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Message: <blockquote data-quote="N'raac" data-source="post: 6176894" data-attributes="member: 6681948">Sorry, no, it does not  make sense to me.  How is setting, say, a DC 5 points higher for dealing with an unfamiliar species with very different  body movements, facial expressions, tells and ticks any more intuitive than a 5 point penalty to the roll?  And, again, does the Lizardman get the same penalty to his ability to interact with the human?  Imposing a set DC increase (decrease) for various levels of cultural unfamiliarity makes sense, but my preference would be some consistency.  If the player envisions his character having an intuitive understanding of social situations in general, and the GM decides huge penalties are in order when dealing with other races, that's a recipe for conflict at the gaming table.  I'd rather see the ability to point to specific examples (eg.  "similar humanoids such as dwarves or elves", "very different humanoid species such as trolls or myconids", or "completely different creatures such as otherplanar beings").  This serves two functions.  First, it sets expectations - the player and GM can be placed on common ground that a 10 point penalty/DC increase applies to Sense Motive of a Fire Elemental, so the penalty for a lizard man cannot be that high, but a 2 point penalty applies to even very similar creatures, and a lizard man seems no more different than a myconid, so the appropriate penalty must be somewhere between 2 and 5.  It's not "just as easy as reading a human", but it's not a nigh impossible task which should see a DC of 25 or 30 either.  Second, it provides consistency, so we don't see a DC 20 set for Sensing the Motive of a Water Elemental today, and a few weeks later the Sense Motive on an Orc is set at DC 30.It does, indeed.  SHOULD there be a skill for strength feats?  Assuming there is, should an Ogre have this skill, or is he simply a dumb brute who relies on brute strength, rather than any actual skill?  I'm inclined to extrapolate.  Since much of the skill of tug of war is getting your opponent off their feet, Acrobatics (which subsumes Balance) may be a good choice, especially as this has largely become the Athletic Abilities skill.  Climb is another possibility - noting and using footholds seems likely to help in such a struggle.  Perhaps we can adapt the Aid Another skill (since Pathfinder lacks synergies) - use your own Climb and Balance skills in similar fashion to Aid Another to gain a bonus on your STR check, or perhaps we beef this up with a bonus based on how well each of those complementary skills were rolled.If the tug of war is really game-important, then let's spend some time on it, and let the characters spell out how they will leverage their skills towards victory.  If not, let's get on with it, perhaps simply with a STR roll modified by Size.</blockquote>

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