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Social skills in D&D: checks or role-playing?
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<blockquote data-quote="rpgHQ" data-source="post: 1202762" data-attributes="member: 12219"><p>The last 5 or 6 or so posts remind just reinforce for me what I stated in my prior post in tis thread about me giving bonus xp instead of roll modifiers for non-combat encounters. </p><p></p><p>The GM can fudge rolls or stack an encounter the way he wants to push a goal, plot or whatnot but giving folks mods to die rolls based on their role-playing I think is very unbalanced. The game is based on dice and numbers at its heart. Your race,stats,class and all is what effects your modifiers, how good your rolls may or may not be. A player makes these choices based on the type of character they want, the type of character they want to role-play, so give them extra xp for good role-play, for making a real effort at it in hard circumstances, dont give them bonuses to die rolls based onthose things though. A player shouldnt get bonuses to the die roll because their a good role-player, be it in a combat encounter or in a 'social' encounter. Give them extra XP for it. The role-play should be an extension and/or reaction to the dice and rolls not the other way around. </p><p></p><p>I would drop from a campaign if I saw the GM handing out mods to dice rolls based on how I am role-playing or the amount of effort I am putting into the role-playing. </p><p></p><p>I think its a very unbalanced approach to give mods to rolls based on the players performance, that is good for free-form games where there is minimal rules based on the rolling of dice. But a game like D&D is based around numbers and dice and the role-play is the expression of the participants to explain/show what all those numbers and dice rolls are.</p><p></p><p>XP and treasure should be used as the reward/penalty for good or poor role-play, for good or bad choices they made, for being clever or not in handling a situation despite their characters pros and cons. </p><p></p><p>Modifying(fudging) rolls should be done on a case by case basis by the GM to further the games direction, be it goals, plots or whatnot. If one player is 'off-game' because of something outside the game or maybe another player has them riled up or something so they cant concentrate as fully on role-play, your giving an undue advantage to the other player(s). </p><p></p><p>Thats true too for handing out xp/treasure for role-play but that is easier to adjust or correct down the road than handing out roll bonuses. If you decide later you gave a player too much or undesrved xp/treasure you can compensate by either point-blank telling the player your taking it away or by handing them out less xp or having something happen to the treasure during later encounters in the same session or future game sessions. </p><p></p><p>A person might be a bad role-player but their character might be able to get through a encounter be it combat or otherwise based on how they planned their character, on the characters numeric values. </p><p></p><p>A person might be a great role-player or might be inspired or 'in the groove' during an encounter, but they might have planned their character poorly, stacked certain abilities/skills over others, or just decided to do something really stupid during the encounter. Giving them a bonus on their rolls in this case is unfair to the others who planned their characters out or who didnt act stupid. </p><p></p><p>As the GM you can always fudge the dice rolls depending on what your trying to accomplish with an encounter or something that happens later, but to hand out bonuses to rolls that have immediate results and is basically indescriminate of the GM's goals of the encounter/plot and disregards other players ability or planning of their characters is an unbalanced approach.</p><p></p><p>Theres Fudging the rolls and then theres fudging the rolls, and the GM should do it for the reason of maintaining whatever balance he is looking for in the encounter, or whatever short or long term reasons he has. Not because someone had some inspired role-playing. Give them some extra xp or some nice piece of treasure instead for it.</p><p></p><p>Since this post is starting to sound too much like a flame post I'll let it be my last one in this thread and topic.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="rpgHQ, post: 1202762, member: 12219"] The last 5 or 6 or so posts remind just reinforce for me what I stated in my prior post in tis thread about me giving bonus xp instead of roll modifiers for non-combat encounters. The GM can fudge rolls or stack an encounter the way he wants to push a goal, plot or whatnot but giving folks mods to die rolls based on their role-playing I think is very unbalanced. The game is based on dice and numbers at its heart. Your race,stats,class and all is what effects your modifiers, how good your rolls may or may not be. A player makes these choices based on the type of character they want, the type of character they want to role-play, so give them extra xp for good role-play, for making a real effort at it in hard circumstances, dont give them bonuses to die rolls based onthose things though. A player shouldnt get bonuses to the die roll because their a good role-player, be it in a combat encounter or in a 'social' encounter. Give them extra XP for it. The role-play should be an extension and/or reaction to the dice and rolls not the other way around. I would drop from a campaign if I saw the GM handing out mods to dice rolls based on how I am role-playing or the amount of effort I am putting into the role-playing. I think its a very unbalanced approach to give mods to rolls based on the players performance, that is good for free-form games where there is minimal rules based on the rolling of dice. But a game like D&D is based around numbers and dice and the role-play is the expression of the participants to explain/show what all those numbers and dice rolls are. XP and treasure should be used as the reward/penalty for good or poor role-play, for good or bad choices they made, for being clever or not in handling a situation despite their characters pros and cons. Modifying(fudging) rolls should be done on a case by case basis by the GM to further the games direction, be it goals, plots or whatnot. If one player is 'off-game' because of something outside the game or maybe another player has them riled up or something so they cant concentrate as fully on role-play, your giving an undue advantage to the other player(s). Thats true too for handing out xp/treasure for role-play but that is easier to adjust or correct down the road than handing out roll bonuses. If you decide later you gave a player too much or undesrved xp/treasure you can compensate by either point-blank telling the player your taking it away or by handing them out less xp or having something happen to the treasure during later encounters in the same session or future game sessions. A person might be a bad role-player but their character might be able to get through a encounter be it combat or otherwise based on how they planned their character, on the characters numeric values. A person might be a great role-player or might be inspired or 'in the groove' during an encounter, but they might have planned their character poorly, stacked certain abilities/skills over others, or just decided to do something really stupid during the encounter. Giving them a bonus on their rolls in this case is unfair to the others who planned their characters out or who didnt act stupid. As the GM you can always fudge the dice rolls depending on what your trying to accomplish with an encounter or something that happens later, but to hand out bonuses to rolls that have immediate results and is basically indescriminate of the GM's goals of the encounter/plot and disregards other players ability or planning of their characters is an unbalanced approach. Theres Fudging the rolls and then theres fudging the rolls, and the GM should do it for the reason of maintaining whatever balance he is looking for in the encounter, or whatever short or long term reasons he has. Not because someone had some inspired role-playing. Give them some extra xp or some nice piece of treasure instead for it. Since this post is starting to sound too much like a flame post I'll let it be my last one in this thread and topic. [/QUOTE]
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