ICEWIND DALE 2: Charisma vs. Intelligence

MrGoodkat

One cool feature of IWD2 is that 'Intelligence' serves as a substitute for 'Charisma' in conversations - partially at least. You do miss out on some options though if you have high Intelligence but low Charisma.

What about the other way around? If I have 20 Charisma and 4 Intelligence, will I miss out on some conversation options?

I haven't tested it very far into the game yet, but at least in Targos high Charisma let's you give the "intelligent" answer even if you have only 4 Int. It's also quite obscure which conversation options actually depend on skills like 'Diplomacy', 'Intimidate' or 'Bluff' as they are not marked like in NWN for example.

Djimmy

"Swords not words!" which means "I don't know". But I want to know too.

deltago

There are different conversation paths for Charisma, Intelligence, and wisdom through out the game as well as for different races and classes.

IIRC, they only appear if you meet thr criteria, so the intelligence one maybe for wisdom.

The bluff, diplo and intimidate are not marked like in NWN because your character is rolling before the options are given unlile NWN which rolls after.

MrGoodkat

Ok but at the very least high ability scores are recognized but low ability scores are not directly penalized, right? As in you get a conversation options for exceptionally high Intelligence but not for example low Intelligence.

In NWN for example if you had an Intelligence below 9 you were dumb as a rock, you couldn't even speak normally. People you met also commented that you don't look very smart, etc.

jjstraka34

Charisma is, sadly, just a dump stat in almost every Infinity Engine game. I sometimes ramp it up to a reasonable amount for my lead character or a Bard for RP purposes, but in general, the only thing it's going to do is save you some money at merchants, which is hardly ever an issue after the first couple levels.

Deltharis

@deltago‌ By "rolling" do you mean simply checking the stats, or are there some conversation options that you need to be lucky to see?

deltago

checking the stats
NWN rolls though

MrGoodkat

@jjstraka34: That's not how it is in IWD2 and that's not how it works in the NWN titles.

First of all, Charisma has real RP value. You don't just get small bits and pieces that change based on your Charisma. In fact most dialogues will be different with high Charisma or other stats in the case of IWD2.

Charisma in IWD2 actually gives you tons of experience if used correctly. It opens up ways of dealing with situations that weren't possible before, usually ones that give you a real XP advantage. You can also find out things during conversations that you otherwise couldn't - on those occasions you usually get bonus XP too.

In addition to that your Charisma modifier is added or *subtracted* from skills that depend on it. Paladins also get their Charisma modifier added to their saving throws, Clerics have a stronger 'Turn Undead' ability, an so on and so forth.

Not to mention that Sorcerers and Bards have Charisma as their main casting attribute much like Wizards depend on Intelligence for their spellcasting.

This isn't AD&D or 2nd edition we're talking about. IWD2, NWN, NWN2, etc. - those games all use 3rd editions rules or later in which Charisma is a very useful ability.

No offense, but why do you post an answer to this thread when you obviously have no clue how things work in IWD2?

Deltharis

Disregard this, brain fart...