D&D 5E Using social skills on other PCs

[clearstream]

I let him know that if I don't get my 2gp price, I'm going to break his left pinky. Then if I still don't have my price, I'm going to break his right pinky. I also let him know that if he screams when either finger is broken, I'll cut out his tongue. Then I gesture to my comrade Gorak the barbarian to move to the man's right, and to my buddy Chomag the dwarven cleric to move to his left. As they do so I pull out my dagger and start cleaning a fingernail.

I'm envisioning that successful intimidation will entail that you have chosen something they find genuinely threatening, and sold them on your sincerity in carrying it out. Of course, they might be in possession of knowledge (like the backup they have watching from hiding) that results in their ignoring your threats anyway. What would failure entail? Perhaps either they believe you are bluffing, or they're not too concerned about the likelihood of you breaking their pinkies?

 

[iserith]

I'm envisioning that successful intimidation will entail that you have chosen something they find genuinely threatening, and sold them on your sincerity in carrying it out. Of course, they might be in possession of knowledge (like the backup they have watching from hiding) that results in their ignoring your threats anyway. What would failure entail? Perhaps either they believe you are bluffing, or they're not too concerned about the likelihood of you breaking their pinkies?

NPC holds up two hooks for hands

"I HAVE NO PINKIES!"

 

[Bill Zebub]

I'm envisioning that successful intimidation will entail that you have chosen something they find genuinely threatening, and sold them on your sincerity in carrying it out. Of course, they might be in possession of knowledge (like the backup they have watching from hiding) that results in their ignoring your threats anyway. What would failure entail? Perhaps either they believe you are bluffing, or they're not too concerned about the likelihood of you breaking their pinkies?

And that makes me realize that the extension of my reason for treating NPCs differently than PCs is that I'm just not as vested in NPCs (as DM) as I am in my PC (as a player), so it's really hard for me (as DM) to know whether or not something is persuasive or intimidating.

And furthermore, as DM I really know most of the "truth"in the game world, including the PCs capabilities, so there's very little uncertainty in the "mind" of the NPC...because it's really my mind. Sure, I don't know if the PCs are really going to try to carry out their threats, or fulfill their promises, but I do know roughly whether or not they are capable of doing so.

As a player, though, if the Orc says, "Pony up, or my archers that you can't see are going to rain arrows on you," I really don't know for sure whether or not he (the DM) is bluffing. That uncertainty is part of what makes Cha skills realistic, so its absence...the impossibility of forgetting what you know for a moment...makes it so hard to adjudicate NPC behavior. Thus, I use dice.

 

[Maxperson]

NPC holds up two hooks for hands

"I HAVE NO PINKIES!"

That's why I always keep the party wizard in the background armed with.................................................A RUST MONSTER!!

 

[Bill Zebub]

I'm envisioning that successful intimidation will entail that you have chosen something they find genuinely threatening, and sold them on your sincerity in carrying it out. Of course, they might be in possession of knowledge (like the backup they have watching from hiding) that results in their ignoring your threats anyway. What would failure entail? Perhaps either they believe you are bluffing, or they're not too concerned about the likelihood of you breaking their pinkies?

Do you mean successful/failure in terms of dice rolls, or in terms of what actually happens at the table?

Because if the NPC threatens something that the players find both plausible and threatening, no dice roll will be needed. And vice versa. Right?

The simplicity of that approach has me scratching my head why we are even having a discussion about NPCs rolling Persuasion/Intimidation against PCs. Being genuinely intimidated is way more fun than pretending to be intimidated because the dice told you to act that way. In my book, anyway. (It's really the same argument as "If you don't want your players to know what's in the Monster Manual, change the entries.")

 

[Fenris-77]

That's why I always keep the party wizard in the background armed with.................................................A RUST MONSTER!!

on a stick....

 

[Maxperson]

on a stick....

Rust Monster on a Stick sounds like a Munchkin card.

 

[Fenris-77]

Or a bag of baby rust monsters and a staff sling. Hmm. Decisions decisions. Perhaps partially covered in pitch like a sticky bomb. Fenris hastily scribbles some notes in his campaign journal...

 

[Bill Zebub]

Or a bag of baby rust monsters and a staff sling. Hmm. Decisions decisions. Perhaps partially covered in pitch like a sticky bomb. Fenris hastily scribbles some notes in his campaign journal...

This is a classic case of "what's good for the goose is good for the gander."

So...goblins launching baby rust monsters at the party. I'm loving it.

 

[Fenris-77]

This is a classic case of "what's good for the goose is good for the gander."

So...goblins launching baby rust monsters at the party. I'm loving it.

Those were the notes I was writing, yeah. Admittedly I was going Kobolds, but same diff.