...Should that line even be tagged [Deception]??
Yes, it should - It is Deception.
Deception ≠ Lying. Deception encompasses lying, but it's a much broader concept, and the sort of person who wheedles to say "Oh, but I didn't technically 'lie', so I'm in the clear!" is, in most cases, a proliferate deceiver.
Interestingly, the Devotion tenets say 'don't lie', not don't use [Deception]. Though habitual deception certainly will stray into lying.
But the line between the truth and the lie isn't so clear to me. I mean persuasion is not necessarily so honest either. If I want you to agree with me and I have reason A and reason B, and reason A is more important to me but reason B is more important to you, of course I'm going to present reason B. Is this persuasion or deception? How much of my motivation do I need to reveal, if any?
On the other hand, a lie becomes blatant at some point. Wheedling is when most observers would say there's word-play at work. Truth is obvious and self-evident, and doesn't need explanation.
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Back to that BG3 scenario, my MC devotion paladin used deception in that encounter for a bloodless result. Probably word-play, but no harm/no foul, no Dread-Knight visitor.
