How do you role play a poor intimidation roll?

[Scalenex]

My group is trying a new technique for roleplaying when making social rolls. A lot of gamers roleplay out something and then roll it. If the roleplaying is good the DM will give the dice roll a bonus or forgo it entirely.

We are trying a new strategy, we roll the dice and then try to role play the result. If we roll poorly we will ad lib putting their foot in our mouth. So far this works great for haggling, diplomacy, and subterfuge but it doesn't seem to work too well with intimidation, at least the kind my group does.

I have seen lots of examples in movies and TV where a character is in a position of weakness but is able to project strength.

What does the reverse look like?

What happens when the PCs savagely defeat a group of enemies than try to interrogate the survivors and get a bad Intimidation roll?

How should the prisoners react? The fact that their captors did something to make them look foolish or silly does not change the fact that the captors have the upper hand.

The elf character is a powerful invoker but cannot succeed on an intimidation roll to save his life but the captives know the invoker could fry them at any time so they cannot be that cocky.

The party also has a small charismatic gnome and a burly half-orc. What does good cop/bad cop look like when it fails?

[False God]

"As I step up to the tied-up orc before I even get a word out, I trip and fall in his lap."

"My character flexes like out of one of those wrestling shows, and a not-so-silent "toot" is heard from behind him."

---
IMO, with all these sorts of checks, DMs should consider "ranges" of success. Getting a 14 when you rolled a 15 means you didn't succeed, but it's not object failure either. Perhaps you stuttered. Maybe your voice cracked. Maybe you strained a muscle flexing. Not every check need to be some spectacular failure or success or some really deep roleplay. It can be as simple as:
DM: The DC is 18.
You: *rolls 6* I step up to the orc but as I go to shout at him something tickles my nose and I sneeze like a kitten.
or: I step up to the orc and try to be all big and scary, and forget the orc is like, a foot taller than me.

---
It also depends on how serious you want to take your D&D.

[NichG]

Intimidation wouldn't be needed unless the captives still have some leverage over the captors - hidden information, behavior after the threat of force has left, etc. So a failure at intimidation would communicate to the captives that their captors don't actually know what they're doing (and may therefore be vulnerable to counter-plays, lies, etc).

So that could lead to increasingly risky behavior on the part of the captives (for example, giving intentionally dangerously false information to the captors) or just to them clamming up or aggressively negotiating or manipulating them under the reasoning that the fact that the captors are posturing like this means that they really need something the captive can give.

For example, the captive might offer the information if the captors win a game with them - they're in a position of weakness yes, but the captors are visibly failing at extracting the information which is a weakness as well. So the captive might propose a way to allow the captors to succeed in exchange for risk that they really should have no reason to take - potentially giving the captive a weapon or an opportunity to cause some harm in vengeance to them or whatever.

Imagine a captive saying 'You're not going to get anything out of me at that rate, so tell you what - you and chuckles over there play russian roulette with each-other, and I'll tell the survivor. You said the fate of your city hangs on this information, right? Are you heroes or are you mice?'

[Lacco]

The fact the party just wiped the floor with the enemy does not mean the enemy will not smirk or laugh at their shortcomings (good example: Life of Brian, the scene with Pontius Pilate and his guards). The fact that you are more powerful can leave some people unfazed (those brave enough in the face of their enemy), or even more hateful and spiteful.

Some will try to resist fear (and may find it easier since you just made a fool of yourself), some are fanatical enough to do so without your help, but will consider it a sign from their deity.

Some may feint (you overdid it and the guy is now KO for 30 minutes and will keep feinting out of fear whenever you show up). Some may scream for help (and will continue to scream out of fear for next 30 minutes). Some may fall asleep during your boring intimidation speech. Or just stop listening and watch what is happening behind you.

Maybe they misheard you ("Sorry, what was the second part...?") or just plain provoke you ("Sorry, what was the second part...?").

Maybe they now think you got lucky when you beat them - plain stupid luck. Or they believe so nevertheless (there are some guys that have ego the size of the moon). Some may start bickering amongst themselves for getting beaten by such lousy adventurers.

Some may even try to provoke you into making some stupid mistake again. Some may try to just turn it around ("No. Capturing us was a part of our own plan!") or turn you against each other ("Yeah, that guy said you were here just as comic relief to put us at ease.").

Or: you may have let an important piece of information slip out. Something they did not need to know and you did not want them to know. And they are now really happy about it.

[Knaight]

There's also always the possibility of just making the wrong threats. Maybe it's an organization threats to others in an organization made to someone who fundamentally isn't that loyal, maybe it's direct threats of physical harm made to someone with a lot of martial courage who might well have been susceptible to an indirect threat, maybe it's a threat predicated on bluffing that you have access to resources they know full well you don't actually have. Then there's the cases where you really screw up and are trying to communicate something like "back off now or I'll kill you" to someone who outmatches you to avoid a fight and end up communicating "I'm picking a fight with you right now and won't leave you the option of retreating".

[Sapphire Guard]

A failed good cop bad cop is just the captives figuring out that it is a good cop bad cop. They're really just making the same offer, it's an illusion. So there's no reason to cave.

[Quertus]

I have seen lots of examples in movies and TV where a character is in a position of weakness but is able to project strength.

What does the reverse look like?



Spiderman.

Most Aragorn lines in the "new" LotR movies.

"God" (either form) in Dogma.

The guy from "Kung Fu".

Also, "Mawage is wot bwings us togeder today".

That's what comes to my mind.

[Xuc Xac]

Think of Jackie Chan. Even while he's beating up dozens of guys, he's a clown who's not scary so they keep piling on because they think they can take him.

[porchdog]

The most basic way to fail an intimidation is to simply goof up. Trip. Drop your weapon. Have your pants fall down.

Maybe the next most common might be the silly kid type. When the person just sounds like a silly kid trying to be cool and act cool, but they are really just acting like a kid.

Maybe next is trying "too" hard. When like every other phrase you say is "I will kill hundreds and drink their blood!"

And lastly you have the clueless one. When someone says they will "shoot you with a magical missile" or they will "cut you in half with a war hammer" or "shoot with their AR-17 Assault Weapon Rifle Gun".

[Composer99]

My group is trying a new technique for roleplaying when making social rolls. A lot of gamers roleplay out something and then roll it. If the roleplaying is good the DM will give the dice roll a bonus or forgo it entirely.

We are trying a new strategy, we roll the dice and then try to role play the result. If we roll poorly we will ad lib putting their foot in our mouth. So far this works great for haggling, diplomacy, and subterfuge but it doesn't seem to work too well with intimidation, at least the kind my group does.

I have seen lots of examples in movies and TV where a character is in a position of weakness but is able to project strength.

What does the reverse look like?

What happens when the PCs savagely defeat a group of enemies than try to interrogate the survivors and get a bad Intimidation roll?

How should the prisoners react? The fact that their captors did something to make them look foolish or silly does not change the fact that the captors have the upper hand.

The elf character is a powerful invoker but cannot succeed on an intimidation roll to save his life but the captives know the invoker could fry them at any time so they cannot be that cocky.

The party also has a small charismatic gnome and a burly half-orc. What does good cop/bad cop look like when it fails?

When you are trying to intimidate someone, you are usually trying to get them to do (or not do) something by means of a threat, or perhaps by means of over-awing them. Your aim/goal/end/objective is "NPC does or does not do The Thing I want", and your approach/means/method is "threaten or coerce NPC".

Your goal might be "NPC gives you information or an object you need", it might be "NPC agrees to your terms of a deal/surrender/whatever", it might be "NPC looks the other way while we walk on by" or "NPC refrains from making us pay this hideously expensive toll", or just about anything you try to convince an NPC to do (or not do).

Likewise, the threat can be almost anything you think the NPC fears. Violence to them or to someone they care for, exposure of their misdeeds, being framed, and so on.

I state the above not because you necessarily need the refresher, but as background for the actual meat of these remarks.

With the above in mind, if the intimidation roll failed, there are a few angles you can take if you don't want to just resort to goofiness, some of which have already been mentioned upthread:
- They can't give you the thing you want from them. Say you want information. Turns out, they don't know it.
- Your attempt works too well - they panic, and will do or say just about anything at all to be set free, with almost no reliability involved.
- You have chosen the wrong threat, and are threatening something they don't fear losing or that you can't, in fact, credibly threaten.
- They just have the moral fortitude (as it were) to resist your threats. Sure, the invoker can fry them, but they're prepared to die.
- They have some leverage, or think they have some leverage, that keeps them clammed up.

[Robert's Dragon]

If you want funny failed intimidation, watch The Andy Griffith Show. There are a couple of good examples in the first season.

[Altair_the_Vexed]

I know a guy through LARPing and TTRPGs who just cannot interrogate anyone.

What actually tends to happen is that he explains everything that the party knows to the NPC. In lengthy detail. With clarifications if the NPC asks for them. The rest of the players just sit around, wishing their characters had been present to stop this massive info-dump. I guess he thinks that the NPC ought to fill in the gaps for him..?

I mean, here's the first example of it I know of, from my first-hand experience: we're playing a tech-noir thriller LARP, and my character had just been exposed to everyone as being a corporate spy. About 10 maybe 20 minutes after that, this guy comes and starts chatting to me while fixing a coffee for himself - and tells me his character's life story, in detail. If I hadn't been cuffed, I would have started taking notes.

He's a lovely bloke, and no-one is really annoyed by this - it's just a bit bizarre. I mean, we've all teased him about it, and he still does it! In fact, next time I see him, I'll tell him I used his quirk as an object-lesson on how to RP a failed intimidate check.

Anyway, the TL:DR version - sometimes, the PC has no idea that they're giving away secrets instead of gathering them.

[Lacco]

The elf character is a powerful invoker but cannot succeed on an intimidation roll to save his life but the captives know the invoker could fry them at any time so they cannot be that cocky.

The party also has a small charismatic gnome and a burly half-orc. What does good cop/bad cop look like when it fails?

Elven powerful invoker: Intimidate fails.

Defeated enemy: Flat "What."

Elven powerful invoker: Intimidate fails again.

Defeated enemy: "Really. I know what you are trying to do but... can you switch to common? I did not understand anything."



For good cop/bad cop... that actually reminded me of this (http://eqcomics.com/2010/04/20/falsely-accused/) comic.

[Scalenex]

Good stuff gentlemen.

Thank you.

[Lord Torath]

I know a guy through LARPing and TTRPGs who just cannot interrogate anyone.

What actually tends to happen is that he explains everything that the party knows to the NPC. In lengthy detail. With clarifications if the NPC asks for them. The rest of the players just sit around, wishing their characters had been present to stop this massive info-dump. I guess he thinks that the NPC ought to fill in the gaps for him..?

I mean, here's the first example of it I know of, from my first-hand experience: we're playing a tech-noir thriller LARP, and my character had just been exposed to everyone as being a corporate spy. About 10 maybe 20 minutes after that, this guy comes and starts chatting to me while fixing a coffee for himself - and tells me his character's life story, in detail. If I hadn't been cuffed, I would have started taking notes.

He's a lovely bloke, and no-one is really annoyed by this - it's just a bit bizarre. I mean, we've all teased him about it, and he still does it! In fact, next time I see him, I'll tell him I used his quirk as an object-lesson on how to RP a failed intimidate check.

Anyway, the TL:DR version - sometimes, the PC has no idea that they're giving away secrets instead of gathering them.This makes me think of Black Widow being "interrogated" at the beginning of the first Avengers movie.

I was also going to suggest Spiderman: Homecoming as a good example of a failed intimidate check.