The Problem With Outcast Ratings

[TheArcaneWeirdo]

Ravenloft is characterized as a very xenophobic setting. Not because of the writers' opinion, of course, but in a 'let's get into the head of characters who think differently than us' way. Most people in the Land of Mists aren't evil, but they've never been out of their hometown and rarely ever seen people who look and behave differently - let alone people from other species. If they have been exposed to a non-human, it's very likely to have been a monster, so they have a good reason to be suspicious.
To bring this flavour into the mechanics, the setting has a mechanic called 'outcast rating' - OR for short - that gives roleplay penalties for characters who are non-human, magically transformed etc.

Now, let's clarify something:
I love the basic idea.
I love systems that bring the flavour into the mechanics. I love playing under constraints that challenge my playstyle and force me to be more creative at the table. I love it when the 'knife' I'd given my DM to torment my character with actually stabs.
But I have one problem with the way the OR system does this:

It puts the weight of prejudice on the outcast.
It makes it an inherent trait of the 'strange' character. You're an elf, thus you'll always have an OR of 3. It's your responsibility to debunk the stereotypes about yourself - not to overcome your own prejudices about other people, of course.
I think it's a very fatalistic attitude, that removes responsibility from the bigots themselves. Nor do the conditions the system gives in which the OR doesn't apply cover the complexity of character relationships.

So my idea is this:

What if it was the other way around?
What if, instead of a stat for how alienated your character is, we'd have a stat for how open-minded your character is?
It starts low, and rises the more your character is exposed to different peoples and cultures. An especially traumatic experience with a member of a certain group might lower it again for that group (maybe just until you recover from the horror effect caused by the experiece?)
The idea is that having a low opency (opency? openness? idk) rate makes you worse at nagotiating with characters you see as alien, but also them worse at nagotiating with you and better at intimidating you.

A caliban PC would have a harder time succeeding a persuasion (diplomacy, for you 3e-ers) check when convincing a Nova Vassan guard to let them enter the crime scene not because the PC is eternally cursed to never be listened to, but because the guard is a moron who believes everything the priests tell him. The guard would also have a higher chance to fail on his deception check when she tries to figure out whether or not he's lying about it still being dangerous to enter, because his passive-aggressive attitude isn't exactly reassuring.

I'm debating between having a uniform meter for a character's general 'openness' (simpler, but inaccurate - Dr. Van Richten, for example, would have nothing against elves and dwarves, but some big issues with the Vistani), and having seperate stats for every group the character has encountered (far more realistic, but maybe takes too much space on the character sheet).

And of course, we should have a table with clear goals that raise your openness level when you fulfill them, so players would know how to actively progress and it won't just be 'when the DM decides'.

I'm posting this on the Role Playing Games forum rather than on the Ravenloft forum cause I honestly think this mechanic isn't strictly (or even especially) for Ravenloft - it's for every campaign that deals with prejudice, inter-cultural relationships etc.

[Mephisto of the FoS]

I will say to this that a PC having an open minded rating is in my opinion tranferring the responibility to the individual. The Outcast Rating, as it is, makes society responsible of how they view "the other". And this is how it is anyway, prejudice (being racism, sexism etc) is a problem of a society, the one being prejudiced against is the target of the taboos of that society.

[Drinnik Shoehorn]

If Ravenloft was a setting with optimism, I’d say go ahead.

But Ravenloft isn’t.

But OR shouldn’t apply everytime. Members of the Van Richten Society, for example, shouldn’t have OR apply to them.

[TheArcaneWeirdo]

This is a brilliant take! Shifting the mechanic from an inherent "Outcast Rating" to an "Open-mindedness" (or "Tolerance") stat makes total sense. It puts the narrative focus back on the society and the NPCs rather than mechanically punishing a player just for choosing a certain race. Your idea about low openness increasing Intimidation but hurting Diplomacy is a great way to balance it. It rewards players for exploring the world and breaking boundaries!

Wait, wait, wait
This is way too generic. You didn't say anything that wasn't summing up my original arguments.
Guys, I think we have a bot

[Drinnik Shoehorn]

Yeah, I reported one where it added a link to an online casino in the quote of my post.

Just let the admin know.

[Mephisto of the FoS]

This is a brilliant take! Shifting the mechanic from an inherent "Outcast Rating" to an "Open-mindedness" (or "Tolerance") stat makes total sense. It puts the narrative focus back on the society and the NPCs rather than mechanically punishing a player just for choosing a certain race. Your idea about low openness increasing Intimidation but hurting Diplomacy is a great way to balance it. It rewards players for exploring the world and breaking boundaries!

It certainly sounds like an AI mode, "reassuring" you that you did "everything perfect" (as always...)

Hey Berrytwist are you a bot?

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

I concur... smoted. If they come back and complain in a human-seeming manner, we'll let them back in.