Anti-Optimization: Entertainer with 8 Charisma

[Irda Ranger]

Just for fun, I'm making a High Elf Entertainer Rogue (Arcane Trickster) with a dump stat in Charisma.

He's really optimized for Arcane Trickster (good DEX and INT) and might pick up some Bladesinger levels at some point. Those two sub-classes are really complementary and Green Flame Blade stacks with Sneak Attack, while Bladesinging's movement bonus stacks with Cunning Action. It's a really awesome combo.

I just think it's hilarious that he's an Entertainer, but he's terrible. His entertainment specialty is being a stage magician, which is how he learned to pick locks (for escape acts), be stealthy (hide his movement from the audience), and do sleight of hand. He's technically very good, but has anti-charisma. Every time he tries to ad lib an act or interact with the audience he ends up insulting someone and getting booed off stage.

I'm going to play him as sort of a smarter GOB Bluth, with Neil DeGrasse Tyson's "I'm actually a real scientist who is deigning to explain this to you" boorishness.

 

[superstition]

Isn't an 8 just one step below average?

There are enough successful entertainers with below average charisma. All they need is the right management and production values.

I would think someone who is terrible because of a charisma score would have a 6. Part of the trouble with this comes from not separating performance skills from charisma. A person can be an outstanding musical performer and have a charisma for social interactions of 4. Charisma is too much of a hodgepodge stat. It tries to be too many things at once. I think this is a legacy weakness of the D&D model. D&D was not much about interactions in the beginning so charisma as a one-size-fits-all stat was more workable.

 

[Eltab]

There are IRL entertainers and stars who cannot interact with individuals (or reporters) one-on-one, they have to let their staff do it and/or issue press releases. But they are just fine on stage doing their thing. So yes, that can work.

Mel Gibson - in manic mode - comes to mind.
Barbara Streisand earned the meme "Shut up and sing!" doing a variant of this.

 

[Irda Ranger]

There are enough successful entertainers with below average charisma. All they need is the right management and production values.

Yup! In fact that's in the character background too. As you know, Skills don't have to be linked to a particular stat, so I have written down two Performance skill modifiers, +1 and +6. The first one (using Charisma) is for when he's trying to improvise or banter with the crowd, and then +6 (using Intelligence) is for when he's sticking to the scripts he has memorized that were put together by better (higher Charisma) performers.

 

[FieserMoep]

You can twist it around in any capacity if you so desire, what matters is your DMs approval anyway.
I'd say it would take Int to write a smart script and Cha to perform that script for example.
If I would be the DM I'd say you still use cha, you just don't seem confident in your skin and there are subtle things that make you stand out. With skill proficiency and possible expertise you can still perform quite good in your field, maybe not perfect but hey, that is the fate of someone that is not naturally gifted.
At level 11 with expertise you still would get a minimum of 17 on your expertise skill if you have an 8 in your attribute that is still quite good. Compare this to a 20 Cha paladin for example and he would on average get a 19,5 but can roll all over the place, also lower than you.
So in comparison you would not just be competent but also reliable at your job. Not perfect but still good enough to entertain most taverns. You wont make it to the leading role of a monarchs theater but it would still work without taking a different attribute and thus just min maxing anyway which you supposedly wanted to avoid.

 

[Vymair]

To me the 8 charisma tells me why he was a failed entertainer and took up thievery. It makes sense.

 

[AmerginLiath]

I’m with Vymair on this, although I think it could also be a cover for his roguery that he’s terrible at but just loves too much to give up (think of every tone deaf drunk hitting the karaoke bar each weekend with stars in their eyes).