Violence is never the answer. Except in 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Dungeons & Dragons, where violence is frequently the answer. But mugging a shopkeeper because the potions he sells are 𝕴too expensive isn’t the best solution in most campaigns. For situations like that, you want t🍌o use the Influence action.

Influenc💫e is♔ a class of action used to change a nonplayer character (NPC) or creature’s attitude in order to accomplish a goal with more subtlety than just hitting it with a club until it does what you want. When should you use it, how can it help, and who’s the best character to use Influence actions? Let’s find out!

What Is The Influence Action?

Influence actions are a type of action that you can take in or out of combat in order to get a monster, animal, or NPC to do something. These actions frequently 𒈔rely on Charisma, but occasionally Wisdom is also used.

If you take an Influence action, you’ll likely need to make an ability check to see if you’re successful. This ability check can be Deception, Intimidaꦬtion, Persuasion, Performance, or Animal Handling, depending on the situation.

The difficulty class (DC) of the ability check is set by the DM, and it’s typically 15 or the target’s Intelligence score, whichever is higher. If you’re successful, the creature does what you want, but if you fail yoﷺu can’t tr💞y again for a full day.

How Influence Actions Work

When you take an Influence action, the first thing you should do is describe or roleplay how you try to interact with your target. Holding a kܫnife to a prisoner’s throat is a totally different type of check than wooing a local noble with a song.

Based on your description or roleplay and the nature of the target, the DM may decide that the target is willing to help you, and give𓆏 you an automat🍒ic success on the Influence action. Or they may determine that the target is absolutely unwilling to help you, and may even be hostile.

For example, a mayor asks your party to slay the wyvern that has been slaughtering sheep from local farmers. You agree to help, but ask him to outfit your party for the task. Since this aligns with the mayor’s goals, your DM rules that t⛦he Persuasion action was successful, and the mayor has the local watch provide you w🎉ith rations, waterskins, torches, and other adventuring equipment.

If your target is hesitant, that’s when an ability check is necessary. The standard is a DC 15 or the Intelligence of the creature you’re attempting to infꦦluence, whichever is higher. However, this is affected by the creature’s attitude.

Attitude And Influence Checks

Attitude is how a monster, animal, or NPC feels about your party, and is divided into three categories🔯: friendly, indifferent, and hostile.

Friendly creatures have a favorable view of you, and tend to want to help. The blacksmith that was your character’s childhood friend is frienꦚdly, and so is the silver dragon who has been wat🎉ching your party make the world a better place.

Ability checks to Influence a creature that is friendly towards you are made with advantage, so you get to roll two d20s and use the hﷺigher result for these checks.

An NPC being friendly doesn't necessarily mean they're willing to help. Shopkeepers would starve if they gave away all their wares, and your success probably isn't worth a ra💎ndom character's life or liveliho⛦od, from their perspective.

Indifferent creatures don’t much care about you or your party. This is the default attitude of most monsters, animals, and NPCs if your character doesn’t have a widespread rep𓃲utation. You receive no bonuses✨ for these checks.

Hostile creatures are not inclined to help you. Gnolls that attack in the middle of the night 🦋are hostile, as is the red dragon that caught your party’s Rogue pocketing coins from his hoard.

Ability checks to Influence a creature that is hostile towards you is made with disadvantage. For one of these rolls, roll two d20s and use the lower re🐠sult.

If you manage to gain advantage and disadvantage on the same 🐷Influence action check, they cancel each other out and you o🦋nly roll one d20.

Types of Influence Actions

Deception

The Deception skill is used to tell lies and otherwise deceive and misdirect creatures. This could be a blatant lie✃, a subtle misdirection, or staying in character while wearing a disguise.

Deception shouldn’t be used to Influence friendly NPCs that you’ll see again, at least not in a way that’s harmful to them. A guard who realizes that the paperwork you showed him earlier was fake is less likely to be sympathetic the next time you encꦦounter him, and may make your life more difficult as a r🥃esult.

Bards, Rogues, Sorcerers, and Warlocks get Deception as a class skill proficiency, as do characters with the Charlatan background.

Intimidation

When you Intimidate a monster, you make it fear for its safety. This can come through thre🌌ats, displays of force or strength, or even from a particu﷽larly terrifying appearance.

Intimidation should be reserved for monsters or NPCs that you don’t expect to interact with again. After all, if you threaten to burn down a shopkeeper’s 💝busin🔜ess unless he offers you a steep discount, he’s more likely to call the local watch than to welcome you into his establishment again.

In some situations, your DM may allow you to use an ability other than Charisma for Intimidation checks. A strong Barbarian crushing a captured goblin’s helmet could be enough to make him talk.

Barbarians, Bards, Fighters, Paladins, Rogues, Sorcerers, and Warlocks can all take Intimidation as one o🔯f their class skill proficiencies.

Performance

Music soothes the savage beast. A catchy song, a clever joke, or a rousing speech are all ways that a performer can influence a monster or NPC in a less direct way.

A good Performance can distract a creature or make it see you in a more favorable light, or turn it against its allies. Politicians may use Performance to rall🎃y a crowd or to turn൲ a mob against an opponent, while Bards use them to earn a living and spread stories.

Bards are the only class with access to Performance as a skill proficiency, but characters with the Entertainer background also pick it up.

Persuasion

Persuasion is the most direct form of Influence. When you attempt to Persuade a monster or NPC, you’re just trying to talk them into doing whatever you’re trying to accomplish honestly and earnestly.

Haggling with a merchant is a good example of a Persuasion check. If you want to sell her goods at a higher price, you might talk about how rare an item is, tell her about how usef🔯ul it is, or assure her that it🙈 will be easy to sell.

Bards, Clerics, Fighters, Paladins, Rogues, and Sorcerers can choose Persuasion as one of their class skill proficiencies. Characters with the Artisan, Merchant, or Noble background can also be proficient in Persuasion.

Animal Handling

Animal Handling is the only Influence ability check that doesn’t use Charisma, instead relying on Wisdom. This is because it only works on Beasts and๊ Monstrosities, which have low Intelligence and cannot understand your attempts to talk to them.

Animal Handling is similar to Insight in that you’re paying close attention to an animal’s body language and sub🐲tle cues in order to gain insight, but it also represents guiding t♉hat animal to follow your instructions.

Unless the animal is already remarkably inte🌳l🐟ligent and well-trained, this can only amount to simple behavioral changes, like calming down a skittish Beast or convincing them that attacking your party isn’t the best idea.

Barbarians, Bards, Druids, Fighters, and Rangers all have access to Animal Handling from their class, while Farmers and Merchants get it from their background.

Thanks to the Skillful feature, Humans can be proficient in any one skil꧟l, including all of th🌳ese Influence skills.