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Command Skill - A pet peeve
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Kytross
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 19, 2024 8:08 pm    Post subject: Command Skill - A pet peeve Reply with quote

PLAYERS!!!!!

The command skill is not a kind of mind control.

The Command skill gives you the capacity to boss around NPCs that have an in-game reason to listen to you. Usually these are people who are paid to listen to you.

If you are in a business than you can command your subordinates, not (generally) your superiors.

As a Jedi in the pre OT era you can command other Jedi, members of the republic military and police forces, sector rangers, and planetary police forces with a very easy to easy roll. Trying to command criminals is almost impossible. In the OT era and after, trying to command Imperial personal is going to take a better than Heroic roll.

A ship's captain is going to be able to command THEIR crew. Not all crews.


Taking this to modern day, playing as a cop you will find law abiding civilians and subordinate police officers will more readily follow your orders.

A civilian, on the other hand, has almost no authority and most people won't listen to them.


Please take that into consideration before you dump two of your seven skill dice at character creation into command.

If you want something that will get more people to do what you want them to do, you're looking for Persuasion. But be ready with a reason for why what you're trying to talk them into will be in the NPC's best interest. Those NPCs need a reason to listen to you as well.

Then, there's always Con, which is straight up lying to get what you want.


Thank you. I keep running into this, Drives me bats. End rant.
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CRMcNeill
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 19, 2024 11:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Tbf, the write-up for the Command skill bases Difficulty on the degree to which the NPCs being Commanded would / should respect the authority of the character rolling Command. This is a big part of why I added Command Modifier values to all my ship stats, adding crew size onto the basic Command Difficulty.
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garhkal
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 20, 2024 12:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The most often use i've seen of command by pcs, is to boss other rebels around.. Not general folks on the street.
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Kytross
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 20, 2024 9:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I agree with you guys. A heroic roll would be amazing and should have amazing results. A new character with 3D perception and 5D command mostly isn't rolling heroic rolls.

I've had this happen with three or four different players over the years. It gets to me.
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Whill
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 23, 2024 10:44 pm    Post subject: Re: Command Skill - A pet peeve Reply with quote

Kytross, that is good commentary for the command skill. That has always been my understand of how the skill is supposed to work, but it seems you have ran into GMs that make the skill more powerful, like a Jedi Mind Trick for any NPC if the roll is high enough? That's a lazy read of RAW or too powerfully house-ruled IMO.

I have an additional rule where all starting skill dice allocations on a starting PC have to be explainable by the PCs background, so if it doesn't make sense for the PC to have command (or any skill), then they can't just add skill dice to it.

I would think that, in nature, command specializations would be more common than the base skill itself.
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garhkal
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 23, 2024 11:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

One of the more funnier times i saw someone try to use it, was he 'Commanded" the storm troopers they were fighting against to leave... Thinking I can just spend a FP and uber up the roll,, and they'd HAVE to comply....
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CRMcNeill
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 30, 2024 1:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

A counterpoint: some people (especially in sci-fi settings) are exceptionally gifted in their ability to Command, be it due to "presence" (trained or otherwise), natural assertiveness or training in specific techniques. For instance, in the Duniverse, The Voice ultimately boils down to an extremely effective Command skill. There is also Grand Admiral Thrawn, who is described as having a natural commanding presence.
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Whill
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 30, 2024 11:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

CRMcNeill wrote:
For instance, in the Duniverse, The Voice ultimately boils down to an extremely effective Command skill.

In the Duniverse, that is appropriate. In the SWU, that level of ability is only the realm of a Force power (The Voice was the actual inspiration for the Jedi Mind Trick). As the OP states, in the SWU the command skill is clearly not mind control.

CRMcNeill wrote:
A counterpoint: some people (especially in sci-fi settings) are exceptionally gifted in their ability to Command, be it due to "presence" (trained or otherwise), natural assertiveness or training in specific techniques... There is also Grand Admiral Thrawn, who is described as having a natural commanding presence.

That is exactly what the base command skill represents.

However, in RAW a player with Thrawn's skill level shouldn't expect to be able to command characters that have every reason not to obey just because the player rolls high. The point of the OP still stands that the RAW command skill is being misinterpreted or outrageously house ruled, if his experience is true (and I have no reason to doubt it).
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garhkal
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 31, 2024 1:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Whill wrote:


However, in RAW a player with Thrawn's skill level shouldn't expect to be able to command characters that have every reason not to obey just because the player rolls high. The point of the OP still stands that the RAW command skill is being misinterpreted or outrageously house ruled, if his experience is true (and I have no reason to doubt it).


Agreed. Just like persuasion, those who are unwilling to listen, shouldn't get persuaded no matter what the roll is, Someone who won't normally take orders from you, just won't all of a sudden jump to, just because someone got an uber high roll..
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cheshire
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PostPosted: Sat Aug 03, 2024 8:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

And I think it's super important that these sort of mechanics be played out with NPCs, not PCs. If you're trying to use dice rolls to force an outcome with another PC, it's probably a good time to check the meta. Are your character and the other person's character having a conflict and the players are fine with it, or is this a matter of a player using their character as an avatar to resolve table conflict within the narrative.

Whether it's command or even persuasion, it's always a good idea to check yourself and check in with other players if you're attempting to use dice as conflict resolution.
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FVBonura
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 28, 2024 9:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I often use Command, Intimidation, Persuasion, and Con as a team, depending on the player's application in-game. Even a parent Commanding children mix in some Persuasion (if you clean your room we can go get some ice cream). A salesman is a mix of Persuasion and Con (that tie makes you look sharp sir). The Politician will use Command with notes of Persuasion (bribery), Intimidation (fear tactics), and Con (propaganda).

I adjudicate it in two ways. If I think the collateral skills will only provide a small bonus (public preacher or door-to-door salesman) then I just give a +1 bonus to the command roll for every collateral skill the character has. If the collateral skills will have a significant effect, I use half the skill points from that skill and stack them on Command (ex: Jan Dodna's speech before the Battle of Yavin, Princess Leia's speech before the Battle of Hoth, or Mon Mothma's speech before the Battle of Endor).
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pakman
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 28, 2024 8:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

FVBonura wrote:
I often use Command, Intimidation, Persuasion, and Con as a team, depending on the player's application in-game. Even a parent Commanding children mix in some Persuasion (if you clean your room we can go get some ice cream). A salesman is a mix of Persuasion and Con (that tie makes you look sharp sir). The Politician will use Command with notes of Persuasion (bribery), Intimidation (fear tactics), and Con (propaganda).

I adjudicate it in two ways. If I think the collateral skills will only provide a small bonus (public preacher or door-to-door salesman) then I just give a +1 bonus to the command roll for every collateral skill the character has. If the collateral skills will have a significant effect, I use half the skill points from that skill and stack them on Command (ex: Jan Dodna's speech before the Battle of Yavin, Princess Leia's speech before the Battle of Hoth, or Mon Mothma's speech before the Battle of Endor).


Nice!
I use it in a similar function - either used directly or, my version of a "collateral skill" (I call it Complementary skill bonus - tomay-to, tomah-to)


I rolled Command (using it directly to get people to do things) as a function of the leadership skill, as a specialization (we reduced the skills from over 100 to about 50).

The description of the "command" action under leadership in our house rules;

Command: Soldiers in the chain of command typically only
require a roll for very complex scenarios. Other groups vary;
Such as DL2: Easy for clearing an accident scene of gawkers, but
dispersing a unruly mob might be DL4:Difficult or more.


And to the consensus of everyone here - it is not magic.
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