| tsumechk |
In the bluff skill section it lists various modifiers to your bluff skill check based on how believable your lie is. I've always worked off the assumption that you just pick the one that fits and use that. Recently I've had a GM who thinks you take all the penalties/bonuses from that chart and add them together (in other words, if a lie is unlikely and far-fetched it's a -15 penalty). And he did specifically say this is what he's doing saying what we got the penalties for ("The lie is unbelievable, and the lie is far-fetched so you take a -15 penalty."), not a variety of circumstantial penalties.
So my question is pretty simple: which is correct? I'd like citations if at all possible (citations make any situation like this easier) so I can bring this up at the next session. I didn't bring it up at the table since the situation didn't particularly matter, but would like it resolved for future reference.
To me it seems pretty cut and dry - the ladder of modifiers is just that, a ladder. You go up or down on it and use the appropriate modifier, not the appropriate modifier plus all other possible penalties from the chart. Unfortunately I'm unable to find any specific place in the book or online that makes this clear. This keeps it just ambiguous enough that I'm unsure. Maybe every group I've ever been in is wrong.