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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Water Bob" data-source="post: 6685934" data-attributes="member: 92305">With interpersonal skills like Bluff and Diplomacy, what I do is roll a check behind the screen so the player can't see the outcome.  Then, I roleplay with the player normally, but I keep the result of the check in the back of my mind and let it influence my roleplay.Let's say that a PC is trying to convince a merchant that a sword that is being sold came from the High House of Madurcha, an elven noble House known for its extreme quality longswords.I'll let the player roleplay his heart out.  I'll play the NPC merchant, of course.But, I'll roll the PC's Bluff vs. NPC's Appraise.  And, if the PC wins, I'll roleplay the NPC merchant more gullible (because the sword is not of the High House of Madurcha) and be a little more willing to believe in what the player says in his roleplay.I don't let the dice decide the outcome.  That happens purely through the roleplaying.  But, I can be a hardass Merchant, or I can be a gullible Merchant, and there's all that space between.  The dice roll guides my roleplaying of the NPC.This way, in my game, skills are important, and roleplaying doesn't take a back seat to dice rolling.It's possible for the PC to win his Bluff check but for the player not to roleplay convincingly enough, or say the right things, for the Merchant to believe him.  The check helps the player with his roleplay but doesn't decide the situation 100%.I think of the check behind the screen as more of a modifier to my NPC roleplaying than resulting in an absolute result.  If the PC wins the Bluff check, then it will be easier for the PC to pull one over on the Merchant--but the player still has to roleplay and do the work of making his argument convincing.  OTOH, if the Merchant's Appraise check wins, then the Merchant may know to look for a small mark that every sword from the House of Madurcha has stamped on it, and with it missing, he knows this sword isn't one from the House.  But, for the fight price, the Merchant may still be able to sell the sword as one from the House, so he's interested in buying the sword and basically pulling the same scam with a customer later.  It all depends on price.That's how I use interpersonal checks.</blockquote>

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