Do you prefer to fight your way through encounters or do you use your guile?

I know it's a video game thing, but the triad of Diplomacy, Stealth, and Combat has always been an interesting dynamic for me primarily because it comes with the implication that the other two are fall back plans in case your preferred option doesn't work.

I like to use a little bit of both, but it depends on the situation. After all, nothing sucks worse than trying to subtle approach, failing and getting stomped because you weren't prepared for a fight.

Only correct answer

But totally guile. Violence is a last resort

Guile, because when it fails you can always resort to combat, but if combat fails you're fucked

I can see why, your massive fedora must get in the way

Type up the adventures and regale us friend, we need something to read while we wait for Shoggy to be not poor.

Not that guy, but I think he makes a valid point for some systems. In a high lethality system, dropping your chances of combat is the most reliable means of raising your life expectancy. Shadowrunners certainly don't want to fight, and neither do Call of Cthulu investigators

Guile is a great way to make your situation worse.

This guy gets it, going into an event or suituation with only one route or plan is dodgy because well you never know what could fucking happen during your adventure

At the same time, that work may be better suited to funneling the effort into being stealthy for those systems. This is, in part, because the Corp you just robbed may not be willing to talk yet or talking to cultists of things beyond comprehension can lead to bad times.

I'd never use violence. I save up all my violence for when I need it.

I also invest all the spoils in future violence.

Violence is always an option, but there is always a better way.

Came here to make sure that this was posted.
Good work user.

Well it is a game so violence of course. I don't need to role play not fighting as that is pretty much par for the course. I tend to play Fighters, Evokers, or militant Paladins/Clerics.

There are always exceptions, of course.

Depends, even for a single character. Solving problems without violence is preferable, but not mandatory, even for such lethal game as DH. Guile mistakes are even deadlier than fight and can cause planetary civil wars, riots, pissed off rogue traders, pissed off inquisitors, etc.

Open up with guile and then strike down with combat when the enemy is most vulnerable!

...Unless the guile works well enough we have another ally. I loooove recruiting followers!

both

first guile, then force.

>use camo cloaks, grapnal lines, and sound suppressors to sneak into the enemy position in the dead of night with an autocannon and two grenade launchers
>at dawn, open up

>encounters
This literally just exists in D&D. In every other game, there's a reason that violence happens, and there is no alien "kill or be killed all the time" binary that accompanies it.

Violence is always the right answer.
There ain't no problem in this world or the next that can't be solved by an excessive amount of violence.

It depends on the character I'm playing, but on the whole, guile. It's a fun challenge to try to outsmart someone in the best way possible.
>A con man leaves his mark angry. A con artist leaves him smiling.

VIOLENCE IS ALWAYS THE ANSWER
IF VIOLENCE DOESNT SOLVE IT YOU DIDNT USE ENOUGH VIOLENCE
MURDERHOBO4LYFE

Both. Sometimes being clever is what works, other times you need to fight.

Though I thoroughly enjoy both, being a rusemaster is definitely my favorite.

Someone should stat him while we're all here.
>inb4 owlbear

There's a time and a place for both, really. But that guy is acting really insufferable about it.

Personally, "guile vs fightan" really depends on what kind of character I'm playing. Most of my characters will probably interact with enemies to some degree before the punches get thrown. But how long that takes and whether or not I throw the first punch depends entirely on the character.

Guile for everything until it stops working. Friendly PvP with the party to keep your edge for when guile stops working and also to have some combat for the large swaths of time that guile solves everything.

>This literally just exists in D&D. In every other game, there's a reason that violence happens, and there is no alien "kill or be killed all the time" binary that accompanies it.

This is completely fucking untrue. Violence for the sake violence depends entirely on the GM, not the system.

You know, I'm no fan of D&D but its anti-fans are the worst. You guys attribute basically every grievance you could possibly have with any game as some hard-line rule of D&D.

WS4 BS4 S3 T3 I4 A2 W2 LD9 5+
Not sure how to stat his physic blast thing.

I prefer to guile my way into fights

>Shadowrunners certainly don't want to fight

but then you take away the cool part about playing pretend in the setting

depends on the character. Some characters aren't clever enough to get what they want without violence.

For me as a player, depends on the night. Sometimes I'm tired and just want to roll dice and see the numbers. Beer and pretzels. But some of the time I'd prefer to come up with an elaborate scheme and bypass huge obstacles entirely.

But mostly it depends on the GM. Some will let you get away with murder, some will shut you down for even trying to parley. Know your GM.

I prefer guile, but I'm surprised how well some players work their way through situations with seduction.

With INT and WIS of enemies capped by GM score but inexplicably backed up by the GMs cosmic power to change or introduce details, I'd rather just fight and get over it.

Violence I am not a subtle person, yet I am the most subtle person in my group.

You do realise that most encounters in decent published adventures (random and non-random) are either completely non-violent (friendly NPCs and stuff) or can be bypassed stealthily and/or diplomatically?
The reason they happen is because, in a world full of bandits and monsters, travel is dangerous, so they only happen when the PCs are in a situation where it makes sense.
Also, D&D is the shit. Probably the 2nd best rpg I've got, but I haven't played all of them so I can't say for sure.
Recent editions beat almost everything else in terms of mechanics actually making sense and production values, and most GMs end up using frequent violence to maintain interest/threat in boring moments anyway - exactly what emcounters do.

You're oversimplifying it. D&D merely expects more travel through dangerous areas (a staple of the fantasy genre) than other rpgs and encounters are probably the best way they could have handled that mechanically.
Otherwise you could just walk into Mordor and that would have ruined LotR.
TL;DR some rpg campaigns involve fighting. Deal with it, faggot.

If I use guile I will build a reputation of using guile and people will expect guile from me making it harder to use, also my skills at applying force will degrade with lack of use.

If I use force I will build a reputation of using force and people will not expect guile from me making it easier to use, also my skills at applying force will improve with constant use.

So, logically, I should always fight out first and use guile as a last resort. Sort of like a Saturday morning cartoon hero. Those guys always win

At first I made combat characters when I was new to it, and the combat along with bad systems got stale unless the GM was great by spicing it up. Then I hit a rebound going to social/mental characters and trying to get into that arena despite not really being great at talking down situations, through, or around them. Pushing my comfort zone in order to get more comfortable with it.

Now? I build a character so that they can do something without a thumb up their ass when out of their element when setting allows, and take a different approach to that question. I look at our goals, the situation, and those involved before making the choice that best fits what I'm/the party is after. Sometimes a sword in the face solves the issue better than any number of plans, and in other cases where it would hurt us more then I prefer to look around outside of the box. Sounds a bit wishy washy but it comes down to:

I want W ->X prevents me from getting W-> How do I get W from X in the way that benefits me/associates the most or is least harmful? Does violent method Y get me W with the least fuss/repercussions? If not, then does Z do better than Y? If so then go with best fit, if not then pick the one that sounds the most fun/amusing. Boring doesn't make memories.

That depends on the character. One of them has gone through four or five identities and costumes the last 24 hours in-game, lying like it was going out of style. It pleases the Architect.

The other is a straightforward man whose response to the huge thing that was trying to start a monologue was to shoot it in the face with a plasma grenade. Last time something tried to monologue it summoned a daemon. Not taking that risk again.

>So hope like hell your captor is an evil man. A good man will kill you with hardly a word.

My current party are playing mostly kids, and one of them's too lawful and the other too naive and optimistic. The only one who actually wants to fight everything is the character who acts as the party face, support, and trap-disarmer. Party's mage tends to go either way.

GUILE
(archetype: Ex-Special Forces)

Juncture: Modern

*stats*

Body: 7
--Move: 7
--Strength: 7
--Constitution: 7
--Toughness: 7

Chi: 3
--Fortune: 3
--Fu: 4
--Magic: 3

Mind: 5
--Charisma: 5
--Intelligence: 5
--Perception: 5
--Willpower: 5

Ref: 6
--Agility: 6
--Dexterity: 6
--Speed: 6

*Skills*

Driving (Fighter Jets) +7 (13)
Guns +5 (11)
Info / Anti Shadowloo +5 (10)
Martial Arts +9 (13)
Sabotage +4 (9)
Leadership +2 (7)
Police +1 (6)

*Schticks*

--Chosen from Charlie's Style (renamed from: Path of the Brilliant Flame)
"Flash Kick" (renamed from: "Fire Strike")
"Shoulder Throw" (renamed from: "Fire Fist")
"Sonic Boom" (renamed from: "Eyes of Fire")

There, Guile, in Feng Shui. The system that does every fucking action hero.

I prefer the non-violent route. The problem is that many RPGs have a standard EXP and money reward for defeating enemies, but no such things for social encounters, stealth et cetera.

From a metagaming perspective, there's literally no reason not to choose the violent option. This is why non-violent options only work if you have a DM who takes the above into account end either makes violence not an (intelligent) option under certain circumstances, or makes both options equally valid.

Whats your favourite rpg then? Just curious not starting a flame ware btw

>mfw the subtle method is taking far too long