NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="ExploderWizard" data-source="post: 7358121" data-attributes="member: 66434">The misunderstanding regarding thief abilities goes all the way back to the Greyhawk supplement. It was not communicated in that supplement that the thief ability table was supposed to function as a special saving throw table in the event that the normal resolution chances for such activities (which was usually an informal process of assigning probability based on situational circumstances) failed. Instead the thief abilities were interpreted as being exclusive to thieves and thus suddenly other characters couldn't even attempt to be stealthy and low level thieves sucked at their forte. This assumption persisted through the editions unfortunately. Charisma was a very important ability in the early editions of the game for several reasons. Charisma had an impact on reaction rolls. Those with high charisma could get more favorable reaction roll outcomes which had a huge impact on survival. Charisma also heavily influenced dealings with henchmen and hirelings especially where loyalty was concerned. As the editions of the game wore on, the impact of charisma on monster reactions faded away and the use of henchmen started to decline eventually becoming all but written out of the game. Without the game elements that make charisma important, of course it was destined to become an extraneous stat. If core elements of play get discarded then naturally, other elements that existed mainly to support those core elements will seem extraneous.</blockquote>

Verification