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<blockquote data-quote="Bill Zebub" data-source="post: 8472533" data-attributes="member: 7031982">And that makes me realize that the extension of my reason for treating NPCs differently than PCs is that I'm just not as vested in NPCs (as DM) as I am in my PC (as a player), so it's really hard for me (as DM) to know whether or not something is persuasive or intimidating. And furthermore, as DM I really know most of the &quot;truth&quot;in the game world, including the PCs capabilities, so there's very little uncertainty in the &quot;mind&quot; of the NPC...because it's really my mind.&nbsp; Sure, I don't know if the PCs are really going to try to carry out their threats, or fulfill their promises, but I do know roughly whether or not they are capable of doing so. As a player, though, if the Orc says, &quot;Pony up, or my archers that you can't see are going to rain arrows on you,&quot; I really don't know for sure whether or not he (the DM) is bluffing.&nbsp; That uncertainty is part of what makes Cha skills realistic, so its absence...the impossibility of forgetting what you know for a moment...makes it so hard to adjudicate NPC behavior.&nbsp; Thus, I use dice.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Bill Zebub, post: 8472533, member: 7031982"] And that makes me realize that the extension of my reason for treating NPCs differently than PCs is that I'm just not as vested in NPCs (as DM) as I am in my PC (as a player), so it's really hard for me (as DM) to know whether or not something is persuasive or intimidating. And furthermore, as DM I really know most of the "truth"in the game world, including the PCs capabilities, so there's very little uncertainty in the "mind" of the NPC...because it's really my mind. Sure, I don't know if the PCs are really going to [I]try[/I] to carry out their threats, or fulfill their promises, but I do know roughly whether or not they are [I]capable[/I] of doing so. As a player, though, if the Orc says, "Pony up, or my archers that you can't see are going to rain arrows on you," I really don't know for sure whether or not he (the DM) is bluffing. That uncertainty is part of what makes Cha skills realistic, so its absence...the impossibility of forgetting what you know for a moment...makes it so hard to adjudicate NPC behavior. Thus, I use dice. [/QUOTE]

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