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Message: <blockquote data-quote="iserith" data-source="post: 7743518" data-attributes="member: 97077">With regard to Insight in D&D 5e, a Wisdom (Insight) check might resolve uncertainty as to whether a character "can determine the true intentions of a creature, such as when searching out a lie or predicting someone's next move. Doing so involves gleaning clues from body language, speech habits, and changes in mannerisms." Presumably, the player has described what his or her character wants to do along these lines and the DM decides that the outcome is uncertain and goes to the mechanics to resolve it.On a successful result, the DM can simply state that the clues the creature is giving indicate consciousness of guilt or that he or she is being untruthful or whatever is appropriate. A failed check might mean the character can determine nothing or the DM can come up with some reasonable result for success at a cost or with a setback.The rules state who gets to say what the character thinks, how it acts and talks: the player. Telling a player what his or her character thinks, e.g. "You think he's telling the truth..." or "You think he's lying..." or "You believe him..." violates in my view the delineation of roles between player and DM. It's the player's role to determine what the character thinks, not the DM. The DM may only describe the environment and narrate the result of the adventurer's actions. That can be done without telling a player how his or her character thinks.Now some folks will want to obfuscate what "think" means in this context and how it can be warped into all manner of clever (and not-so-clever) ways to try and push the player into having his or her character act accordingly. But, despite how commonly I see DMs both declare what characters think and how they act, I think that is not in the spirit of the game and the player should be left to establish what his or her character thinks and how he or she acts outside of some magical compulsion or the like. Other games may handle this differently. That is how I see it in D&D 5e. It's simple and it works.</blockquote>

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