PDA

View Full Version : How to roleplay with 4 Cha



Half-orc Bard
2010-12-01, 08:40 PM
My friend and I both started playing druids with 4cha, but nobody knows how we should roleplay. We all hate it when fighters with 8int act overly intelligent. Now how would someone with 4cha act. Like can they not talk or something.

Doughnut Master
2010-12-01, 08:42 PM
Growl and Hiss.

RebelRogue
2010-12-01, 08:42 PM
Low Cha like this indicates very low self-esteem and next to zero social skills.

Maho-Tsukai
2010-12-01, 08:44 PM
Yeah, but around that low they would be well beyond the " low self esteem introvert with no social skills." Really, with a cha that low the "growl and hiss" comment seems rather accurate as the 4 cha range is around that of some animals, or perhaps even lower. I have to check animal stats again to see. However, as a counter argument, you could say the ability to speak is based on int instead of cha, in which case a 4 cha character may have the ability to talk but just would be utterly horrible at saying the correct thing.

Half-orc Bard
2010-12-01, 08:45 PM
Growl and Hiss. Well we are turtle people. Also is it a stupid idea that we made identical druids. We just wanted to play the wonder twins.

TKB
2010-12-01, 08:45 PM
Think of the most anti social, most abrasive, most terrible liar, most uninteresting, most annoying, most unfriendly, most impolite, most GOD DAMN IT WILL YOU JUST STOP F@CKING TALKING I HATE YOU AND ALL YOU REPRESENT ON JUST A PERSONAL BASIS!!! person you can think of.

You might be close.

Woodsman
2010-12-01, 08:46 PM
Yeah, but around that low they would be well beyond the " low self esteem introvert with no social skills." Really, with a cha that low the "growl and hiss" comment seems rather accurate as the 4 cha range is around that of some animals, or perhaps even lower. I have to check animal stats again to see.

Animals usually have higher Cha than Int. Cha is defined as a measure of self-awareness, if I remember right.

Halae
2010-12-01, 08:46 PM
this is a common misconception. charisma is your force of personality, and therefore how often people notice you. the lower your charisma is, the less people notice you and when they do notice you, like you. Therefore, your character with 4 charisma could be intelligent, cheery, friendly, and essentially there's just something about him that people ignore or don't like. whenever he draws attention to himself, people perceive his actions in the worst ways

Maho-Tsukai
2010-12-01, 08:52 PM
I always thought "self-awareness" was the domain of wisdom, not charisma. Charisma to me was about your ability to interact with others in a favorable way, how appealing you are to them, your social skills and overall your "force of personality" To me anyway, self-awareness covers things like knowing your own personality, your own flaws, your own weaknesses and strengths and that overall spiritual concept of knowing the "real you" all of which, in my book, fall under wis, not cha. You can still be exceptionally charismatic and have little insight into who you are as a person. I mean, look at Hitler, he had great charisma yet in his mind saw himself as the messiah of the Aryan race rather then the cruel dictator his actions clearly showed him to be. However, I may be confusing "self-awareness" in the spiritual/insight sense with the more mundane, literal use of that term.

Cealocanth
2010-12-01, 08:56 PM
Here's how I would do an NPC that way;

Player: "Hey, what'cha up to?"

NPC: "Hi! Not much right now, actually." -goes back to work-

Player: "Uhh, excuse me?"

NPC: "WHAT! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT!"

Tengu_temp
2010-12-01, 08:57 PM
It's hard to roleplay such low charisma without becoming a caricature. But then, if it's not a completely serious game, what's wrong with that? Be either completely disgusting and unlikable, or a total shrinking violet who has trouble communicating even in simple, everyday scenarios. Or combine them both. Just make sure not to be annoying to the other players - play your character's lack of social skills either for drama or for comedy.

LOTRfan
2010-12-01, 08:57 PM
Player: "Uhh, excuse me?"

NPC: "WHAT! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT!"

I don't know why, but I found this very amusing. May I sig it?

TKB
2010-12-01, 09:00 PM
Player: "Hey, what'cha up to?"

NPC: "Hi! Not much right now, actually." -goes back to work-

Player: "Uhh, excuse me?"

NPC: "WHAT! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT!"


May I sig this as well?

Tengu_temp
2010-12-01, 09:04 PM
I don't know why, nut I found this very amusing.

Possibly because it reminds you of this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1leDAwjtto).

RebelRogue
2010-12-01, 09:10 PM
Possibly because it reminds you of this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1leDAwjtto).
Is it a good or a bad sign that I knew what video this would be the moment I saw your post?

Back on topic: since the character(s) is a druid, I guess he has a high Wis score. This means that not only is the character a chronically depressed wallflower nobody notices, he's also painfully aware of it. Rather tragic, really.

Tvtyrant
2010-12-01, 09:13 PM
Hinata, or some extremely creepy person who everyone dislikes (leans in really close when talking, looks into people's eyes for way too long, openly looks down women's shirts, etc).

Halae
2010-12-01, 09:18 PM
Back on topic: since the character(s) is a druid, I guess he has a high Wis score. This means that not only is the character a chronically depressed wallflower nobody notices, he's also painfully aware of it. Rather tragic, really.

oh gods, we've discovered my stats...

Coidzor
2010-12-01, 09:25 PM
He has to tie a pork chop to himself to get his animal companion to play with him. :smallamused:

Gavinfoxx
2010-12-01, 09:28 PM
Play him as somewhere on the Autism spectrum maybe?

Being on the spectrum myself, I'd basically say, in my case, it's a penalty to wis, cha, and a number of social skills, especially "Sense Motive".

tbarrie
2010-12-01, 10:03 PM
Low Cha like this indicates very low self-esteem and next to zero social skills.

<cheap joke>In other words, your typical gamer just needs to be themself.</cheap joke>

But yeah, I'd agree with the autism suggestion. Charisma of 3 or 4 is way past low social skills and well into "mental disorder".

Arceius
2010-12-01, 10:12 PM
A charisma score that low really will take both GM and Player effort to pull of realistically. Charisma is your "force of personality" or, how much people like you. I can be measured by how much a person is liked by someone with no external stimuli altering that. So, people with high Cha are pretty much automatically liked, they seem personable and many are willing to do what they say. People with low Cha are usually disliked and can often be obnoxious. Technically, you can be the nicest guy in the world and still have a low Cha, people will just... not like you.

An example of this is to think of someone you don't like, who you don't know. You really have no reason to dislike them, because you don't know much about them, it's just that something about them rubs you the wrong way. So 4 Cha would play something along the lines of you being socially unaware, can't connect with people, don't understand how other people think/feel and are always stepping on toes because of it, and your GM will have to play all the NPC's where they just automatically don't really like you.

Should be an interesting experience. I have trouble playing low Int/Wis (my personal strong stats), I just... hard to think that way.

Doughnut Master
2010-12-01, 11:15 PM
Personally, I consider not only personality, but looks to be a big part of charisma. So you may be nice, but if you look like a monster, people aren't going to take very kindly to you. Makes it a little easier to play as well.

When you said druids with low cha, the immediate thought that came to my mind would be that you're practically feral. If you're going wonder-twins, perhaps you two could even have developed your own language. Although, I don't know what turtle sounds like.

Dr.Epic
2010-12-01, 11:16 PM
Speak very loud and don't be subtle.

nolispe
2010-12-01, 11:20 PM
Why the **** would I tell you? Wow, you really are stupid, why couldn't you see... Huh. You know that your really, really ugly, right?
...
Goes down really well with royalty, of course.

megabyter5
2010-12-01, 11:24 PM
Charisma, in it's most basic form, it is the power to assert the difference between yourself and your surroundings. That is why someone whose charisma is drained to zero is comatose and unable to realize that they are in fact, a living being with the ability to do things. With only 4 charisma, you are of course aware of this, but you don't consider it an important thing.

If someone is talking at you, assume there's someone behind you and they're talking to them.

If you do something right, assume someone else deserves credit or that anyone could have done it if they wanted to.

Even if you are one of the most powerful people on the planet, think of yourself as an unremarkable peon that no one cares about.

When the party bard composes the ballad of your party's adventures, he will leave you out of it, even if you were the top contributor. He's not being mean, he just legitimately forgot about you. Don't confront him about it, though. You would have forgotten you were there too, if you were someone else.

Coidzor
2010-12-01, 11:24 PM
A Rodney Dangerfield that isn't aware of how he's getting no respect? Or that plus a complete lack of social graces.

So basically a Butt Monkey.

WarKitty
2010-12-02, 12:11 AM
I've looked at the same thing before. Like RebelRouge pointed out, you have presumably high wisdom. So you are probably aware of how others react to you.

I find that feral can be the best way to go. Maybe your characters never really learned language well, so their speech is awkward and difficult. Depending on int, possibly a more reactive than proactive character, prefers to let things happen and deal with them.

randomhero00
2010-12-02, 12:31 AM
Just play a quiet jerk. Pretty simple really.

Half-orc Bard
2010-12-02, 09:19 PM
I've looked at the same thing before. Like RebelRouge pointed out, you have presumably high wisdom. So you are probably aware of how others react to you.

I find that feral can be the best way to go. Maybe your characters never really learned language well, so their speech is awkward and difficult. Depending on int, possibly a more reactive than proactive character, prefers to let things happen and deal with them.
Yes the hole Feral thing would work if I didn't have 15int

randomhero00
2010-12-02, 09:42 PM
Yes the hole Feral thing would work if I didn't have 15int

Be really snide and sarcastic then. Don't realize when subtle comments are directed at you. Constantly make a jerk of yourself (that's what high int low cha says to me at least).

WarKitty
2010-12-02, 10:40 PM
Be really snide and sarcastic then. Don't realize when subtle comments are directed at you. Constantly make a jerk of yourself (that's what high int low cha says to me at least).

High wisdom though. You can make sense motive checks checks easily. You ought to be catching those remarks.

Have you considered acquiring a speech impediment?