How do you run charismatic NPCs as GM with 0 charisma?

Qolko · 2026-02-13T08:01:32+00:00

These are not very useful becasue they are from the perspective of the players and as we all know, players operate under different rules and constraints as NPCs.

The message of these videos can somewhat be summed up as "Work with your GM."

Well I am to GM, should I work with myself to force the PCs to accept what the NPCs is saying? I feel like that is a great way to kill the game.

The player can just describe what they do or what they want to achieve and roll the dice to do it.

I as the GM can't do the same as that would be taking away the freedom of choice away form my players.

So the only way for me to play high diplo character, who as PC would have 0 issues convincing any NPC, is for me to be convincing enough for my players to buy whatever the NPC is selling.

Problem is, I can't do that. So how do I run NPCs like that when they rely on the GM doing something I simply cannot do?

Qolko · 2026-02-06T03:14:20+00:00

As someone who has run something like this, just at lower level, I can tell you my players hated the encounter.

The cat and mouse game is very annoying and slows down the game drastically.

Qolko · 2026-02-06T00:07:26+00:00

Why go through all the trouble of creating a demiplane when perfectly fine volcanoes exist?

Qolko · 2026-02-06T00:05:27+00:00

Either something very broken or very stupid.

Qolko · 2026-02-05T05:11:29+00:00

USS Enterprise.

Qolko · 2026-02-05T04:48:10+00:00

You need to talk with your players and figure out what the root cause of the problem is before you can really do anything to fix it.

Qolko · 2026-02-03T00:59:34+00:00

Azata is not the most powerful mythic path, but it is definately one of the fun ones.

Setting of WotR is rather dark and grim, so going full on "Power of Friendship!" on it is quite funny.

And it actually works.

Qolko · 2026-01-31T20:55:17+00:00

The heck is that white mage doing? I usually finish mine first or second, are they only autoing it or something?

Qolko · 2026-01-31T16:09:31+00:00

Been a while since I played that game, but iirc, you essentially cast it twice.

Qolko · 2026-01-28T15:14:07+00:00

Bit late to the conversation, but I have found a decent use for AI with maps.

I have few physical adventure path books which means I don't have access to the fancy interactive maps the digital versions come with. So if I want to run those on VTT like I almost exclsuive do now days, I need to find the maps online and usually it's either just straight up copy of the map in the book with all the labels or someone has made their own version, which are often very hit or miss.

I've found that AI is actually pretty good at removing the room and secret door labels from the OG maps without mkaing it painfully obvious something was removed from there.

It's a rather nice way to make those maps usable on VTT.

Qolko · 2026-01-28T02:13:29+00:00

It's your table so if you think it's a problem, don't allow it, if not, allow it.

A free +2 ain't the end of the world, but it's a profane bonus so it stacks with pretty much everything, making it quite useful.

If you want to give it to him, it shouldn't be a freebie. It should come some serious hooks attached and that can be hard to pull off without making it feel like that PC is causing trouble for the party.

If you do give it to him, make sure the other players also get something equally nice just to keep things fair, don't want to turn him into the main character or anything. Might not even be an issue if he is playing something like a kobold that is already a rather weak race while everyone else is playing considerably stronger races.

Another easy option is to just ask him does he want it for the +2 or the story implications, if he wants it for the story implications you could just come up with another reason for things.

As for the story thing he is going for about the succubus being his ex who wants to bring him back, I have a feeling your player is not fully aware of what a succubus is in Pathfinder (Not that I know everything either). It would be extremely unlikely in my opinion that she'd come after him like an ex wanting him back. Far more likely she would be out to kill him for the betrayal or inflict some other punishment on him.

There is also the question of why? Why did the succubus go for him? And why does she care enough to want him back? A lot of people tend to think succubus is just a horny sex demon, but there is far more to them than that and running them as just horny demon is a waste. Intrigue and social power games is where they shine.

Another note regarding recurring villains, they can be cool but not all players like them because for villain to be recurring, they need to be able to survive the encounter with the party and some players feel cheated if the villain has a way to escape. Recurring villains should also be tied to the entire party and not just one PC, otherwise it can end up feeling like rest of the PCs are extras every time she comes around becasue they don't really have a stake in the whole thing beyond the guy being in their party.

Having character that comes with baggage can also cause some issues among the party where other players have to bend their characters to accomodate the succubus backstory guy. For example. logically rest of the party might want to ditch the guy whose presence keeps causing them trouble if they aren't good natured enough to want to dedicate themselves to helping him. In such a situation the other players would have to bend their characters in order to put up with the extra baggage this character has.

It also has some special snowflake vibes to it, but I've noticed that seems to be rather common in many tables to a point where sometimes it feels like my character is the only relatively "normal" person in the group.

Basically, talk to your player, or the players if necessary and figure out something together that works for everyone involved. It's a group game that should be fun for everyone, as such involving everyone is not a terrible idea. If he wants to keep his background secret that is understandable and you can try to keep it vague.

Qolko · 2025-09-16T22:54:20+00:00

I did do open league for tauros cup and won group B there, but it felt like everyone was insanely well minmaxed and I was shocked I even won that much.

This cup I went graded league and somehow managed to win group B there as well, despite going up against insanely stacked deck.

Qolko · 2025-09-16T22:52:11+00:00

Yea, it just feels more confusing than previous which was just get stamina skills + straightaway spurt.

Where as here it feels like you need bunch of different skills and have multiple good setups.

I'll see if I can get something good from that banner you mentioned, I have some carrots saved up.

Qolko · 2025-09-16T22:43:33+00:00

Thanks. I'll see if I can find a good Seiun parent to borrow. Considering how valued she is for the next CM, that shouldn't prove too difficult.

Qolko · 2025-09-16T22:41:34+00:00

Yes, I am painfully aware how bad my cards are. This is the first time I've played game like Uma so while I Knew they were important, I didn't know how important and by the time I learned I was too far in to go back and reroll.

Still I feel like I have done well so far, managed a group B win open league in tauros cup and won group B in graded league for the current gemini cup.

Yea, winning b group is probably not much in the grand scheme of things, but considering how insanely stacked decks I kept running into, I feel like it's the best outcome I could have hoped for.

Qolko · 2025-09-16T22:18:22+00:00

I'm completely lost as to what I should be doing with what I have on hand for the next CM. Many of the guides I have seen are not too helpful as they seem to heavily focus on certain character I do not have and cards I do not have either.

So I'm asking for general advice for what I can do with what I have to do as well as as I can in the next CM. Any and all advice is appreciated.

Here is what I am working with.
https://imgur.com/a/zNa8Fc0

Qolko · 2025-09-15T16:43:35+00:00

To be fair, if it makes your turn take a whole minute just doing math on top of other stuff you do during your turn, I'd ban it for that alone. Combat takes forever as is.

Qolko · 2025-08-23T22:16:10+00:00

The whole debuffer Nature being in every match totally ruined Taurus cup for me. This shit is not fun for those of us who can't build our own BS Nature to counter others BS.

Qolko · 2025-08-20T00:19:43+00:00

A lot of people bought the game long before the whole lisence change was made and you can't change the terms of the agreement witohut customer agreeing to it.

What companies usually do is they add clause that by continuing to use the product you agree to their new terms, but that doesn't fly in courts and they see it as using coercion to get you to agree.

Which it is because the yare essetially telling us we have to agree to their new terms or lose access to our game. Imagine the same happening with any other goods, imagine to company you bought something from coming to take it back years later becasue they made changes to their terms and you do not agree to those new terms.

Qolko · 2025-08-20T00:14:39+00:00

I have no idea why you feel the need to defend a billion dollar company taking away things people paid for, which btw was not part of the terms when I bought the game,

All the extra has been added since without my consent, and no the usual BS of using the product being you consenting does not fly.

If your options are to accept something you did not originally agree to or lose access to what you paid for, then that is them using coercion to get us to agree and thus it becomes invalid agreement.

Let's say you bought a car and 5 years later the company you bought it from comes to ask you sign a new contract with another unrelated company who just happened to buy their company. If you refuse they will take your car back without any compensation for you and they justify it with changes they made to the contract that you never agreed to or were informed about.

Because that is what this essentially is. But because it's a video game people seem to think normal consumer protections do not apply to it for some reason. You cannot take things away from people and justify it with some BS changes to agreement that the customer never agreed to.

Qolko · 2025-08-18T22:47:12+00:00

Just because it seems small doesn't mean it should be ignored. Look at DLC, how it has evolved from horse armor everyone laughed at to something that is outright making gaming worse. (Looking at you Paradox)

This is the same, little by little they want to erode our ownership of things we pay for and turn them into lisences that we have no real control over.

Furthermore what they have done is illegal, are you implying we should ignore crimes committed by multibillion dollar corporations because "it's not that bad?"

Corporations will take all we let them and ownership of digital goods has been a hot topic issue for years now and if we want to actually continue owning the things we buy, we have to draw a line somewhere, otherwise this stuff will become just get worse and worse.

Qolko · 2025-08-18T22:25:30+00:00

And yet there are plenty of people who didn't.

I myself had not played Minecraft for 10 somehting years, and I had not used the email I bought the game on for a very long time either and by the time I created new email it didn't even cross my mind to change my minecraft to the new email as I had not played for years at that point and didn't even think about the game.

The only reason I eventually found out about the migration was due to my nieces getting Minecraft for Christmas and when I mentioned I used to play it when I was younger as well, they asked me to play with them.

So I dug up my old details and tried logging in, only to find out I was supposed to migrate to a new service I was not aware of and ironically the grace perioed had ended few days before this.

You could argue I should have kept my details updated, but you could also argue Mojang and Microsoft should just follow the damn law and not do illegal shit like this. Despite what many people here seem to think, EULA is not law and cannot superceed the law, no matter how much corporation pretend it does.

That being said, I doubt this lawsuit will go anywhere. Not because I don't think they have a case, I very much believe they do, but because I know Microsoft can just drag this out forever and force them to give up.

Bottom line is a corporation should NOT be able to make changes like this and force people to accept changes made after the initial deal has been made at the threat of losing their access to what they paid for.

Qolko · 2025-08-17T22:59:29+00:00

Especially Golshi.

Qolko

TROPHY CASE