Before Fight!: One of my players has this Instinct: “When steel is drawn, I Intimidate my opponent!” We’ve got a Fight! coming up next session, and I think this Instinct should be played like the Surprise rules (page 461). Intimidating the opponent isn’t a ambushing them, but the Surprise rules set a precedent for pre-Fight! hesitation. Here’s what I’m thinking:
(1) The player rolls to Intimidate. If he fails, they enter the Fight! as normal.
(2) If he succeeds, the opponent makes a Steel test. If the opponent succeeds his Steel test, he does not Hesitate, and they enter the Fight! like normal.
(3) If the opponent fails their Steel test, the player automatically wins the Engagement test, and the opponent Hesitates for a number of actions equal to the MoF.
That seems a little rough, but I think it fits with the player’s Instinct and the precedent set by Surprise for Hesitation at the beginning of combat.
There’s an old post that puts forth a different opinion, and I’m wondering if there are other takes. Has anyone seen a similar situation? How did you handle it?
———————————————————
During Fight!:
— Successfully Intimidating during a Social Action (page 453) forces the opponent to make a Steel test and, if the test is failed, to Hesitate for the MoF of the Steel test.
— The Intimidation skill rules (page 278) state to “Add extra successes [of the Intimidation test] to the the hesitation obstacle.”
My read is that the MoS of the Intimidate roll during Fight! increases the hesitation obstacle, despite that not being explicitly stated in the Social Action rules.
What have folk experienced with this?
———————————————————
Y’all rock, and I hope you’re having some great days out there 