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Message: <blockquote data-quote="KarinsDad" data-source="post: 6550407" data-attributes="member: 2011">I've found that the game runs smoother if I don't bother with the quick Diplomacy check.I just let the roleplaying organically flow. I know which PCs have Diplomacy trained, so I might ask for a check mid-conversation as an aid to some minor point so that they can use their trained skills, but not necessarily to the overall discussion of the important concepts unless the players asks for a check (which I may or may not allow depending on circumstances).I've also found that if a DM wants his player to speak "in character", then have the NPCs speak "in character". Take the role of the king and converse with the PCs and the players will usually respond in kind.I find the entire concept of skill challenges to be a bit artificial because I tend to just have the players tell me what their PCs are doing and for the most part unless it is a moderately difficult task, it just happens. Telling me how they are jumping from rooftop to rooftop to chase the assassin is a no brainer if they have the strength to make the distances between buildings and I do not normally ask for Athletics checks (if the jumps are too far, then they roll). Checks occur only if needed, not as part of a x successes wins the challenge and y failures loses the challenge. There will be some rolls eventually that might determine if the PCs are successful or not, but the entire round robin skill challenge system is way too formal and artificial for my tastes.The problem that I see with rolling a lot of dice for roleplaying and skill challenge resolution is that some player is always bound to roll a 1 or 2 on the die which means that something bad always happens (minimally, a failure in a skill challenge, but maybe more). I'm not a big fan of "something bad happens" every single time we roleplay something important or the PCs do something unusual (like chasing the assassin across a rooftop). So, a few rolls total (and if necessary) suffice to settle the issue as long as there are portions of the encounter that I as DM deem to be on the fence about (i.e. it could go either way) instead of a few rolls per player. Just my preference to speed up play and make it more about player/DM descriptions than player/DM rolls.</blockquote>

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