D12 Friendship and Romance System

This is a system for keeping track of friendships between NPCs and PCs, which also allows NPCs to fall in love - if there is chemistry. It was written with Solo play in mind, but it would also work for group play.

Overview

Let's have a look at an overview of how this system works.

1. Bond points are gained or lost by NPCs to keep track of how your relationship with them is going. They apply to both friendly and romantic relationships.
2. Action rolls are how Bond points are gained or lost, and they come in two categories: Friendship Actions and Romance Actions.
3. Friendship Actions are actions which could strengthen your bond with an NPC, such as engaging in conversation, giving gifts, or even going on adventures together.
4. Friendship downtime events can happen during downtime, once a friendship has taken place.
5. Chemistry rolls are necessary before any Romance Actions can take place. There can be no consent to romance without chemistry, and chemistry is outside of your control. Romance can not be forced.
6. Romance Actions become available if chemistry has been established, and allows for various types of courting activities such as dating, kissing, other types of physical intimacy, and even marriage proposals.
7. Romance downtime events are things that happen in romantic relationships during downtime and can involve anything from the NPC revealing a secret or making a suggestion, to relationship conflicts and breakups.

Bond points (BP)

Bond points are used to measure the strength of a relationship between you and an NPC, and can denote both a friendly as well as a romantic relationship.

• Bond points start at 0, but can range from -3 to 10.
• Bond points have different meanings depending on the nature of the relationship; friendly or romantic. All relationships start out as friendships, but can evolve into a romance as a result of a Chemistry roll - more on that later.

Bond points	Friendship	Romance
-3	Strong dislike	Hate
-2 to -1	Dislike	Dislike
0	Uninterested	Uninterested
1 to 2	Acquaintance	Curious
3 to 4	Friend	Interested
5 to 7	Deep friendship	Has a crush
8 to 10	Platonic love	In love

Action rolls

Both friendships and romances involve various Actions, which typically involve gaining or losing Bond points. All actions involve three steps:

1. The ask
   • Determine if the NPC accepts, is willing or available to participate.
   • Roll 1d6 + Bond points. A result equal to or higher than the Action's DC (see tables below) means that the NPC accepts, or responds positively, etc.
   • Exception: A roll of 1 or 2 on the 1d6 before Bond points are added always means the NPC declines.
2. The Action
   • The NPC agreed or accepted, so now you play out the event to see if it goes smoothly.
   • Refer to the specific Action's description below.
3. The impact
   • Unless the rules in the Action description specifically tells you that the Action failed it is considered a success, and we need to check if it resulted in a strengthened bond.
   • Roll the Impact die listed in the Action's description. If the result is higher than the NPC's Bond points, then they get one additional Bond point, maxing out at 10.

Friendship actions

Friendship actions are actions you can engage in with any NPC.

To try to make a Friendship action, roll:

• 1d6 + Bond points

DC	Friendship action	Impact die
3	Make small talk	1d4
3	Give small gift	1d6
3	Offer favor	1d6
4	Offer a hug	1d6
4	Deep conversation	1d8
4	Give significant gift	1d10
5	Making a sincere apology	1d8
6	Invite to danger	1d12

Remember to make the Impact roll after any successful Romance action to see if the NPC gets a Bond point.

Let's have a look at an example of this. Let's say you want to offer the NPC a hug. Looking that up in the table above, you see that the DC you have to beat is 4, and the NPC currently has 2 Bond points.

• The ask:
  • You roll 1d6 and get a 3.
  • This isn't a 1 or a 2, so it isn't an automatic failure.
  • Adding the NPC's 2 Bond points to the die roll, you get a 5. This is higher than or equal to the DC of 4, so the NPC happily accepts your hug.
• The Action:
  • You roleplay giving the NPC the hug.
• The impact:
  • Since the NPC accepted your hug, we must now check if this affects the NPC's Bond points by making the Impact roll.
  • In the table above, we see that the Impact die for the hug is 1d6, so we roll that and get a 4.
  • Since that 4 is higher than the number of Bond points the NPC currently has (which is 2), the Impact roll is successful and the NPC gets another Bond point for a new total of 3.

Make small talk

You try to engage in small talk with the NPC about inconsequential things.

Give small gift

You offer the NPC a small gift of limited value.

Offer favor

You offer to do a favor for the NPC - something which takes some effort or consumes some of your resources.

Offer a hug

You offer a hug to the NPC. This can be used as a greeting, or to console them at an appropriate moment.

Deep conversation

You try to engage in deep conversation with the NPC about something significant.

• Make a relatively easy social roll appropriate for the game you're playing. The outcome of this roll determines if the Action is successful or not.

Give significant gift

You offer the NPC a gift of some value or other significance to the prospective recipient.

Making a sincere apology

If you have done something that caused the NPC to lose at least one Bond point and which warrants an apology, then you can (and should!) apologize.

• Make a relatively easy social roll appropriate for the game you're playing. The outcome of this roll determines if the Action is successful or not.

Invite to danger

You invite the NPC to take part in some sort of dangerous activity, such as going on an adventure together. This is something which should put the NPC at risk, and take some amount of time. If the adventure takes several days or weeks, you can roll the Impact die two or more times after the adventure is over, if you deem it appropriate. That way a longer adventure can potentially result in more than one Bond point being gained than a shorter one.

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Friendship downtime events

During periods of rest, travel, or downtime, you can roll to see if an NPC initiates an interaction with your character. This gives the NPC agency and makes the relationship feel like a two-way street.

Roll 2d6 + Bond points and consult the table below.

2d6+BP	Event	Impact
5 or less	Cold shoulder	None
6-7	Casual check-in	1d4
8-9	NPC invites you out	1d6
10-11	NPC has an idea	1d8
12-13	The meaningful gift	1d8
14-15	NPC asks for your help	1d12
16-17	The vulnerable request	1d10
18+	Absolute loyalty / Deep confession	1d12

• Roleplay through the event. Technically you don't have to, but doing so will help build the relationship in your mind as a player.
• After the event has concluded, consider if it makes sense that the event could potentially result in adding a Bond point. Like with Actions, you could use an appropriate social check for your game as part if this determination.
• If a potential additional Bond point makes sense, roll the impact die listed in the table above, and if the result is higher than the NPC's current Bond points, they get another one.

Cold shoulder

The NPC is distant, busy, or politely avoids you.

• The NPC unconditionally loses one Bond point, but they can never go below -3.
• If their Bond points are in the negative, they might make a passive-aggressive comment.
• If their Bond points are zero or positive, they are simply preoccupied with their own life.

Casual check-in

The NPC drops by just to say hello, share a minor piece of news, or ask a mundane question. It's a low-stakes interaction that shows you are on their radar.

• If it's something that interests you, consider roleplaying through this interaction. You could use the Action/Theme Oracle for inspiration as to what the NPC wants.

NPC invites you out

The NPC seeks out your company. They might ask you to join them for a meal, share a drink at the tavern, or accompany them on a mundane errand.

• Unless you've already checked if there is chemistry between the two of you, now would be a good time to make a Chemistry roll to determine if the NPC's intentions are romantic or not.

NPC has an idea

The NPC has an idea of some sort. Consider using the Action/Theme Oracle for inspiration to figure out what their idea is.

The meaningful gift

The NPC completely surprises you with a gift they made, found, or bought specifically for you. It isn't necessarily expensive, but it proves they pay attention to your needs.

NPC asks for your help

The NPC has an agenda - some sort of task or quest they are asking for your help with.

• Roll a 1d20 for each of Goal / Focus / Obstacle on the following table to find out what it is.

1d20	Goal	Focus	Obstacle
1	Acquire	Adversary	Alliance
2	Avenge	Artefact	Conflict
3	Betray	Beast	Conflicting interests
4	Conceal	Child	Criminal past
5	Conquer	Enemy	Distance
6	Destroy	Idea	Duty
7	Discover	Knowledge	Family
8	Escape	Location	Forbidden love
9	Expand	Love	Health
10	Explore	Neighbor	Honor
11	Gather	Other NPC	Hostility
12	Glorify	Parent	Lack of information
13	Infiltrate	PC	Lack of resources
14	Lead	Relationship	Law
15	Learn	Relative	Love
16	Oppose	Revenge	Mysterious circumstances
17	Prevent	Reward	Oath
18	Reconcile	Ruler	Opposing faction
19	Restore	Structure	Pursuers
20	Worship	Wealth	Time

This could be a big ask. If you choose to help the NPC with this, successful completion could warrant rolling the Impact die more than once upon completion at your discretion, to potentially gain more than one Bond point as a result.

The vulnerable request

The NPC asks you to accompany them for something deeply personal that they are afraid to do alone. This is not a transactional favor, but an emotional one—like confronting an estranged family member, visiting a grave, or facing a phobia. Consider using the Action/Theme Oracle for inspiration.

Deep confession

The NPC opens up to you entirely. They might reveal a dark secret they've never told anyone, swear a formal oath of loyalty to your cause, or offer you a priceless family heirloom. They consider you to be one of the most important people in their life.

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Chemistry rolls

Romance is a possibility - but not with everyone. For any kind of courting or Romance actions to take place, there must first be an established chemistry between the two characters. When and if you feel it makes sense in the game world, you can choose to make a Chemistry roll to see if there is.

1d6	Result
1-2	No chemistry
3-4	Slow burn
5-6	There is chemistry

No chemistry

No chemistry means that there will never be any romance between these two characters. It just wasn't meant to be.

Slow burn

Slow burn means that while there is no chemistry between these two yet, there might be in the future.

• If at some later point in time this NPC has at least two more Bond points with the PC in question than they currently have, you will be able to make another Chemistry roll then.

There is chemistry

Love is in the air, and there is a noticeable spark between the characters in question. This means that the Romance actions are now available.

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Romance actions

What would be the point of romance without courting? Once a Chemistry roll has established that there is indeed chemistry between the two characters, you can start taking Romance actions when you deem it appropriate. There are various kinds of potential Romance actions, all with different Difficulty classes (DCs). But remember that the Friendship actions are still available too, even if you're in a romantic relationship.

DC	Romance action	Impact
6	Asking the NPC to go on a date	1d8
7	Offer a kiss	1d8
7	Figuring out the NPC's love language	1d8
8	Invite to intimate relations	1d10
12	Proposing marriage (only if already in relationship)	1d12

Remember to make the Impact roll after any successful Romance action to see if the NPC gets a Bond point.

Asking the NPC to go on a date

Once the NPC has agreed to go on a date, you can roleplay through the date if you want.

• At the end of the date, we need to check how the date went - what the NPC thought of it. Make an appropriate medium difficulty social check for the game you're playing. For example, in Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition, this could be something like a DC 14 Charisma roll.
  • If the social check is successful, then the date is considered successful which warrants an Impact roll afterwards.
  • If the social check is unsuccessful, then the date is not considered successful, and no Impact roll will be made.
  • If the social check is a critical failure (or the social check roll is significantly lower than required for a success, if they game you're playing doesn't have critical failures), then the NPC loses a Bond point.

Offer a kiss

You make it clear that you want to kiss the NPC.

Figuring out the NPC's love language

People have different love languages - ways of communicating which they are especially receptive to, with the right person.

• If you can figure out what your love interest's love languages are, then you can get a bonus on future Romance action rolls if you can incorporate that love language when making the roll.
• If the roll is unsuccessful, then the NPC loses a Bond point. Perhaps you asked too early, and the NPC regards the topic to be too personal or intrusive at this stage?
• If the roll is successful, then roll on the following table to discover what the NPC's love language is.

1d8	Love language	Explanation
1	Words of affirmation	Kind or encouraging words
2	Quality time	Spending time together
3	Receiving gifts	Receiving thoughtful gifts
4	Acts of service	Being helped in daily life
5	Physical touch	Being touched in a loving way
6	Admiration	Opportunity to admire you
7	Protection	Feeling protected
8	Adventure	Doing something risky together

• Let's say you learn that an NPC has the Receiving gifts love language. That means that from now on, if you give them a gift while asking them on a date (for example), you get a +1 on that Romance action roll.
• Each NPC can have two different love languages, but to figure them out you need a successful Romance action roll for each.

Invite to intimate relations

Once the Action roll has succeeded, then this works similar to going on a date, but use the most appropriate medium difficulty check for your game - perhaps a DC 14 Insight (Wisdom) check for emotional connection in the case of Dungeons and Dragons 5th Editions. Use what you feel makes for the best fit.

• If the social check is successful, the Action is considered successful, warranting an Impact roll afterwards.
• If the social check is unsuccessful, then nothing happens, but:
• If the social check is a critical failure, then the NPC loses a Bond point.

Proposing a marriage

If your PC and the NPC are already in a romantic relationship, you can make a marriage proposal. If successful, your love accepts your hand in marriage. Unless you want to have the risk of falling out of love (which could be an interesting plot arc in and of itself), you could stop tracking Bond points once this happens.

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Romance downtime events

Once you consider yourself to be in a committed relationship with an NPC, Romance downtime events can occur at appropriate times of rest, recovery, and downtime at your discretion. Remember that you can still use Friendship downtime events too.

Which event you get depends on a die roll, Bond points, and a Recent events modifier which you must first figure out what it should be set to. It can have any value from -2 to +2. Set it according to how things have been going lately when it comes to external factors (not how things are going in the relationship itself).

• -2: Things have been looking really bad recently, and there have been significant difficulties.
• -1: Things have been somewhat bad, and there have been some struggles.
• 0: Things have been going okay. There may have been some challenges, but nothing you can't handle.
• +1: Things have been going well. Any problems that may have come up, you have been able to deal with fairly easily.
• +2: Things have been great recently. You've easily been able to overcome any issues that may have come up.

Now that you've set the Recent events modifier (mod), you can roll for the Romance downtime event and look up the result in the table below:

• 2d6 + Bond points + Recent events modifier

2d6+BP+mod	Event	Impact
9 or less	Breakup	None
10	Ultimatum	None
11-12	Relationship conflict	None
13	External pressure	None
14	New boundary	None
15	A secret is revealed	1d8
16	NPC makes a suggestion	1d8
17	NPC wants something	1d10
18	NPC expresses happiness	1d10
19	Deepening bond	1d12
20 or more	Grand gesture	1d12

• Roleplay through the event. Technically you don't have to, but doing so will help build the relationship in your mind as a player.
• For the events that have an Impact listed in the table above, consider if it makes sense that the event could potentially result in adding a Bond point once it's been resolved. Like with Actions, you could use an appropriate social check for your game as part if this determination.
• If a potential additional Bond point makes sense, roll the impact die listed in the table above, and if the result is higher than the NPC's current Bond points, they get another one.

Breakup

The NPC has decided that this relationship isn't worth it anymore.

• The NPC loses 3 Bond points.
• The romantic relationship ends immediately.
• If the NPC gains at least three new Bond points at a later time, then a new successful Romantic action can reestablish the romance.

Ultimatum

The NPC is very unhappy with how things are progressing, and gives you an ultimatum.

• Unless the NPC's Bond points increase by 2 within a reasonable time frame, then a Breakup event is triggered. If the NPC is already at the maximum of 10 Bond points, "getting" a Bond point still counts against the ultimatum.

Relationship conflict

• Some sort of conflict has occurred in the relationship. If you need inspiration as to what it is about, you could turn to the Action/Theme Oracle.
• The NPC loses 1 Bond point.
• While you obviously can play how you want, I suggest you don't gloss over this - take it seriously. What is the conflict about? What can you do about it?

External pressure

The relationship has come under external pressure. Someone is questioning if you and the NPC should be in a relationship at all. It might be a friend of the NPC, a member of the NPC's family, or someone else entirely.

• Make a medium difficulty social check appropriate for the game you're playing.
• If the result of the social check is a failure, the NPC loses 1 Bond point.

New boundary

Recent events have put a strain on the relationship, and the NPC is putting up a new boundary.

• Decide what the boundary is based on what makes the most sense in light of what has happened.
• Each time this boundary is violated in the future, the NPC loses 1 Bond point.

A secret is revealed

A secret concerning the NPC has come to light.

• Perhaps use the Action/Theme Oracle to come up with ideas about what it could be.

NPC makes a suggestion

Something has given the NPC an idea, and they now have a suggestion.

• Use the Action/Theme Oracle to figure out what it entails.
• Let the NPC's personality influence what this means.

The NPC wants something

After everything that's happened, there is now something the NPC wants.

• Either decide yourself what it is the NPC wants, use the Action/Theme Oracle or your imagination to decide what it means in the context of the game world. Take the NPC's personality into account.

NPC expresses happiness

The NPC is happy with how things are turning out, despite any recent struggles.

Deepening bond

The things you have gone through together have strengthened the bond between you and the NPC.

• Try to think of what this means for the relationship.

Grand gesture

The NPC expresses their love by giving you something meaningful.

• Try to think of what it is the NPC is giving you. It has to make sense, but it doesn't have to be a physical object - it can also be a promise, new information, or anything else of value that you can think of.

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Conclusion

It is my hope that this article will help you bring life to your NPCs and your relationships with them. I've tried to design it so that it is system neutral to work with any game.

An important design goal was also to respect the NPCs' autonomy and integrity, even if they're imaginary constructs. They should be able to have their own say in what happens, which is reflected in the Chemistry rolls, and the fact that an Action roll can always fail no matter how many Bond points the NPC has. Additionally, NPCs aren't just passive - they can take the initiative in the relationship through Downtime events. As we've seen, they can also break up with you if they decide a romantic relationship is going nowhere.

This article reuses some content from my Evolving NPC Personality and Love System which requires more bookkeeping to keep track of personality compatibility. In my opinion this article is better; it is easier to use, and has a bit more content.

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