Talk:Counterfeint (3.5e Skill Trick)

Where's the Normal line?

Can't you bluff about not noticing something without this trick? --Foxwarrior (talk) 01:16, 31 October 2012 (UTC)

Technically, you can, but you have to kinda force yourself to do it, and that slight moment of hesitancy can make all the difference between fooling the target or getting busted. Duly noted, I put a little note on the "Normal" line. (I'm sure there are feats you could take or class features that could enable a counterbluff much like this skill trick does, though.) --Luigifan18 (talk) 01:46, 31 October 2012 (UTC)

Your Normal line doesn't reference any of the Normal rules. Is this Skill Trick supposed to also be a variant rule in disguise? --Foxwarrior (talk) 02:28, 31 October 2012 (UTC)

This skill trick lets you make a bluff as an instant reaction to an opponent's failed bluff, which works by pretending to fall for the bluff and using that to set your foe up for a huge fall. The best way to explain it is through examples. Let's take the fluff. A lobbyist representing a powerful corporation approaches a politician whose policies would be very harmful for his employers, and tries to bribe the politician to turn his back to his employers' illicit activities or otherwise alter his activities to the corporation's benefit. The politician has Counterbluff - he tricks the lobbyist into thinking he'll accept the deal, takes the money offered to him, then doesn't change his policies at all. This leaves the corporation doubly hurt, as the politician remains a thorn in its side and it lost the money it used to bribe him. To top it all off, the politician soon reveals that they tried to bribe him, and the corporation loses several customers as a result. It crashes and burns, bankrupted by its own dishonesty. Do you know how I could represent that mechanically? Unfortunately, I don't. --Luigifan18 (talk) 23:59, 31 October 2012 (UTC)

Nowhere in the rules does it say you're required to give up your secrets when you're surprised. You can represent what you want mechanically by using the normal SRD Bluff. --Foxwarrior (talk) 18:14, 1 November 2012 (UTC)