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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Nightson" data-source="post: 5083357" data-attributes="member: 61515">Here's how it's handled in my game.Diplomacy is gone, it's axed, it does not exist.  To talk to people you just talk.  And the players play differently.  The noble eladrin is chatty, eloquent, and a bit of a brat.  The dwarf tends to be gruff and a little insolent.  The halfling rogue prefers to stay quiet but jumps in during negotiations, planning or anything illegal is being discussed.  The sorcerer is quiet most of the time and chimes in whenever she has something to add.  The ranger sits in the back, scowls at things and gets drunk.Diplomacy stifles roleplaying.  Now that's not a judgement statement, it has it's benefits, but it's not something I want in my campaign.Now bluff and intimidate are different.  I admit I had a hard time with bluff, right until I saw the show Lie to Me, after seeing that, bluff made perfect sense as unconscious body language that insightful characters could pick up on.  If the bluff check succeeds, the NPC treats it like any other piece of information (which is not to say immediate belief), if it doesn't then the NPC is either distrustful or outright knows it's a lie (depending on the degree of failure).Intimidation is body language with a supernatural aspect as well.  People can radiate danger in a world suffused with magic.  Intimidation is a projection of your force, it does not make enemies think you're helpless if you fail.  For example, you tell the king that if he chooses a course of action you'll be forced to oppose him.  Now, you can say that and just have it be said, or you can say it and roll intimidation, and if you succeed when you say it that way, you send a little shiver of fear down the kings spine.I find this system works very well for not getting in the way of roleplaying.</blockquote>

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