High Charisma=Obsessed with sex?

[Impeesa]

Oddly enough, though I have no particular love of bards, my last two characters have had bard levels. One was a sociable, middle aged half orc, straight bard, far from a sex fiend. The other was a bard/fighter, liked sex as much as the next guy - I tended to emphasize his love of the simple things in life (gold, fire, fresh meat)... he was on his way to being a dragon disciple.

Wait, my last 3 characters, if you count Rolemaster. High man bard, something like a 98 presence (total mod +21), appearance so godly it's funny (though it doesn't affect much in Rolemaster). He isn't particularly obsessed with sex - mostly surviving and gathering knowledge, in that order.

--Impeesa--

 

[I'm A Banana]

1) Charisma is part of a Character's power. Characters with power like to use and abuse it (wading through a cave of goblins, fireballing a town, being a walking miracle, etc).

2) Bard = "Rock Star/Actor" Rock Star/Actor = Sex Symbol

5) "Three, sir!"...."What?"

 

[Viktyr Gehrig]

Actually, a certain bit of sex-craze makes sense for people with high Charisma... not all of them, of course, but a fair majority. Look at the elected leaders of most civilized countries...

 

[fusangite]

Korimyr the Rat says

Actually, a certain bit of sex-craze makes sense for people with high Charisma... not all of them, of course, but a fair majority. Look at the elected leaders of most civilized countries...

Speaking as an ex-politician (I never thought I'd get to start a sentence that way on these boards), I have to say that in many cases (mine, Nixon's e.g.) people with low Charisma become politicians with levels in other classes (Wizard, Expert, Fighter, Cleric) in order to gain the special Cha enhancement bonus the Politician prestige class offers at 4th level.

 

[S'mon]

Supposing I was an immature teenaged boy who didn't understand that an RPG is a totally inappropriate place to explore anything sexual or romantic...

*ouch*

Do you really mean that? 'Anything romantic' covers a pretty big area. Don't your characters ever have romantic interests, maybe settle down, get married etc?

 

[Viktyr Gehrig]

Touche.

 

[S'mon]

Actually, a certain bit of sex-craze makes sense for people with high Charisma... not all of them, of course, but a fair majority. Look at the elected leaders of most civilized countries...

I was thinking 'Bill Clinton' when I started reading this thread - you could easily model a Bard on him.

 

[fusangite]

I said

Supposing I was an immature teenaged boy who didn't understand that an RPG is a totally inappropriate place to explore anything sexual or romantic...

S'mon replied,

*ouch*

Do you really mean that? 'Anything romantic' covers a pretty big area. Don't your characters ever have romantic interests, maybe settle down, get married etc?

Gee, I feel really bad disagreeing with you after your eloquent advocacy on my behalf in the thread discussing the armour donning rules. Still, you might as well get a sense of my more unpopular views on these boards:

I used to think that games should try to evoke a wide range of human emotions. Over time (and several uncomfortable and painful experiences), I have become convinced that the only emotions an RPG should seek to evoke are: wonder, triumph and mirth. Anything else is playing with fire.

I have never seen anything good come from representing marriage, romance or love in game. Furthermore, the chances that trying to portray such things will go wrong and the consequences thereof make them things I'm unwilling to include in my campaigns.

A lot of people believe that anything you can put in a fantasy novel you can put in an FRP; I believe that the range of possibilities in an RPG is narrower than in a novel in some respects. In other respects, I think we have more range at our disposal when it comes to narrative pacing, structure and possible outcomes.

 

[s/LaSH]

I've never noticed the phenomenon.

However, when I opened up the Monster Manual, I looked at the very first entry. Aboleth: 17Cha. Achaierai: 16Cha. Allip: 18Cha. Then you hit the animated objects which all have 1Cha, but a mutant fish-freak, a demon stork, and an insane wisp aren't generally sex-crazed. Well, not so that anyone would notice. Well, a case could be made for the aboleth, but only if you watch too much (ahem) anime.

An interesting point of comparison... for those who think in accordance with the initial posit of the thread, I rebutt: Read the MM. You'll get a whole new idea of what Charisma means, and it doesn't (necessarily) involve sex.

 

[drnuncheon]

I have never seen anything good come from representing marriage, romance or love in game. Furthermore, the chances that trying to portray such things will go wrong and the consequences thereof make them things I'm unwilling to include in my campaigns.
[/B]

I suspect that this has to do more with a particular group of players than it does with the difficulties of including it in a game at all. If, for example, there's any sexual/romantic tension among the players, it can lead to out-of-game stuff being taken in-game (and vice versa) - I've seen that happen quite a bit.

On the other hand, in some of my other games, there's been love/marriage/romance that works just fine - but then, there was no tension among the players, so it wasn't at all a 'touchy subject'.

J