1 charisma

[Roland Delacroix]

I had a player two days ago who wanted to play a 4 Charisma 1/2 orc. I talked him out of it since IMO thats unplayable. The majority here seems to think low charisma equates to not being noticed, but i think its just the opposite. The low charisma guy is VERY noticed, just as a jerk that everyone hates. He laughs a loud braying laugh in the middle of the joke. He smells, bad. He has NO fasion sense, his day-glo orange armor twists your eyes. Everything he says will be automatically discounted, not because its stupid but because everyone assumes anything that ass says is stupid. Bad guys will take him out first everytime, they may hold a professional distaste for heroes but that one guy just ANNOYS the HECK out of them. Something about him just sets a persons teeth on edge. The only think anyone should ever say to him is "Excuse me, won't you?" unless they just sneer at him before walking away.

Not be noticed? Preposterous, he has a -5 to disguise. You see his keel-sized nose before you see him. He wears trademark plaid suspenders over his plate mail. Hmm, think Steve Martin in 'The Jerk'. Yes people will be talking about him, but more along the lines of:

"Thank Pelor I got away from that guy"
"Who?"
"That annoying guy, the one with the chain pants 4 inches to short, whats-is-name"
"Oh him, yes by the gods he irritates me. I don't see how he was even invited. What kind of adventurers bring someone like that with anyway?"
"Obviouslly desperate losers. Have you seen the Knight of Heioneous' new armor? Now THERES a true adventurer..." ETC

 

[Hejdun]

He would always change his mind. As in, every minute.

"I think the world is round."

30 seconds later...

"What if the world if flat? The world is flat. But, what if it's round? Wouldn't I slide off if it was round? The world is flat."

...

"But it MIGHT be round..."

Etc. He would do that with everything. He would probably think everything he did was wrong. If he came to a fork in the road, it would take him half an hour to pick one, and then 5 steps in he would be thoroughly convinced he made the wrong choice.

He would also worry about everything. EVERYTHING. Every single obscure thing you can think of.

"But what if the town doesn't have a well?"

"But what if the food is bad?"

"But what if the king is poor?"

"But what if my dagger breaks?"

I think you get the point.

 

[AmerginLiath]

A good example of super low charisma in my mind would be the character Milton from Office Space. So comletely walked over and stepped one, course it eventually makes him snap, but he did warn them all the time.

That's EXACTLY what I thought when I heard the 1 Cha too...

 

[LostSoul]

I think the guy would already be dead...

"Interesting hair style."

"Oh, you hate me!" (sob) (Kills self)

"Uh, that was a compliment... oh well. Nobody liked him anyways."

 

[EricNoah]

Some MM critters with a 1 CHA:

Oozes
Shriekers (Fungus)
Animated Objects
Golems

 

[Oogar]

-Chuckle-

Okay, it is something that 98% of us would have no desire to play. And I am shallow enough to admit that I have never had a friend with a charisma lower then 9. BUT, I have know many people with lower charisma's and worked with a few of them. You can dredge up a couple 7's from your school years, and a 6 or lower from somewhere in your life if you really try.

I work with mentally handicapped autistic adults, as a care giver. Some autistic adults have a VERY strong sense of self, one or two of them would not surprise me if they set the house on fire with the power of their minds (sorcerer). They are not able to communicate with others with any level of ease, however (It can take 30 seconds to 2 minutes to communicate a simple Idea).

I also remember the socially handicapped from high school. They would need to make a good roll to have anyone even recall what they said. They also tend to go along with the croud, just to avoid being further outcast.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Please do not hate me for this example. I saw the "Brady Bunch" movie for the first time last weekend.

Jan says, "Blah blah blah."
Everyone responds, "That is a stupid idea, Jan!"

Two days later....

Marsha says, "Blah blah blah."
Everyone but Jan responds, "Great Idea, Marsha!"
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In my opinion it would be a combination of incredible tiny flaws to manufacture a 1 charisma. Don't go out of your way to punnish them for it. Even help them by assuming that the party does their best to support the weak character. The way that the rules are, they will be punnished enough, I would think.

If you are looking for another good example the only one I can think of is Chunk, from "The Goonies". Only a little more pathetic (if that is possible).

 

[Al]

Contempt

Since Cha is your personality, a low Cha would not strictly mean an abhorrent personality: a person with a high Cha and an unpleasant character can have an abhorrent personality. So why not contempt?

Rather than actively HATING the character, everyone just feels he's incredibly stupid/annoying/irritating. They automatically assume everything he says is stupid unless there is incontravertible proof to the contrary, and even then regard it as only luck that he guessed that solution. They ignore or antagonise him without hating him, and exclude him from everything wherever possible. The veil of politeness may just about extend to formalities, but no one will ever voluntarily hold a conversation with him, and not listen if he starts one.

 

[Wolfspider]

He considers the 1 cha to be a roleplaying challange. Putting the low stat in charisma I think was a mix between it being the least important and it would define his character. Now I see the 1 cha making so that he has no influence over anyone else because of a combination of a weak personality and grotesque(sp) appearance preventing most people taking notice of him, and those who do(usally for negative reasons) don't give him any respect higher than what they might a zombie.

Please keep us informed on how this character fares. I hope the player really plans on playing a Charisma 1 character and not just getting away with the limitation scot-free.

 

[Axiomatic Unicorn]

Please keep us informed on how this character fares. I hope the player really plans on playing a Charisma 1 character and not just getting away with the limitation scot-free.

Me too.

A few other suggestions,

Ignore the player, a lot.
Don't tell him things, even obvious things. Then explain it as the character's lack of awareness.
If the player is late, start without him.
If the player goes to get a drink or to the restroom, assume the character is in a daze and keep playing.
After all, he is only 1 point above "withdrawn into a catatonic, comalike stupor, helpless"

This character shoud be just as handicapped as a wizard with a 1 STR would be.

 

[Buttercup]

I don't normally allow any stat lower than 8, because I don't think most players can effectively role play it. Even if they were experienced and gave me a *real* good set of reasons, I would never allow any stat lower than 6. A cha of 1 means the guy is a invisible and catatonic, or he is so horrid in some way that everyone wants to kill him on sight. Either one makes him just about useless as a party member.

But then, in my games we don't roll dice to create the stats. I give them a set number of points to distribute 1 for 1.