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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Gardens &amp; Goblins" data-source="post: 7044109" data-attributes="member: 6846794">As someone who's soon getting the chance to play (as an actual Player!) a Mastermind Rogue whose prime stat will be Charisma, I've been pondering this lately.On one hand, I figure that the social skills should play their role before combat, so as to either make combat easier - scare of some of the enemies/bribe them/do a Han solo and trick them into believing you're the vanguard of a larger force and so on (Intimidate, Persuasion and Deception, respectively).In combat... I'm not so sure. In an actual anatomy-to-the-wall brawl, you're really not looking to engage with the other player in the same way as you would socially. I can see feinting being a thing, though I reckon that's implied in the straight-up attack bonus, as part of a certain style of fighting. However I could see the social skills getting some mileage when playing dead, as would giving up a convincing surrender and the following pleas for mercy and I could seem them being used to trash-talk an opponent into lashing out, which might cause them to commit when they should be maintaining range.But yes, generally I reckon social skills bring more than enough to the combat table - in the form of extra bodies/minions/lackeys, persuaded/bullied/duped into fighting for the social-skilled character, ranging from angry fisherman looking for someone to take out their frustrations upon to the authorities following up a convincing tip-off.Likewise, I reckon the social skills should be used to call for a foe's surrender sooner, or more likely, manipulate them into surrendering in a manner that suits the socially-skilled character (rather than hitting the dirt and grovelling, they lay down their arms and reveal the location of their guard house.)Saying all that, a good old, 'Your boot laces are undone/they're behind you!' is always welcomed at our table, as long as its not overused. Straight up appropriate social-skill check, at disadvantage because folks are generally wary of other folks trying their best to kill them. As for the action type, I'm not sure. Maybe the Bonus Action? And let's assume that, success or failure, once duped/distracted/baited, the target will no longer fall for such shenanigans, at least during the current combat.</blockquote>

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