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Message: <blockquote data-quote="billd91" data-source="post: 6059869" data-attributes="member: 3400">I'd tell the player that his character's estimation of the intimidating thugs is that they appear to be pretty tough customers and this may be hard to handle alone. I'd also treat the PC as demoralized based on the intimidation skill's description - that makes him shaken. It may not affect his spells much but it is a mechanical consequence of the thug's intimidation ability.I do what Li Shenron does. I tell the player, if successfully bluffed, that the noble appears entirely sincere - the same thing I tell the player if the noble is telling the truth. I don't do any more than that. Consequences may fall as a result. Usually, that's enough.I would tell them that the random Joe makes a convincing case and that it's hard not to sympathize. But I always leave cooperation up to them... just like any NPC they successfully use diplomacy on has the free will to decide what he wants to do. How they handle something like this really isn't a question of metagaming the diplomacy away for me. Rather, it's a way for me to estimate and judge the content of the PC's character. Any time I include minor side quests like this, it would be for that purpose, not to exercise any use of interpersonal skills vs a PC.</blockquote>