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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Thasmodious" data-source="post: 4206533" data-attributes="member: 63272">If all three social skills can be used equally in all social encounters, then all you are doing is splitting up skill points for no reason.  If all three are the same, then there are two too many.  If you feel that way, just houserule that there is only one social skill in your games, because you've removed choice and nuance from the equation with the insistence that all social skills are always appropriate in all social situations.The options to setup the challenge are not limiting or railroading, they turn a simple dice exercise into a tactical situation.  All three social skills having to always be on the table for every social encounter would remove any variance from the system.  Each one has its own uses and purpose.  Bluff will get you in a party without an invitation, diplomacy will get the duke to help you, intimidate will clear your favorite tavern table of peasants.You could just as easily imagine circumstances where one of the other primary social skills would be ineffective or counter-productive.  The cowardly Duke Wossisnuts won't commit his troops to help defend the border outpost.  The guard captain wants desperately to help his men and the PCs want to defeat the hobgoblin menace.  They get an audience with the duke, and the guard captain arranges for the PCs to end up alone with the duke.  He won't see reason on the issue, but he is quite open to bluff and intimidation.  With the captain on their side, they don't have to fear repercussions from scaring the duke.  Well, not as much, anyway.  The PCs have captured a big bad evil sub-boss, an evil paladin.  Diplomacy won't work because the evil paladin serves an evil god with evil goals and knows the party is all bright and shiny.  Bluff and intimidate are on the table.  Or maybe one diplomatic angle is viable if the PCs can learn about it with a successful insight check.</blockquote>

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