Swen once said that we shouldn't save scum if we fail a skill check, we should live with the consequences. This notion comes from a TTRPG where you never "FAIL" a skill check, you just get a different outcome. That's completely not the case in BG3! Rolling not high enough is perceived as a fail for several reasons(i list them below), and who wants to lose, right?
I mean, getting into a combat encounter, instead of resolving the situation peacefully is a different outcome, and not necessarily a bad one from gameplay perspective.
Come recent RPG tried to make failing "fun", and while I mostly didn't feel a need to save-scum in BG3 or Disco Elysium, yeah, failing still feels like failing.
I do think BG3 does a decent job with failing skillchecks - generally quests can be progressed in multiple ways, so failing something doesn't create a blockade (cough Disco Shiver check cough). You definitely don't get outcome you want if you fail a check, but that's good, no? What you suggest feels like it would make checks irrelevant - player decides what their character will do, rather than their build. There also could be something like what Witcher's did with choices - that consequences of our failed checks might not be immediately apparent. So using your example, you fail to impersonate a chief, and bandit isn't fooled but instead he let's you through and sets up trap at you later down the story line - you don't really change the system that way, but "encourage" players to live with their choices through sheer time necessary to pick a choice and see it through. With that design it also could be beneficial not to make it clear if you did or didn't fail the check so the player is left guessing at all times. I would play that game.
I am also not sure if rolling flat d20 is a good system for a computer game but it is another subject and another discussion - I personally prefer Obsidian's flat skill requirements that eliminate RNG entirely, and Josh Sawyer
criticism of d20 roll make a lot sense to me. Personally, I found Disco Elysium's bell curve RNG much less frustrating.
