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Disclaimer
This is not intended as a way to initiate a discussion of the right way to play charisma, or anything of that nature. There are plenty of ways that high/low charisma can be RPed.
What I wanted to say
There are alot of PCs running around with very low charisma scores. This should be taken into account in RP. I don't neccesarily care how, but think of something. This isn't a stat which simply represents how pretty/ugly your PC is. It relates to their presence and ability to influence others (this could be due to all sorts of aspects of the character). If your charisma is 8 (or dare I say it even 6), this should mean something about how they interact with others.
A bunch of appropriate skills (bluff, diplomacy, intimidate, perform, etc) could well act to counterbalance a low CHA in certain circumstances through applying learnt behaviours. Other PCs don't know your CHA stat, so it's up to you to convey it somehow (there's no right way to do this, but try to think of something!). I, on the other hand, do know people's charisma scores. If you have 8 charisma and a -1 bluff/diplomacy/intimidate skill then don't expect your attempts to lie to, sweet talk, and scare NPCs to be taken seriously unless there's some very convincing reason why they should be.
High charisma is also hard to RP, but I'm not posting so much about that as I am about people taking very low charisma scores and then largely ignoring this in their RP.
I'm not a stat/skill number fascist by any means. But, when such things are actually extreme then they ought to be taken into account.
If low charisma isn't intended to be part of your character's RP, then consider not taking it (do you really need that extra point of strength you got by reducing your charisma from average to totally crapful?).
On the flipside, I've seen some people doing a good job with their low charisma scores... but this is the exception rather than the rule (unlike with low wisdom and intelligence which people largely RP well).
There are two issues here I think. One is that it's probably the hardest stat to nail down in terms of what it should mean... the problem is then compounded by the fact that in terms of game mechanics it's pretty easy to do without in many situations.
This isn't meant to be telling people off or anything of that nature, I promise. I just suspect people may not be considering this, and it'd be cool if they did!
This is not intended as a way to initiate a discussion of the right way to play charisma, or anything of that nature. There are plenty of ways that high/low charisma can be RPed.
What I wanted to say
There are alot of PCs running around with very low charisma scores. This should be taken into account in RP. I don't neccesarily care how, but think of something. This isn't a stat which simply represents how pretty/ugly your PC is. It relates to their presence and ability to influence others (this could be due to all sorts of aspects of the character). If your charisma is 8 (or dare I say it even 6), this should mean something about how they interact with others.
A bunch of appropriate skills (bluff, diplomacy, intimidate, perform, etc) could well act to counterbalance a low CHA in certain circumstances through applying learnt behaviours. Other PCs don't know your CHA stat, so it's up to you to convey it somehow (there's no right way to do this, but try to think of something!). I, on the other hand, do know people's charisma scores. If you have 8 charisma and a -1 bluff/diplomacy/intimidate skill then don't expect your attempts to lie to, sweet talk, and scare NPCs to be taken seriously unless there's some very convincing reason why they should be.
High charisma is also hard to RP, but I'm not posting so much about that as I am about people taking very low charisma scores and then largely ignoring this in their RP.
I'm not a stat/skill number fascist by any means. But, when such things are actually extreme then they ought to be taken into account.
If low charisma isn't intended to be part of your character's RP, then consider not taking it (do you really need that extra point of strength you got by reducing your charisma from average to totally crapful?).
On the flipside, I've seen some people doing a good job with their low charisma scores... but this is the exception rather than the rule (unlike with low wisdom and intelligence which people largely RP well).
There are two issues here I think. One is that it's probably the hardest stat to nail down in terms of what it should mean... the problem is then compounded by the fact that in terms of game mechanics it's pretty easy to do without in many situations.
This isn't meant to be telling people off or anything of that nature, I promise. I just suspect people may not be considering this, and it'd be cool if they did!
Honestly, I just leave it up to people to figure it out themselves. I've heard everything from people thinking I got hit in the head to having something stuck in my throat. But I actually really like your Half-Orc, he's rather unique as far as Half-Orcs go. Not to mention he really does get on my nerves, so you're definitley doing something right as far as RP, lol.
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