Skill Specilazations (Persuation oration in specific)

[vong]

so, how is oration a specization of persuation, sine 99% of persuation os orally...

just curious if one of my players are abusing the system
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[Gry Sarth]

Oration in this case does not mean "orally". I see it as more of a "speech" thing, convincing someone with an eloquent speech or lecture.
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[vong]

but most situations in which you would pursuade are orally
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[Jedi Skyler]

True. However, you might be very persuasive because you're seven feet tall, have no neck, and arms as big around as light posts.

You might not be necessarily overly persuasive, but you might be a wordsmith who can spin a tale... or relay facts to a crowd while not sounding completely dry.

And you might be a wordsmith, but stutter a lot. That wouldn't be very persuasive...

[Gry Sarth]

All persuasion is oral. If I remember correctly, the suggested specializations for persuasion are Flirt, Oration, Debate and Storytelling. So I guess the distinction between these persuasive forms are:

Flirt - Persuasion with the aid of charm.
Oration - Persuasion through a formal speech/lecture.
Debate - Persuasion against another persuader involving using your opponent's weaknesses and discrediting his arguments in favor of yours.
Storytelling - Capturing people's attention and imagination with the narration of events.

So I would interpret that the most common use of Persuasion, which is simply straight-up convincing someone of something through some good arguments, doesn't really fit in any of these specializations, and as such can only be attempted with the basic skill.

Thus I'd say your players are indeed abusing the system. The problem is that you apparently thought "oration" and "oral" mean the same thing. They don't. Oration is a teacher's lecture, a president addressing the nation, a prize winner's speech.

PS: Skyler, I think your first example would be Intimidation.
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