Playtesting Class Abilities for Social Mechanics

Why my social mechanics felt too "gamified" - identifying the difference between active actions and passive abilities.

I playtested my heroic fantasy ttrpg with my friends, and I learned a lot. One of my biggest learnings was around the classes & mechanics for social scenes (read my article here to see my idea for the system).

Better Social Stats in Fantasy TTRPGs

My players expressed that some abilities felt too “gamified.” As the GM, I also felt like the conversation felt a bit stilted sometimes, like the players were hesitating from roleplaying, from immersing themselves in their characters for fear of doing something wrong with the mechanics. So I took a closer look.

The Trickster, one of the social archetypes in the version of my ttrpg that I playtested.

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I’m Colin, and I’m a professional video game designer. This is Drolleries, where I write about d&d, ttrpgs, and game design.

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Here are some class abilities that players said felt too “gamified.”

The Upstanding
Understanding. If you get a surge on a read person or endear roll, the next roll by you or your allies using reason has advantage.

The Trickster
Don’t Listen to Them. When an ally fails a roll, you can swoop in and disagree with them, appeal to one of the NPC’s motivations, and spend 1 influence to increase their interest by 1. Each successive time you use this ability, you must spend 1 additional influence.

The Tough
Knifepoint Negotiator. When an ally makes a persuade roll, you can threaten the NPC. Spend 1 influence to add an additional 1d6 to your ally’s roll. The NPC loses 1 patience regardless of the result.

But here are some other class abilities that players liked! They flowed much better at the table and encouraged cool roleplaying moments while still encouraging players to be creative.

The Upstanding
With Great Power. When you demonstrate responsibility, generosity, or mercy, gain 1 influence.

The Trickster
You Must Have Heard Me Wrong. When you fail a deceive or persuade roll, you can spend 1 influence to change what you said and reroll.

The Tough
Confrontational. You have advantage on menace rolls against an NPC whose interest is below 0.

I realized the difference between these two groups of abilities — the first group are all active actions, while the second group are mostly passive or additive abilities.

Active vs Passive Abilities

Active actions are abilities where the ability determines what the character does in the fiction. This means that usually, the player looks at their character sheet for their ability first, then decides what to do.

On the other hand, passive abilities usually just give the player a benefit for taking a specific course of action. These types of abilities usually give the character an edge for an action they already decided to take, and don’t prescribe any specific outcome based on the ability. This means that players can be more flexible with their actions and still gain the benefit of their abilities.

I realized that because I was modeling my class abilities based on what combat classes do in other rpgs, I ended up with lots of active action abilities, which didn’t feel right for social scenes.

In combat, it’s common that players will look at their abilities first, then decide what to do. Choosing what spell to cast, what weapon to attack with, what combat maneuver to use, what gun to shoot, and which actions to take to maximize the use of your action points — these are all ways in which the player decides on their character’s course of action based on these active actions available to them.

But that method of play feels wrong in a social scene, and we felt it at our table. The reason it felt awkward and stilted was that players decided on what to say based on their archetype’s abilities. In order to make the most of their abilities, they were forced to say or do certain things, even if they didn’t make sense in the moment.

Because the dynamics of a social scene change wildly based on the situation and the character they’re talking to, it doesn’t make sense for the Tough to always get a benefit for threatening someone with their ability “Knifepoint Negotiator,” or for the Upstanding to always set someone up with advantage on a reason roll after a surge on a roll with their ability “Understanding.”

This is why the passive abilities felt more natural. They simply gave players small benefits for acting according to their character’s chosen archetype. It gives the players more freedom to roleplay while still taking advantage of their archetype’s abilities. As long as the Tough is facing an NPC who doesn’t like them, they get a passive bonus to menace rolls. This might still affect the player’s decisions, but their character’s actions in the fiction aren’t wholly determined by the ability.

Thanks for reading! Short article today. If you want to hear more about the ongoing development of my heroic fantasy ttrpg, subscribe to stay updated!