Should stats have any bearing on roleplay?

[Than]

Should charisma STAT in a RP sense reflect generally on average (depending on what is said and done of course) how people should relate to you at least initially.

Maybe a high charisma may simply mean that other characters are positive to an individual until they realise what they are really like.
And the reverse is true those with a low charisma may end up being viewed more positively once others get to know them.

Should a character have a more tolerant attitude to wrong doings of a high charisma character and less tolerant attitude to wrong doings of a low charisma character for example. But over time this adjustment of attitude due to anothers charisma should reduce as one starts to see pass the charisma.

I also note that to roleplay a highly intelligent character when the player is not particularly bright can lead to odd irregularities.
And there´s the very bright players who play low int characters and then as they are bright players go solving most of the puzzles and end up roleplaying very articulate and manipulating characters even though their character may have a very low INT.

Physical Stats could be brought a bit into roleplay also, a person with low dex could roleplay being very clumsy for example and a person with low constitution could roleplay perhaps bowl problems or complain about that long hike the party wishes to undertake.

So charisma can be a combination of many things, such as beauty related, force of personality, to do with the tone of a persons voice or their mannerisms and other things besides.

In life there's been people i've know who have been nice and said and done generally good things, but who have not been that popular.

And then there's people who when you think about it logically have said and done lots of bad things most of the time but have been popular.

This is the charisma factor, I find this is not taken into account all that much in RPG games.

In RPG games i've played in the past people act more on what is literally said without taking into account that much the charisma influence, perhaps because to do so would be difficult?

So the question is:

Should stats effect more than just the pure game dice rolling mechanics and so should Stats effect roleplay?

A) Yes always where appropriate.
B) Yes, but not always, a general loose guideline that can be deviated from.
C) No. The game mechanics is the game mechanics and the roleplaying something detached and separate?
D) Something else, then please state...

P.s. I´m probably on option (B) with this...

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Yes, they should affect roleplay - at least to the best of the player's ability. Heck, I generally have as much fun with a low stat as I do with a high one.

I generally take it to the next step, which is 'rolling, then role-ing' - if I got a miserable result in a Diplomacy check then I have fun playing it. If a character with a low Charisma gets an unusually high roll then I play that as well.

That said, it is easier for a charismatic player to portray a low charisma than a bland player to portray a high one. Ditto for intelligence. If I see an actual effort then I am happy.

The Auld Grump

 

[delericho]

The character's stats absolutely should inform the manner in which the character is played. If you had a very strong player playing a weakling mage, you wouldn't let him bypass Strength-based challenges.

This is especially true in games where stats are picked rather than rolled: the player had the choice to play a genius wizard, but chose to play an idiot barbarian instead.

Where you have a less-smart player portraying a genius character, I would recommend being generous with clues, allowing (or encouraging) the smarter players to help out, and falling back on rolls where needed. Likewise for the socially-inept player portraying a bard - make liberal use of those Diplomacy checks, or be sure to have your NPCs take everything they say in the best possible way. Remember that the player may say, "Hey, king! Whazup?", but the character almost certainly does not!

But it must also be said, a character's stats should inform the manner in which the character is played. They should not dictate it. In the same way that it's a bad idea for the DM to declare, "you can't do that; you're Lawful Good", in the same way it's a bad idea for the DM to declare, "you can't do that; your character is too stupid."

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Yes. I agree with the above post that stats should inform rather than dictate, too (much like alignment debates; you don't want stats to be a straight-jacket either).

However, sometimes characters have stats based on mechanics, rather than roleplaying. Someone might play a grumpy telepath with no social skills who uses psionic abilities to cheat -- a character like that should probably have lots of Wisdom but low Charisma. However, if the rules dictate that they must have high Charisma, then the player assigns stats that way. Of course, DMs could just be more flexible about how stats are used, as long as it makes sense to the group.

 

[Than]

They should not dictate it. In the same way that it's a bad idea for the DM to declare, "you can't do that; you're Lawful Good", in the same way it's a bad idea for the DM to declare, "you can't do that; your character is too stupid."

Yes I agree as some very good people do on occasion do bad things and some stupid people do sometimes get moments of inspiration.

 

[Than]

Well I'm glad people are going for the "yes", as it's what I feel too. If it is possible.

I often found in games people where charisma did not effect them for turning or spells would often minimize it and someone with a charisma of 6 would be treated by the other characters the same as a character with a charisma of say 12. What I would find is the players charisma often had more of an effect than the characters charisma. Shame really.

 

[JacktheRabbit]

Yes it should. Unfortunately my experience is that it happens far more often badly than it does properly.

Most of the time when a player is RP poor stats its as an excuse to run their character as an irritatant to everyone and everything around them. They operate on the low stat = jerk mindset and that gets old really fast.

This has always made me want to run a low intelligence fighter but RP him with a personality of say Benny from "LA Law" a happy, good hearted person who is very protective of his friends and willing to give away his only possession to make someone like him.

 

[JacktheRabbit]

Well I'm glad people are going for the "yes", as it's what I feel too. If it is possible.

I often found in games people where charisma did not effect them for turning or spells would often minimize it and someone with a charisma of 6 would be treated by the other characters the same as a character with a charisma of say 12. What I would find is the players charisma often had more of an effect than the characters charisma. Shame really.

Yes, and they always conviently slide around spots where it should hurt them. Its always amusing when the 6 int, 7 wis, 6 chr, half-orc barbarian seems to instantly and compliantly defer to the halfing rogue with millions of points in social skills for just about everything having to do with NPC relations. The barbarian has him order his food, negotiate his rewards, buy his magic items, everything. Really? The guy with the 7 wisdom automatically knows that his crude 6 charisma personality is going to turn everyone off? Sounds pretty wise to me.

 

[delericho]

I think it's also worth bearing in mind that a lot of elements that are common in (some styles of) D&D are present to challenge the players rather than their characters. Things like chessboard traps and language puzzles really don't make sense in many fantasy worlds.

(Eberron, for example, may have a game like Chess, but the presence of magic in that world guarantees that Chess would not have evolved there in its current form. Obviously, this wouldn't apply in the same way in a magical version of Earth, as in Harry Potter, or even Dying Earth.)

If a challenge is aimed at the players, then the character's stats should not be taken into account. If the challenge is aimed at the characters, then of course they should.

 

[Samurai]

I've played both high and low charisma characters, and it certainly affects how I play them. I'm currently playing a low charisma dwarf, and I have him say rude things to important people, spit on the ground, proclaim false stereotypes about races, ask very blunt questions, etc. The other PCs try to keep him away from talking to important people because they never know what he's going to say! (A Chr of 6 doesn't necessarily mean you are shy about piping up!) I try not to go overboard with it, to the point that it annoys the players rather than the characters, but a low chr can be a lot of fun!