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<blockquote data-quote="Khur" data-source="post: 2014424" data-attributes="member: 5583">I found this review more influential on my &quot;buying notions&quot; than many others I've seen on this book. Thanks.I have a question, or two, though. What's wrong with the Appearance ability score? Is it that it's part of the &quot;lineup&quot;, so everyone can roll 7 stats and place them as they see fit? That's what I interpreted from the &quot;dump stat&quot; comment. I've used an Appearance stat for years now, mostly because I felt Charisma is not someone's physical looks, but force of personality and so on. Homely persons have managed to galvanize great social movements in the past. I can understand that Appearance should have little influence on skill checks (except in specific situations) and that treating Appearance like an ability score that equals the others is problematic. My solution is that Appearance is rolled after the other ability scores are assigned. Certain races, of course, have bonuses or penalties, with &quot;human&quot; as the baseline. Thereby, one still has a useful measure of comeliness, but doesn't suffer from the &quot;dump stat&quot; syndrome. Of course, Appearance in my games only modifies initial reactions where appropriate, and makes some skill checks easier by circumstance. In can also make some harder (like Disguise), and some situations harder--even when it's high.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Khur, post: 2014424, member: 5583"] I found this review more influential on my "buying notions" than many others I've seen on this book. Thanks. I have a question, or two, though. What's wrong with the Appearance ability score? Is it that it's part of the "lineup", so everyone can roll 7 stats and place them as they see fit? That's what I interpreted from the "dump stat" comment. I've used an Appearance stat for years now, mostly because I felt Charisma is not someone's physical looks, but force of personality and so on. Homely persons have managed to galvanize great social movements in the past. I can understand that Appearance should have little influence on skill checks (except in specific situations) and that treating Appearance like an ability score that equals the others is problematic. My solution is that Appearance is rolled after the other ability scores are assigned. Certain races, of course, have bonuses or penalties, with "human" as the baseline. Thereby, one still has a useful measure of comeliness, but doesn't suffer from the "dump stat" syndrome. Of course, Appearance in my games only modifies initial reactions where appropriate, and makes some skill checks easier by circumstance. In can also make some harder (like Disguise), and some situations harder--even when it's high. [/QUOTE]

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