ARGH! Sense Motive is NOT frigging mind reading!

[vulcan_idic]

One of my all-time favourite Teal'c lines... and that's saying something

-Hyp.

Which reminds me of something that goes along with the idea that just detecting when someones not telling the complete truth, doesn't mean they're hiding what you assume they're hiding - i.e. the za'tarc detector picking up on the relationship undercurrents between Carter and O'Neill... or in Legally Blonde the murder suspect (a celebrity from exercise videos) hiding the fact that she had liposuction...

 

[Plane Sailing]

Personally, I think that Sense Motive is so underused compared to one of the mega skills like Spot or Tumble that I'd be happy to let the players get all the mileage I can out of it.

I'm not interested in rendering their investment in skills pointless, I want to allow them to enjoy their strengths.

To that end, I'd say that a Sense Motive total of +28 would be capable of apparently magical feats of mind-reading, just like a hide of +28 can make you capable of almost magical feats of hiding.

As a DM I love it when a player has high sense motive. Why? Because it allows me to deliver exposition within-game, it allows me to use more complex plots, it gives me more freedom.

Just like you don't expect a ravine to challenge 10th level PCs because they can probably fly, you don't expect a plot for 10th level PCs to hinge on whether one persons motives can be sensed. You build adventures to allow the PCs to use the heroic characteristics they are developing!

Cheers

 

[hero4hire]

When I DM, I roll Sense Motive in secret. When I answer..."You are sure he is lying through his teeth." They don't know if I rolled really well for them or really or really poorly.
That seemed to stop excessive Sense Motive checks...