Command Skill - A pet peeve

[Kytross]

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.

[CRMcNeill]

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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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[garhkal]

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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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[Kytross]

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.

[Whill]

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]

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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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[CRMcNeill]

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.
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[Whill]

[garhkal]

[cheshire]

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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Before we take any of this too seriously, just remember that in the middle episode a little rubber puppet moves a spaceship with his mind.

[FVBonura]

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).

[pakman]