Why, yes! You would be able to roll for it in one of my games!
Speaking of… I’m looking to run a oneshot this weekend. A quick 3-4 hour adventure. I’ve run it before and everythings prepared, just gotta find the players for it! So if you’re available to start a session between 5-8PM EST on Saturday or 1-8PM EST on Sunday, then check out my thread below!
You don’t necessarily need to roleplay, but something like “I would like to play on their guilt by seeming hopeless.” or “I would like to bring up the horrible acts of the orc warlord to stoke their anger.” or “I would like to convince them to help by pointing out how their oaths may apply in this situation.” would really help sell the specifics. If you are just trying a flat check I have no real way to know what you are planning on doing other than just sort of charmingly asking “Please?”
Sure but that’s still a weird situation when you lack charisma in real life. My 20 CHA character with proficiency in persuasion would have ideas and know which of those options would work best in this situation. It’s absolutely demanding on your real life charisma in a way no other check is.
Nobody asks for a real life strength check before the barbarian can push the boulder out of the way
Nobody asks the player running a rogue to demonstrate “how they’d pick the lock” to determine how high the PC needs to roll in the game
The issue is only if the DM penalizes you for it. I think the result should ultimately be up to the dice, but explaining what exactly you’re doing helps the DM move the story in the right direction.
Also, the game will inevitably require irl skills to play. You can’t “roleplay” combat strategy or how much you pay attention irl, so there’s no escaping that. I don’t think it’s that unreasonable to expect players to at least come up with simple descriptions of what they’re trying to achieve during a dialogue.
I agree with everything you said. If the descriptions mostly add flavor and the roll of the dice determines the result, that’s exactly how DnD should be. It is a role playing game, and role playing is half the fun
Unfortunately, it seems like most DMs punish you for roll playing poorly in conversation. In my experience, if you have high charisma it’s often more successful to just say “I want to convince the person of this thing” and roll than to describe your argument to the DM. That discourages roll playing rather than encourages it.
The dice determine success or failure, but your strategy can have different outcomes. If you’re offering a bribe to the guard the DM has to figure out how much it costs you, wheras if you’re telling him a dragon is attacking the south gate, he might be pretty pissed when he comes back.
And if you don’t have “charisma” irl and have no idea either of the above are options…think about charismatic characters in books, movies, tv. What tactics did they use that you can crib?
Yes, I have a bard like this. I love her dearly, but she is exhausting. That’s why I consider carefully before I decide if I’m going to use her.
Maybe you just should stick to playing a low charisma character and smash things
Maybe it’s a role playing game and the entire purpose is to role play as something besides yourself
Do you go around comically smashing things in real life?
I’m just saying if you’re struggling to play the game a certain way you can just play a way that better fits you and you might enjoy it more
I just had another idea, you could play like the Puss in boots in Shrek. Where all your charm and persuasion checks are done by just making a cute face at people.
Like, you can play it like if you have the body of a god and everytime the DM tells you “how do you persuade this person?” You just say “I take my shirt off and throw my hair backwards and look at them intently”
Like make it so you just have a signature move that you can use in every check, it might not be as entertaining and RP as making shit up each time but it sure makes it easier to play and practically let’s you meme your way through