![Daishain's 5e D&D Rules, Q&A, And Support Daishain's 5e D&D Rules, Q&A, And Support](/board/YaBBImages/icons/pencil.gif)
Thomas, I was hoping to leave out the part about being followed. They already know that to some extent, but I was hoping to leave out the fact WE knew he had been followed, because now they will suspect we set a trap for these guys. Before you Zarra brought that up, we were doing fine. Zarra may be skilled in deception, but sometimes it is best to say as little as necessary. Have you ever heard the phrase, "Less is more"?
Don't worry about editing your post. We will deal with the consequences.
We are all free to go back to the castle now.
Although, Taz would love to help with interrogation, perhaps not this time.
It maybe prudent for him to have a long rest now. All this, that has occurred so far is preliminary, to our next mission.
But we are presented with a couple of paths, one that leads into the Forrest, the other a moving ice shelf.
But, we need to have Varram and his cohort, professionally dealt with, taken away.
Daishain, I would like to have Poljen in the room during the interrogation, pacing, glowering, etc. If he had any Charisma or skill at Intimidation, I'd have him join in. But if you are okay with the idea, how about having his presence give the interrogator(s) Advantage? And if the dude starts talking, I may throw in a question or two…
Seath, in the future, can you coordinate with others in the group prior to making any offers? Since I suspect this guy might have close ties to the cult, I would not have advised offering him his freedom. I do not relish the idea of us now doing something that goes against what Perry has offered.
Perry isn't necessarily telling the guy the truth. Perhaps I should have rolled deception instead to make it clear that I'm only pretending to be nice. I'm just trying to get him to talk. Perry is not a goodie two-shoes alignment like others in the group.
EDIT Just gonna make a separate post. Edited: seath on 18th May, 2018 - 11:04am
That's fine… but knowing what tack you are going to take prior to your starting things can only help everyone. Maybe someone else has (Had) a different opening gambit that would have worked better before that offer. That's all I'm saying.
As for being "Goody two-shoes," not everyone in the party is. But one of the reasons Poljen prefers not to lie is he is no good at it. When we were taking over the castle, we had told a guard we had kept alive we'd keep it that way if he talked. He did, but then began to realize his cult would not approve, so Poljen heaved him off the battlements at 10,000 feet. No way could we guard a prisoner for the entire process of taking over. I understand if you want to move things along so we can get to the next big part of the adventure, but let's see what we can learn from this guy first. It might help one war or the other. And if we do get actionable intelligence, I will advise we move on it quickly. Whomever this fellow reports to will eventually get word and bug out/go to ground.
Paul, he is probably trying to move things along. Between this and Candlekeep this campaign feels like it is on pause. I know we have to gather information but it's been over a month since we have actually been out adventuring. April 9th actually but who is keeping track *wink*.
First, offering a prisoner his freedom is the absolute best thing to offer in exchange for information. It’s exactly the one thing any sane prisoner wants. Offering it in exchange for information is probably the most effective way to persuade him to talk. This happens in literally every situation like this across almost all types of media to the point where it’s extremely cliche. Also, are you telling me that Poljen is okay with using excessive force as self defense to kill a bunch of common thugs, but he’s uncomfortable with Perry lying to one of said common thugs in order to get information out of them?
Second, and on a much more important note regarding the game in general, Dungeons & Dragons is a game that relies heavily on the concept of player agency. Players are free to do as they want within reason (Murderhoboing, player vs player, etc, being some exceptions obviously) as long as they are willing to accept the consequences. For example, Perry can offer what he wants to prisoner McGee here, but anyone else is free to react to what he does and say, for instance, "He doesn't speak for the Blaze," or maybe after the interrogation pull Perry aside and say, "Perry, we don't lie to our prisoners because we are good Labrador retriever-types. It’s cool to enter his mind forcefully with your magic though because reasons." What I’m trying to say is, there are multiple ways to solve this alleged “problem” without resorting to out-of-character meta discussions. On the other hand, if you want me to check in with the group for every single dialogue choice in the game that deals with NPCs or anything plot related, then we have a significant problem here.
I made Perry a character who is very adept at lying, manipulating, and deceiving others. It’s why he does all those voices, has those alter personas, and is a Bard of the College of Glamour. He’s primarily a social character and has a wide variety of ways to get people to talk with various mind control and charm spells, just as we saw with Varram. So don’t worry, you will get the information you want out of this guy.
Also, yeah, trying to fast-track this as best as I can because of what Kyrroeth mentioned.