Schmooze (sage ability)

Schmooze is an amateur-status sage ability in the study of Politics, allowing the character to gain a moderate advantage through conversation within individuals or groups up to three persons. The character demonstrates their gregarious nature, adding 1 point to the charisma per 10 knowledge points the character possesses when making friends, gaining knowledge or acting to promote his or her self. The bonus is applied to charisma checks that are made in the following cases:

Making Friends

When schmoozing with others in order to "make friends," a successful charisma check will indicate that these others will view the character without hostility. In short, the character will be treated as a friend and not a foe - so long as the character in turn makes no hostile actions. The 'friend' will be willing to give assistance or support to the character in one of the following ways:

• Providing food, drink or coin in an amount up to 12 copper pieces (1 silver piece).
• A willingness to help bear injured or unconscious persons within a safe environment a distance up to a quarter of a mile.
• Safe lodging for an hurt or unconscious person to rest until either consciousness is achieved or has healed. Hurt persons are those who have zero or less hit points.
• The friend's name.

Note that "friends" will become hostile and unwilling to assist characters if ordered to do so by their superiors, or if they perform a function which the character contravenes by word or deed. For example, a town guard might be willing to be your friend, but that doesn't mean you won't be arrested, or stopped from entering the town gates if you attempt to push past or demand recognition of your 'friendship.'

Pressing

Persons who have become friends will be willing to share information so long as it is generally held to be public knowledge - such as the location of a shop, office, specific farm and so on. Directions or vague details about the doings of such places are easily obtained from friends. These details will generally be reliable - your 'friends' may be inaccurate, but they won't willingly give you false information.

More specific information may be gained, however, if the character chooses to 'press' the friend. To press, the character makes an intelligence check, without the added bonus used to make friends. Success will reveal the following potential information - so long as the pressed individual knows such information to tell.

• Things or situations that specifically interest the friend.
• The best suggestion as to who the character should speak to at a specific location in order to get what is desired.
• The best nearby areas to avoid (typically, 1 to 3 areas are mentioned).
• The best local person to avoid (typically, only 1 person will actually be mentioned).
• The best place or area from which to seek vice or spirituality.
• Suggested behaviors that the character should avoid locally.

Persons who are pressed will also be willing to do one of the following:

• Agreeing to meet another person vouched for by the character.
• Agreeing to perform a service, one that meets all standards of propriety, so long as that service does not require more than three hours.

This advice is meant to be helpful and positive in nature. It should not be seen as an opportunity for the DM to lie or otherwise mislead characters into taking actions that would contribute to their downfall. While it is possible that the friend is wrong in their knowledge about particulars, it is likely that the friend would add to their information, "I may be wrong," "I'm not certain" or "I heard this as a rumour, I've no personal experience myself." The characters are entitled to know in these situations how reliable is the information they're receiving.

Doing Favors

Roll (d100)	Favour Requested
01-10	having offered is enough to turn the friend to an ally
11-22	acts relating to the character's expertise or sage ability
23-34	arrange an introduction with a person whose position would suggest they were 6-8th level
35-46	lend an amount up to 100 g.p. at no interest and without insistence of repayment in a given time frame
47-52	oversee or participate in a social commitment or occasion lasting no more than 6 hours (may include escorting another person)
53-76	acts of physical labour or travel, requiring no more than 3 complete days (including time to return)
77-00	act relating to class: spellcasting, protection, theft, assassination, etcetera

Turning a friend into an ally requires the character to make an offer of placing their time or expertise at the behest of the friend. The character must say, "Is there anything I can do for you," and truly mean it - so that in game terms, the character will feel duty bound to perform the action once it is asked for.

Before the friend will even consider the offer, the character must first have gained the friend's respect. This is determined by means of a calculation and a die roll: the character's level is squared and calculated as a percentage of the friend's level. Thus, if the character were 3rd level and the friend 4th level, the percentage would be 9/16 = 56% (discount all fractions). If this number is not successfully rolled, the friendship will remain but the favor will be declined. If the character's level is equal to or higher than the friend, then the chance of respect is 100%.

If the roll is successful, the friend will roll on the table to the right (adjusted at -1 per point of the character's charisma).

The friend will not ask anything of the character that a) the character is unable to do or b) would put the character in unreasonable danger.

Acts relating to the character's sage ability would include anything specific from the character's repetoire - perhaps chosen at random or perhaps having something to do with the specific needs of the friend or the ongoing campaign. Requested introductions may not even be with someone the character knows - the friend will have simply realized that the character has a better chance of getting to know that person (and then arranging the introduction) than does the friend.

Overseeing a social commitment may include performing a ceremony, standing in as best man, accompanying a lady to a ball or an event, working as a waiter or bartender, etcetera. Acts of physical labor may include hard or easy labor of any kind, for no more than 8 hours a day for up to three days (a roll of 1-3 days should be made to see how much of the character's time is requested).

Finally, acts relating to class would include a spellcaster casting of ONE spell (of potentially any level); a fighter serving as a guard or a combatant in a tournament; a thief breaking in and stealing an object; an assassin performing an assassination; a bard performing a concert and so on. None of these can require a time period of more than 6 hours from start to finish (and many will take much, much less).

Allies

Having performed a favor successfully, the character may now consider the friend to be an ally. Once seven days have passed since the performance of the favor, the character may now request any of the above favors in return from the ally, which shall cheerfully be paid in kind.

Moreover, if the character waits one more week past the time of the returned favor, the character may ask another favor of the ally. This is called entering the ally's debt. It means that the character must (once another week has passed) agree to perform a random favor for the ally from the list above, without the benefit of a charisma modifier, upon request!

The character can choose to disappear or otherwise avoid repaying the favor - but for every week that the character has remained out-of-touch, there is a 10% chance that the alliance and the friendship will be considered null and void. Former allies and friends may, in fact, become enemies of the character. (Specifics left open until rules are made for enemies).

The same is true if the favor is requested by an ally to which the character is in debt and the character refuses. Enemies will spread rumours about the character and seek the character's downfall.

If it should happen that the result from the table above is ever 10 or less, then it should be read that the favour given by the ally was 'free.' The character would say, "Thanks, I owe you one," and the ally would answer, "Think nothing of it. I am more than happy to do it for you without you owing me anything." In such a case, the character is not considered to be in the ally's debt. After another week, the character may choose to ask for another favor and perhaps go into the ally's debt on that occasion.

See Politics