[Wids]

So this might hold less true at higher Levels (and higher levels of Notoriety), but if you're going to walk around Thay and tell random townies how great your god is and/or milk information out of them, then you're best off building on at least two of the five social skills if you want to win them over more often than not. Persuade's a given; most classes have it as a Class Skill, and its DC takes a pretty sharp nosedive as you level up higher and higher. If you're a Bard, then Perform's a given too, for obvious reasons. For everyone else, you're probably going to need to invest in Bluff, Intimidate and/or Taunt if you want to consistently land those coveted "Anything for you!" reactions.

Until recently, I assumed that those last three skills kept their DCs around 20 for the purposes of winning the townies over. Corella's two social skills of choice are Persuade and Bluff. Persuade's DC is so low that Corella can roll a Natural 1 and still get a good reaction from the townie. But even though she's built up Bluff to where she can fool a townie most of the time (not bad, considering that she has to cross-class points into it), Bluff's DC is still right at 20, the same as it was when she was Level 1.

So imagine my surprise when I ran into one of those townies who wasn't interested in hearing about any gods (and didn't have the option for it). Without really looking, I got into my Dial-a-Convert routine: 11111,51412. Only after the fact did I notice that 5 had keyed Intimidate instead of Persuade. And Corella's Intimidate attempt passed...with a 16. Her Intimidate score sucks (because I've already cross-classed a heap of points into Bluff; no way I'm doing that for Intimidate or Taunt too), so she just rolled a little bit high that time.


So it got me wondering a few things:

1) If Intimidate's DC declines over time, what exactly determines the DC?
2) What determines the DC for Persuade, for that matter?
3) Do the DCs for Taunt, Bluff and Perform ever decline, and how or why not?

That's it. Enlighten me, peeps.

[Animayhem]

I think the rolls are random. Gar who has 8 char and hardly any persuade has been able to get info out of npcs and converts.
The only times I have not got options for information is if another PC close by. If you are not in the Temple of your god, you cannot talk about your god.


You can have high skill but still fail a roll save or have low skill and pass.

I put points in skills for rp purposes. I made sure second time around, Rimeth had more skills to assist her mercantile skills.

[LifeLikeSage]

Your careful attention to details and analysis of rules makes you a cut above the dingus.

[Hellstrom]

Are you only judging Intimidates declining DC from conversations with commoners? Because it would make sense for it to decline (or bonuses to increase) in those conversations as your level and/or notoriety goes up. "You better respect me..." works a lot better if you're notorious for killing dragons and have a talking sword.

To get more info I'd suggest you gain few levels with no notoriety increase and see if it declines for your character. Then, try dying, fugueing, and respawning with XP loss a bunch of times to see if the DC increases. Let us know what you find out... :D

[Wids]

I think the rolls are random. Gar who has 8 char and hardly any persuade has been able to get info out of npcs and converts.
The only times I have not got options for information is if another PC close by. If you are not in the Temple of your god, you cannot talk about your god.

Not quite. You can talk about your gods in the city streets and inside common buildings (like the local Citadel). You can't talk about your god in another god's house, but the NPCs who won't listen to you about your god tend to be in Murbant, Nethjet and such...town areas with open-air temples. I suspect that these less chatty townies are spawned in or around those open-air temples and simply wander about town, waiting to deny you your proselytization.

You can have high skill but still fail a roll save or have low skill and pass.

In other words, "Low skill ranks can still succeed with a high roll, and high skill ranks can still fail with a low roll." Do we really need to state the obvious here?

I put points in skills for rp purposes. I made sure second time around, Rimeth had more skills to assist her mercantile skills.

Well, it's always a good practice to get into: backing up your RP with skill points and Ability points. Back on PotM, it was always a minor form of daily amusement to watch some schmoe play some complete studmuffin or sexy vixen or war-scarred war hero of a character, and..."Okay, let's see that [Persuade/Intimidate/second Intimidate/third friggin' Intimidate] roll." "3." "...on a Natural roll of 4. Wow. You really have a lot of faith in the quality of your presentation, don't you? :P"

Your careful attention to details and analysis of rules makes you a cut above the dingus.

And you have clearly mastered the art of saying nothing while actually saying nothing. Your posts are the tiny Chinese sugar puffs of the pan-Asian buffet that is these forums. Well done.

Are you only judging Intimidates declining DC from conversations with commoners? Because it would make sense for it to decline (or bonuses to increase) in those conversations as your level and/or notoriety goes up. "You better respect me..." works a lot better if you're notorious for killing dragons and have a talking sword.

Yes. But on the same token, wouldn't Bluff and Taunt be made easier by increasing fame too? "Hey, that guy's a famous hero! And he's saying that he needs to borrow my horse, and he'll bring it right back. I can trust him; he's famous, after all." "Hey, it's that world-renowned traveling minstrel again! And now he's calling my mother a diseased harlot. I'm sure he's seen lots of diseased harlots, so...ouch. That hurts a lot more than it normally would. But hey, he's famous. I'm feeling so confused right now." :-/

To get more info I'd suggest you gain few levels with no notoriety increase and see if it declines for your character. Then, try dying, fugueing, and respawning with XP loss a bunch of times to see if the DC increases. Let us know what you find out... :D

This task is going to take a double-blind trial for the results to mean anything. You go first. :P

[LifeLikeSage]

Let me be more blunt since my previous post didn't click for you.

You use observation along with logic and reasoning to find efficient means to survive. That makes you not utterly retarded and I admire that.

Still sound like nothing dingus?

[Wids]

It sounds like I'm far more than a mere cut above the dingus. I'm at least eight chopping blocks above the dingus. Possibly twelve. :P

I wouldn't say that my playstyle makes me inherently superior to other players and their styles, though. I am what I am, they are what they are and if any of them need my help, I'll give it (as long as they're not rude about the asking, that is). I might even try to educate them, in hopes of making them not utterly retarded more familiar with the roads to success. I might learn a little something extra myself.


(Unfortunately, that all too often means me running full-tilt after them, trying to heal them while they're running full-tilt in all directions in a blind and less-than-collected panic. But I bear it as patiently as I can; I knew what I was getting into in the first place, after all.)

[LifeLikeSage]

Don't be modest. You're either a boss or you charge into battle like a dingus. And I've watched you play as well as read your post, the science is strong in you. You would most likely be completely unaffected if the server for instance implemented level loss on death when re-spawning. This means you are likely a good survivor, this is a very good thing.

[Wids]

Addendum: Corella passed an Intimidate check with a roll of 15 today, spooking some poor townie into accepting Leira as a cool goddess to worship.

I guess there's something flat-out scary about a habitual liar with a mirror on her face. >_>

[Hexmendacious]

It seems like maybe(?) social skills work better in taverns (at least that would make sense: people go to taverns to socialize, get a little tipsy and their judgement wans, etc).