Finding a Hiding Cultist

[A Ladder]

Food for thought from the Playgrounders:

In my campaign I'm having my players help the local clerics of Pelor find out why some of their magical wards are no longer working. The wards are spread outside a rather large city to keep bad stuff away. Long story short: clues lead to an evil cleric cult using their wards to fuel horrible rituals. How would the players go about finding this cult and putting a stop to it?

The few ideas I have would be capturing some of the cultists at a ward site and interrogate them or following them back to town. Assuming they kill all the cultists (my players are a bit on the hack and slash side), how would they find them?

How is there a good way to roleplay using Gather Information? I don't want one of my players just saying "I use Gather Info *rolls* natural 18 plus modifiers means I succeed!".

Thanks in advance.

[druid91]

Well personally I've always viewed Gather information as the sort of thing where the better your roll the better informant you find. You still have to get the informant to tell you things, but you know who knows the information you need.

[Curmudgeon]

What's wrong with just rolling for Gather Information? It's perfectly fine to role-play that encounter (and you might give a +2 circumstance bonus if the player does it well), but ultimately the game rules specify that the result is determined by that skill check. Plus some players just suck at playing out these scenes, and it's really unfair to penalize the characters because the players have poor acting ability.

It's bad practice to let your preference for role-playing override the game rules to the detriment of your players.