Character Appearance

[Bystander]

Hey everyone. We all know the six standard attributes:
Str, Dex, Con, Int, Wis, Cha

How do you handle a characters appearance/comliness/beauty?

One of my friends plays a swash-buckeling character whom he decided is "one of the most handsome gents in the land", and since there is nothing to roll determining this- whats to keep us all from saying this?

There's no attribute or stat to back this up! How do you guys handle this aspect? Is it just a feature of charisma or something? I don't think so at all!

 

[hong]

Charisma in 3E is completely orthogonal to appearance. Note how liches get a bonus to Cha, for example. You can think of it as representing force of personality, or the character's ability to impose their will on the external world. This is why turning undead is based on Cha, as is the sorcerer's spellcasting, save DCs for various monster abilities, etc.

IMO appearance is best handled on a roleplaying basis, without trying to involve numbers at all. What's considered attractive can vary a lot from one individual to another, even before the issue of different races comes in. If a player wants to play a really good-looking PC, that's fine; he just shouldn't expect freebies for it.

 

[Artoomis]

Agreed - he can be pretty much the most handsome lad in the land - but how well he is liked is STILL influenced by his charisma, and his handsomeness has no direct game effect unless it is magical.

Also, in a medieval campaign, the most handsome lad in all the land would usually mean up to maybe a 20-mile radius or so.

 

[Bystander]

Why not just roll up a rank for appearance too? Just for bragging rights, or to give some added fun role playing.

Like an occasional attractive character or really ugly one.

I'm thinking 5d4s to get an average of 10-15, and only the extremes would really stand out...

 

[Tobold Hornblower]

In 1st edition I used 3d6 and added comeliness as a seventh stat. That worked fine, but rarely came into play. In 3e I avoid any houserules. Now I'd just let players be gorgeous if they want.

You should have an encounter with several less handsome gents who resent the attention being paid to pretty boy by the ladies of the land.

 

[Henry]

Character appearance as a general rule should NEVER be determined by a dice roll - if a Player wants an "Aryan-stock" pretty-boy, or a raven-haired goddess, let them. However, Charisma will still determine how the person interacts with others, simply put, Charisma does not influence inward characteristics, only outward expressions of those characteristics.

This is an excellent argument for not having CHA penalties for Orcs and half-orcs of course, but force of personality on the outside world is more important than a physical beauty standard. Did you ever see the old black-and-white Twilight Zone epsiodes with Rod Serling? The ones about the pig-faced people, and the second one about the girl that was forced to choose a beautiful body, but it turned her into a mindless clone? Good examples of how beauty and charisma do not necessarily have anything to do with one another.