My issue with social conflicts in 5e D&D

I was musing on twitter about social conflicts in 5e, and how I think there’s a big disconnect with how they intersect with NPCs and Monsters, and thought I’d bring it to the blog to expand on it. I love twitter, but it’s not great for lengthy musins like this one…

In 5e, social encounters between PCs and NPCs are presented as an opportunity for PCs to use their three main socials skills (Intimidation, Persuasion, and Deception), along with their Charisma attribute. They use their skills against a system that presents NPCs as having three attitude levels toward the PCs: Friendly, Indifferent, and Hostile, and leaves it up to the DM to decide the starting attitude of the NPC or Monster.

It then tells DMs to ask for a CHA check (with an appropriate skill if it applies) against a DC on a table reflecting the NPCs starting attitude. The…