Persuasion

You can influence others with your tact, subtlety, and social grace, or you can threaten them into being more cooperative.

Skill Traits

Key Ability:	Charisma
Trained Only?	No
Armor Check Penalty?	No
Retry:	If you fail a Persuasion check, you cannot make any further Persuasion checks against the targeted creature for 24 hours.
Special:	You can take 10 on a Persuasion check, but you can’t take 20.

Skill Applications

Bribery

     Force Unleashed Campaign Guide, page 31.

You can use the Persuasion skill to attempt to bribe the government officials or other individuals of influence. The Persuasion check DC depends on the perceived risk to the official’s position (if the bribe is discovered) modified by the nature of your request (how dangerous the request is and how much of a bribe you’re offering).

Risk	DC
Request is within official’s regular duties	10
Request is outside official’s duties, but within his ability	20
Request is outside official’s duties, and not easily concealed	30

Bribery Modifier	DC Modifier
Request is personally dangerous to official	+15
Bribery amount is double the going rate	−10
Bribery amount is quadruple the going rate	−15
Bribery amount is ten times the going rate or higher	−20

Change Attitude

     Saga Edition Core Rulebook, page 71.

As a full-round action, you can make a Persuasion check to adjust the attitude of a creature with an Intelligence of 2 or higher using words, body language, or a combination of the two. The target must be able to see you. Apply a modifier to the check based on the target’s current attitude toward you: hostile −10, unfriendly −5, indifferent −2, friendly 0. If the check equals or exceeds the target’s Will Defense, the target’s attitude shifts one step in your favor. If the target creature cannot understand your speech, apply a −5 penalty on your Persuasion check. You may attempt to change the attitude of a given creature only once per encounter.

Haggle

     Saga Edition Core Rulebook, page 71.

Whenever you use the Gather Information skill, you can make a Persuasion check as a swift action to reduce by half the amount you must pay to acquire the information you desire. Conversely, you can use this skill as a full-round action to increase or reduce the sell price of a desired item by 50%. The DC depends on the attitude of the individual (or individuals) with whom you’re dealing: unfriendly, DC 30; indifferent, DC 25; friendly, DC 20; helpful, DC 15. You can’t haggle with creatures that are hostile toward you or creatures that have an Intelligence of 2 or lower. No matter how adept you are at haggling, a creature won’t pay more for an item that can easily be obtained elsewhere for the standard listed price.

Improvised Communication

     Force Unleashed Campaign Guide, page 31.

You can use the Persuasion skill to attempt to communicate with someone who does not understand your language or to nonverbally convey an idea (such as communicating silently with another hero while both of you are infiltrating an Imperial facility). As a move action, you can attempt a Persuasion check to improvise communication with another being. The target must be able to see you, and you can communicate only simple concepts. The check DC is equal to 20 minus the target’s Intelligence modifier. If the target of your improvised communication has agreed upon signals for certain concepts in advance, reduce the Persuasion check DC by 5.
     Concepts that can be communicated include (but are not limited to) “Be quiet,” “go,” “Hello,” “Help,” “I am hungry/thirsty,” “Pick this up,” “Put that down,” “Stay here,” “Stop,” and “Thank you.” The Gamemaster can allow other simple concepts to be communicated, as long as they can be easily communicated nonverbally.

Intimidate

     Saga Edition Core Rulebook, page 71.

As a full-round action, you can make a Persuasion check to force a single creature with an Intelligence of 1 or higher to back down from a confrontation, surrender one of its possessions, reveal a piece of secret information, or flee from you for a short time. The creature must be able to see you. Your check result must equal or exceed the target’s Will Defense for the intimidation attempt to succeed. Apply a modifier to the check based on the threat the target perceived from you:

Situation	Modifier
Target is helpless or completely at your mercy	+5
Target is clearly outnumbered or disadvantaged	0
Target is evenly matched with you	−5
You are clearly outnumbered or disadvantaged	−10
You are helpless or completely at the target’s mercy	−15

     You can’t force the target to obey your every command or do something that endangers its life or the lives of its allies. A creature you successfully intimidate becomes one step more hostile toward you as soon as you are no longer an imminent threat.