this post was submitted on 11 Jan 2024
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The issue is only if the DM penalizes you for it. I think the result should ultimately be up to the dice, but explaining what exactly you're doing helps the DM move the story in the right direction.
Also, the game will inevitably require irl skills to play. You can't "roleplay" combat strategy or how much you pay attention irl, so there's no escaping that. I don't think it's that unreasonable to expect players to at least come up with simple descriptions of what they're trying to achieve during a dialogue.
I agree with everything you said. If the descriptions mostly add flavor and the roll of the dice determines the result, that’s exactly how DnD should be. It is a role playing game, and role playing is half the fun
Unfortunately, it seems like most DMs punish you for roll playing poorly in conversation. In my experience, if you have high charisma it’s often more successful to just say “I want to convince the person of this thing” and roll than to describe your argument to the DM. That discourages roll playing rather than encourages it.
The dice determine success or failure, but your strategy can have different outcomes. If you're offering a bribe to the guard the DM has to figure out how much it costs you, wheras if you're telling him a dragon is attacking the south gate, he might be pretty pissed when he comes back.
And if you don't have "charisma" irl and have no idea either of the above are options...think about charismatic characters in books, movies, tv. What tactics did they use that you can crib?