rumtap wrote:
Just wondering if people interpret this ability as using an action in combat or if it is a free action on top of anything else the knave does. The way it's worded indicates a free action but I'm curious as to how others see it.
I'd suggest it is a free action, additional to any other action they may take (unless the other action requires them to speak - such as demanding someone's surrender, spellcasting, etc.). Although probably not what Dragon Warriors needs is
another combat mechanic...
I would also suggest that anyone can taunt their enemy in combat (not just a Knave) and that, to do so effectively, the character should know enough about the person they're taunting to be able to "press their buttons" so to speak. This wouldn't necessarily need to be in-depth personal knowledge - for example, any knight might have their ire raised if their honour were publicly challenged. Greater knowledge of the victim of the taunt might make it easier to infuriate them, of course, and I think this probably makes it more suited to a contested skill test than as an automatic ability.
As for Pacify, again, why can only Knaves attempt conciliatory dialogue in combat?
Like the Hunter's Forage ability, Infuriate/Pacify is an example of creating an ability where one wasn't needed - every character should be able to taunt, forage, whatever. Creating an ability specifically to achieve this and assign it to a new profession either limits what other players had been doing in the game up until that point anyway (because they now have to stop it because they don't have the exclusive ability that enables this) or the Knave profession is diminished because their abilities are no longer special. Better to make it a general ability available to everyone to learn as a skill (although that would require a workable skills system!)
I would also suggest that the Knave can only work as a profession if the social context of the other professions is fleshed out. Knaves and Knights, for example, fill very different (and, arguably, extreme) social niches - but both have the ability to wield social influence. If only the Knave can wield their social influence without also describing the social abilities of knights, the game mechanics unintentionally inform a style of social play that excludes the Knight's social advantages.