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Sense Motive: How do you do it?
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<blockquote data-quote="Friend of the Dork" data-source="post: 5386287" data-attributes="member: 91954"><p>First of all, Sense Motive is no a lie detector. You can however get an idea that a person is not being generally truthful in a conversation, that he's trying to bluff/con you. </p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong>Action</strong>: Trying to gain information with Sense Motive generally takes at least 1 minute</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span>That aside, it's generally best to not ask for sense motive checks from your players unless they ask for it, in which case it's still probably best to make the test for them secretly. </p><p></p><p>When you know your NPC is trying to fool the party, roll sense motive checks for the players secretly and discreetly (have the opponent take 10 for simplicity). If this reveals too much, you can even have pre-rolled tests in advance, which you can use for sense motive, perception etc. when you don't want your players to know something is up. </p><p></p><p>As a third option you can use misdirection - roll routinely when the PCs are talking to NPCs wether they are bluffing or not. Make sure the players know they can never be sure if you rolling means something or not. </p><p></p><p>Feedback: If they ask for sense motive and fail, I usually give the answer "you're not sure." If they succeed they either get "he seems trustworthy, or he's holding something back/isn't being completely honest." A major fail or very good bluff gives them one of these two results as well, so they can't be 100% sure in any case. </p><p></p><p>You gotta keep em on their toes <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite2" alt=";)" title="Wink ;)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=";)" /> Don't let a murder mystery etc. be solved by a simple sense motive check, but let them have a chance to be suspicous even when the players would normally not have a clue. It could be a lifesaver when a doppelganger wants to camp with the party and "replace" one of them in the night.</p><p></p><p>Oh and I occasionally ask the players to roll Sense Motive just to give them a chance to see if someone is particularily nervous, angry, shameful etc. If they automatically expect someone to be lying because of that, so be it.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Friend of the Dork, post: 5386287, member: 91954"] First of all, Sense Motive is no a lie detector. You can however get an idea that a person is not being generally truthful in a conversation, that he's trying to bluff/con you. [SIZE=3][B]Action[/B]: Trying to gain information with Sense Motive generally takes at least 1 minute [/SIZE]That aside, it's generally best to not ask for sense motive checks from your players unless they ask for it, in which case it's still probably best to make the test for them secretly. When you know your NPC is trying to fool the party, roll sense motive checks for the players secretly and discreetly (have the opponent take 10 for simplicity). If this reveals too much, you can even have pre-rolled tests in advance, which you can use for sense motive, perception etc. when you don't want your players to know something is up. As a third option you can use misdirection - roll routinely when the PCs are talking to NPCs wether they are bluffing or not. Make sure the players know they can never be sure if you rolling means something or not. Feedback: If they ask for sense motive and fail, I usually give the answer "you're not sure." If they succeed they either get "he seems trustworthy, or he's holding something back/isn't being completely honest." A major fail or very good bluff gives them one of these two results as well, so they can't be 100% sure in any case. You gotta keep em on their toes ;) Don't let a murder mystery etc. be solved by a simple sense motive check, but let them have a chance to be suspicous even when the players would normally not have a clue. It could be a lifesaver when a doppelganger wants to camp with the party and "replace" one of them in the night. Oh and I occasionally ask the players to roll Sense Motive just to give them a chance to see if someone is particularily nervous, angry, shameful etc. If they automatically expect someone to be lying because of that, so be it. [/QUOTE]
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Sense Motive: How do you do it?
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