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<blockquote data-quote="Etan Moonstar" data-source="post: 383475" data-attributes="member: 7762">It's fairly rare for me to get a chance to play instead of DM, but when I do, my experience from various sources such as DM winging it and high school impromptu speaking make it so that, in social situations, most DMs entirely base the success of the bluff on how eloquent I was in real life.&nbsp; One day I was thinking about this, though, and I realized that unless I was playing a character who actually maxed out his ranks in Bluff each level, I was actually sort of cheating.&nbsp; After all, we still make the irl physically strong player roll to break open a door, so why should the irl glib players get free breaks on Bluff?&nbsp; On the other hand, though, it really sort of breaks the suspension of disbelief when someone like myself does rattle off a good story, only to subsequently roll a 1 on the Bluff check.My eventual solution?&nbsp; Last time I got the chance to play in a campaign, I started to roll the Bluff check BEFORE rattling off the story.&nbsp; If I rolled high, I then came up with a good and believable story.&nbsp; If I rolled low (or, heavens forbid, a 1!) I would come up with a less believable story, or deliver the story in a stuttering, hesitant fashion, or some other roleplaying device that helped portray the low results of the check.&nbsp; I loved the results, as did the DM and other players, and have been using this system ever since, whether when I play a PC or (more often) when I do the NPCs.To sum up--experienced and skilled roleplayers may find that portraying the results of the die roll in social situations, just like we do in combat and other situations, might make for a more balanced and enjoyable session.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Etan Moonstar, post: 383475, member: 7762"] It's fairly rare for me to get a chance to play instead of DM, but when I do, my experience from various sources such as DM winging it and high school impromptu speaking make it so that, in social situations, most DMs entirely base the success of the bluff on how eloquent I was in real life. One day I was thinking about this, though, and I realized that unless I was playing a character who actually maxed out his ranks in Bluff each level, I was actually sort of cheating. After all, we still make the irl physically strong player roll to break open a door, so why should the irl glib players get free breaks on Bluff? On the other hand, though, it really sort of breaks the suspension of disbelief when someone like myself does rattle off a good story, only to subsequently roll a 1 on the Bluff check. My eventual solution? Last time I got the chance to play in a campaign, I started to roll the Bluff check BEFORE rattling off the story. If I rolled high, I then came up with a good and believable story. If I rolled low (or, heavens forbid, a 1!) I would come up with a less believable story, or deliver the story in a stuttering, hesitant fashion, or some other roleplaying device that helped portray the low results of the check. I loved the results, as did the DM and other players, and have been using this system ever since, whether when I play a PC or (more often) when I do the NPCs. To sum up--experienced and skilled roleplayers may find that portraying the results of the die roll in social situations, just like we do in combat and other situations, might make for a more balanced and enjoyable session. [/QUOTE]

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