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Message: <blockquote data-quote="FormerlyHemlock" data-source="post: 6642424" data-attributes="member: 6787650">The first step in action resolution is always to decide whether the action being attempted is uncertain. Only a minority of actions IME have uncertainty attached to them. You don't need a special skill or spell to push a red button, to climb into a mysterious machine, to ask the nobleman why he looks sad, to spread ball bearings on the floor where the prime minister will slip on them, or to run away from a black pudding. You do need a special skill or aptitude to run away from an orc or a Tyrannosaurus Rex, because they're better at running than most people--but the game is most fun IME when the players are willing to try things that make sense without worrying overly much about what's written on their character sheet.Example from my game: Necromancer has been talking to an NPC for a while about wanting to start an off-planet colony. He's gained some information about the backstory in the process, but the NPC is just not interested in signing up. (Even telling him about the dragon scared the NPC and revealed some new information--but his response was a cowardly, "Isn't it the army's job to take care of the dragon? I'm not going back into wildspace. Our ancestors left there for a reason.") The Necromancer's Persuasion is -1, but that didn't matter, since Persuasion only makes a difference when it genuinely is in someone's best interest to cooperate with you and you're just trying to help them see it. It's a social catalyst, not a mind-control device. Meanwhile, the dragonborn cleric with a Charisma of 10 (don't know his Persuasion skill but I'd guess +0) ignored that NPC and set up a sign outside saying something like, "Volunteers needed for agricultural venture. All participants will share equally in lands and profits." Over the next day or so, displaced persons saw his sign, and those who were interested persuaded themselves to sign up. I think I rolled 3d8 or something for number of candidates who approached him at his booth for more information, and I may or may not have had him roll DC 10 Persuasion checks on each of those candidates to see how many actually signed up, but even with +0 he had more impact with his plan than the Necromancer was having or would have had even with +20 to Persuasion, trying to persuade someone who wasn't interested.</blockquote>

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