Quote:
Originally Posted by Bruno
I thought it rather was the point: you defeat an "Impossible" situation by using complimentary skills to change the situation. Otherwise, trying to sell sand to a random Saudi billionaire isn't going to go anywhere, and I think calling it "Impossible" is fair.
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I frankly don't think -10 is the "cap" for "impossible-ness", particularly in a game where characters might actually have Transcendent appearance, Charisma 5, Smooth Talker 4, and a net Fast Talk skill of 35.
-10 is an arbitrary number; it works just as well as -50 in lower skill level games. If skill levels are in the 10-12 range, it's immaterial if the penalty is -10 or -50, and -10 is a nice number. But there are things which really are different kinds of impossible, and cranking the penalty up from -10 is relevant in games with higher skill levels floating around.
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In actually impossible situations, I wouldn't apply penalties; any finite penalty suggests that you could do it if you were just good enough. I would just say, "you fail," or, "you can't do that." I suppose you could call that a penalty of aleph sub null if you wanted to be cute.
In social interaction situations, the GM has the right to say, "The guards don't respond to your attempt to talk them into letting you go," or even, "The guards beat you to a pulp and throw you back into your cell." It's just not a given that social skills or ordinary social advantages such as appearance can always work.