You Don’t Have To Leave Wolfy Behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' Your Companions Level Up With You!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="iserith" data-source="post: 7644019" data-attributes="member: 97077">No, it's not a step too far - it's the very rules of the game. The DM is the only person in the game who can decide if there is an ability check used to resolve a task proposed by a player. Once a player has described what he or she wants to do, the DM narrates the results, sometimes calling for a check when the outcome is uncertain. The criteria for when it's needed is simple: The task has to be somewhere between trivial and impossible and there has to be a meaningful consequence for failure. If the task is trivial, impossible, or there is no meaningful consequence for failure, there is no check. The DM just says what happens without a roll.When it comes to players having their characters try to influence other player characters, the player of the character who is being influenced always decides what happens. The rules of the game say that the player is the one who determines what his or her character does, thinks, and says. Given that rule, there is no uncertainty as to what a player's character does - the character does whatever the player says it does. Given the fact that the DM is the only one who can call for ability checks and that there is no uncertainty as to what a player's character does, there is no mechanism by which a player can call for a check to influence another player's character. Now, magic spells or the like may be handled differently, but there is no making a Persuasion check on another player's character. Even the DM can't do that.I think it's inappropriate to call for any roll at all either as a DM or player. There is no uncertainty to resolve as I've shown above so no ability check.Players can always say what they want to do. It's their role in the game. But they have no say whatsoever in whether there is an ability check to resolve the thing they said they wanted to do. That is the DM's role in the game to decide.</blockquote>

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