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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Saeviomagy" data-source="post: 6735299" data-attributes="member: 5890">This is a very interesting question: obviously people feel quite strongly about "the DM telling players how their characters think." - but what does that mean really?It's obvious (to me, anyway) that there are situations where the DM CAN dictate what the characters think. They think the wizard is casting fireball. They think the yellow mold can be destroyed with ice. They think the shopkeeper might be lying.Similarly, he can tell them they feel cold, they feel an aura of malevolent evil, they feel hurt.He can tell them what they do - you throw yourself out of the way of a fireball, you trip and fall down the stairs, you swing but miss.Personally, I believe that the line is when the DM tells a character what choices he makes. A DM should be able to tell you that your character feels afraid, but he can't then tell you that because of that you run away. He can tell you that you feel brave and empowered and ready to punch a deity in the face: but you don't have to jump onto the back of a raging tarrasque because of that. He can tell you that you think there are no traps in the hallway, but you don't have to stroll confidently down the middle of it.The social skills are pretty interesting too: no matter how I try to rationalize the three, I always end up with no room for one of them. If I intimidate someone, am I not also deceiving them? and persuading them? If I deceive someone into a course of action, then am I not also either persuading them or making them fearful of something? If I persuade someone, then unless I'm their friend and really do have their best interests at heart, I'm also either intimidating or deceiving them. Really, it's pretty much at the point where there should be a single "interaction" skill and leave it up to the player/NPC's characterization to decide the tack that is taken. Oh, and probably relegate the "grr I'm really strong, run away" version of intimidation to DM fiat just so we can stop having barbarians drenched in the gore of their foes from 6 seconds ago fail their intimidation check because the dice say so.</blockquote>

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