Social Skills vs. Physical

[Lougar01]

Another Curious Incident.

   One of the playes took the ability, "Talk You To Death" (based on Bill from the "Kill Bill" Movie), used with their Sociality.  Then, when one of the other players tried to force a fight, used it to make them back off and leave (two facts).
   Thing is, player one used a combat skill, and player two used "Talk You to Death".
   It worked out alright (hate to see player fight in-character when I'm not instigating it), but it just seemed against the nature of the rules to use a Sociality vs. Adroitness Contest.
    I remember Dying Earth RPG doing that, sort of, but it didn't seem to fit for Donjon.

    Any thoughts?

[Jason]

I think the rules work differently in combat. In combat, you can't change a character or monster's actions, but you can give them penalties or damage them (or their attributes). The "Talk You to Death" ability needs to be defined   so that you both know what it's cabable of. Is it the primary ability?

As an attack (like the snap tooth dragon's firey breath)

"Talk You To Death".  This character can hurl works with deadly accuracy. Each word has a damage rating of 2 (and the "weapon" sharp words needs to be "bought")

As a defense

"Talk you To Death". This character can drone on and on about the most obsure and boring topics. This may be used in the place of a parry move, as it makes it harder for opponents to focus enough to hit him.

As a spell

"Talk You To Death"  Spell words Confusement, Scary, Uplifting, Painful. With the right words and a little magical effort, the character can injure the pride of an opponent, or even his face.

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Jason