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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Whimsical" data-source="post: 2258785" data-attributes="member: 3976">The modifier you are looking for is in the Spot and Listen skill description. -5 for being distracted. So if the characters are focusing on the goblins and an attacker is hiding in the bushes, just roll spot or listen checks for them at -5. But to the original situation I would recommend you adapt your DM style to account for the "face" in the party. You see, this hasn't really been a viable option in the history of D&D so most adventures until recently aren't written to take account for jamming a hostile encounter with diplomacy. But what I would recommend is that you set up encounters so that there's an opportunity to talk with them, a risky but viable chance of success, and a consequence for diplomatic failure. Set the possibility that the face can do what he is there to do about half of the time. Which means that if he pulls it off, he knows that his character made the difference and he needed his maxed out social skills and his personal wiles to pull that stunt off, and he can feel good about playing an effective character in the game that makes a difference. If he fails, then combat erupts which allows the rest of the party to do what they do best. If it is clear that the face had a viable chance to avert combat and he blew it for a good reason (bad rolls, saying something insulting that could have been avoided if he made a knowledge check/sense motive/ or had otherwise prepared better) then he knows that it was him that failed and that increases his pride in his successes while motivating him to increase his chances of success for later.</blockquote>

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