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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cadence" data-source="post: 8318258" data-attributes="member: 6701124">I think non-combat ways to skirt or co-opt an encounter have come.up fairly regularly in the games I've played.  (Most commonly trying to talk or bargain instead of fighting, sometimes trying disguise or subterfuge).  The big thing feels like how the difficulty level is assigned.  In D&D it's what the DM thinks is reasonable.  So if the PCs say they're raising the flag to capitalize on the sense of relief the other ships would feel at not needing to fight (or whatever, like the fleet of the dead in LotR's affect on the morale... but fake), the DM might think it's brilliant and set a low difficulty or auto success.  Trying to convince a life long meat eater to go vegetarian after a five minute talk might be viewed as vastly improbable and assigned a high or impossible difficulty.  Maybe if the character knew about the farmer or the local religion - or DMs views - they could splice some compelling justification into the story to change that though.  Part of that case feels like it depends on how the DM views high charisma and persuasion in D&D, if it's essentially comic book or pulp serial level of power then it (and lots of other things) would have a much better chance of succeeding.  Or if quick changes of belief and revelation are a part of the theme of the world then that would be a lot more reasonable.  If a big theme in the world at large is infiltrators and disguise and looking for it, then would it be really hard to not have the Potemkin be boarded instead of just sailing through?It's felt helpful sometimes when the DM telegraphs that something seems doubtful to succeed when they've pretty much decided it's ludicrous (to avoid the party spending a lot of time making an elaborate plan that just won't work based on their conception of the game world - the social equivalent of doing something physically impossible).</blockquote>

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