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<blockquote data-quote="Sunseeker" data-source="post: 7289285">The problem I have with your variation is that it's not explicit on how the player wants to resolve the situation.&nbsp; Sure, they want to talk...but there are several skills which cover &quot;talking&quot;.&nbsp; Without specifying, I've been at tables where saying &quot;I want to try to talk things out.&quot; gives the DM room to say &quot;Oh well, that one skill that nobody in the party has?&nbsp; Yeah that's the talking skill you need.&quot;&nbsp; By specifying which skill they want to use, they're specifying how they want to resolve the situation, how they want to frame the talking.&nbsp; Are we big tough scary adventurers intimidating our foes?&nbsp; Are we suave smooth-talking criminals with a silver tongue?&nbsp; The player is deciding how they want to frame their attempt by naming the skill they want to use, instead of simply reacting to DM scene-framing by rolling whatever check the DM says is necessary.And really, you're not going to reduce &quot;skill-naming&quot; by giving out DCs like that.&nbsp; It's just going to make the players reactionary.&nbsp; Oh there's a DC?&nbsp; I can roll for that.When a player tells me they want to talk things out, my first response is &quot;How?&quot; then they'll usually indicate if they're going to use honey or vinegar and if they want to actually role-play what they're saying that's great and then I'll roll behind the scenes for how well their attempt was received.There's no point in actually having skills, in doing the work to math out skills, in writing down all your skills if your DM is just going to tell you to turn your sheet upside down.&nbsp; You need to know what skills you have and you need to know when you want to use them.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Sunseeker, post: 7289285"] The problem I have with your variation is that it's not explicit on how the player wants to resolve the situation. Sure, they want to talk...but there are several skills which cover "talking". Without specifying, I've been at tables where saying "I want to try to talk things out." gives the DM room to say "Oh well, that one skill that nobody in the party has? Yeah that's the talking skill you need." By specifying which skill they want to use, they're specifying [I]how[/I] they want to resolve the situation, how they want to frame the talking. Are we big tough scary adventurers intimidating our foes? Are we suave smooth-talking criminals with a silver tongue? The player is deciding how they want to frame their attempt by naming the skill they want to use, instead of simply reacting to DM scene-framing by rolling whatever check the DM says is necessary. And really, you're not going to reduce "skill-naming" by giving out DCs like that. It's just going to make the players reactionary. Oh there's a DC? I can roll for that. When a player tells me they want to talk things out, my first response is "How?" then they'll usually indicate if they're going to use honey or vinegar and if they want to actually role-play what they're saying that's great and then I'll roll behind the scenes for how well their attempt was received. There's no point in actually having skills, in doing the work to math out skills, in writing down all your skills if your DM is just going to tell you to turn your sheet upside down. You need to know what skills you have and you need to know when you want to use them. [/QUOTE]

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