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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Elf Witch" data-source="post: 5803010" data-attributes="member: 9037">I think what bothers me the most is the idea that the person who is not glib of tongue and wants a to roll social skills is not a good role player. My one player who was shy and easily tongue tied was an excellent role player. He never said I swing my sword he described what he was doing in combat when he played a cleric he actually called on his god for the power to heal he didn't just say I heal and roll.The problem with diplomacy and bluff though was he would often stumble and stutter doing that type of role playing. Having the ability to also roll made him more successful he didn't just say I roll he described what he was trying to do. When using diplomacy with the king to get him to help the outlying villages he explained that he would tell the king the value of those people and would appeal to the king's honor and duty. Then he rolled to see how well he did and if he was able to get through to the king. The problem with saying just try and that is all that matters is just not true not unless as the DM you have decided that it will always be a success. Even trained diplomats have been known to put their foot in their mouth at times or misunderstand the culture and make a mistake or just read the person wrong and say the wrong thing. If the person is stumbling and stuttering and says the wrong thing do just go okay it works which imo makes it meaningless since it was an auto success so why bother with the role playing at all. Or do you penalize the person because he lacks the skill to really use diplomacy or bluff. Skill roles gives you a way to handle this in game other then just DM fiat if a person role plays it out brilliantly you can either have them not make a roll or give them a lot of modification to the roll.  If a person gives you an idea of what he wants to say then rolls then he has a chance of playing a diplomatic character.There is a big difference between just saying I roll my diplomacy or bluff and saying nothing else and a person at least describing what he is trying to accomplish and then rolling.And if you are going to say you must role play everything out and no rolls do you also make your cleric role play out getting his spells from his deity and  make sure he says the proper thing to heal? Do you make your fighters describe exactly how they swing their sword and wizards describe the hand movements and say the spell out loud?</blockquote>

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