this post was submitted on 26 Nov 2023
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Stats I understand, but if your character isn't trained in intimidation, they shouldn't really be able to improvise those intimidating phrases or scenes the player is role playing. That's why I prefer to roll first and rp after.
I don’t think you need to go to bard college to demonstrate you can rip a man in half.
Why would you go to bard college? Pick intimidation as a skill on character creation, pick a background that has it because it makes sense, pick a feat that grants intimidation if your character practices or tries to intimidate people regularly.
As always, the DC of the roll changes depending on your actions. If you perform something super scary with your axe or whatever depending on the enemy the DC of the rill will get lowered, obviously.
Do you need to roll a check to open the door every morning? Some things can just happen, unless you’re specifically going for a goofy “hehe he slipped out of my fingers” type of game.
How does one "train in intimidation"? The 20 str dragonborn barbarian with a giant halberd on his back needs to write sentences to learn how to look scary? Will they be taught by their 8 str gnome bard with a flower in his hair how to show someone he means business?
This mugger holding a gun to my head isn't scary because he doesn't speak eloquently so he can't have my wallet!
You... Don't need charisma to look scary. Having the intimidation skill trained makes the difference between being a strong character that looks stupid and a strong character that looks menacing.
All your examples are verbal intimidation, when I made clear that I don't mind using strength for intimidation. How does one train in intimidation? Well, having a background of being a mob, warrior, anything that usually partakes in intimidating people, and then training 5he skill on character creation. If your character has been actually training the skill, maybe you can talk to the DM to swap some skills around or pick a feat that let's you train it.
If your character focuses on being the master of the halberd, all it looks is like a stupid soldier. Yeah, with a +5 to intimidation because muscles big, but it really doesn't compare to the +9 that someone with experience/training in intimidation would have due to proficiency.