The problem with having a goblin in the party when fighting a bunch of goblins is that your priest may mistake ally for foe when deciding where to direct an aggressive action. Sure, the DM may not have fully helped by saying something like, 'Hey, another goblin has managed to get behind you, if you hadn't noticed', but isn't it funny that the priest never mistakes human party members as human foes?
The party shows perhaps a bit too much compassion, and as a result ends up fighting another bunch of goblins. Metrius, the simple Paladin who wants to rescue the innocent goblins in the Deadmines from, uh, themselves, strides forwards at the beginning of combat to warn them that they are in danger and must flee!
It's true, as the rest of the party start attacking these goblins. It doesn't matter that the goblins started attacking at pretty much the same time, if not before, as the adventurers. Nevertheless, Metrius urges the goblins to flee. As he does so, the foreman of the goblin workers decides to take this advice, after a barrage of fire from the party viciously wounds him.
As he turns to flee, his defences naturally drop. The party member standing next to him sees an opening, and strikes with an attack of opportunity! His sharp blade catches the turned goblin right between the shoulder blades, landing a crushing and mortal blow, and the now-splintered goblin collapses in a bloody heap on the ground.
The death-bringer would probably have got quite the rebuke from Metrius, who wanted to save all the goblins, if it hadn't been Metrius himself who struck the escaping goblin. Instead, a meek 'oops' was all he had to say.
The adventuring party deep in the Deadmines defeats some goblin smelters, although quite how they managed this is still a mystery, after a 2D6 bomb does 2 points of damage, a holy smite attack from the paladin doing D8 + D6 damage also deals 2 points of damage, and a Lesser Immolate spell from the warlock hits for 1 point of damage, all in the same round. One good point about the fight was that Dase finally managed to trip someone! Sure, it was the Paladin in his party, when the Paladin tried to stop Dase from cutting down a badly-wounded and fleeing goblin, but the trip attack was still successful.
And so the goblins were defeated. After looting the bodies the party had some choices of where to head next. They poked their heads through one set of large doors and were impressed by the sight of a docked ship in a huge cavern this far down in some mines, but felt they had to at least see what was off in the other direction before making a firm decision. Approaching another large set of doors, the Rogue listened at them and heard the sound of a mechanical blade being used to cut in to wood. This provoked a discussion about how to find out what was in the room and beyond, without running headlong in to a serious threat.
After some talk, Tizgot, the goblin Tinker, was to open the door and pop his head in to see what was happening, as a goblin would be likely to provoke less suspicion. His instructions were to 'open the door casually'. The sad part was the revelation that 'it's the only plan we've got'.
I look forward to the follow-up discussion, which is likely to start with 'You weren't supposed to blow the bloody doors off!'
Metrius, the party's paladin, has a dislike of the undead that is only matched by those in the Scarlet Crusade. Indeed, so keen is he to root out the threat of the Scourge and Forsaken that he Detects Undead whenever anything moving is spotted, and occasionally just on a hunch. Fleshripper birds, Harvest Golems, and a clump of Peacebloom have all been checked by Metrius to see if they have been undead, all without a single positive result.
It is amusing, therefore, that when a figure suddenly and silently appears behind the party he simply walks up to it and introduces himself. It took a good minute of interacting with the not-quite-all-there Dwarf before another party member prompted Metrius to Detect Undead. It was worth it though, as his little face lit up as much as the area did with undead auras.
Our adventurers delve in to the Deadmines, bravely led by the Paladin. The Paladin who leads the party in a big circle. They could tell, because one group of miners who told the Paladin to go back the way he came were less than impressed when he turned up again, coming in to their area from the opposite direction the second time.
Some quick thinking and talking from a Rogue using all his wiles and charm would no doubt defuse the situation, letting the party pass by again without incident. It's a shame then that Dase stepped up to try to sweet-talk the miners. Trying to convince them that he was a mining inspector would have gone more smoothly if he hadn't whipped out a half-chewed iron ration and pretended it was his ID card, but that's what happens when you roll a 1 on a Bluff check.
I don't think wielding a heavy crossbow made for a convincing facade of a mining inspector either, as there had been no sign of mynoks thus far in to the mines. But it came in handy when the miners advanced, looking less than convinced about the integrity of this mining inspector and ready to forcibly remove the charlatans from the mines.
Once the battle was begun, Tizgot, the goblin Tinker, continued to show true party spirit by manoeuvring himself to within five feet of as many of the party as possible before trying to use a technological device. Luckily, this time it was only a flintlock pistol, so when it inevitably failed it only jammed rather than exploding over him and his allies.
If you are a human female wearing no armour, carrying no weapon, and just happen to be fluent in Low Common, it is not advisable to stroll up to some hungry, monstrous humanoid Gnolls who are preparing dinner to say 'hello' in a cheery voice.
Bloody unconsciousness is likely to occur, with a chance of death.
''I'll deal with this. I'll just stab him gently in the heart', says the rogue, motioning a blow to his own ribs with his hand for effect.
...the right-hand side of his ribs. He's taking some ranks in Knowledege (Anatomy) next level.
'Okay chaps, we're inside the building now. Let's have a quick search to find the way ahead.'
'There are some stairs out here.'
'Which way do they go?'
'Down. We were on the roof before climbing through the window. How could the stairs go up?'
' ... They could go to the loft.'
'So you were on the roof and think you can climb up stairs to the loft?'
[sound effect of a D20 being bounced off a player's head]
'Okay, everyone make listen checks.'
'What are we listening for?'
' ... Uh, sounds.'
A question was raised recently about why charisma was the ability linked to the intimidate skill. Surely, the point was made, if something has low charisma and is thus ugly and unbearable the easier it is to intimidate someone. Well, perhaps, but that is missing the point of both charisma and the intimidate skill. Intimidating someone can be much more than making them quake in fear at your frightful presence, opening up their guard, although given that most of our games are based around fighting encounters it is understandable why this use of the intimidate skill is the most prevalent in the mind. But intimidation could be making you go on a dangerous quest, taking a bad deal on some goods, or some other form of bullying, generally because the alternatives given to you don't bear thinking about. It's making someone do something they don't want to, and, unlike using diplomacy or bluffing, it is often achieved using threats.
This is partly why a big and scary monster won't necessarily have a good skill modifier for intimidate, because it doesn't have the wits to manipulate someone in such a way as intimidating demands. Now, if you or I were to meet a zombie, or worse, in real life we would probably be rather scared, but this wouldn't be through intimidation; it would be a simple, primal fear driving us. RPG heroes, such as most player characters are, kill zombies before breakfast, as a quick workout, so aren't scared by these simple monsters, and they encounter much worse throughout their lives, rarely taken aback by the horrors they witness. They are heroes, after all. However, if a monster has particularly horrific features, enough to scare even a hero, then there must be a game mechanic to have this occur. This isn't done with the intimidate skill, though, but will likely be achieved with a special quality of the creature, like a fearful presence. You will note that this will be a simple, primal fear, and won't be based on charisma.
It should be clearer why there is a difference between a fearful presence and being intimidated by a creature of some sort, as being scared and being bullied are different in cause and effect. Now we can examine why the intimidate skill is based on charisma. If you tried to make someone do something for you, perhaps something they would rather not do, you have some options available to use. As noted above, you can try to be diplomatic, be that person's chum and use persuasive skills and bartering to achieve the desired result, or you can bluff your way through and make the task seem less arduous or dangerous than it sounds, or you can try to intimidate them, getting them to do what you want by force of will alone, perhaps with threats, veiled or otherwise. Note that all of these options use in-game skills that are based on charisma. Charisma is a measure of personality, of belief in yourself and how well you can project that belief on to others.
It doesn't matter if you are particularly good looking, or rather unattractive, as that isn't what charisma measures, even if looks can help with one's initial impression. After that initial impression, though, your looks will play a much smaller part. I am sure we can all think of someone who is physically attractive but who you wouldn't believe a word they say, nor feel threatened were they to attempt to intimidate you, simply because they don't have the force of personality behind their words. An easy and perhaps universal example to use would be school teachers: there is generally at least one teacher you can remember who had little control over the classroom, and another whose pupils wouldn't have dared breathe without permission. Those teachers' appearances played little part in how they controlled a class, but their general presence was clear to anyone. And that is charisma.
The intimidate skill is based on charisma because it measures how well you can force your will on others, and precisely because neither the intimidate skill nor charisma directly relate to someone's appearance. It is the power of belief in yourself, and with that belief you can achieve more than a lack of confidence could. From this it can be seen why turning undead is based on charisma, as are a sorceror's spell-casting abilities and using a magical device. Charisma is a strong belief in something, normally yourself and your abilities, coupled with the confidence to get away with whatever you're doing.
The only thing I am left wondering is why Will saves are based on wisdom and not charisma.