How to play a 19 Charisma

[Queenie]

I am playing an 8th level female sorcerer with a 19 Charisma. Realizing that I don't have a 19 Charisma in reality, how do I play this stat?

She comes from a noble background, where she is used to getting her way and using her charms to do so. I have the diplomacy skill cranked up and I use that often to get my way. But honestly, how does one walk down the street with a Charisma that high?

Thanks,
Queenie

 

[Queenie]

by the way

her alignment is CG

Queenie

 

[Azazu]

Think Princess Diana

 

[Skaros]

I think a useful thing to keep in mind is that a 19 charisma doesn't necessarily mean you are chatty and vocal.

You can just as easily emphasize your fantastic charisma by saying "Queenie walks in with a slight smile on her face, and everyone's eyes just sort of gravitate towards her as she walks to the table. With a nod of her head, she turns to you and...."

I've spent some time recently thinking of how to bring to life (during sessions) the images of my character and my character's personality that are in my head, and I think that 3rd person descriptions are an important part of it for many characters.

Also, feel free to take some license when describing what you are up to....don't just describe your character, but feel free to totally make up actions taken by minor NPCs, or even create onlookers and mention their reactions to things.

Its a lot harder to bring character's to life if you leave it up to the DM to do every little thing....make up an admirer for you, describe the reacion of nearby commoners, etc. In most cases it doesn't affect the storyline at all for you to make these things up, and it enhances the sense that your character is real, and that the world around her is real.

This sort of thing is a useful tool...particularly for my recent character, an elven priest of Labelas. I wanted to be sure I played him as an elf, not a human with a dex bonus....and didn't want to spend half the sessions pontificating about those "impatient humans", or whatnot. But 3rd person descriptions help alot when you don't want your character to be chatty, or state the obvious out loud all the time.

More than you asked for, but I guess "I" was feeling chatty today

-Skaros

 

[Kai Lord]

I am playing an 8th level female sorcerer with a 19 Charisma. Realizing that I don't have a 19 Charisma in reality, how do I play this stat?

She comes from a noble background, where she is used to getting her way and using her charms to do so. I have the diplomacy skill cranked up and I use that often to get my way. But honestly, how does one walk down the street with a Charisma that high?

When your character does something, people take note, when she talks people listen, when she laments, people sympathize. It doesn't have to be because of one specific thing, just a combination of looks, personality, and that special "something."

A not-so-obvious example of someone who I feel is incredibly charismatic is the actress Michelle Rodriguez (Girlfight, Fast and the Furious, Resident Evil, Blue Crush). She's very pretty but not distractingly beautiful and all she really does is frown for 90% of the time she's on screen.

But for whatever reason, she's just a joy to watch and things just become more interesting when she's around. There's also something in the way she carries herself that just makes you care about her characters. If you asked her what her secret is she'd probably tell you she has no clue, she just does her own thing.

So don't get too caught up in acting a special way, just have your character do what she does with confidence and conviction. That special something she exudes will take care of the rest.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

First, determine where the CHA is coming from:

You could be strikingly beautiful, and those are treated better quite often

You could have great social skills. Just remind the DM of that, since your personal skills are less than the characters. And with Cha 19, that might just be the case. Then the DM will - at least if he's a good DM - cast what you say in a better light. He'll judge your intention rather than your actual speach. So if you give your best to be polite, your character will actually be polite (even if you made a small lapse)

You could have great persuasiveness and personal magnetism. The character will have a sweet voice and a contagious good mood, so noone could disagree with her and her presence brightens the mood of everyone around.

 

[Tobold Hornblower]

My female halfling Bard with 19 Cha has the personality of Dr. Who.

She'll walk into a room full of baddies like she belongs and ask them for directions. She takes charge and directs strangers as if it were her divine right. She treats every creature as her friendly ally, unless they attack.

Rather than bash down a door, she knocks. The rest of the party stands back with arrows knocked waiting to see how her diplomacy works out.

But as the others have said, strength-of-personality can be different things.

 

[AuraSeer]

I have a sorcerer PC with an effective 24 in Cha.

The way I play this character, his Charisma is more about bearing and self-confidence than anything else. He has the aura of someone who expects to be obeyed, so people find themselves doing as he asks before they know it. He's a little arrogant, and not always the epitome of charm-- hence his 0 ranks in Diplomacy-- but there's "just something" about his presence that makes people want to go along with what he says.

Most of us have met people like this in real life. There are those people who seem kind of irritating, and a little full of themselves, and better-looking than you, but you hang out with them anyway.

The good thing about this rationale is that I don't need to try and RP some superhumanly eloquent speaker. I can give him a sensible personality, and let the dice bonus represent his "force of personality".

 

[Li Shenron]

I am playing an 8th level female sorcerer with a 19 Charisma. Realizing that I don't have a 19 Charisma in reality, how do I play this stat?

And sometimes SHE will play for you, when you're rolling a Charisma check!

We used to have looooong discussions, during tour first roleplaying experiences years ago, about if we should be playing horribly stupidly a PC with very low Intelligence. Then we realized we CAN'T play a 24-Int wizard, unless we are genius

 

[Al]

Then we realized we CAN'T play a 24-Int wizard, unless we are genius

Not only would you have to be a genius, you would have to be either a 20th level middle-aged genius or a 16th level old genius. Either that or you found a RL Headband of Intellect +6 on amazon marketplace.