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Message: <blockquote data-quote="KarinsDad" data-source="post: 2034754" data-attributes="member: 2011">The question for all roleplaying skills is not one of using or not using them, it is one of how often they are used.This is similar to Gather Information rolls. Sometimes, we roleplay this. Sometimes, we do not. Gather Information, to me, is a quick way to decide what information is acquired if you as DM decide to NOT roleplay out an entire situation (and even then, I sometimes roleplay my end of it "They say she is a witch, a witch I tells you." as opposed to "People are saying that they think she is a witch."). And quite frankly, I do not want to roleplay every single mundane pedestrian encounter with merchants and barmaids and drunks. Yawn. Hence, the need for dice rolls when applicable.For example, I might say while the players are in a tavern "Frodo, give me a Gather Information roll as you walk up to the bar to get more drinks". I could just as easily say "Frodo, give me a Listen roll as you walk up to the bar to get more drinks".(Btw, I often have players roll their own rolls and only roll them myself if I do not want the players to be aware that something important is going on or do not want my players to be aware of how high or low a DC might be, say in the case of Pick Lock.)A different DM might only use Gather Information if the player explicitly goes out of his way to interact with NPCs to gather information and might only use Listen for the player to accidentally gather information.Diplomacy and Intimidation, on the other hand, is almost always a roll combined with roleplaying in my game. To influence someone, you have to A) be convincing and B) have skill at doing so.If a player of mine tries to talk a crowd of innocents into running away just before battle and says "Ahh, err, get out of here", the DC on his Diplomacy roll is going to be fairly high. If he shouts "Flee for your lives! A dragon is coming.", the DC for his (instead) Intimidation roll is going to be lower. But, I am going to give most (if not all) of the crowd the same DC and I will NOT roll an Intimidate (or Diplomacy) roll against every single person in the crowd. Rules or no rules, no thanks. Ditto for all of the roleplaying skills: Bluff, Sense Motive, Diplomacy, Intimidate, and Gather Information.</blockquote>

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