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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ruleslawyer" data-source="post: 3309452" data-attributes="member: 1757">When are either of these outcomes really likely, though? Either DMs just handwave social interaction (in which case there *are* no social skills to speak of, outcomes are purely RP performance-based, and there are no skills to put points into), or there are hard-and-fast rules, in which case having skill ranks and a high Cha are important investments. A +2 circumstance bonus for an excellent performance hardly enables the half-orc's roll of 10 to equal your expected average result of 23, for instance. Take my house rule, for instance. A player can get a result up to 10 higher than the expected roll (a natural 20) for truly inspired eloquence; more likely is a 15 or so for a really good speech or serious effort. That still means that social skill and Cha investment matters a LOT; for one thing, no one's talking his way into consistent 20s IMC without actually playing a social character, and for another, Diplomacy +11 and no eloquence still beats Diplomacy +0 and superior eloquence 100% of the time, and beats Diplomacy +5 and superior eloquence almost all the time. But, to be honest, it's about effort. This is a communal experience, and if my players just want to sit and substitute dice for RPing interaction, I am *not* going to bestow rewards equal to those for players who throw themselves into a role.As for the combat analogy: I think the most apposite analogy is the sound tactics one. As pogre points out, sound tactics ARE rewarded in the game by better outcomes in combat. Likewise, good RPing should be rewarded by better outcomes in social situations.</blockquote>

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