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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ZetaStriker" data-source="post: 4192495" data-attributes="member: 64840">First of all, I'm insulted that you think I'd allow a bs line of reasoning to fly in my game. No, you can't convince a mountain of anything. It's a mountain. It can't hear, it can't reason, it can't do anything. It's just a bunch of rock. However, creative use of skills should still be encouraged. If any other living, reasoning creatures are within earshot, however, that same Wizard would be able to use Diplomacy to get that person to help. I'd count that as a success.In the case of my example, Bluff should still work. The 'mountain' in question isn't capable of rational though, but you can trick something that runs off instinct just as easily. If someone had knowledge checked to discover that it sensed off of the equivalent of tremorsense(since the players are walking directly on it...), they could use any number of means to bluff the tentacle. Throwing something to the ground to imply an extra step and then dashing by when the tentacle lashes out in the wrong direction is one good example.Intimidate should work too; I don't think of it as a verbal-only skill. Physically harassing and engaging tentacles would distract them from other party members, but failing to present himself as a big enough target would cause his attempt to fail. Is that not a viable taunt non-verbal 'taunt'? As for the Ranger example you used to attempt to counter it, yes, it's true, that could happen. But if even one party member is behind the fighter, such an action would benefit the party as a whole. Besides, having one character run ahead should hamper the rest of the party's attempts to move forward; they're supposed to be working together, moving forward as a group. If the Ranger makes several successes on his own that don't help the rest of the party, and reaches the top early, he'd be entirely unable to make skill checks to assist others. Of course, that's the least of his worries, as in the one-shot I'm designing with this skill challenge in it, there's a rather nasty solo creature at the top waiting to tear the show boater to tiny little pieces.Even Diplomacy could work, in the right situation. Making mental contact with such an aberration would certainly cause a mental backlash, but if the Wizard PC managed it and weathered the effects, it would open up non-standard possibilities for Diplomacy. Of course, I still wouldn't allow BS answers in that situation, but depending on the power used, it could be possible for them to transmit emotions in a way that could be viewed as a Diplomacy check to temporarily confuse it.</blockquote>

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