They killed my abbrasive, quarrelsome, violent NPC that I loved so much

[Kelleris]

This isn't a novel were looking at here, people, you don't need to empathize with the crazy rapier-woman, analyze her actions, or berate her DM. He's just trying to say he had an NPC that was a total jerk (it's in the title, for fark's sake), and he liked playing her so much he mourns her passing. I've had similar experiences.

Though my abusive NPCs tend toward the unstable flavors of crazy...

 

[Darkness]

My feeling is that it should be an opposed skill roll, though I was not clear upon that in my post, not just level and bonus.

Why do you want to make it so hard on the defender? Shouldn't higher-level characters have a good chance to resist Intimidate without needing to buy an additional skill for it?

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Why do you want to make it so hard on the defender? Shouldn't higher-level characters have a good chance to resist Intimidate without needing to buy an additional skill for it?

I want to make it hard on both. If you want to add levels to both participants than all is fine and dandy, but either the defendants Sense Motive or Intimidate should aid against another's attempt. All else being equal it is too easy for the attacker.

And yes, if you don't have the skill(s) then you should suffer, though as I said I would be amendable to the defender using their own Intimidate instead of Sense Motive, and if using intimidate the defender may use their Str bonus instead of Cha, as both sides flex their muscles at each other...

The Auld Grump

 

[Saeviomagy]

And yes, if you don't have the skill(s) then you should suffer, though as I said I would be amendable to the defender using their own Intimidate instead of Sense Motive, and if using intimidate the defender may use their Str bonus instead of Cha, as both sides flex their muscles at each other...

Allow me to put in a vote for never, ever letting someone use strength to intimidate. Make a very difficult strength test and get a circumstance bonus? Sure. Hell, even having someone ELSE make a difficult strength test and getting a bonus is fine. But standing around flexing your muscles doesn't get people to cooperate - it just makes them blast you first or run away.

And I'm not sure about letting intimidate resist intimidation - after all, you've just made the problem you were complaining about even worse. Not only is the bard the king of intimidating - now he's ALSO (excepting paladins) the king of withstanding intimidation.

 

[Darkness]

And yes, if you don't have the skill(s) then you should suffer

Skill points aren't exactly infinite. For example, a cleric without a particularly high Int score has to make some hard choices as is. Under your proposed system, he can either lose a lot of proficiency in his area of expertise or else get Intimidated by any random schmuck way below him in level who happens to have some ranks in Intimidate.

This would also make things like the paladin's fear immunity overpowered compared to how useful it is now, considering that everyone else would need to spend many skill points for a defense that's worse than this paladin ability.

You can increase the skill points of most classes to compensate, of course. But that's not exactly a small change in how the game works and scales.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

This would also make things like the paladin's fear immunity overpowered compared to how useful it is now, considering that everyone else would need to spend many skill points for a defense that's worse than this paladin ability.

You had me, until this point. Anything that gives the paladin's Immunity to Fear more usefulness is not only not overpowered, it boosts an ability that's been underpowered since 3.0 first came out.

 

[Berandor]

Uhmm... isn't intimidate already tied to hit dice?