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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Quickleaf" data-source="post: 6059833" data-attributes="member: 20323">Here are my answers...First off, Bill is role-playing, he's just not role-playing the reaction to being intimidated that you expected; when pushed into a corner people can make unpredictable and unwise decisions (a lone mage in a close combat with rogues being a good example). Barring magic and weird stuff, players should always be in control of their characters IMO. What I'd do if I wanted to portray these thugs as intimidating is include some (possibly misleading) metagame details and play off of the mage Player's fears. For example: "You notice one of the thugs has a guild tattoo on his neck - That same guild which fought with magebane weapons the last time you faced them." Or perhaps player is an especially LG type, so the shop owner pleads with the PC not to get involved because then the guild will take it out on his family. Or, if the mage Player is trying to operate covertly in town, have the thugs back down without a fight but ominously swear the mage hasn't seen the last of them...then feel free to have them pop up at the worst possible time down the road.IOW, to really intimidate a PC you need to, on some level, scare the player. Some players feel a level of fear when they feel their PCs are outmatched in a fight, but others do not. Know your players.The opposed bluff vs. insight scenario is always a bit tricky because even if you roll a bluff check behind a screen, the player sees you roll and thinks to themself "ok, the DM rolled, so the NPC has got to be lying." Unless you go to lengths (unnecessary rolls) to train your players out of this kind of thinking, my suggestion is to either pre-roll or take 10. So with that bit of meta out of the way...He's a noble, if he feels offended or threatened and doesn't want to answer any more questions he doesn't have to. Have him disemble, make character attacks against the paladin, threaten to pull donations to the paladin's temple unless this "outrageous" line of questioning is dropped, or drop the name of an old villain who the paladin "should" be investigating. The noble ends the meeting when he wishes and is under no obligation to be questioned. You could even run with it and have the noble say "no one will ever believe you" and end their meeting.However, I've got to say, if you really want to fool a PC you've also got to fool the player to some extent. So I'd question *why* is Brandi so suspicious of this noble? How did you as DM not fool her? What might have fooled her better?Ok, same as above, if you want to sell a quest (no matter how absurd) to the rogue you've got to sell it to Phil. This means knowing what motivates him as a player. Since in your example he sounds like a power gamer who wants "XP and loot", I'd suggest including one or both of these into the quest to rescue the kitten. How about the man is a non-guild thief who pays dues to the thieves guild for his autonomy. A recent score required he tie the treasure (a diamond) to a kitten which he placed on the window ledge. After he evaded the authorities, the thief couldn't find the kitten. With only 1 day before the guild master comes for his payment in blood, the thief asks the PC rogue for help, offering to split whatever is left of the diamond's value in gold after the guild masters due.Also, Diplomacy is not charm person. Depending on the NPC's alignment, personality, and what they're doing, their reaction to a successful Diplomacy check could be very different. Guard: "Yes I'm afraid it was one of our watch hounds that scared the poor thing. I'm on patrol so I can't help myself, but we'll move along so the kitten won't resist you when you climb up there to bring it down."Mercenary: "Haha, sure why the hell not? Hire me and my band for a day and I'll go up there and rescue your kitten. Deal?"Thief/con: "Happily good soul! ....Say, now that I'm up here and I have your kitten, I am feeling rather scared of heights. Some gold would certainly assuage my vertigo!"Village boy: "Sure mister!" He falls trying to reach the cat and breaks his arm. His parents have stern words with the PCs about trying to turn their son into an adventurer.</blockquote>

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