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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Argyle King" data-source="post: 7791187" data-attributes="member: 58416">To some extent, I can see Anahata's point, but I would posit that it is not unique to 5E.Influence skills (and abilities) in D&D are often ambiguous. For example, I've seen charm effects be ruled as being anywhere from mind control to barely doing anything -depending upon the DM.As far as Intimidation during combat?I think it needs to be somewhat vague because of the variety of possible creatures, personalities, and situations which may be involved in a combat. That being said, my gut feeling would be as follows: 1) decide what you feel is the best possible outcome: perhaps an entire group of goblins with low morale might flee/surrender; in contrast, the best possible outcome against a legendary red dragon might be a change in target or tactics; the best possible outcome again a mindless/fearless stone golem might be that it simply doesn't work. It may help to ask the player what their intended goal is. If you can't think of anything, perhaps it's something as simple as the target gaining the Frightened condition for a round or needing to make a concentration check to maintain a spell.2) opposed check of intimidation vs the better of a wisdom (willpower) save or a charisma (force of personality) save: I'm essentially turning it into a mental/influence version of a grapple check; I might award advantage or disadvantage based upon the situation. For example, a foe which has a reputation for being cowardly, a foe which is greatly outnumbered, or a foe which is badly wounded might more easily succumb to intimidation. In contrast, Lord Terrance Patrick Killroy, legendary villain (first of his name, eater of souls, yada yada yada...) might have advantage during such a contest.3) compare results and decide how near or far the results are to the best possible result: complete overwhelming success or success by a huge difference in results is (likely) nearest to the best possible result; drifting further away from that likely leads to a less desirable result.</blockquote>

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