Bluff I say!

You Should Use the Bluff Skill
by Shea C. Reinke

originally posted on Wizards of the Coast website
http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19572454/Bluff_I_say?post_id=332691726#332691726

Republished on ArticlesBase.com
http://www.articlesbase.com/theater-articles/bluff-i-say-836088.html

Bluff is one of those skills that is easy to use. In nearly any situation a Bluff check can be made to gain some benefit. Using the skill in combat costs you an action, but out of combat a Bluff is made within normal talking or other forms of communication. If you are interacting with any character consider if you are attempting to motivate them, and if you are; Bluff them. You don't have to be falsifying to make with a Bluff check.

Bluff Does Not Lie

Bluff is simultaneously one of the most used skills, and one of the most misused skills, RAWise. It is written that the Bluff skill does not let you lie, but in countless games a lie calls for a Bluff check. It is not surprising that Bluff is often misused, it is a skill with allot of utility. It is easy to take the skill one step farther, to the point of actual taking care of deception for you. The skill that would most realistically be checked to cover the details of lying would be Perform (Storytelling), however lying is not an action that is managed by a skill check. You simply tell the truth or you don't. An NPC believes, or disbelieves, what you say based on what that NPC knows.

A Diplomacy check could make the NPC feel helpful enough to believe you, but a Bluff check will convince the target of the importance of the information, regardless of truth. Bluffing is a motivational action that relates to, but does not actually include, deception. You can make a Bluff check to give persuasion to a lie, "... and there are riches in it for you ..." is a lie to make them want to believe you. A Bluff check is ironically the skill check used to gauge the communication of the greatest truths, Innuendo (oh, I mean Delivering a Secret Message). A successful Bluff check conveys belief in something, a belief about something about you. What you mean, what is important to you, or what you are going to do.

The Feint

The feint function is one of the finest combat injections to the mostly non-combat social skills system of D&D. Feints are fully functional in combat. Use them, you'll see. If you have Bluff ranks, and your enemies are quick with a low BAB, you don't really have to try to hit them. Power Attack on a feint. The feint, like the attack roll, is not one quick dart to the left. Fining involves a complex series of movements. The dramatic backhand swing, is a gorgeous example of a feint in combat. Improved feint, best for melee capable rogues and bards, gives you a total turn attack pattern as a pseudo full attack action.

A fighter with improved feint, and at least a few ranks in Bluff presumably, will have a two turn attack pattern. First round power attack (or other single attack action, perhaps even aid), and a feint. Second round Full-Attack. Third round repeat. Improved feint turns the fighter into a one-two punch mechanical killing machine. Pair fighter levels with rouge, one for one (no XP penalty), and you eventually end up with a thing that can dance through fireballs (evasion), through infantry (tumbling), past your opponents guard (feint), hit him (3/5th attack bonus), and steal the key off his neck (slight of hand).

Pairing with fighter levels with bardic can create a potent field commander, slightly spendy with bardic music uses though. A fighter/bard can't really afford to spend the entire fight singing. The pattern is more flexible. He uses a strike-feint-full-attack one-two, but takes third or fifth turns off to make with the inspiration. In a single combat scenario, with a few bard levels under the character's belt, this pattern keeps the entire party attacking at a higher success rate. Yourself even more so because you are using improved feint. The charismatic bard, or any other character, should not take their score modifier for sufficient when it comes to Bluff. To maintain the fin's utility in combat you must put ranks into the skill to counter act the rising resistance of base attack bonus.

A feint takes the base attack bonus of a target into account when being resisted. Bluff is the only combat useful skill to do this. The simple reason is that the combat instincts of the target are motivating that target to disbelieve you. A feint really is a form of lie actually; you are implying an action that you are not going to do. The subtle difference here is that the feint is a microburst of miscommunication. Your target knows you are trying to hit them, you are really only lying about where. For the rouge/bard the fascinate sneak attack pattern is like "super feint," but it really only works once at the beginning of combat. Feint, improved or otherwise, allows you to make single move maneuvering though combat an effective tactic. Move, feint, disarm, move, feint, trip, move, feint, sneak attack from flank.

A Quick Diversion

Hiding can save your life, and if you have a sneak attack that diversion could lead to massive damage dealt by you. As far as modifiers, remember that the target may want to believe that you have left, but probably finds your disappearance unlikely. A NPC that is hunting you in particular probably doesn't want you to take a powder, but is more likely to belive that you ran away. Creating a diversion to hide does not take attack bonus into account so besides the normal Bluff modifiers the check is pretty easy. Sense motive is a skill that low level NPCs rarely take ranks in. Intelligent, or wise, NPCs are, of course, each a unique story.

Delivering a Secret Message

When you really want to tell a character something, and you want the target to understand, use Bluff to deliver a secret message. Bluff lays a DC on intelligible communication; complex DC 20 and simple DC 15. Were you into rolling allot of dice, Bluff could be taken as the skill of simply talking. When you want to tell an NPC something, anything, roll Bluff. Your success or failure on the skill and rank modified d20 roll determines how well the NPC receives the intent of the message you role play. Delivering secret messages this way implies that you are only ever really talking to one person at a time. Everyone else has to make Sense Motive checks to get in on your one-on-one jive.

In that sense the Bluff check is the skill check of actual inter-character communication. NPC to NPC, PC to NPC, even PC to PC. Diplomacy deals with general attitudes, and Perform lets you touch the hearts, and money pouches, of many; but Bluff is the skill you can use to tell one target what you want that target to know, and have rules for failure. Unlike a standard Bluff check delivering a secret message translates only information. Oddly, the general function of Bluff, when not using one of the subfunctions, is made with the consideration that the target already knows what you are saying. You are making the Bluff check to use the knowledge the NPC already has to motivate that target do want to do something. Technically delivering a secret message is only needed to conceal what you are saying to a target from listeners. You don't have to make a skill check to tell someone something, just like you don't need to make a skill check to lie.

Why Sense Motive

The mighty resistance skill of Sense Motive appears often in the description of Bluff. Every function of Bluff is resisted by Sense Motive. Primary purpose, feint, diversion, and deliver all have a relationship with Sense Motive. This relationship can be likened to the BAB and AC relationship. Charisma is like strength; adding punch to the attack. Wisdom is like Dexterity; assisting with evasive maneuvers. Intelligence analogizes to Constitution making Skill Points Like HP. Of course, you don't loose Skill Points dynamically the way you do HP, so that's the break in the analogy. Another is that Sense Motive is Bluff's big evil bad guy. Always able to frustrate Bluff until the very last feinted turn.

Now Let Me Tell Ya

No one needs an explanation of what the Bluff skill, does. Sometimes you need to be reminded of what the Bluff skill don't do. So I made sure to tell you first thing, if you'll notice. However, you will be using the Bluff whenever you lie, because you don't lie unless you want somebody to do something for you. Go away! Do this! Do that! Whatever, but, remember to Bluff when telling the Truth too. If you want someone to take an action on your behalf, regardless of the veracity of what you are saying, Bluff! That is my secret message for you.
Did the rest of ya'll hear that!


Shea's Research & Development (SR&D
What Does Bluff Need?

"Not much," I'd say. Bluff is already a paragon of a skill. It is flexible in and out of combat. To say that it is under used would be a lie. Bluff can however be slightly modified based on conceptual lines. Not for utility, but for the sake of reality. Using Bluff in the following ways may enable you to save a few skill points too, if that is what you need to do. Basically, the real question is: where do you draw the line?

How About an Example?
This is me bluffing you:

You need to change the way you use the Bluff skill. Honestly. When analyzed as part of the whole set of social skill functions Bluff is an oddity. Half communication, half deception, and hard to conceptually separate from negotiation. Too much work for you? Just read up on the below.

Bluff and Social Skill Functions Like Negotiation

The premise of Bluff is in that motivational feeling you can produce. So Bluff as a performance. How about motivating an attitude. Bluff as Diplomacy. Talk that street talk? Bluff as Profession too. Why is Diplomacy the skill of negotiation? Why not Bluff? Why not both? "I like the way you negotiation" says the fast talking man. If you include Bluff into a general negotiation function, then you should pull in Intimidation too. How do you make a bargain sir? By reason, silver tung, or force? These skills could mix and mingle with Bluff as easily as Sense Motive does.

You could also, maybe, just use Bluff to resist Bluffs. Stick with me here, but the ability to fast talk could be seen as the ability to resist the very tactics you know how to use. You can't fool an old con, they say. You would be creating a sort of Bluff battle. Corollary to a grapple, Bluff battles would continue, the upper hand changing throughout perhaps, until the winner has the loser clearly in a pinned in a conceptual corner and reasonably beaten, or both parties give up. This, however, sounds allot like a negotiation. Now, this might send Sense Motive the way of the dodo, but you could treat all general Bluffs as a form of negotiation. Opposed by Bluff, Diplomacy, or Intimidation.

If you take Sense Motive away this way you need other ways to defend and detect the sub functions of Bluff. Beyond your BAB what else do you need to resist a feint? As far as hiding and delivering a secret message? Why not just let those stay spot and listen checks? If you add the modifiers from the Bluff skill to the resisting wisdom based sense roll the numbers are sufficiently skewed to represent the more complex conceptual situation. In the case of creating a diversion to hide a character would receive two spots. One based on the diversion, and one based on the Hide.

The Cold Hard Line

Bluffs, like the other social skill checks in the game, are not spells. The target character is under no abnormal compulsion to do anything they would not normally do. Bluff, the paragon of effective social skills is really no more able to force action than a knowledge skill. Bluff has this eerie reality to it in that only with an epic modifier of +50 to the DC are you able to actually know that what you said is going to motivate a target to do anything. Remember to make it brief; you got ten minutes. If you are not satisfied with this; there is a down and dirty way to fix it.

Use Bluff to set a will save DC (and there went Sense Motive). You should definitely give the will save all appropriate morale modifiers and apply the circumstantial modifiers listed in the skill description of Bluff. If you don't anybody with Bluff will be able to tell everyone within five levels of them what to do by taking ten. The compulsion functions like a mental poison. A character receives an initial save to resist the compelling idea, and then a secondary save right before they do what they are compulsed. Any Bluff that the target would consider harmless and acceptable should not be rolled because that means the NPC already wants to do it, eh?

Procrastination is allowed with this compulsion, but once the compulsion is unstilled you may reinforce it with an subsequent Bluff check. Reinforcement prompts another will save and resets the secondary save to the result of the reinforcement Bluff check. If the target fails the reinforcement save the target immediately sets out to satisfy their compulsion. With this system remember that the source of the compulsion is non-magical, and, more importantly, you. Removing you from the equation brings the compulsion to an end. My message? Be wary of negotiating with the Evil or the Cruel.

There are a number of variant systems available that add modifiers to social skill rolls based on the current attitude or degree of familiarity a character has with their target. Any and all of these are acceptable modifiers when determining a Bluff set will save DC. The message behind that eerie epic reality is that it should not be easy to motivate a target to do something that they don't want to do. If the modifiers are all in your favor, instead of familiarity mitigating the danger involved or some such, then you should consider if Bluffing is actually necessary. Sometimes all you have to do is explain something to a character to motivate them. If you find this the case, when reviewing the modifiers, consider making a Knowledge check instead.

To get rid of a compulsion a Bluff, Diplomacy, Heal, Intimidation, or Profession check can be made on the compulsed character. The function mimics the way that Heal treats poison. A concerned assistant, or king's attendant, can substitute their skill roll for the compulsed character's will save. Unlike poison, the effects are immediate. You either succeed at talking the target out of the idea or you don't. You don't have to wait until the last moment to find out if the treatment worked. Of course, the target is free to Bluff you back that they are still under the influence, but that is degenerating into the realm of what metagame the players are playing.

Greater Feint and Some Other Things

Dancing Feint [COMBAT]
Prerequisite: Perform (Dance) 5 ranks, Improved Feint, Spring Attack.
Benefit: You may make a feint as a free action when you make a standard move action in combat.
Normal: You cannot combine a standard move with a feint.
Special: You cannot make a free action feint if you are making a double move or faster move action.

Feint Flurry [COMBAT]
Prerequisite: Base Attack Bonus + 13, Improved Feint, Flurry of Blows.
Benefit: You may feint an opponent and ignore their Dexterity bonus to AC for an entire full attack round.
Normal: A feint only allows you to ignore a target's Dexterity bonus to AC for a single attack.
Special: If you do not start your full attack with your next available action the feint is wasted.

Greater Feint [COMBAT]
Prerequisite: Base Attack Bonus + 8, Improved Feint, Combat Expertise.
Benefit: You may make a feint as a move equivalent action or as one of your attacks in a full attack action.
Normal: With improved feint you make a feint as a move equivalent action.
Note: You only gain the benefit of a feint on the single attack action that follows the feint.

Heckle [GENERAL]
Prerequisite: Bluff, Diplomacy, and Intimidation 5 ranks.
Benefit: You may make a Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidation, or Perform check as a free action immediately after an opponent succeeds at a Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidation, or Perform check. The DC is equal to the result of the successful check. If you succeed you negate the success of the provoking Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidation, or Perform check. You do not have to use the same skill your target succeeded on to heckle their check.
Normal: You cannot resist the effect of a Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidation, or Perform roll unless you are the target.
Special: You may not heckle if you are one the targets of the Bluff, Diplomacy, or Intimidation check. You may heckle a Perform check that includes you in the audience.

Honest [TALENT]
Benefit: Gain a +4 competence bonus on Bluff checks when you are telling the truth.
Special: This feat does not grant you a bonus on Bluff checks made to feint, create a diversion, or deliver a secret message.

Liar [TALENT]
Benefit: Gain a + 4 morale bonus to your Bluff check when you are lying.
Special: This feat does not grant you a bonus on Bluff checks made to feint, create a diversion, or deliver a secret message.

Quick Feet [COMBAT]
Prerequisite: Dex 13, Uncanny Dodge.
Benefit: You do not lose your Dexterity bonus to AC even when you fail to resist a feint.
Normal: You lose your Dexterity bonus to AC when you fail to resist a feint even if you have the uncanny dodge class feature.

Quick Feint [COMBAT]
Prerequisite: Dex 13, Improved Feint, Combat Reflexes.
Benefit: You may attempt a feint as a free action when making an attack of opportunity.
Normal: A feint requires a separate action prior to an attack.
Special: You must make your attack roll regardless of the result of the feint, and you do not gain the benefit of a successful feint on any attack other than that attack of opportunity.

Spending Money on Bluff

Bluff is not a skill that you need allot of stuff to use. Bribery is always an option, but that gets back into the realm of negotiation. As a common rule you could set a + 1 circumstance bonus to Bluff per 10gp spent on bribery, but when Bluffing the excessively rich, 10 gp is a pittance. Depending on the social strata you are maneuvering on you may need 100, or 1,000 gp per + 1 circumstantial modifier. Equipment given as gifts should be valued with some consideration for who the gift is given to. A promise really comes in handy with a Bluff, but a promise costs you nothing, at least in gp. Perhaps perfume ranging from 1 to 100 in gp value could grant you a + 2 under the right circumstances, but, for Bluff, equipment really doesn't help you.

A note about lying, it really helps to have proof. Bluff motivates, but skills like craft and forgery allow you to make objects that "confirm" your story.

Magical Items that Relate to the Bluff Skill

Silver Tongue: This small slip of silver must be placed on your tongue. A silver tongue takes up an amulet slot. When wearing a silver tongue you gain a +10 competence bonus to non-combat Bluff checks. In addition you gain a spell resistance of 20 against any spell or ability that would detect the truth or force you to tell the truth.
Moderate Transmutation; CL 8th; Craft Wondrous Item, Glibness; Price 12,500 gp.

Flashing: A weapon enhanced with flashing becomes very difficult to see. The wielder of the weapon gains a +5 enhancement bonus to make a feint when wielding a flashing weapon.
Moderate Illusion [mind-altering]; CL 5th; Craft Magic Arms and Armor, blur; Price +1 bonus.

Flashing, Improved: A weapon enhanced with improved flashing becomes nearly invisible. The wielder of the weapon gains a +10 enhancement bonus to make a feint when wielding an improved flashing weapon.
Strong Transmutation; CL 12th; Craft Magic Arms and Armor, blink; Price +3 bonus.

Overhear Ring: This simple ring takes up a ring slot, but is worn as an ear ring. The wearer of the Overhear Ring gains a +5 competence bonus when discerning a secret message transmitted by Bluff.
Faint Divination; CL 12th; Forge Ring, comprehend languages; Price 5,800 gp.