In the goodsprings quest where you choose to help Ringo out, Easy Pete gives you dynamite if you know how to handle them i.e have the required explosives skill. it seems to me however that a character with high enough speech skills should be able to talk as though he knew explosives and thus convince Pete to hand them over.

it would make speech a little more useful if other such skill checks in dialogues could optionally be passed by one with a high enough speech skill. in the example above, there could be an additional conversation option for the player using his speech skill instead of explosives, with the same result. speech skill equivalent to the original skill requirement seems fair. so, since pete requires you to have explosives skill of 25 (?) before giving you dynamite, you'd also need a speech of (25) to convince him that you know how to handle explosives.

same goes for conversation options with attribute checks instead of skill checks. im not far enough into the game to know how often this might come up but even a few more uses for the speech skill would be worth it.

of course, if this has already been done, id appreciate someone pointing me in the right direction

I think this is a good idea. I wonder if the dialog checks can be altered easily with a script, or whether you'd have to trawl through each line of dialog to alter the speech checks, the dialog editor in the GECK seems to take forever to load anything.

The speech bluffs should be pretty freakin' high, because it's usually plainly obvious that someone doesn't know what they're talking about to someone who does.

Also... Speech not useful? I have encountered more Speech checks than any other skill/attribute check in dialog. Speech is hardly limited in use.

well, i havent gotten far enough into the game to know that. was running off what i knew from FO3.

anyway, i still think it could use a boost since other skills save maybe barter are still more useful, or use anytime types while speech is limited to conversations.

also, im still leaning towards speech bluffs being just equal to the orig skill check since lower skill checks means its also easier to bluff through. of course if it were possible to make it so that the difference between the skill of the PC and the person they're trying to bluff is taken into consideration, so much the better.

Speech is quite useful, I'd say. It has lot's of dialogue checks and there quite a few where you can use it in lieu of another check. It also allows some non-violent quest resolutions. It's really not as useless as you think.
I'd say unless you plan to shoot your way out of everything it's hard to pass up on speech.

That will essentially make bonafide skill checks pointless. Speech is already a pretty important skill this time around and a strongly recommended stat to keep high no matter the play style, and to be able to supplant any other skill by simply matching the skill level would make it massively overpowered. Speech skill != http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/InstantExpert.

Odds are that there's a Speech check route through a set of dialog anyway as well as other skill or attribute checks.

again, was going off what i knew from FO3 and what little of NV ive played thru. :tongue:

wasnt advocating speech=instant expert. but im guessing there are other instances like the aforementioned Easy Pete conversation where it seemed like you chouldve been able to bluff thru it. bona fide skill checks that actually make the PC apply his skills wont be affected. just the ones like Pete's when the PC isnt actually made to do something but just asked about it.

though from what's been said by you guy's who've certainly played thru much more than i have, there might not actually be enough of bluff-able conversations to make it worth the effort.

It would make an awful lot more sense to play more than a few hours of the game before making suggestions. Vegas is littered with Speech checks, the earlier wasteland sections not so much.

Maybe an idea for some "perks" for the "unlimiter" type mods:
Speech= 125 (you can use speech to bluff past other skill checks in dialogue)
Speech= 150 (You can convince weak enemies to grovel and beg for mercy instead of fighting)
Speech= 175 (You can talk any faction into being neutral to you again)
Speech= 200 (you sew the seeds of dissent in your enemies. Enemies regularly turn on each other when in combat with you)