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Message: <blockquote data-quote="fuindordm" data-source="post: 4830162" data-attributes="member: 5435">I've followed the Intimidate thread with interest, but it's getting too cluttered.I think the point people have been missing in that thread is that an opponent who surrenders can change their mind later on.Consider a combat where each PC is dueling one or more opponents. The fighter bloodies his foe, then cows him into submission. The enemy gives up his weapon; then what happens?Some monsters might just run away, never to be seen again. Others might move to the outskirts to watch the fight, joining in again if the tide turns. The fighter could tie up or guard their defeated foe, at the cost of not participating in the fight for several rounds, but this hardly seems productive. The conflict has not been resolved, only deferred.The point is that the DM still controls the creature's actions. It is not out of the fight--it has just agreed to stop fighting for the moment. Here's my own success story:Saul the fighter and his companions found themselves in an intersection with opponents on all sides. While his companions were fighting a trio of wights in adjoining rooms, a giant lizard was moving up the corridor. Saul placed himself between the lizard and the intersection, and started duking it out. 4 or 5 rounds later, the lizard (a big bag of HP, no doubt) was finally bloodied and had been weakened by another party member's power. Saul, after briefly dipping into bloodied territory himself, was fresh at the moment with nearly full HP.Rather than spend another 4 or 5 rounds finishing off the bag of HP, Saul tried to intimidate the lizard with a ferocious display of animal rage. The roll was good, exceeding the lizard's Will defense +5 by several points.  The DM had the lizard back off, retreating down the corridor.  Saul was free to help his companions fight the wights. Fortunately, the wights were already nearly defeated. A couple of rounds later, all three were destroyed. With the leaders dead, their kobold servants deserted the site, presumably taking the lizard with them. But was the lizard gone? Hardly! In all likelihood, had the fight with the wights dragged on, the kobolds would have goaded it into attacking the party again. Maybe their animal handler would have calmed it, or it would have approached from another direction. Maybe they would have given it an enraging drug. Who knows? But I suspect it would have returned one way or another.In this situation Intimidate helped a lot, that's for sure!Ben</blockquote>

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