attempts to manipulate an ally will almost certainly sour your Rapport with them.

Effects of Terror & Negative Reputations     Characters typically find you more persuasive if they are simultaneously terrified of you. When beginning a persuasion attempt against a character that currently has terror from you or your side (whether that terror is inflicted by intimidation or by other means), you may immediately inflict a certain amount of persuasion damage. This amount depends on your reputation:

    Benevolent, Comical: 0
    Impersonal, Barbaric, no renown: 1/2 the amount of terror
    Audacious: Equal to the amount of terror
    Oppressive: Double the amount of terror

    This persuasion damage occurs at the start of the round, prior to any turns or rolls. If you are fearsome enough, it's possible for the persuasion to succeed immediately, before any offense and defense rolls. If not, you at least begin with an advantage; also remember that if your adversary has actual degrees of trauma from terror, those will interfere with their social rolls. Means of removing terror (such as rallying) and therefore of lowering initial persuasion damage may likewise be used before the first turns or rolls, and can prevent the attempt from automatically succeeding.

    If the amount of terror changes in the middle of the persuasion attempt (for example, intimidation or rallying is not used at first, but later succeeds during the persuasion), the current persuasion damage is adjusted accordingly.

    During persuasion involving groups, the reputation type may default to Impersonal if there is not a majority type as perceived by the target character(s).

Effects of Positive Reputations     While not as immediately impactful as fear and intimidation, trusted reputations are more useful in lengthy conversations. When persuading a character with whom you have No Rapport (that is, most of the NPCs you will encounter in Legends), they may receive Hindrance in their defense rolls against you, depending on your reputation and renown:

    Benevolent: 1 Hindrance per 8 renown, to a maximum of 4
    Audacious: 1 Hindrance per 12 renown, to a maximum of 3
    Oppressive: 1 Hindrance per 16 renown, to a maximum of 2
    Impersonal, Comical, Barbaric: None

    During indirect persuasion, the character making the defense roll may subtract from this Hindrance the amount that they would add if they were persuading the same third party. For example, if your party has 16 renown and a Benevolent reputation with a crowd, they would normally add 2 Hindrance, but if a character with 16 renown and an Oppressive reputation with the crowd makes their defense rolls, they subtract 1 Hindrance.

Effects of Cultural Literacy     When speaking to a gathered crowd, you must add 3 Hindrance in all persuasion offense rolls if you lack literacy in their culture.

Persuasion and Other Social Actions     Other social actions may be used during a group persuasion attempt. These include intimidation, rallying, short exhortations, short rebukes, and lie detection. However, a character may only do one of these other social actions per persuasion round, and cannot perform a persuasion offense roll that round if they do so. In group persuasion, each character may choose a different social action, or may make the persuasion offense roll; whispered tips and shouted remarks frequently surround important arguments. If no character on a side makes a persuasion offense roll during a round, that side must add 2 Hindrance to their next persuasion offense roll. Any character on a side may make the defense roll, regardless of what social action they last performed.

Haggling     City businesses cannot be legally intimidated, and cultural norms generally immunize them from being persuaded out of their goods outright. Still, they are vulnerable to a specific form of price negotiation called haggling, which is often considered an art form in certain mercantile areas.

    Haggling is considered a form of persuasion and follows the same rules (for example, you can use any Abilities related to persuasion). Only the differences between haggling and normal persuasion (see above) are given here. One persuasion attempt applies to one item; once an attempt is made, you cannot attempt to haggle the same item (or an identical one) from the same business, even if you return on a different day. Other characters in your party can attempt to haggle the item, however. One character may haggle on behalf of another, so long as no character is making persuasion offense rolls for the same item in two different persuasion attempts.

    Because of the peculiarities of dwarven culture, haggling cannot be used in the realm of Nani; most merchants will become quite angered by the attempt.

    Any Ability or social action that inflicts terror or is based on terror will ruin a haggling attempt, and usually lead the business to involve the authorities.

Damage Goals and Price Percentages     Haggling has a persuasion damage goal of 40 to obtain the maximum discount. However, unlike normal persuasion, it still has an effect if the persuasion attempt ends early. To determine the effects of the haggle, simply divide the final persuasion damage by 2, and turn the result into a percentage discount. For example, if you inflict 20 persuasion damage before the attempt ends, 20/2 = 10, so you haggle the item down to 90% of its normal price. If haggling over the price of an item you're selling to a business, divide the persuasion damage by 4, and add the result to the normal selling price percentage (normally 50). Any persuasion damage over 40 is discarded, meaning that the maximum discount is to 80%, and the maximum sell price increase is to 60%. See Buying & Selling.

    Other means of obtaining percentage modifiers to price, such as Bargain Hunting and Sales Mastery (Culture), can be used on the same item as haggling; these are considered separate processes, with haggling coming last and solely based on the price that remains after other modifiers.

Business TNs     Rather than a specific individual, you are really using persuasion against a complex set of mercantile traditions and market forces. As such, the GM does not need to determine the Abilities and stats of a certain business owner; the business uses no Abilities in its persuasion defense rolls, but does have a rather high defense roll TN. The business' TN is 20, with a +TN if the item is very valuable; +1 for every 1,000 coins of its normal price. Successful haggling often requires Appeal Abilities related to persuasion and/or a very good reputation.

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