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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 5716537" data-attributes="member: 42582">As a 4e GM, I don't use big modifiers like the ones you described to deal with this situation. Instead, I use the pressures of the fictional situation to give the +11 player a reason to act.So for example, I might have the NPC address the +11 PC. If the player ignores this and just let's the diplo-specialist speak, this puts the +11 PC in a potentially undesirable social situation - of being an ineffective cypher.Or I might have the situation generate stakes in which the +11 PC and the +15 diplo-specialist have different interests, so that the player of the +11 PC has a reason to try and get involved and push things in one direction rather than another. (In my experience, the different interests don't need to be big, PvP issues - it can be as minor as one character wanting to tone down the religious slant to the paladin's diatribe, for example.)I should add, all of the above presupposes a skill challenge in which more than one roll is required, and in which the outcome of each roll makes a difference to the way that situation unfolds on its way to ultimate resolution of some form or other.I'm not saying at all that this is superior to your hefty modifier approach. It's just the way I've used the 4e mechanics as they are written to handle the issue that you raise.</blockquote>