The game's not going to stop you from progressing if you refuse to drink the poison. So, how would the game be able to distinguish between a dialogue option that just gives you the poison and a dialogue option that gives you the poison but [DECEPTION]?
Well, I think that if you fail deception check, then Nettie stops to trusts you - positions you with the branch? Attacks?
Honestly, I would be fine with just (lie) option - mechanical difference I would like to see is different companion approval. I occasionally find it frustrating is when I say something to an NPCs and companions take it at face value. At the very least the difference can be a good roleplaying tool - in Planescape a lot of choices didn’t get reactivity as fas as I know, but being able to express character’s intention is good! If the game can naturally react to it is even better.
I love the implication of having:
1. I swear
2. [Lie] I swear
And your companions psychically knowing right then and there on the spot which one you meant. Because of the tadpole.
I’d actually be fine with using a deception check to lie here, even if it was an easy one. Given that you have the ability to notice when NPCs are lying through insight checks, then particularly a high wisdom character like Nettie presumably is should be given a chance to realise you don’t actually mean what you say. The game is almost certainly never going to get to a point where you need to either follow through or break your oath, so there’s nothing to stop someone just picking the non-deceive option even if they don’t really mean it to avoid the check, but I know I for one would still use the deception option for roleplay reasons and ideally for different companion reactions. Plus it gives the game the opportunity in future to respond to what you’re “really” like, as opposed to what you say.
Another place I really wanted to be able to deceive was in telling Minthara I’d join her in the attack on the grove, and there her tadpole should certainly give her the chance to notice your lie. And if it were more obvious that the game didn’t actually force you to follow through then more people might try out that option.
Given the dice rolls do interrupt the flow of conversation you wouldn’t necessarily want these options everywhere, so I’d be fine with just non-committal answers where there was no real consequence to lying or not, such as agreeing to minor quests. Or also having a lie option that’s separate from deceive, but I prefer the consistency of using deception.
