Diplomacy and Bluff roll made in my game... your assistance if you please.

[Veritas]

Just so that I'm not just going off my own "WTF?" reaction on this, I'd like to get the community's opinion on this particular scenario... here are the posts from my Dragonlance game on the dndadventure.com forum (I thought I'd ask here as this is an unbiased group).

To set this up, I am playing the original group in the War of the Lance campaign. They have arrived back at Solace after the Red army has invaded, and spent the night in Theros Ironfeld's hidden basement. Hearing from Gilthanas that he returned to Solace upon discovering that Theros may have been betrayed, Tanis, Tas and Gilthanas sneak out to go find the blacksmith and save him if necessary. The other heroes head for the Inn which is being repaired on the ground. Sneaking around the back of the blacksmith's shop, Tanis rolls a 4 on his move silently, and begins coughing on a lungful of smoke from the still smoldering Valenwood trees. This attracts the attention of the draconian standing out front of the shop with a group of goblins.

The heroes reach the back door and Tas picks the lock when 10 goblins come running around the building with the draconian in tow...

My post:

The goblins quickly surround you, swords ready, but the draconian that was in front with them rounds the corner and yells "Hold!"

"Surrender, or my troops will kill you where you stand!" it commands you. The goblins all stand ready to attack on its command (ie: they have readied attacks awaiting your response.)

Tanis' player's post:

Tanis stands up before the Draconian, arms high in the air. '....good evening my lord...' he says with reluctance, he continues in a whisper. '...we're from the 6th research party, we found out that there was someone hiding in this building. We came here to take him in, we sneaked so we wouldn't cause commotion. Is the front of this building still covered now, sir?'

Bluff: 19 (roll…whoo! ^_^) + 2 (mod) = 21
Diplomacy: 18 (roll =P) + 3 (mod) = 21

What bonus do you think I should give the Draconian on his Sense Motive roll, based on the above... knowing that this is an occupied town... there IS NO 6th research team let alone ANY research teams, and they obviously seemed to be breaking into the shop...

 

[MerricB]

Probably between +10 and +20 - The bluff is hard to believe, and almost way out there.

If Tas is in sight, then +20. Otherwise, +10. (or +15)

Cheers!

 

[Lord Pendragon]

I agree with MerricB. There's also the fact that Tanis is a Half-Elf. The fact that he's not a draconian or a goblin is going to work strongly against his lie, unless elves and half-elves are common in the occupying army (it's been a while since I read the series.)

Also, as ignoring the situation could cost the draconian leader his life, (the Dragon Highlords weren't exactly forgiving of failure,) even if successful, I wouldn't have the draconian simply leave Tanis to go on his way. He'd hold Tanis and confirm the "research team" story. So all Tanis has done is buy himself some time.

 

[Felon]

The key to bluffing in a situation like this, of course, is undermining the target's confidence as to how much knowledge he really possesses. Does the draconian truly know for certain that there's no research team out there that he wasn't told about by his superiors?

In the end though, it sounds like the draconian is obliged to do something if he can't get some token from Tanis that his story is genuine. About the best to hope for in this situation is to buy some time and distract the bad guy while others maneuver themselves into attack position.

 

[Frostmarrow]

Clearly, the draconian is hostile. He threatens to kill the PC and orders his men to stand ready with weapons drawn.

The DC for influencing the attitude of a hostile NPC is 30. (20 + 10 for being rushed). The player fails. The draconian should still be hostile. This means the draconian will take risks to hurt Tanis and will attack, interfere, berate, or flee. Perhaps he can shackle them both?