Musing Mage
Pondering D&D stuff
What 5e can benefit from is a passive reaction chart. Most of the interactions in 5e are based on the skills of Persuasion, Deception, and Intimidation... which are fine as far as they go but always imply an active intent of some kind.
Fortunately the 2nd Ed reaction charts are easily ported over to 5e and work very well on top of what's already there. A chart based on how players are acting - Friendly, Indifferent, Threatening, or Hostile.... using the base charisma adjustment to determine the baseline of how a creature or NPC reacts. This can be further affected by active use of Persuasion, Intimidation, or Deception.
In days of yore, Charisma was often treated as the dump stat. This is primarily because many DMs didn't understand how to use it, and ergo didn't. But if you familiarize yourself with the Encounter Reaction charts, and apply them liberally, you'll see the role playing element of the game blossom. The key is not to disregard a result that seems counter intuitive, rather embrace it and make it work. IE: The group has returned from a successful adventure, done everything that was asked of them, and yet the dice offer a hostile response from the Lord/Noble/King etc... how do you justify it? What happens? Why? THIS is where truly interesting things can spring up to surprise you and take the game in unexpected directions.
Fortunately the 2nd Ed reaction charts are easily ported over to 5e and work very well on top of what's already there. A chart based on how players are acting - Friendly, Indifferent, Threatening, or Hostile.... using the base charisma adjustment to determine the baseline of how a creature or NPC reacts. This can be further affected by active use of Persuasion, Intimidation, or Deception.
In days of yore, Charisma was often treated as the dump stat. This is primarily because many DMs didn't understand how to use it, and ergo didn't. But if you familiarize yourself with the Encounter Reaction charts, and apply them liberally, you'll see the role playing element of the game blossom. The key is not to disregard a result that seems counter intuitive, rather embrace it and make it work. IE: The group has returned from a successful adventure, done everything that was asked of them, and yet the dice offer a hostile response from the Lord/Noble/King etc... how do you justify it? What happens? Why? THIS is where truly interesting things can spring up to surprise you and take the game in unexpected directions.