Negotiation

Based on Matt Colville's Draw Steel negotiation mechanic

This mechanic is designed for High Stakes Negotiations, not as a rule for every NPC interaction. Specifically, the time to use these rules is during: - A high stakes conversation - When the party has a plausible request (i.e. asking the king to send an army to fight the goblins in the North, not kill yourself and give me your money.) Have the players write their request down! - The NPC wants to negotiate - NPC has a reason to not just say "yes".

[!important] This is not designed to replace standard role play. Use Persuasion, Insight, Intimidation and Deception checks if the role playing criteria above are not met.

"Negotiation is not a process that changes an NPC's character. Rather the Heros are trying to make an NPC understand how behaving differently would actually be in character." - Matt Colville in Draw Steel

The negotiation mechanic uses four main stats to determine how willing a NPC is to negotiate: Interest, Patience, Motivations and Pitfalls.

Negotiation Steps

Determine NPC's Interest and Patience scores based on Attitude toward players.
Determine NPC's Motivations and Pitfalls.
Run the Negotiation Scene!

Player Actions and Consequences in the Negotiation Scene

Players can make four checks during a negotiation: - Persuasion checks - Insight checks (if attempting to read NPC) - Intimidation checks - Deception checks (if lying)

And each check will fall into one of three bands of results: - 11 or lower = failure - 12 to 16 = partial failure or partial success - 17 or higher = success

Player Actions

Players have three actions they can take on their turn: 1. Get a read on an NPC - Make an Insight check - Failure: The NPC realizes the party is trying to get a read on them. Patience is reduced by 1. - DC 12 Partial Failure: The NPC is hard to read! - DC 17 Success: The player learns one of the NPC's Motivations or Pitfalls. 2. Make an argument - DM Determines: Is the party appealing to the NPC's Motivation, Pitfall, neither or lying? - Appeal to a Motivation: Make a Persuasion or Intimidation check. - Failure: Patience is reduced by 1. - DC 12 Partial Success: Interest increases by 1. Patience decreases by 1. - DC 17 Success: Interest increases by 1. - Appeal to a Pitfalls: Automatic failure. - Interest decreases by 1. Patience decreases by 1. - Appeal to Neither: Make a Persuasion or Intimidation check. - Failure: Interest decreases by 1. Patience decreases by 1. - DC 12 Partial Failure: Patience decreases by 1. - DC 17 Success: Interest increases by 1. Patience decreases by 1. - Telling a Lie: Make a standard Deception check. - Standard consequences of appealing to Motivations, Pitfalls or neither. - Getting caught in the lie decreases Patience by 1. 3. Accept an offer - NPC makes an offer, determined by their current Interest level on the outcomes table. This is a final offer but the players aren't required to accept it.

NPC Willingness to Negotiate

Some NPC's might be keen to hear what the players have to say. Some may not. We can determine these factors for each NPC using Interest and Patience scores. Each of these scores is determined by a NPC's Attitude towards the players in that moment.

Interest

An NPC's interest represents how eager they are to make a deal with the PCs. Interest is graded on a scale of 1 (no interest) to 6 (highly interested). At the beginning of negotiation a NPC's interest starts between 2 and 5. If the NPC's interest ever goes to 6, they make a final offer and the negotiation ends. If the NPC's interest ever drops to 1 they end the negotiation without offering the players anything. Interest can increase and decrease during the negotiation. The interest score of the NPC at the end of the negotiation determines what type of offer the NPC makes to the players.

Patience

An NPC's patience represents how much time and effort they are willing to devote to negotiation. Patience is graded on a scale of 1 (no patience) to 6 (very patient). Each NPC must start a negotiation with a patience score higher than 1. If the NPC's patience score ever reaches 1 they make the players a final offer and the negotiation ends. Patience can decrease each time the players make an argument.

Attitude

When entering a negotiation the DM must determine the NPC's attitude towards the players. Use the table below to determine the Interest and Patience scores based on attitude towards players.

Attitude	Int.	Pat.
Hostile	2	3
Suspicious	3	3
Neutral	3	4
Open	4	4
Friendly	4	5
Trusting	5	5
### Types of Arguments
The DM will also have to determine what types of arguments will and will not work given the NPC's character traits. To determine these we will use the mechanic of Motivations and Pitfalls. A good starting point is to give the NPC three motivations and two pitfalls.

Motivations

A motivation is a core belief the NPC holds. When players appeal to these beliefs they can expect better results.

Pitfalls

Pitfalls are values which the NPC does not identify with and would be insulted to be associated with. Arguments mentioning pitfalls always fail.

Motivations and Pitfalls Table

Below is a table of motivations and pitfalls from Draw Steel but the DM is free to create their own if none of these fit their NPC well. Remember, one characters motivation can be another's pitfall!

d12	Trait	Motivation	Pitfall
1	Benevolence	Believes in sharing what they have with others.	Has a cynical view of the world, believing no creature has a right to anything just for being alive.
2	Discovery	Believes in exploration, research, breaking ground or uncovering secrets.	Has no interest in unknown places, people or ideas. This might be out of fear or discomfort.
3	Freedom	Wants no authority over themselves or over others.	Believes a world without authority is one of turmoil and chaos.
4	Greed	Desires wealth and resources.	Has no desire for wealth or resources and is offended if someone tries to buy their favor.
5	Higher Authority	Loyal to a person or force they perceive as being more important than thereself.	Scoffs at the idea of serving others.
6	Justice	Wants to see the righteous rewarded and the wicked punished regardless of the subjectivity of their view.	Doesn't see the world a just place and has no interest in making it one.
7	Legacy	Desires fame while alive and acclaim after death.	Cares nothing of leaving a personal mark on the world. To them, such vain thinking is a waste.
8	Peace	Wants calm in their life.	Desires excitement, drama and danger.
9	Power	Covets authority over others.	Has no interest in authority for themselves. They might respect the authority of others, but dislike the idea of them holding it.
10	Protection	Has a person, place, item or organization they will protect at all costs.	Happy to leave others to fend for themselves.
11	Revelry	Just wants to have fun.	Sees social encounters and hedonism as a waste of time.
12	Vengence	Wants to harm another who has hurt them.	Believes revenge solves nothing.

Outcomes

When a negotiation ends use the table below to determine, based on the NPC's Interest at the end of the negotiation, the outcome for the players. Make sure to refer back to and to take into account the players original request when determining an outcome.

Interest	Outcome
1	No, and something bad...
2	No.
3	No, but something good...
4	Yes, but something bad...
5	Yes.
6	Yes, and something good