Using Intimidate and/or Diplomacy to kill enemies

Question

This question came up during another question regarding the use of cursed items as offensive weapons; however, I think there's a more general question that's otherwise identical:

If a PC X succeeds on an intimidate/diplomacy check against NPC Y, and proceeds to instruct Y to perform some seemingly harmless action, does Y have to do it? What if the action will actually result in Y's swift and messy demise, though Y would have no obvious way of knowing?

Like I said before, I'm try not to play rules lawyer, just curious about this. Some examples follow:

1. Cursed item: PC intimidates enemy, instructs enemy to interact with item. Enemy is temporarily friendly towards PC, uses item, and suffers curse.
2. Trap: PC persuades enemy, instructs enemy to move into position. Once in position, PC springs the trap.

In both cases, an objection might be that you'd need to use bluff if the NPC asked for an explanation. This seems to be easily countered:

1. Intimidate: Because I said so; Don't test me; Do it or I kill you.
2. Diplomacy: I though we had a deal; Don't you trust me; All he cool kids are doing it.
3. Even bluff: It's a surprise!

One addendum: in many, likely most circumstances, there's some skill check the NPC could try to realize the danger. Some of these are passive - perception, sense motive for bluff, etc. - and some are active - casting, etc. The premise is that the treachery is something that gets by passive detection. If the NPC were in the habit of casting detect and dispel magic, remove curse, etc. on his boots every morning, then your cursed boots would also need to beat that; however, for most people that aren't dysfunctionally paranoid, having a friend (or boss) tell you to do something (apparently) harmless isn't going to prompt you to be very cautious.

Answer 1

I would say Y has to do it since Y does not see or know the danger involved in doing what you are suggesting. The only thing that I can see wrong here is that if Y somehow knows that what you are suggesting is 'eventually' dangerous to him.

I base this on the description of charm/dominate where it clearly states that the effected will perform any action that does not pose a threat to his own health. Literal copy of the RAW (I used the 3.5e rules here since they offer a nice example which the Pathfinder version does not) for charm person:

An affected creature never obeys suicidal or obviously harmful orders, but a charmed fighter, for example, might believe you if you assured him that the only chance to save your life is for him to hold back an onrushing red dragon for “just a few seconds.”

The suggestion that you made to have Y move to a certain square sure seems to be a lot less dangerous than what is described above, so if it works with charm it should work with dominate/diplomacy in my opinion.

Answer 2

"Have to" is a strong term and makes me hesitate a bit. I don't have the books handy, but I don't think diplomacy or even intimidate would really force an NPC to do something they really didn't want to.

But would they probably do it? Yes. The action seems innocuous and the PC has just passed a relevant skill check to persuade them (in one fashion or another) to do it. They would most likely do it unless they either did notice something to indicate it wasn't innocuous or there was something else in their nature that would make them hesitate more than normal.

As SSD said in the comment, just think about them as though they were people.

Answer 3

Diplomacy? No. It does not allow you to "instruct" an NPC to do something, and it is not equivalent to Charm Person.

You can use this skill to persuade others to agree with your arguments, to resolve differences, and to gather valuable information or rumors from people. This skill is also used to negotiate conflicts by using the proper etiquette and manners suitable to the problem.

Intimidate? Yes.

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.