Storn
Explorer
Paka said:I am all for the DM saying, "C'mon, Judd, you are trying to earn the duke's trust; try another skill. This one won't work for this skill challenge."
I just don't dig, "You want to try to intimidate him? Okay. roll...FAIL! You can't intimidate the duke!"
If you want to find a reason in the fiction why intimidate works, you can. Perhaps, for example, the Duke likes your spunk and wants adventurers working for him who are willing to get in a noble's face before the whole court.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
I really don't want this thread to be about auto-fails in skill challenges when it should be about Bret's awesome setting. If anyone wants to continue discussing auto-fail in skill challenges, let's take it to another thread.
Thanks.
Mary Tyler Moore stil got the job despite Lou Grant declaring "I hate spunk!"...
yeah, inditmidate should really be on the table. Instead of Auto Fail, explain to the players, "Listen, the Duke is in a superior position here, hates to be bullied, you CAN Intimidate, but there is a severe -5 to the roll." Boom. You've made Intimidation difficult... but still a possiblity and the player now knows in the RP space that the Duke hates being pushed around.