intimidation on PC's

[mseds99]

a question....

can NPC's use intimidation on PC's? How do DM's work this? Telling the PC that he is intimidated by the NPC seems goofy to me.

 

[Crothian]

The intimidation skill is goofy. It's to easy. However what's good for the goose is good for the gander. So, if the PCs can intimidate NPCs on a simple roll of the die, the reverse should be true as well.

 

[Christian]

Well, you can't really dictate PC's actions based on an Intimidate (or Bluff, or Diplomacy) check, like you can an NPC's. I've seen two good strategies for dealing with these situations. (They work best in tandem.)

1) Represent the NPC's actions in ways that are reflective of their check result. Someone with a good Intimidate roll is portrayed as dangerous, a good Diplomacy roll indicates they seem friendly and helpful, a good Bluff check means they seem honest. Without information to the contrary, PC's will be wary of an NPC who is described clearly as a bad-ass m-f-. Which is what you want. This works better if most of the NPC's portrayed this way really are dangerous ...

2) Doubtful PC's get to make a Sense Motive check. Rolled secretly by the DM, of course. A successful check gets the PC the useful information that the NPC is inflating his power/trying to influence them/lying through his rotten teeth. More often, the check will be unsuccessful (how many PC's put ranks into Sense Motive?), and they'll get no information; or they'll miss by x (5, 10, whatever) and get false information. ('Oh, yeah, he's at least as dangerous as he seems!')

 

[mseds99]

thanks

That's what i figured. The dm just role plays it the best he can.

Thanks for the response.

 

[Plane Sailing]

I believe the PHB simply says that Intimidate can't be used against PC's!

If you can sneak a look in the revised Star Wars d20 it takes a giant leap forward by listing specific circumstances when you could try intimidate, and specific circumstances when you could try diplomacy.

Personally, I house-ruled intimidate to give it a more rulesworthy feel. Specifically, if you make the intimidate check against someone, they must make a DC15 Will ST (or Fort ST, their choice) or become shaken for a number of rounds equal to the intimidators Cha bonus+1. This is then easy to apply to PC's.

Cheers

 

[SableWyvern]

I would do something like this. Keep in mind, however, the PCs in my campaigns don't always outclass the opposition, and the players know it. If your players know that they can win pretty much any fight they get into, it may not work anywhere near as well.

Suddenly you begin to wonder if your witty retort was the best idea. The warrior stares down at you with a steely cold gaze you've seen before, from the eyes of competent killers. Numerous scars betray his experience in battle, and he holds himself with the coiled energy of a true veteran. As he moves right up to you, you also realise he's a lot bigger than you first thought.

Slowly and calmly, he says again, 'You're sitting at my table.'

The bar has gone deathly quiet, all eyes on you waiting for your response.....

 

[Darklone]

I would do something like this. Keep in mind, however, the PCs in my campaigns don't always outclass the opposition, and the players know it. If your players know that they can win pretty much any fight they get into, it may not work anywhere near as well.

Well, I told this (dangerous enemies) to my players all the time. When our kobold mage buggered a big bodyguard of another mage, I tried to explain it to him similarly. He simply refused to be impressed and insisted that his character wouldn't really react intimidated... He got bashed and robbed.

Afterwards he complained I would have fudged the combat (rolled openly) cause he should have won... Some guys never learn.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

2Darklone: You`re right. Some guys never learn. Luckily, not everybody is like this.

We made a houserule for combat situations:
If you make a succesful Initimidate Check (regardless if PC against NPC, or PC against NPC or anything "between"), the target is shaken for one round.

In all other cases, roleplaying the result must be enough

Mustrum Ridcully

 

[Mark Chance]

I can!

Well, you can't really dictate PC's actions based on an Intimidate (or Bluff, or Diplomacy) check, like you can an NPC's.

I can, I just don't do it often. Besides, Bluff can be used in combat against PCs, and there's nothing in the rules that says Intimidate can be used to scare PCs, Bluff can't be used to fool them, et cetera.

For Intimidate in combat, I go this route:

Intimidate can be used in combat as a full-round action that does not
provoke attacks of opportunity. The DC is 10 + the target's HD + the
target's Will save modifier (including any modifiers that apply
specifically to fear). The degree of success determines effects:

DC or above: Target is shaken for 1d4 rounds
DC +10 or above: Target is frightened for 1d4 rounds
DC +20 or above: Target is panicked for 1d4 rounds

 

[Tewligan]

When our kobold mage buggered a big bodyguard of another mage,

Now that's an image that I'm not going to be able to get out of my head...