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Petition to make Charisma a non-dump Stat in SOD

epicrakshasasepicrakshasas Member Posts: 71
edited August 2015 in Feature Requests
Personally, I have always hated the usage of charisma in Baldurs Gate 1 and 2. You get out of the first dungeon, you find a ring that forever gives you a permanent 18 charisma.

Charisma also lacks a usefulness in most situations. Non-Violent solutions are always found through slightly clever dialogue choices, not checking your charisma stat.

Charisma shold be the go-to stat whether you convince an ogre to let you into the Shining Lady's camp or you are trying to rally the good citizens of Baldur's Gate.
What do you think? Should the existence of charisma be expanded on in SOD?

Comments

  • Brer_RabbitBrer_Rabbit Member Posts: 159
    edited August 2015
    Maybe go Fallout-style and have Charisma give small stat bonuses to your allies? Like higher Defense/Attack/Magic Att/Def rolls?
  • billbiscobillbisco Member Posts: 361
    It would be nice to see Charisma being meaningful ala PS:Torment. I agree with the OP completely. It would also be nice to get the PnP benefits of high Charisma: Henchmen, Hirelings, and Followers.
  • elminsterelminster Member, Developer Posts: 16,317
    edited August 2015
    Just wanted to give you a heads up and let you know that petitions (including those for SoD) are being put in the Feature Requests section now.
  • EdvinEdvin Member, Translator (NDA) Posts: 3,244
    I absolutely agree!

    I never play with charisma less than 15.
    I could not bear feeling that I'm ugly.
  • AstroBryGuyAstroBryGuy Member Posts: 3,437
    edited August 2015
    Charisma ≠ physical beauty. It is a character's persuasiveness, personal magnetism, and ability to lead.

    You don't have to be physically beautiful to have high charisma. Julius Caesar would have had a very high Charisma, but wasn't necessarily "good looking".

    I wonder if it's possible to script a modification to HAPPY.2DA based on CHARNAME's Charisma? Allow high charisma characters to keep NPCs at higher/lower reputations, while low Charisma scores make them more susceptible to leave.

    Of course, this would be rendered moot by the Ring of Human Influence found early in BG2. You'd perhaps want to convert it's power to just Charm Person.
    Post edited by AstroBryGuy on
  • EdvinEdvin Member, Translator (NDA) Posts: 3,244
    AstroBryGuy said:

    Charisma ≠ physical beauty. It is a character's persuasiveness, personal magnetism, and ability to lead.

    Nope :smiley:
    http://www.smackjeeves.com/images/uploaded/comics/6/3/6374288aaSmH6.jpg
    AstroBryGuy said:


    You don't have to be physically beautiful to have high charisma. Julius Caesar would have had a very high Charisma, but wasn't necessarily "good looking".

    Ignus = Charisma 3 (Charred corpse)
    Morte = Charisma 6 (Skull)

    Fall-from-Grace = Charisma 19 (Absolutely gorgeous woman)

    Given that max charisma for humans is 18, Fall-from-Grace must be even more legendary leader than Julius Caesar :blush:


    We all know that in the real world apply what you said at the beginning, but in the worlds FR is charisma (also) indicator of beauty.
  • SertoriusSertorius Member Posts: 172
    While I agree that physical beauty is not the same as charisma, you cannot say it does not play a role. People often get judged by their appearance before anything else, which is probably what is reflected in Reaction Adjustment.

    Also, I seem to recall that some character sheets from PnP divided charisma into two sub-stats, namely leadership & appearance.

    In general, I am opposed to dump stats of any kind, but that is just the PnP habits. I just get wrap my mind around a character who is in prime physical condition, but would basically be a drooling idiot, if the stats were to be roleplayed.
  • ZanathKariashiZanathKariashi Member Posts: 2,869
    edited August 2015
    that's part of why they added the optional traits system to some of the option supplements to help further define characters, with one or two traits with a minor benefit/penalty to help better define a character (ambidexterity being one of the stronger options since it reduced the penalty for doing things with a non-dominate hand by -2, including fighting with 2 weapons)

    A beautiful character gained a bonus to initial reaction adjustment, while an ugly one suffered a penalty, but once they could actually talk to a character, their actual charisma score could alter the initial assumption.

    Such as a beautiful character with low charisma could come off a extremely arrogant and vain individual that was nice to look at but abrasive to be around.

  • GrammarsaladGrammarsalad Member Posts: 2,582
    I have a vague memory of a "Comeliness" stat...
  • AstroBryGuyAstroBryGuy Member Posts: 3,437
    Grammarsalad said:

    I have a vague memory of a "Comeliness" stat...

    That was from 1st Edition. It was introduced in Unearthed Arcana.
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