distract talent (and skill)

[galafrone]

What actually happens to a "distracted" target ?
we had a situation last night where a "possible foe" was trying to speak with the pc, inside a tavern. they wanted take time, because they suspected the npc was trying to get more of his fellows in the tavern, while talking to them.
an air sailor pc started to talk with him, keeping him distracted for like 6 rounds.
what the NPC could have done ?

1)he was oblivious ot the others that were casting spells to prepare for the fight ?
i would say yes
2) could have him attacked the air sailor straight away, so to close the matter ?
i would say yes

beyond these 2 questions, what i am asking is if a target of distract hasnt already an agressive stance (that is, isnt still in combat) with the adept that distracts him, can he change his course of actions, seeing what the adept is doing to him ?
there is a perception of being distracted that allows a target that wasnt already attacking the "distractor" to actually change his mind and stop that situation going from a "discuss" to "attack" mode on the adept that is distracting him ?

[slayride]

Distract says opponent, so if you designate a character to be distracted, you force them to focus on the Air Sailor. It would also have the effect of dropping the Game Master's Attitude immediately to Hostile or Enemy, ending any social Interactions and beginning combat/initiative. He is distracted and not aware of the actions of the other characters (Blindsided by them if they act against him).

I had a similar type of situation with the PCs running into a manor and trying to get at the corrupt Lord Ning Wan. They attempted to do social Interactions and intimidate his guards down. Which was fine, their low morale made that easy enough, and they would have got through most of the guards with less loyalty to the Lord easily. One of the Player Characters got the bright idea to kiai the NPCs. This is a combat maneuver, and specifically designates the target as an opponent. The remaining NPCs who were not intimidated or stunned immediately started attacking the PCs in the next round as their attitudes shifted from Unfriendly to Hostile immediately by this action. Essentially the characters screaming at them despite many of them backing down galvanized their morale and made them want to fight them.

Generally speaking, social combat is about Interaction Tests, so First Impression, Impress, Bribery, Seduction, Conversation, Haggle, Lasting Impression, Flirting, Etiquette, etc. are the talents to be using there.

Talents like Battle Shout, Battle Bellow, Kiai, Taunt, Distract are all social attacks, not interactions, and immediately lower a Game Master character's Attitude usually to Hostile or Enemy changing it from social fight to combat. Taunt is about the only one that doesn't have the foe/opponent (it specifically says character not foe or opponent) description, but the humiliation and insults tends to enrage a character and they usually drop by one Attitude degree per each use of the talent on them, and people with less self-control will immediately start combat.

Intimidation is in between, its a social attack and an Interaction Test. It can stop an opponent from acting, because they have reason to fear what you might do to them.

A lot of this is up to Game Master interpretation though. But to me, social combat is about talents designated as Interaction Tests. Talents that are meant to be used in combat tend to end social combat and start actual fights. The talent magic designates you as an enemy, so you are affected by that magic. It makes you mad and you want to hurt whoever used it on you. But that is my interpretation of it.

[thezombiekat]

This seems rather odd to me.

I would have expected distract to be usable in a way that does not trigger a fight or even damage change attitude. It depends on how it is being done.

Engaging a throalic guardsman in a discussion of how well his son is doing in school for example will easily prevent him from from noticing your companions sneeking out of the office he has his back too. But would not likely trigger him to think of you as an enemy.

Similarly an attempt to seduce a sailor is unlikely to get you an immediate enemy, with the seduction skill it could get you a friend, even if he dose not leave his post. The seduction skill cant be used to prevent him from noticing people sneaking up the gang plank, but if you have the distract talent you could do both. A distract check and he doesn’t notice your friends, and a seduction check improves his attitude from indifferent to friendly.

[slayride]

But that's why we have the Engaging Banter talent, which allows you to distract a character by talking to them, which Harries them and gives them a -1 to Perception Tests to notice anything else but the adept per Result Level. There is a completely different talent and skill covering this aspect.

The Seduction skill is an Interaction Test, which is used in Social encounters and is a sustained action and requires 10 minutes of time per use. So its not a combat skill and can't be used in rounds, it takes too long.

The Distract talent is used in combat situations. It allows a character to be Blindsided by other characters while you distract them and they focus on you with their attacks. It specifically says opponent in the talent and skill. Which means hostilities are engaged or going to be.

[thezombiekat]

Think I see what you mean.

In order to prevent somebody from noticing your friend in a combat situation you use distract.

If you want to prevent somebody from noticing your friend in a non combat situation you use engaging banter

cool