So first and foremost, this game has absolutely blown me away with its quality and complexity, however at the risk of ruffling a few DnD purist feathers: here's my take.
90% of the time the dice rolling on skill checks translates fantastically to a video game format, but where I feel this is a net negative is during conversational dice rolls. I think this actively homogenises replayability rather than diversifying it, and actively takes away from the roleplaying experience rather than adding to it.
The Problem: Charisma is overspecialised (to a degree) and other stats are underutilised - this is mainly a constraint in a video game setting as opposed to tabletop due to the finite narrative routes available to the computer compared to basically infinite permutations a human DM can adapt to and still make the outcome interesting.
Having your Soldier Half Orc Barbarian berserker fail an average intimidation check doesn't feel like you've navigated anything or opened an alternative route because you rolled a 2 meanwhile you're Halfling Ranger rolled a 15 even at disadvantage. It just feels kind of silly from an immersion and roleplay standpoint.
Having your Criminal Drow Gloomstalker get pickpocketed by a child whilst your human wizard passes makes less narrative sense - where as having stricter differentiation would increase the narrative diversity for different classes and builds.
Another argument can be made that a lot of failed conversational outcomes just lead to a fight and the death of an NPC, which isn't particularly rewarding or diverse and at the same time might be antithetical to how your character would behave too.
The solution:
1. Average conversational checks within the conversational checks should have a break-point (call it 15 (base 10, proficiency +2, mainstat +3) as opposed to a dice roll that instantly passes the check; based on character background and main stat. Higher value checks Vs high value NPC's or contexts will still require rolls and provide different outcomes.
2. Charisma is overspecislised and other stats are under-rewarded. Charisma is not only one of the best conversational stats in the game, it's one of the best DPS stats too, other stats are conversationally punished for no other reason than grandfathered rules.
3. Possible solutions, reweigh which conversational stats are tied to which base ability score, and slightly retag some conversational checks to be more inclusive.
• Charisma - Persuasion & Performance checks, with persuasion being the most common in the game and performance having more dramatic outcomes. Still the primary conversational attribute.
• Strength - Intimidation checks. If a burley 7ft talk half orc berserker is intimidating me, I'm not going to argue he wasn't charismatic about it.
• Dexterity - Deception checks. Able to misdirect and mislead via slight of hand and distraction to achieve a narrative outcome.
• Intelligence - Investigation checks (in conversation). Able to extract and interrogate information from a conversation either subvertedly or overtly.
• Wisdom - Insight checks (in conversation). Able to read subconscious ques and subtle inferences during conversation to open unique dialogue options and narrative pathways.
If you want to deviate from your characters inherent strengths, the. You have to roll as normal and the luck of the dice then does feel fair as this isn't what your character is good at. But the inherent checks and narrative routes that feel intrinsic to your characters identity pass all the baseline checks of 15 and bellow if you have specialised for it.
I'm sure it's much more complicated than this and more than likely there are limitations that I'm unaware of, I just feel this added identity to individual characters, adds divergent narrative structures whilst still allowing for deviation and the luck of the dice and actively improves replayability and roleplay.
Just my 2 pence, thanks for reading. Game of the decade for me.
