UnderworldHades has it right. What's the point having a party if they're not goint to contribute to dialogue checks? That's a major part of the system and you as the player should be able to make use of all the tools at your disposal. Especially when you can get into conversations that take you by surprise and thus you have no input in who you want to tackle the challenge.
Furthermore what are you even talking about with implying that games were once handed to players?
