Talon5 said:
(reading the rants from another thread gave me this idea- hope I can get it out the way I want)
Sure you can say- "gonna roll here, what I want to do is give a cool little talk here to my men, get them to want to follow me through the gates of Heck," the player rolls and the the player goes off on some long winded beautiful rant about how great his men are, how they know what has to be done and how they all must sacrifice for the good of their country and their friends/family/etc. The DM knows this guy sucks at this whole thing, but lets him go because the Player is trying- that to me is good role playing.
Knowing the expertise of your character is part of it- knowing your character is an expert in something while you are not is a point to make- "I am not an expert climber and my character is, my character needs to climb this cliff then get seven people up it that have little to no climbing experience. He will keep that in mind while he's making this climb." That should be okay, its honest and its clear.
I guess some times I have trouble making my point and after way to many hours of no sleep, I get a little fuzzy on clear thought and all. Will try again.
I prefer the rousing speech to come from the player. Should thir character be this Mr/Mrs Cha then they will have that as a bonus to what they roll. If they are like me and can't get a clear thought out of their finger tips or their mouths then they will suffer no negitives to their roll aside from what their character has on their character sheet (Diplomacy is a -1 then your nat 20 is now a 19, make no speech and your still at a 19, make a speech and impress me, I might give you a bonus).
(Note- never said or implied that I imposed negitives for not doing the speech)
If we all sit at the table and just- "move over there. Climb that rock rolled a 15. Use sword, hit 20 AC, 12 hp dam." That is way boring and that is what I am getting from some of you. I would rather not play in that kind of campaign. Its not... interesting, no flavor text.
Maybe its just to many players at my table that don't give any real effort, they roll dice and say where they are, they role play when the moon is more blue then white, and its getting to me.
I guess it boils down to what you wan to get from the campaign. When I play Mr Diplomacy then I try to be more diplomatic in my manor of speaking, Mister Wizard thinks more and analysis things out- is shy and lacks confidence, while solo ranger archer guy is a harsh dick, that doesn't like large groups, and stays away from social interaction.
My characters all have personality, when I try to do something then I try with the character's mind set in mind. If you think I would ask the player that most obviously does not have a 18 Str to bend a bar to get a bonus then your missing the point, none of my players have an 18 str.
Need sleep. Hopefully I will soon- I need to get some before Saturday for sure.