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Message: <blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 5728076" data-attributes="member: 82106">I don't recall any edition of D&D going into a discussion of what is character knowledge vs what is player knowledge. All of this is a general aspect of RPGs in general and isn't at all specific to 4e or any other version of D&D. The problem with the way you suggest running things is that basically social skills are worthless, and for any character without some kind of direct mechanical reason to have a decent cha or wis there's no benefit to those stats at all. You will definitely need to explain to the players that they should not bother with giving their characters any kind of abilities related to social skills to be fair.Personally I think checks and social skills are a perfectly good mechanic. They allow for the way things just don't always go the way they're expected to go and that characters are living in the game world and have access to information and clues that the player simply doesn't have. They can hear the NPCs tone of voice, see his expression and body language, may know little facts and observations that the player can't possibly be aware of, and just generally are far more in the moment than the player can ever be. And things just don't always go as people expect. An NPC might trip up or simply have an off day, or be undone by something else that some other character says etc. All of that can be driven by the dice.As for some disadvantage NPCs are at, nonsense. They are run by the DM, who has infinite knowledge and power. The DM KNOWS if anything the player says is factual or not, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. The DM can decide after the fact if statements NPCs make are truth or not for that matter, so the players are always at a disadvantage. If players can 'cheat' in some cases the DM can 'cheat' any time he or she wants.In summary the wise DM and the wise player will understand that there is a benefit to the game to having a contract where they play with the appropriate knowledge and point of view.</blockquote>

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