What skill opposes Gather Information?

[Al]

Al,

I think your answer definitely applies, but it is insufficient IMHO. Individuals can be persuaded, yes. But if a group of adventurers is working in a city there are dozens and dozens of individuals who could potentially finger them -- down to the beggar on the corner.

It is impractical to have a little talk with all of them.

True enough. If the Guild casts its net wide enough, there is no 'opposed roll'- it can simply Gather Info with impunity. Nevertheless, the answer I gave was to the question: What opposes Gather Info? Perhaps a more appropriate question would be "What, if anything, opposes Gather Info?"

 

[nimisgod]

You can always send out misinformation to the common folk about your activities.

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

So, you use a Gather Info check to determine who knows something about you. Then you use Diplomacy, Bluff, or Intimadate on these people.

That is more or less what I was thinking.

Creative players could probably come up with other skills to use, too.

It would also be fair for the players to win the opposed roll and therefore be tipped that the Guild has been accurately tipped off. But the DM should consider the timing of this event, whether it would just make for an annoying scramble for players and DM alike, or an interesting dramatic moment.

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

I think that you're right about the guild being able to cast its net wide enough that there might be no opposed roll. However, I think you left out one of the really important uses of bluff for something like this: innuendo.

Man in a dark red cloak "The owl of Pholtus takes flight only at twilight."
Man in a dark green cloak "Yet dawn it is the time for which men hope."
Bystander "huh?"

Man in dark red cloak "I hear that the kingfisher's chick has flown the nest; the kingfisher's looking for her above the docks district."
Man in dark green cloak "The kingfisher won't find her there; is it possible she might have been washed down into the sewers?"
Man in dark red cloak "It is possible for even the lesser birds are rarely seen there. However, a group of hunters has set snares there; if the chick were washed down there, she would have to choose her path carefully and trust to luck. If she made it through she'd find herself outside of her father's territory."

Now parts of that might be a bit obvious (especially the password/countersign) but, on the whole, it's not clear what the two men are talking about. It could be the king's stolen ruby coronet or Faberge egg. It could be the kidnapped princess. Or it could be something else. Either way, it's unlikely that bystanders would understand what was being discussed. If people don't know it, gather information can't find out about it. If the PCs use summoned earth elementals to carve the secret tunnel out of their castle and never use it in the sight of others, no amount of gathering information in the brothels and bars where the workmen hang out will reveal its existence or location.

True enough. If the Guild casts its net wide enough, there is no 'opposed roll'- it can simply Gather Info with impunity. Nevertheless, the answer I gave was to the question: What opposes Gather Info? Perhaps a more appropriate question would be "What, if anything, opposes Gather Info?"

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

Hiding in the Bat Cave my first choice, too. But I am trying to live down my paranoid, old-school roots.

There are lots of useful tactics. The important thing is for the DM to reward reasonable and prudent tactics, while keeping resolution fast and loose enough to not grind the game down to a halt.

 

[Darklone]

Spymaster prestige class had additional "personalities", right?

You could use those to circumvent a bad reputation for the NPC.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

Al,

I think your answer definitely applies, but it is insufficient IMHO. Individuals can be persuaded, yes. But if a group of adventurers is working in a city there are dozens and dozens of individuals who could potentially finger them -- down to the beggar on the corner.

It is impractical to have a little talk with all of them.

That's why I think that there's nothing to directly oppose Gather Information. All you can do is the actions described above (and a couple of others) to make the knowledge less-commonly known by making those who know be quiet about it - by bribing, intimidating, diplomatically persuading, bluffing, killing, extorting, enchanting - you name it. The DM must decide how much impact the efforts of the guildsman (or whoever doesn't want to be caught) have on the DC: In a small hamlet it is easy making the knowledge totally unknown, while it is much more difficult in a metropolis. Also, the DC might increase because some people won't tell anyone that they know that the mayor is a puppet of the local assassins' guild, but they will tell someone whom they trust.

 

[Hypersmurf]

INTIMIDATE
"Speak to the Guild and I'll kill you. Then kill your family."

Don't forget the +2 Synergy Bonus from 5 or more ranks of Profession: Godfather, and the Aid Anothers from your pet goons making comments about "Nice place you got here" and "Pity if something happened to it"...

-Hyp.