Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Sepulchrave II" data-source="post: 7893099" data-attributes="member: 4303">While I agree that using Diplomacy at all is highly circumstantial, I don't think that &quot;hostile&quot; means &quot;openly belligerent and immediately about to attack&quot; - if so, the category &quot;Hostile&quot; wouldn't be included in the Diplomacy DC table at all. It's a description of someone's initial disposition.Yasser Arafat did not pull a gun on Shimon Peres, for example; yet their initial contact was certainly hostile.Yes, shutting down Diplomacy if it's being abused is an option; wouldn't it be better if it were less readily abused? Moreover, the skill synergies which feed Diplomacy are not from skills which are &quot;wasted&quot; in pursuit of maxing out the skill, as they are mostly &quot;Face&quot; skills, useful if the Bard is the party spokesperson/negotiator. Consider this elite array core character:Human Bard 2:&nbsp; 8 14 13 12 10 15 Negotiator, Skill Focus (Diplomacy); Bluff +7 Diplomacy +18 Disguise +7 (+9 acting) Gather Info +7 Intimidate +9 Sense Motive +7 Knowledge (nobility) +6 Perform (lute) +7This moveable baseline is problematic to me. It would be simpler if simple meant simple, and tough meant tough. This would avoid the problem of DCs migrating ever upward, in order to challenge characters at any given level.I mean, I still play 3.5 - pretty much RAW at low levels. But I'm not oblivious to its warts.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Sepulchrave II, post: 7893099, member: 4303"] While I agree that using Diplomacy at all is highly circumstantial, I don't think that "hostile" means "openly belligerent and immediately about to attack" - if so, the category "Hostile" wouldn't be included in the Diplomacy DC table at all. It's a description of someone's initial disposition. Yasser Arafat did not pull a gun on Shimon Peres, for example; yet their initial contact was certainly [I]hostile[/I]. Yes, shutting down Diplomacy if it's being abused is an option; wouldn't it be better if it were less readily abused? Moreover, the skill synergies which feed Diplomacy are not from skills which are "wasted" in pursuit of maxing out the skill, as they are mostly "Face" skills, useful if the Bard is the party spokesperson/negotiator. Consider this elite array core character: Human Bard 2: 8 14 13 12 10 15 Negotiator, Skill Focus (Diplomacy); Bluff +7 Diplomacy +18 Disguise +7 (+9 acting) Gather Info +7 Intimidate +9 Sense Motive +7 Knowledge (nobility) +6 Perform (lute) +7 This moveable baseline is problematic to me. It would be simpler if simple meant simple, and tough meant tough. This would avoid the problem of DCs migrating ever upward, in order to challenge characters at any given level. I mean, I still play 3.5 - pretty much RAW at low levels. But I'm not oblivious to its warts. [/QUOTE]

Verification