Low Charisma

[Sojourn]

Yes, that was a great RP for all our characters. I grew tired of seing all the "Low INT" Half-Orcs and decided to play something different. Our conversation last night was extremely fun. I'ts times like those that allow me to better develop my character.

[ThePaganKing]

I have a bard and its very fun playing him. He has a 16 charisma without buffs and I basically play him how I think a bard would be, using his charisma to basically get him into or out of trouble!

He drinks, wenches, gambles, and then goes out and kills or just saunters around and calls women sexy

He actually told a female Paladin yesterday that she was sexy. She said "excuse me?" Then Elric said: You are a female, right. She said yes. You are pretty or some would say beautiful, right? She said yes. Then Elric said, well then, you are sexy. He smiled, then walked away.

Anyway, I find bards are the most versatile and fun characters I have played so far.

[sharringtonm]

What I have always done, and only for the Charisma Stat, is actually put it on my PC's description. For instance, If you examine Snow Hawk right now, it says CHA 16.

The reason I do this is to let other people figure out, themselves, how they wish to respond to my RP. This way I can RP however I want, and they can respond to it in whatever fashion they wish.

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.

See how Mach as a DM can alter and adjust how a NPC reacts to what you say based on your CHA skill? I try to duplicate the effect by doing that as well.

This works well even if you plan on taking CHA as a stat later on, because, truthfully, most (not all) people preplan their PCs all the way to level 20 and you can estimate your eventual CHA score and write that instead.

This is just a alternative method to help others respond to your CHA as they wish.

((Even someone with a CHA of 20 can be a high brow asshole. But having the CHA of 20 might make people cowtow to them instead of getting angry and fighting))

[nickbeat]

Yeah, my slave owning wizard Krang has a good Cha, but he is a total jerk and uses his influence to demand people to do what he asks. And failing that, Charm Person works for a good while!

[Dune]

Hm, I'd say charisma that gives minus abilities should either make your character very ugly or have no feeling, emotion or personality at all.

[nickbeat]

I dunno. You can still have a personality, just not one that really moves people to follow you. Chuck manson had a high charisma even though he was a wack job, but someone like Son of Sam, not so much.

Intelligence is sometimes enough; Stephen Hawking talks through a voice synthesizer and he is an uber nerd, but people still listen to the guy cuz he is hella smart. Also, wisdom is a factor in motivation. Someone with a high charisma might be able to describe in great detail the importance of a mission, but with a low Wisdom he might not even realize that the person he is talking to is actually the once responsible for the problem. I think the ultimate manipulator needs high stats in all the mental attributes really.

[Gairun]

A low charisma score does not make you ugly at all. Charisma rarely affects your actual appearance. There are alot of beautiful people that have zero personality.

Once again, charisma is your force of personality, it is not how smart you are, or what you actually look like.

[Peridan]

Hm, I'd say charisma that gives minus abilities should either make your character very ugly or have no feeling, emotion or personality at all.

No offense meant Dune, but I find that statement distasteful to say in the least.

I must respectfully disagree, and here's why: having character defects such as low charisma or low intelligence or any such character flaw makes the character that much more of a personality. If a character had 15 in every stat, I'd find him or her to be one of the most boring characters around (this is assuming that the stats are roleplayed as such). Such a lack in variety makes for a boring personality, because you cannot play with your character's differences.

The larger the differences in stats, the more opportunity there is for very good RP.

That's why I think taking a "dump" stat is not really such a great advantage in the long run. After all, there is not much difference between 16 and 17 strength. It's an opportunity to make your character unique and interesting, to make them more of a personality rather than less.

After all, if I ran into someone who had great stats all around, I'd think that they'd be pretty average.

[nickbeat]

YES! My next character is going to have all 14s, and be incredibly dull and flat. He will be a caricature of the stereotypical generic adventurer. You won't even know what class he is!

MUAHAHAHA!

[Peridan]

.........thanks Nickbeat


=P

[undeadsteak]

Meh, average stats all around don't necessarily mean boring. The person can still have an interesting personality.

[Peridan]

Yeah, but to discount low charisma as no personality is just wrong. I think that more flaws make more of a personality, that's all.

[wangxiuming]

We all love Samael, Peridan, low charisma notwithstanding :P

[Peridan]

grrr.... missing the point! Lol

I'm saying that any stat can be used as such. But then that'd be moving away from the main discussion. Anywho, I'm done. =)

[Tupoun]

I think that my 6 CHA points give me such a personality as I need. Why:

- my popularity between halflings and their friends grows up every day,
- it's a waste of your time to describe you my elfs meetings,
- I almost lie to anybody I meet (starts with the name), my "bluff" attempts almost end in the way, that my opposite knows at once, that I'm a liar,
- my talent for diplomatic reason of the situation leeds in the most cases to conflict,
- when I give some order I mostly hear "no thank you" or "no way" which causes next problems,
- etc.

But like I've written into the character description I'm a very pretty dwarf (and I am a very pretty dwarf! Someone wants to oposse me?).