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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 9866843" data-attributes="member: 42582">But how should the GM be doing this?I often GM RPGs where the NPCs/creatures who oppose the PCs have Beliefs, Instincts, Nature etc. (I have in mind particularly Torchbearer and Burning Wheel.) As a GM, I'm expected to have regard to these traits in declaring actions for my NPCs/creatures. The players, if they know or infer what those traits are, can use that information to make their plans. For me to declare actions for my NPCs/creatures without having regard to those traits would be something like cheating, or at least pretty unfair play.Turning back to the intimidating Orc, how tough/threatening should I narrate the Orc as seeming? The starting point for that, in D&D-esque games, is level/HD/CR. Is it reasonable to depart from that, to try and trick the players into thinking the Orc is tougher than it really is? This is where it seems to me that having regard to the Orc's skills is reasonable. I mean, if I don't have regard to those - if they aren't something that I have regard to in presenting the fiction of the Orc - then what are they even doing there?But not arbitrarily, surely? I mean, if one character has WIS (Insight) -1, and the other has WIS (Insight) +10, shouldn't the latter more often than the former "determine the true intentions of a creature, such as when searching out a lie or predicting someone’s next move"? (The skill description is taken from here: <a href="https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/dnd/basic-rules-2014/using-ability-scores?srsltid=AfmBOoo2LOUDV2zVhaDH_jMLoC22ikzw3r41DVs8hXW8Pv04xT5dt0ko#Insight" target="_blank">Using Ability Scores</a>)</blockquote>

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