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<blockquote data-quote="StreamOfTheSky" data-source="post: 4587622" data-attributes="member: 35909">When I can DM in person again, I intend to gleefully roll randomly and often, many times for no reason at all, in order to keep the players on edge and/or prevent metagaming.For now, we play online in a chat room due to geography, so unless I wanted to open a second chat as my &quot;DM screen,&quot; all rolling is basically required to be open.&nbsp; What we do is rather simple.&nbsp; You're entitled to ask for a sense motive check whenever you want (but only once per suspected lie, and within reasonable limits).&nbsp; The &quot;accused&quot; rolls a d20 even if he is telling the truth.&nbsp; Most often, it will be between DM and a player, so the DM's total won't be known.&nbsp; Simply an answer of &quot;you think he is being dishonest&quot; or &quot;you can't find anything misleading in his statement.&quot;&nbsp; If the player fails to detect a lie, he can't be sure if it's because it's the truth, or the NPC is a good liar.That said, the impetus is on the listener to ask for a sense motive check.&nbsp; If the player does not ask for one, he is implicitly accepting the statement as true.&nbsp; This holds for me the DM as well.&nbsp; If the NPC wants to sense motive, I call for a bluff roll from the player.&nbsp; If he doesn't, he for whatever reason chooses not to scrutinize the words and the PC may get a lie past without a roll.EDIT: Perhaps worth mentioning that, with the exception of one or two players, I've never seen this handling of Bluff/Sense Motive lead to a hyperactive game of rolling every few seconds during role playing.&nbsp; Most players are cool about it, and won't ask for a sense motive on a frequent basis unless given a reason to be suspicious.&nbsp; Like...the NPC lied, they suspected and detected it...and then not long afterwards, he does again.The people I play with also tend to understand that asking for sense motive every time the NPC speaks is tantamount to intently scanning body language and parsing words in your mind in a rather obvious way.&nbsp; Which, if the NPC has been honest, will tend to make him justifiably upset.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="StreamOfTheSky, post: 4587622, member: 35909"] When I can DM in person again, I intend to gleefully roll randomly and often, many times for no reason at all, in order to keep the players on edge and/or prevent metagaming. For now, we play online in a chat room due to geography, so unless I wanted to open a second chat as my "DM screen," all rolling is basically required to be open. What we do is rather simple. You're entitled to ask for a sense motive check whenever you want (but only once per suspected lie, and within reasonable limits). The "accused" rolls a d20 even if he is telling the truth. Most often, it will be between DM and a player, so the DM's total won't be known. Simply an answer of "you think he is being dishonest" or "you can't find anything misleading in his statement." If the player fails to detect a lie, he can't be sure if it's because it's the truth, or the NPC is a good liar. That said, the impetus is on the listener to ask for a sense motive check. If the player does not ask for one, he is implicitly accepting the statement as true. This holds for me the DM as well. If the NPC wants to sense motive, I call for a bluff roll from the player. If he doesn't, he for whatever reason chooses not to scrutinize the words and the PC may get a lie past without a roll. EDIT: Perhaps worth mentioning that, with the exception of one or two players, I've never seen this handling of Bluff/Sense Motive lead to a hyperactive game of rolling every few seconds during role playing. Most players are cool about it, and won't ask for a sense motive on a frequent basis unless given a reason to be suspicious. Like...the NPC lied, they suspected and detected it...and then not long afterwards, he does again. The people I play with also tend to understand that asking for sense motive every time the NPC speaks is tantamount to intently scanning body language and parsing words in your mind in a rather obvious way. Which, if the NPC has been honest, will tend to make him justifiably upset. [/QUOTE]

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