Expanding Influence Skill Wiki/Descriptions

[Soulbourne]

Two things.

1. The Influence System is not very well described IG or anywhere on the Wiki. There are elements of system not very well explained anywhere and this leads (at least in my personal case) to uncertainty and early frustration with roleplaying OCR and the influence skill in general. It took several months before I met a player that could describe this:

The influence system allows you to bluff and blend into crowds of NPCs no matter your OCR by making, and making often, influence checks to blend in and act like you belong. This only works if your head is covered and you are wearing clothes that the npcs have not identified you in. It adds a very unique and immersive way for outcast PCs to bluff their way through settlements. If you are seen without head cover or fail one of these checks, your clothing and helmet/hood is marked permanently and you will never make these checks while wearing the recognized attire as a high OCR outcast. With the influx of new characters, these mechanics can be ill defined or confusing despite being a very cool and immersive mechanical aspect to the game. I would suggest adding a wiki or forum note that at least hints at how this system works. I would be happy to offer writing such a post for DM/CC approval based on my understanding if that would be of help.

2. It is very easy to accidentally have clothing or hood 'marked' by this system permanently without ever realizing it. I recently enchanted clothes on a character and was working in the Bazaar to dye them. Without thinking about it, I removed my character's hood to see how it looked and ended up being spotted/having the clothing marked. This represents a 1-2 month long setback as these clothes gave an influence bonus and were intended to help the character stay disguised. I would suggest considering a black-market npc tailor that you can pay to remove these marks from your attire. Maybe with a clear OOC expectation that the clothing should be dyed differently and made to look very visually different.

Thank you for your time.

[Phantasia]

It's not my intention to sound rude, but with your newfound knowledge and time spending writing this post you could have perhaps expanded on the influence skill yourself on the Wiki instead. Lol. If no one does it I'll look into it. Then again maybe you didn't know the Wiki is free to editing from anyone.

[Marcus Weyland]

I have discussed this system and its intricacies to many disbelieving persons. I'm glad someone has confirmed my unhinged theories. I second the suggestion of a way to remove the marks; I've ruined influence sets in exactly the same way.

Then again maybe you didn't know the Wiki is free to editing from anyone.

..I didn't know this.

[Phantasia]

Obviously inaccuracies will be curated by the ones that run it (Brimstone?), but it is a community effort.

[HopeIsTheCarrot]

Two things.

1. The Influence System is not very well described IG or anywhere on the Wiki. There are elements of system not very well explained anywhere and this leads (at least in my personal case) to uncertainty and early frustration with roleplaying OCR and the influence skill in general. It took several months before I met a player that could describe this:

The influence system allows you to bluff and blend into crowds of NPCs no matter your OCR by making, and making often, influence checks to blend in and act like you belong. This only works if your head is covered and you are wearing clothes that the npcs have not identified you in. It adds a very unique and immersive way for outcast PCs to bluff their way through settlements. If you are seen without head cover or fail one of these checks, your clothing and helmet/hood is marked permanently and you will never make these checks while wearing the recognized attire as a high OCR outcast. With the influx of new characters, these mechanics can be ill defined or confusing despite being a very cool and immersive mechanical aspect to the game. I would suggest adding a wiki or forum note that at least hints at how this system works. I would be happy to offer writing such a post for DM/CC approval based on my understanding if that would be of help.

2. It is very easy to accidentally have clothing or hood 'marked' by this system permanently without ever realizing it. I recently enchanted clothes on a character and was working in the Bazaar to dye them. Without thinking about it, I removed my character's hood to see how it looked and ended up being spotted/having the clothing marked. This represents a 1-2 month long setback as these clothes gave an influence bonus and were intended to help the character stay disguised. I would suggest considering a black-market npc tailor that you can pay to remove these marks from your attire. Maybe with a clear OOC expectation that the clothing should be dyed differently and made to look very visually different.

Thank you for your time.

I really like this idea of the black market tailor, seems like a great addition to the Drain.

[Kamfrenchie]

Are you sure clothing is permanently  marked ? I seem to remember being chased by radu because i forgot to equip one influence trinket, but once i got out of sight, got my ocr below 16 and waited a min for him to calm down, i could pass by him without problem.

This was with my half drow

[Relapse]

Is this right? It seems like a really inconsistent mechanic... I mean clothing with hide doesn't lose it's ability if you're spotted in it (I think?).

[Soulbourne]

It's not my intention to sound rude, but with your newfound knowledge and time spending writing this post you could have perhaps expanded on the influence skill yourself on the Wiki instead. Lol. If no one does it I'll look into it. Then again maybe you didn't know the Wiki is free to editing from anyone.

I didn't know the wiki was freely edited and I didn't want to do so without permission or against the desires of the development team.

Are you sure clothing is permanently  marked ? I seem to remember being chased by radu because i forgot to equip one influence trinket, but once i got out of sight, got my ocr below 16 and waited a min for him to calm down, i could pass by him without problem.

This was with my half drow

This mechanic only matters if your OCR is above 16. If your OCR is below 16 with influence, then you are simply not hunted it doesn't matter if you're marked.

How the mechanic works is that if your OCR is at a hostile level, say 24 as a random number. You can wear an set of clothing that has not been marked. You then will make Influence checks, skill rolls every round to varying DCs near NPCs to 'pass' as someone with below 16 OCR. This only works if you are wearing an unmarked piece of clothing and headgear.  It may be that you can wear marked clothing if you can reduce your OCR below 16 but that is impossible for some more monstrous characters. It makes this use of the skill a bit niche.