Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Eldritch_Lord" data-source="post: 6023449" data-attributes="member: 52073">Two points.1) Trying to turn things into a rolling vs. roleplaying dichotomy is really losing out on a lot of benefits of the 3e system.  If you roleplay everything out, that can be good for immersion, but players whose characters are supposed to be suave and charming might feel like their stats are put to waste.  If you roll for everything, then you do a good job ensuring that charismatic, diplomatic characters are portrayed as such and uncharismatic, undiplomatic characters are portrayed as such, but players who prefer to talk things out feel pulled out of the game.  If you roleplay everything up until a deciding roll, players might feel that their roleplaying doesn't mean as much if the dice decide everything.So here's my tip: don't make rolling an either/or proposition.  Don't choose between chatting up a commoner and having the player roll Gather Information; roll Gather Information for the PC and use the result to shape how warily the commoner responds and what he's willing to share.  Don't choose between asking the merchant about the sword's quality and having the player roll Appraise; roll Appraise for the PC and use the result to give the player information between the merchant's patter.The problem you run into where a low Bluff undercuts good RPing or a character feels his +11 Diplomacy went unrecognized is solved if you roll Bluff first and play to that.  If you know you rolled a 30 for your Bluff, you're going to RP a lot differently than if you know you rolled a 10, and the conversation is going to flow a lot better than if you RP worthy of a 30 but roll a 10 or vice versa.  Likewise, instead of having either long, drawn-out conversations or quick summaries, you can tailor the length of the RP to the roll; if you know the NPC will be uncommunicative, you can keep the conversation short, whereas if you know the NPC is a bit gruff but ultimately helpful you can draw it out a bit more.As several have said already, you shouldn't be deciding between RPing and letting the dice decide, you should be using the dice to guide your RPing, which will (I think) result in a more cohesive and satisfying experience overall.2) You mentioned that checks should only be used when characters have knowledge players don't.  This is true, but that's the case for all stats, really.  If your player doesn't know that an infinity symbol means an artifact sword you roll Appraise, but what if the same player doesn't know about Damascus steel or proper blade care or the like?  Why do you avoid rolling Appraise if the player knows about blades but not, say, avoid rolling Tumble if your player knows gymnastics?  Yes, you've said you take Int and modifiers and such into account, but the skill itself is exactly how you should know what the character does or doesn't know--if he rolls low on Appraise, it looks like he didn't know about Damascus steel after all, and you don't have to sit there and ponder if it's something he'd know based on ranks and Int, the dice just tell you.As some mentioned already, a shy-in-real-life player playing a confident character uses Bluff and Diplomacy rolls to mediate his interactions, and NPCs might find a shy-but-Charismatic character likable and an outgoing-but-unCharismatic character unlikeable; you make the rolls and take their actions into account, even if the actions aren't what you'd expect of a charming bard.  So why force a character who can't think of how a trap might work or be hidden to find them without the benefit of Search checks?  As Celebrim pointed out, you can't really just say "I search the room; 35 Search!", you need more information than that, so allowing someone to say "I search the door, looking for traps.  Search 22," instead of "I search the door, looking for hidden spikes in the lock, contact poison on the doorknob, pressure plates in the door jamb...." can only be beneficial.</blockquote>

Verification