Charlaquin
Goblin Queen (She/Her/Hers)
Let me start by saying I agree with you. However, I don’t think this version actually does allow a player to force a Charisma check. It’s mostly just a reframing of the existing social interaction rules to make them transparent to players (and to DMs who, let’s be honest, probably didn’t read the DMG where these rules are currently found). It describes the attitudes NPCs might have towards the PCs, and when an ability check is “usually required” or might succeed or fail automatically, based on the NPC’s attitude and the nature of the request. But the Interaction portion still makes it clear that the player describes what they do to try to influence the NPC, and the DM can temporarily shift the NPC’s attitude based on that description. Keep in mind that the rule’s glossary for ability checks still specifies that the DM calls for one when there’s an uncertain outcome and narratively interesting consequences. Now, the Influence action does provide a default DC for the Charisma check if one is called for, but again, the glossary for ability checks specify that the DM can override any DC set by the rules.The whole influence action just needs to go away. Don't make it an playerfacing action. Players should never be allowed to force charisma checks.
The new version is better but than the last still way worse than the status quo, where the DM decides when a charisma check is warranted and what the DC is