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Message: <blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 492251" data-attributes="member: 1210">Well, the thing about social skills is... lemme give an example.  I'm a fairly silver-tongued devil irl, but if I play a character who has a charisma of 6, she won't be.  Yet when I role-play, in the excitement of the moment I may "forget myself" and speak well.  Should my character get the benefit of my (the player's) higher charisma?  Especially since 3e charisma has essentially nothing to do with looks; if it doesn't matter in game terms why have the stat at all?An even better example is the low-charisma, tongue-tied geek playing the master diplomat.  He trips over his words and can't ever seem to say the right thing irl, but his character with a cha 18 sure ought to be persuasive and such.  This is where those killer scores in bluff and diplomacy come into play.I understand where you're coming from about the roleplaying aspect of it- the whole thing about speaking in your own voice- but let me tell ya how I tend to run it and play it.  As a player, when I was playing Drendlin, my fighter with the 6 charisma, I'd roll a diplomacy check first (no ranks, net -2 to the roll) and then open my mouth and roleplay the roll.  As a dm, when someone tries to persuade an npc, I let them talk, then have them roll the skill check and tell them how it comes out.  After all, we all perceive what we say differently than others do.  How many times have you seen someone post something snarky, get called on it, then post a response saying, "Whoa, that's not how I meant that!"  The same thing happens in verbal communication; when I was a kid my mom used to say, "Don't use that tone of voice with me!"  As often as not, I had no clue what she was talking about.As for knowledge skills, the problem with using your knowledge instead of your character's is that it's often metagaming.  Does a first-level fighter know enough to use fire on a troll?  What about the weaknesses of a gelatinous cube?  Heck, would he even recognize a rakshasa?  I would, but would my character?  Moreover- if I'm playing in someone's homebrew world for the first time I figure my character ought to know a little about the world, even if I really don't.Just a difference of opinion- I'm not trying to criticize you here, just pointing out why I think social and knowledge skills are good.  After all, if your characters all know everything you know and all speak with your voice, there's not much roleplaying in that- you're playing yourself.</blockquote>

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