Is intimidating someone too easy? An example being when outside of combat, someone can easily intimidate another into giving them all of their money, or telling the PC's where the magic item they seek is instead of going through the game.
It just seems to me like if the players manage to intimidate a main villain, then they can skip through a plot by forcing him to give up. Maybe the DC isn't the problem, but what you get by winning against it.
Dumb question: What's fiat mean?
Short answer: Yes. Intimidate DCs are too low, especially because it's trivial to optimize a character so that his Intimidate checks will essentially have 0 chance of failure. I think that adding +5 to the DC to force someone to act friendly is appropriate, and that's probably how I would houserule it. (I would keep the DC for demoralize the same.)
Important note: forcing someone to act friendly is not a standard action, it takes at least 1 minute. Therefore, it's almost impossible for the PCs to cow the BBEG into surrendering, unless you have the BBEG talk to them for at least one minute before he attacks them. Generally, the "influence attitude" action is impossible during combat - it's either before combat starts, or done after the opponent is taken captive.
The twist - yesterday, I died and was reincarnated as a gnome, giving me a -6 to my Intimidate checks (4 for size and 2 for losing the half-orc bonus). Now instead of auto-succeeding on my checks, I'll actually have to roll for them... and the table will get to experience the hilarity of a gnome running around trying to make his opponents run away in fear.
Skill description:
You can use this skill to frighten your opponents or to get them to act in a way that benefits you. This skill includes verbal threats and displays of prowess.
Check: You can use Intimidate to force an opponent to act friendly toward you for 1d6 × 10 minutes with a successful check. The DC of this check is equal to 10 + the target’s Hit Dice + the target’s Wisdom modifier.
If successful, the target gives you the information you desire, takes actions that do not endanger it, or otherwise offers limited assistance. After the Intimidate expires, the target treats you as unfriendly and may report you to local authorities. If you fail this check by 5 or more, the target attempts to deceive you or otherwise hinder your activities.
Even if a person is sucsessfully intimadated, it can and will try to get back to the one who forced him to da something he did not realy want to. I case of robbery he will call some friends or the watch. In case of information, or lokation of items, he might report to a suppierior.
I do have a question of my own. English isn´t my native language. I don´t understand what the term "the target´s Hit Dice" encloses ?
Is it the kind of dice the target uses for rolling HP (e.g. d10 for a fighter) oder the number of hitdices it has ?
A 6th level character has 6 hit dice. The fighter's hit die is a d10.