Whenever you want to convince, deceive, threaten, or win over an NPC and something real is on the line, you're in an Exchange. If the stakes are low, don't bother—just make a normal skill check (see "Skill Checks & Saves" on pg. 8).
Starting an Exchange
Your GM sets three things before anyone starts talking:
Resolve. How many steps it takes to win them over. A quick haggle might be 1. Talking a dragon out of eating you is 5.
Angles. Things this NPC wants, needs, fears, or owes. They have up to 2 at once.
Nerve. The one thing that turns them against you.
Improvise Freely! Your GM can plan these out ahead of time, or invent one on the spot when you say something that obviously lands. If your argument is good enough, it just IS an Angle.
Arguments
Describe what you're saying and how you're saying it. Your GM picks whatever skill fits: Influence for a straight appeal, Insight to play on what you've read in them, Lore to invoke an old alliance, Naturecraft to calm a spooked beast. Then roll against a DC like any other check.
Only 1 argument is made per exchange, but anyone can make it—decide as a group who speaks. It doesn't have to be the same hero twice.
- Cash In. The Angle is already yours—in your pocket or in your head. Say so before rolling: it fills 1 Resolve for free, no check.
- Work It. You argue an Angle you don't have yet. Roll with advantage.
- Nerve. You hit the thing that sets them off. No roll—it's an automatic fail.
- Plain Talk. No Angle, no Nerve. Just roll.
Each Angle can only be used once, whether you cashed it in or worked it. The Nerve only fires once, too.
NPCs Are Smart! Once you've played an Angle, it's spent—they've heard it and they've adapted. You'll need to find a new one.
Digging for Angles
Make an Insight check (or something similar) to discover an Angle you didn't know about. Finding it doesn't mean you can use it yet.
Your GM names a price: usually a favor or a small quest, owed either to the NPC or to whoever tipped you off. Turn it down and you're left knowing exactly what would work and unable to use it.
Pay it on the spot and the Exchange rolls on. Can't pay it here? The Exchange pauses. Your Resolve and fails stay frozen right where they are. Go handle it, then come back—but don't dawdle. People change their minds, and their Angles, while you're away.
Ending an Exchange
They agree. You fill Resolve. You got what you came for.
Sweeten the deal. Still holding an unused Angle once Resolve is filled? Spend it for something extra: better terms, a little more help, a favor thrown in. Or pocket it for later—your call.
They're done listening. You take 3 fails before Resolve is filled.
Fail forward. If Resolve was more than half filled when that 3rd fail landed, they won't fully agree—but they won't shut the door either. Expect a smaller deal, a condition attached, a name worth knowing, or a lead somewhere better.
Your GM decides what any of this actually costs you, based on what you asked for and how you went about asking. Threatening a duke and failing lands very differently than politely asking a barkeep for directions.
You can also walk away whenever you like.
Example
The party needs riders. King Théoden refuses outright. (Resolve 3, starting from refusal.)
Aragorn goes first, laying out the hard fact: Saruman's forces are massing at the border, right now, whether he rides or not. Angle 1, worked: roll with advantage. Success. 1 filled.
Théoden's shaken—but something's still wrong. He's listless, parroting words that aren't his own. Gandalf makes an Insight check to read it. Success: this isn't stubbornness, it's Wormtongue's grip on his will. A hidden Angle, but it can't be used yet. The GM sets the price: drive Wormtongue out first.
The party agrees. The Exchange pauses—Resolve and fails frozen. Gandalf confronts Théoden directly, breaking Saruman's hold. Wormtongue is cast out.
The Exchange resumes. Théoden is himself again—and now the party is holding that clarity outright. Gandalf Cashes In: no roll, 1 filled. 2 filled total.
One more push should close it. But Éomer, eager, reaches for the wrong thread—invoking Théodred, urging his father to ride for his son's memory. It hits the Nerve. No roll. Automatic fail. 1 fail taken, Resolve still at 2.
Théoden's jaw tightens, but the door's not shut—only 1 fail so far. Aragorn tries once more, nothing left to lean on: Plain Talk. DC 14 Influence. Success. Resolve filled. Théoden rises. "The Rohirrim will ride at dawn."
Later
NPCs pick up new Angles as their lives go on, but never hold more than 2 at a time. When a spent Angle gets replaced is up to your GM and the story.
More Than One Nerve? Big, complicated NPCs can have several. Each still only fires once and still only costs 1 fail—unless your table likes suffering.