Social Points
Status, Wealth, Rank, Allies and Contacts tie your character into the world, but in a dangerous campaign every point spent on them is a point not spent on staying alive. So social standing gets its own budget. You never have to choose between being somebody and surviving the next firefight.
The Social Pool
Every PC gets 25 Social Points in addition to normal character points.
- Social Points can only buy social traits.
- Social traits can only be bought with Social Points.
The social traits are:
| Standing | People | Privileges |
|---|
| Status, Wealth, Independent Income, Reputation (good), Social Regard, every kind of Rank (Administrative, Merchant, Military, Police, Religious) |
Allies, Contacts, Contact Groups, Patrons |
Alternate Identity, Claim to Hospitality, Clerical Investment, Legal Enforcement Powers, Legal Immunity, Security Clearance, Signature Gear, Tenure, Trading Points for Money, Zeroed, Potential Advantages |
Not social, despite the label: Cultural Familiarity, Languages and Pitiable are bought with normal points. Summonable Allies are a power, not a friend, so they use normal points too. Charisma and Presence are attributes, so they use normal points as well.
Want More Standing? Pay For It
If you want more social standing than 25 points buys, move normal points into the Social pool, 1 for 1. A noble heir or a corporate executive pays for their position with points that would otherwise have gone to skills and attributes.
The move is one way only. Social Points never move back to the normal pool. If you later sell or lose a social trait, its points go to your Social Bank, not back to your normal points.
Disadvantages give 0 points here, as everywhere in Shattered Earth. That includes social ones: Enemies, Duty, Secret, Debt and low Status are story choices, not a way to fund more standing.
Leftover Social Points
A drifter, a runaway or a loner may not want 25 points of social ties. Unspent Social Points are never wasted. Use any mix of the following:
1. Secret Advantage
At character creation, set points aside. The GM secretly picks a social advantage worth twice as much and reveals it at a dramatic moment. You might turn out to be a lost heir, a dead relative might have left you an inheritance, or an old comrade you thought was dead might show up. You can tell the GM what kind of secret you would enjoy, or leave it entirely to them.
2. The Social Bank
Unspent points carry forward. When the story gives your character a new Contact, membership in a faction, a promotion or a title, you buy it from the bank. Every social trait gained in play needs a reason in the story: the bank pays for it, but the story has to justify it.
3. Luck Points
Spend points from the bank right after a roll, up to 5 per session:
| Use | Cost |
|---|
| Turn a failure into a success | 1 |
| Turn a critical failure into a failure | 2 |
| Turn a success into a critical success | 2 |
| Several shifts at once | add the costs (critical failure → critical success = 5) |
| Player Guidance: add one plausible detail to the scene after a success | 2 (1 after a critical success) |
The GM may forbid buying critical successes, at least in combat. Every Luck Point you spend is a point you can't use on a new Contact later, so the bank is a choice between luck now and connections later.
Earning Social Points
Every character earns +1 Social Point per session, or +2 for heroic or entertaining play, paid into the Social Bank. The GM may also grant Social Points for story events, such as being knighted or earning a noble's gratitude.
These are separate from the character points you earn for advancement (see Earning & Spending CP).
Example
Mara builds a corporate fixer with Status 2 [10], Comfortable Wealth [10] and Contacts worth 10 points: 30 points of social traits.
- Building her: her 25 Social Points cover most of it, and she moves 5 normal points over for the rest. Her Social Bank is 0.
- Three sessions later: she has earned 4 Social Points, one session counting as heroic, and spends 1 as a Luck Point to turn a failed Fast-Talk roll into a success. Her bank is 3.
- Losing a Contact: her contact at the Tower is killed, and the 5 points go to her bank, which rises to 8. They do not return to her normal points.
In Foundry: the Social Points rules run automatically. Each character sheet has a
Social line under HP/FP and a
Social button on its title bar, and
Social Points also appears in the Tools menu.
- Hover over any number to see how it was worked out.
- Importing from GCS counts your social traits and records any normal points moved over.
- Spend Luck posts the result to chat.
- The GM pays the session award from the Advancement Award window.
Social Points
Status, Wealth, Rank, Allies and Contacts tie your character into the world, but in a dangerous campaign every point spent on them is a point not spent on staying alive. So social standing gets its own budget. You never have to choose between being somebody and surviving the next firefight.
The Social Pool
Every PC gets 25 Social Points in addition to normal character points.
The social traits are:
Not social, despite the label: Cultural Familiarity, Languages and Pitiable are bought with normal points. Summonable Allies are a power, not a friend, so they use normal points too. Charisma and Presence are attributes, so they use normal points as well.
Want More Standing? Pay For It
If you want more social standing than 25 points buys, move normal points into the Social pool, 1 for 1. A noble heir or a corporate executive pays for their position with points that would otherwise have gone to skills and attributes.
The move is one way only. Social Points never move back to the normal pool. If you later sell or lose a social trait, its points go to your Social Bank, not back to your normal points.
Disadvantages give 0 points here, as everywhere in Shattered Earth. That includes social ones: Enemies, Duty, Secret, Debt and low Status are story choices, not a way to fund more standing.
Leftover Social Points
A drifter, a runaway or a loner may not want 25 points of social ties. Unspent Social Points are never wasted. Use any mix of the following:
1. Secret Advantage
At character creation, set points aside. The GM secretly picks a social advantage worth twice as much and reveals it at a dramatic moment. You might turn out to be a lost heir, a dead relative might have left you an inheritance, or an old comrade you thought was dead might show up. You can tell the GM what kind of secret you would enjoy, or leave it entirely to them.
2. The Social Bank
Unspent points carry forward. When the story gives your character a new Contact, membership in a faction, a promotion or a title, you buy it from the bank. Every social trait gained in play needs a reason in the story: the bank pays for it, but the story has to justify it.
3. Luck Points
Spend points from the bank right after a roll, up to 5 per session:
The GM may forbid buying critical successes, at least in combat. Every Luck Point you spend is a point you can't use on a new Contact later, so the bank is a choice between luck now and connections later.
Earning Social Points
Every character earns +1 Social Point per session, or +2 for heroic or entertaining play, paid into the Social Bank. The GM may also grant Social Points for story events, such as being knighted or earning a noble's gratitude.
These are separate from the character points you earn for advancement (see Earning & Spending CP).
Example
Mara builds a corporate fixer with Status 2 [10], Comfortable Wealth [10] and Contacts worth 10 points: 30 points of social traits.