Ability to Choose Party Spokesperson

jalden

The best tank in the party and the person with the highest charisma often aren't the same person. There are a lot of situations where the person in front automatically speaks without there being a chance to select another character. Because of this, it would more convenient if selecting who automatically speaks wasn't the same as selecting who fights on the front lines.

Agree/disagree?

CaptRory

Oh, definitely agree. So often I have to try to quick pause and rearrange where everyone is standing so my PC talks to them.

HaHaCharade

Interesting idea, but I tend to have different people talk at different times depending on the siutation... not just basing it on Charisma (unless its a favor-based reaction encounter of course). It isn't *that* big of a deal to select someone else and walk them up.

ajwz

Nope. Realistically, the conversations and choice you make in the game shouldn't be about number cunching. They should reflect how you or your character think and feel.

It's kind of a moot point anyway, since very very few conversation choices in the game are meaningfully or indeed cosmetically dependent upon charisma

jalden

@ajwz

ajwz said:

Nope. Realistically, the conversations and choice you make in the game shouldn't be about number cunching. They should reflect how you or your character think and feel.

It might be better from a number crunching perspective, but I think it's also better from a realism perspective. Maybe your neutral evil bard who could con the crown off of a king wouldn't be walking in front of everyone. But as it is, that's where the bard(or any high charisma pc) goes if you want the bard to do the talking.

ajwz said:

It's kind of a moot point anyway, since very very few conversation choices in the game are meaningfully or indeed cosmetically dependent upon charisma

Very true. There aren't many important charisma checks which makes it significantly less important. And it's pretty easy to switch up the party order before you buy stuff.

paulsifer42

ajwz said:

Nope. Realistically, the conversations and choice you make in the game shouldn't be about number cunching.

It doesn't come from a number crunching standpoint, it comes from a realism standpoint. If my group of adventurers went up to someone, the one who spoke the best would be our spokesperson. Honestly, if the game were more realistic everyone would have a chance to say something. As it is, it makes sense for the moral leader of the group to talk, not necessarily the tank.

Permidion_Stark

I think the PC should always be the default spokesperson of the party. After all it the PC's quest and he or she is the leader of the party, choosing who can join or leave. Of course if the PC wants someone else to do the talking - so they can get discounts in stores or whatever - they can nominate them to do so. But when an NPC initiates dialogue with the party I think it should always be the CHARNAME they address.

Avenger_teambg

I liked NWN2 where you could switch between partymembers if they had something interesting to interject. A feature like that would be fun.

Communard

Permidion_Stark said:

I think the PC should always be the default spokesperson of the party. After all it the PC's quest and he or she is the leader of the party, choosing who can join or leave. Of course if the PC wants someone else to do the talking - so they can get discounts in stores or whatever - they can nominate them to do so. But when an NPC initiates dialogue with the party I think it should always be the CHARNAME they address.

I don't agree. If a random denizen of Baldur's gate saw a group of people containing, for example, a frail-looking Gnome in robes and Branwen in shining full plate they are probably going to address Branwen. The PC doesn't always look particularly heroic or like a leader.

CaptRory

Communard said:

Permidion_Stark said:

I think the PC should always be the default spokesperson of the party. After all it the PC's quest and he or she is the leader of the party, choosing who can join or leave. Of course if the PC wants someone else to do the talking - so they can get discounts in stores or whatever - they can nominate them to do so. But when an NPC initiates dialogue with the party I think it should always be the CHARNAME they address.

I don't agree. If a random denizen of Baldur's gate saw a group of people containing, for example, a frail-looking Gnome in robes and Branwen in shining full plate they are probably going to address Branwen. The PC doesn't always look particularly heroic or like a leader.

A lot of that is body language. If it looks like the party is all looking to one person for direction, one is more likely to address that person all things being equal. Now, let's say the approacher is a halfling and is feeling intimidated they might go to the halfling party member if they were more comfortable talking with them.

ryu1

In regards to realism: If you designate a spokesperson with the highest charisma, what would happen if that same person had an intelligence level of just 3?

Surely you would be lucky to even get a full sentence out of the person!

klatu

I agree with this request completely. Also of note is that the same ought to apply to shopping. IIRC, shopkeepers always ONLY consider the PC's charisma score, and not the score of the NPC doing the actual shopping, when calculating a discount.

CaptRory

klatu said:

I agree with this request completely. Also of note is that the same ought to apply to shopping. IIRC, shopkeepers always ONLY consider the PC's charisma score, and not the score of the NPC doing the actual shopping, when calculating a discount.

Really? I thought they checked the score of the person talking to them, or maybe the person in the top slot.

klatu

@CaptRory, I just tested this using the Ring of Human Influence in BG2, which sets charisma to 18.
If the PC is wearing it, prices go down, no matter who talks to the shopkeep.
If an NPC is wearing it, prices stay the same, no matter who talks to the shopkeep.
I don't have any mods installed besides G3 Fixpack and Tweakpack, and TobEx. So perhaps one of these mods is causing this behaviour.
Perhaps someone can test it with a completely clean installation.

CaptRory

Wow, that changes everything if it holds up for a vanilla installation.

Jalily

Prices depend on the Charisma of whoever's in the top slot. I've tested it.

Brude

There's two different instances where CHA is checked in the original game:

- Vendors will give a discount if the party leader's CHA is high enough. If your PC is a beautiful mage and Minsc is in that top spot, you ain't getting no discount.

- For NPC reactions, it matters who actually goes up and does the talking. If I'm a fugly dwarf fighter and I approach Eldoth or Minsc, they'll tell me to get lost. But if Imoen talks to them 2 seconds later, they'll join the party. In this case, it makes no difference who is in the top spot.

Like Jalily, I also tested this because I didn't remember how it worked way back when.

klatu

Thanks for testing it again. I didn't change party slots when I tried it.
Still, though, it's quite unintuitive. The barter screen even shows a little icon on the portait of the NPC doing the shopping, so you would expect that NPC's charisma to be relevant.

mlnevese

Whoever is in the first slot is considered the leader of the party. I think it's actually very natural to consider the leader's charisma when dealing with others.

CaptRory

Alrighty, thanks for checking this out guys. Very cool.

Awong124

Sometimes you get different options and responses based on the class of the person doing the talking. So it would be nice if say, you get special dialogue options for a Paladin, but your PC isn't a Paladin, but you have a Paladin in the party, you should be able to let your Paladin do the talking.

ARKdeEREH

I agree with any ideas for expanding the game in ways that make it easier for users to do what they want, but I personally haven't paid much attention to characters' charisma. I have whoever I think will get the most interesting responses do the talking. Usually that's Viconia because she's drow. As a result (and to show her more respect) Viconia is always listed first in my party. If anyone responds negatively to her they tend to meet a fiery end shortly afterwards.

Alternatively, you could have your tank character put on that ring that sets the character's charisma to 18. This would solve your problem even if the game never changes.