So does that mean like… you just DON'T use the Insight/Sense Motive skills in your games?
— Vincent Smith (@DichotomusPrime) January 15, 2018
Use them all the time. But they're not supernatural abilities. They can't take you from "I think this dude is lying" to "I *know* he's lying!" with a roll.
They're not spells that reveal the objective truth. Players want absolution from wrong choices, that's not what skills do. https://t.co/nn5zNc8S9N
— Matthew Colville (@mattcolville) January 15, 2018
True, but they can sometimes take you from “This dude is lying” to “This dude is nervous, but being honest” if you are particularly insightful. The party member who sees the savage beast is actually just wounded and protecting itself and steps in to intervene.
— Matthew Mercer (@matthewmercer) January 15, 2018
I feel sometimes it’s not about wanting absolute truth, but trusting in a hero to have a better sense of character than they might IRL. Mileage may vary, hehe.
— Matthew Mercer (@matthewmercer) January 15, 2018
I see players fear consequence. They suspect someone is lying. If so, they have to do something about it. But if they act, and he was telling the truth, they’re screwed.
They hope the roll will resolve that quantum state. But I think that quantum state is where the drama is! That it is! I agree, and generally maintain a DC/reveal of information on a similarly vague state as you mentioned. You don’t make the decision for the player…just provide them with a possible nudge on a good roll
— Matthew Mercer (@matthewmercer) January 15, 2018
There are few things those kinds of player fear more than those three words after they roll their check: “You don’t know.”
— Matthew Mercer (@matthewmercer) January 15, 2018
I feel a key point here is that unless the DM is an expert at making faces, players miss out on a lot of cues their characters would clearly see. If the DM makes a point of talking about the cues then that’s either leading the players or multiple paragraphs of descriptive text A much better articulated response!
— Matthew Mercer (@matthewmercer) January 15, 2018
Well put! And one problem lies in the failed roll. It’s hard to intuitively make a failed Insight roll dramatically interesting. Unless a REALLY poor roll leads to a misinterpretation of their body language and they entirely misread their quarry. 😉
— Matthew Mercer (@matthewmercer) January 15, 2018