Ok, so you used those? Most DM's IME never bothered -- you are strange.
Yep, you're wrong. I never even heard of that until you posted about it--who bothered debating that junk?
Sure, it could be (I even provided an example in my prior post!), but in the 5E framework it isn't and I've never seen a need to have the roll determine it.
Consider this, other than the "critical hit on a 20", which was never part of D&D until 2E when they hardcoded it into the game system, 5E d20 rolls do not concern themselves with distinguishing between a 10 and a 17 if the roll just needed to be 10 or better. It is a simple success/fail system; the only complexity is what success and failure is precisely, which is up to the DM. The magnitude is determined by the damage roll, which is why it is separate roll.
When you "miss" in combat, we don't break down the roll to determine did the attack fail because it was block with a shield, parried, dodged, or whatever--it is just a miss (or failed attack technically).
The severity of the damage is determined by the damage roll (which is why my group uses critical damage, not critical hits).
Not really, although I see your point you're trying to make.
Here's my take: the check is the attack roll, not the damage. Does your check succeed in influencing the NPC in the direction you want (a "hit") or not (a "miss"). There is no damage aspect to determine how far (the magnitude) the NPC is moved in the corresponding direction.
There are lots of ways you
could do this, certainly, but to what point? At this level, IMO, you are just breaking down role-playing to a series of roll and numbers, which is already what we do in combat, so why doing it to social? What do we gain?
Oh, I know my way is fine.
Seriously though, if others what to make SC a long process just like combat, have at it. Frankly, it would bore me to death (the same way combat bores other players)--just making skill check after skill check until I get enough successes or failures... But to each, their own.
I'm just waiting for someone to actually post an example of a SC scenario that would be significant enough to warrant that sort of time during a session. Role-playing through it is more fun for me, and certainly when a check is called for it to determine the direction it takes, roll.
