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<blockquote data-quote="iserith" data-source="post: 6986579" data-attributes="member: 97077">1. As with any other action declaration, the DM must consider the player's stated goal (what the player wants to accomplish) and approach (what the character does to try to achieve the goal) before deciding if the outcome is a success, a failure, or is uncertain. Only in the latter case do we ask for a check; otherwise, we just narrate the result e.g. &quot;The goblin gives up the secret...&quot; or &quot;The goblin is resolute and does not divulge anything...&quot; All this requires is the DM's knowledge of the context of the situation and the input the player has given. You can run a perfectly fine game with just making the DCs 10, 15, or 20 with the odd 25 here and there. So I wouldn't sweat worrying about exactly what the DC should be in these cases. 2. I wouldn't consider this to be a contest, nor do I think it's okay for the DM to make ability checks when monsters are trying to deceive, entertain, intimidate, or persuade PCs as there is no uncertainty here as to the outcome of what the PCs do. (The PCs will do what the players say they will do!) Some folks seem to ask for those checks to gauge how intimidating (or persuasive or entertaining or deceptive) the monster is being and leave it to the players to declare their response as they see fit. I think this just creates an extra step for no good reason. I prefer to just describe the environment and let the PCs declare their response as per the basic conversation of the game (Basic Rules, page 3).</blockquote>

[QUOTE="iserith, post: 6986579, member: 97077"] 1. As with any other action declaration, the DM must consider the player's stated goal (what the player wants to accomplish) and approach (what the character does to try to achieve the goal) before deciding if the outcome is a success, a failure, or is uncertain. Only in the latter case do we ask for a check; otherwise, we just narrate the result e.g. "The goblin gives up the secret..." or "The goblin is resolute and does not divulge anything..." All this requires is the DM's knowledge of the context of the situation and the input the player has given. You can run a perfectly fine game with just making the DCs 10, 15, or 20 with the odd 25 here and there. So I wouldn't sweat worrying about exactly what the DC should be in these cases. 2. I wouldn't consider this to be a contest, nor do I think it's okay for the DM to make ability checks when monsters are trying to deceive, entertain, intimidate, or persuade PCs as there is no uncertainty here as to the outcome of what the PCs do. (The PCs will do what the players say they will do!) Some folks seem to ask for those checks to gauge how intimidating (or persuasive or entertaining or deceptive) the monster is being and leave it to the players to declare their response as they see fit. I think this just creates an extra step for no good reason. I prefer to just describe the environment and let the PCs declare their response as per the basic conversation of the game (Basic Rules, page 3). [/QUOTE]

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