Social Interaction

Any time you attempt to influence NPCs through negotiation, flattery, deception or intimidation you're engaging in the core elements of a social interaction. These elements are best played out in free-form roleplaying, with the GM asking for occasional ability checks at pivotal moments to help determine the course of the conversation.

Roleplaying a Social Interaction

While a combat encounter nearly always carries risk of bodily harm, the stakes of social interaction can vary dramatically. A failed social interaction could mean as little as an unsuccessful attempt at haggling over payment, or consequences as significant as being imprisoned, put to death, or losing favor with a key ally.
Social interactions have far fewer rules compared to nearly any other element of the game. This is intentional. Constantly referencing sheets or rules, and making a multitude of ability checks can often stifle the narrative flow that otherwise emerges when participants are able to immerse themselves in a scene and roleplay their characters. As such, the adjudication of social interactions falls largely on the GM. Examples are still provided throughout this section to assist in that adjudication while also setting clearer expectations for how you PCs make the most of a social encounter.

Dialogue

While roleplaying is a part of every aspect of the game, it comes to the forefront during social encounters. Your character's behavior, personality and oratory skills will help determine the outcome of a social encounter. You can use either active or descriptive roleplaying when engaging in dialogue with NPCs.
Active roleplaying can not only be tremendously fun, but also allows you to better control the conversation and potentially improve your odds when an ability check is called for, as the GM will take into consideration how compelling your verbal arguments are to the NPCs involved in the encounter.
Descriptive roleplaying works well when attempting to condense a prospectively lengthy interaction. For instance, you might not want to report in real time the details of your recent adventure to an interested NPC. Instead, you simply describe what you'd like to share, how you share it, and what if anything you emphasize or leave out. Descriptive roleplaying can also serve as a tool to bridge gaps between player skill and character skill. If you aren't comfortable giving an inspiring speech or engaging in vigorous debate, you can simply describe how your character articulates their position, and what their core message is.

Ability Checks During Social Encounters

The GM calls for an ability check during a social encounter when the attempts of the PCs are significant enough to alter the trajectory of the encounter and create meaningful consequences. The GM may opt to skip the ability check entirely if they feel as though the oral arguments were so compelling that no check is needed, or so unmoving that the NPC wouldn't even consider them. The GM can reduce or increase the DC of the check based on the efficacy of the your interactions.
A single ability check may not decide the outcome of the entire social interaction, the GM may secretly note a change in an NPCs disposition, but discourse is likely to continue until a conclusion is reached. The conclusion is anything that ties up that particular interaction, and might be a peaceful resolution, a descent into violence, or anything in between.
During a social interaction, the skill used for an ability check will depend on the type of roleplaying tactics that you employ, as described in the Influence action.

Battle of Wits

Very rarely does every party involved in a debate see eye to eye. If you are engaged in a social encounter with someone that has a differing opinion, you might need to contest their preconceptions in a social contest.
Each participant chooses a skill relevant to the roleplaying approach they are employing for their character. Then, each participant makes an ability check, applying any necessary modifiers. Finally, the results of these checks are compared against each other to determine who succeeds.
A battle of wits works particularly well when three or more parties are involved in an encounter. Two of the parties might be hostile to one another, and the third is neutral. Each competing party has the opportunity to sway the neutral party to their side, thereby winning a prospective ally to their cause.

Identifying and Leveraging NPC Personas

As you meet and get to know more about NPCs inhabiting the game world, you might uncover information that will help you during your social interactions. Every NPC has ideals, aspirations, and traits of their own, these are broadly referred to as the NPC's Persona and are described in greater detail in the Non-Player Characters section of the game rules.
You can uncover details about an NPC's Persona in a variety of ways. You might use the Sense bonus action while socializing with them in some way. You can gain deeper information by asking an NPC probing questions during dialogue, provided your inquiries aren't off-putting or upsetting. Seeking input from other characters can also help reveal otherwise hidden insights into an NPC's Persona.
During social encounters, the GM might reduce the DC of potential ability checks, give you advantage on your roll, or provide both these benefits depending on how well you leverage an NPCs Persona. Here's an example of this in action:

A party is trying convince a hermit to grant them passage through an enchanted forest, so they can pursue an evil creature that has been terrorizing the nearby town. They've learned from the townsfolk that the hermit is skeptical and untrusting of strangers, believing that they'll exploit the forest's natural resources. After a brief conversation with the hermit, the ranger of the party determines that the hermit is concerned with the wellbeing of the trees in the forest, and the natural spirits that live within them. The ranger makes a compelling appeal to the hermit, emphasizing that this evil creature poses a significant threat to the health of the forest. The GM takes this effective roleplay into consideration and reduces the DC of the Charisma (Persuasion) check to convince the otherwise untrusting hermit from a DC 18, to a DC 10.

As mentioned earlier, if you leverage the NPCs Persona and make a compelling case for your side of the issue, the GM may skip the need for a skill check entirely.

Contrasting NPC Personas

During most social encounters, there are multiple NPCs involved in the interaction. In some cases, these NPCs might have conflicting goals, ideals, and traits which can make selecting a persuasive tactic far more complicated.
In encounters where there are multiple NPCs that might need convincing, any roleplaying tactics and associated skill checks may have a different impact on each NPC in the scene. For example, a cowardly merchant may be easily intimidated, but if his father, a brave veteran soldier is present, a successful attempt at intimidating the merchant may be thwarted by his father stepping in and becoming hostile to the party.
This is also the case where there might be a mismatch of ideals among the NPCs in a social encounter. Here's an example of this in action:

A party is trying to convince a council of city elders, comprised of a greedy merchant, a charitable priest, and an orderly knight, to allow a caravan of refugees to stay in their city. They might make an argument emphasizing how the refugees will provide a slew of workers to benefit the city's economy, successfully convincing the merchant with an easy Charisma (Persuasion) check, leaving the priest indifferent, but failing to abate the knight's concerns that the refugees would disrupt the law and order of the city. This encounter may continue until one member of the council stubbornly refuses further discussion, until the players are able to sufficiently overcome each council member's objections, or until one council member is so overwhelmingly convinced that they make a unilateral decision.

Magic in Social Encounters

The Eltaryon setting is populated by practitioners of all kinds of magic. Great and terrible figures have used magic to avoid or create ruinous events throughout the world's history. As a result, most NPCs are at the very least aware that magic might touch their lives, though for most common folk, it rarely does.

Magic Among Common Folk

Most spellcasters are regarded with some combination of suspicion, fear, and respect among the common folk of most of the world. Locals might trade tales of their encounters with magic, or compare stories of legendary spellcasters, wondering aloud who was more powerful.
Any spellcasters that is not well known by the local people is regarded as a dangerous unknown quantity until he or she shows through word and deed that they mean no harm. Local authorities might be on higher alert and observe spellcasters with as much discretion as possible, particularly in regions where such an individual is less common.

Magic Among High Society

Aristocrats, wealthy merchants, and monarchs might treat magic with less awe and amazement, but they're equally suspicious and wary around unfamiliar spellcasters. Nobles might have a spellcaster in their employ to help protect them from harm or magical manipulation during important affairs, though few can afford to retain these services indefinitely.
In almost any case where a spell or magical effect is used during a social encounter, it runs the risk of turning the involved NPCs hostile. Unannounced spellcasting will put most anyone on edge, and an NPC that uncovers that you have used mind altering magic against them is likely to turn hostile.