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Message: <blockquote data-quote="clearstream" data-source="post: 8961682" data-attributes="member: 71699">I've been mulling over another viewpoint on skill challenges, which is to see the relevant mechanics less in terms of controlling what other creatures will do (i.e. forcing them to believe you are innocent, which feels in some respects like controlling the Emperor's mind via the skill) and more in terms of revealing the direction to take your fiction.In the "mind control" model (I know the term isn't ideal, I just mean that successfully using the skill makes the creature change its mind) we picture that the Emperor is disposed to skepticism or perhaps pre-judgement - that is their mental state. The player character by using the skill and rolling well changes that mental state to one of trust or at least acceptance. If they had rolled badly, we might picture that the character had exercised their skill poorly, presenting weak arguments etc. So what is pictured in the character employing the skill, is a test of that character's ability to express their skillfulness.In the "direction to take your fiction" model, the use of the skill doesn't change anything about the Emperor, rather it reveals what we should add to our fiction. This isn't about the character's ability to express their skillfulness. What is pictured in the player invoking the skill is a the situation itself and which way it is likely to twist.The reason this matters is that it changes how a DM views calling for checks and setting difficulty classes. What the difficulty represents in the second case is our predisposition - as co-creators of a common fiction - toward our world being that one in which Emperors are truculent, or that one in which Emperors are sagacious. The character's skill is not called into doubt: they may be described exercising it adroitly even if the result is failure.</blockquote>

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