I'm not sure I can DM this properly...

[tennyson]

Hi Everyone,

I DM a group of good friends every other friday night. Long story short - my brother's Aasimar monk bites the dust on the tip of a kobold spear. He rolls up another character during our pizza break, and one of his stats turns out to be a 7.

He proceeds to create a Svirfneblin rogue, and puts the 7 into his charisma. The Svirfneblin racial modifier for charisma is -4, which means he now has a 3.

A troll has a charisma of 6, for Pete's sake! His character ended up killing the kobold shaman, and is now walking around wearing the tribal mask just to cover up his ugly mug (I ruled that the mask, since it prevents people from looking at him, raises his charisma by 2 - as long as he doesn't talk).

Basically, we had to end the session because I couldn't keep a straight face while imagining his character standing in silence, with this abnormally large mask on his little body. All seriousness was lost, so we called it quits for the night.

My question: how do you play a 3 charisma? Is it possible? Should I force him to reroll his stats? Thanks for your suggestions!

 

[Crothian]

First reread the Charisma entry and have him read it as well. Charisma is much more then looks, it's also personal strength.

 

[Desdichado]

I'd back up Crothie here; someone with a CHA 3 is only minimally self-aware in many ways. This guy totally probably identifies with the group (who also probably can't stand him, ironically) aping what they do. This could be played as an incredibly annoying, Prozac-needing deep-rooted lack of self-esteem as well. Lots of interesting things that could be done with this fellow with a little thought, rather than just calling him a victim of the ugly stick.

 

[babomb]

Exactly. So, for example, he could be the kind of person people don't pay any attention too. Half the time they might not even notice him. Even if he has brilliant ideas, nobody listens, because he's not eloquent and he's not confident. He doesn't necessarily have to be ugly, but he's not attractive. When the party becomes a famous group of heroes, and little kids pretend to be them, NOBODY wants to be the Svirfneblin rogue. People often mistake him for a servant of the rest of the party, perhaps even the party's patron does this:

"For saving the kingdom from The Shadow, we hereby award the Royal Cross to Rogar the Barbarian, Ambrose the Mage -- "
"Magellan"
"Magellan, sorry -- Newmoon the Elf, and Nimble the Swift. We also bestow upon them the Duchy of Fallenwood, with all rights and responsibilities that implies. In addition, we award their servant, Mark the Red, with the Medal of Merit."
"But I'm not their --"
"There's no need to be humble. You had a part in their adventures, too. You should be proud to serve such masters. There's not a servant in the whole kingdom who does not envy you this moment."
"But -- "

One of the goals for the character could be getting people to acknowledge him.

Have you seen <i>Office Space</i>? The guy obsessed with the stapler has low charisma (though maybe not 3).

 

[clark411]

I think that 3 is the lowest a player character can have. I play a 7 Charisma Dwarf, and while everyone pushes upon me the onus of being Smelly and Ugly, I prefer to simply annoy and truly insult pretty much every NPC without my character intending to do so. I've called a guy on his ugly horse, and found out he's a paladin. I've asked a healer if she knows what Moradin is up to, and she's a Druid... said at least she wasn't an elf and she pulled back the hood revealing herself to be one later on. I've absolutely no problems with failing arguments caused by my own stupidity, and then resorting to some dwarven curse before trundling off to drink beer and totally misinterpret the non-advances of members of the opposite sex. For those rolling their eyes and saying "dear god how awful" I have to say it's welcomed and enjoyed by all at the table... so a low CHA can be fun.

If that's what I do with 7 CHA, you have to go all out with 3 CHA. Literally, he's the bottom of the barrel... he's an amalgamation of just about everything you Do Not Want in someone.

He may have very little personality that he can call his own, and instead adapts to act and sound like others he is around. Not intentional mimicry, but instead simply trying to please or instinctively going the "safe" route and trying to be like everyone else.

He could be mute, reserved, or almost invisible to those who aren't actively trying to harm him. The type of person that isn't noticed in a group, the guy that, in a circle of friends, sees backs more than faces, or the guy that people just look through.

Beyond this, he can never really establish a leading voice in a conversation, people just don't care about what he says- his opinion is percieved to have no value.

It can go on and on... As a DM though, I'd have pretty much everything he says that is not overly important backfire on him. BBEGs may not kill him for saying "Hi," but the world should almost morph around the character to react negatively to what he says and does. NPCs should interact with him as though he were repugnant, even if his player tries to be eloquent and polite. Eventually, he'll catch on.

I can't imagine interacting with a 3 CHA guy. 7's hard enough that I'm almost thinking of putting 3 points into over 12 levels, just so NPCs are nicer to me.

 

[Saeviomagy]

An interesting idea I just came up with: Give your character an irritating habit or quirk for every point of negative modifier he has on charisma, stuff like:

A nervous tic
The inability to look people in the eye when talking to them
Constant fidgeting and moving around while talking to people
Odious personal habits (burping midsentence and not apologising etc)
The inability to recognise someone elses personal space (ie - you stand too close, or wave your hands in others faces when you converse, or constantly touch them while talking to them)
Complete non-sequiter conversation. Purple monkey dishwasher.
Inability to form the correct facial expression - smiling while talking about how much you grieve for someone's lost one etc.
Extreme clingyness
Imitation. Freaky, scary imitation.
A droning, boring voice.
The inability to say two words without inappropriate swearing between them.
The inability to form sentences correctly.
Using long words which you don't quite know the meaning of, and thus use inappropriately.
Speaking very, very slowly.
Repeatedly stating a point long after the other person has understood what you're talking about.

Hmm, any more?

 

[Kichwas]

Think of the most unlikable disgusting rude unimpressive loser you can. The person who can't get anyone to like them -and rightly so-. The guy everyone takes an immediate disliking to the moment they meet him, even his friends only just tolerate him and roll their eyes everytime he's out of smelling distance.

Triple that, and you have this guy.

The other player's PCs should be given full reign to interupt and talk over him, push him around, insult him, even kill him. NPCs should do likewise. Most people should start out hostile to unfriendly towards this person, he should always be the first one targeted in any fight, the first blamed for any crime, and the first kicked out of any gathering.

No one should ever treat this character in any way but rude.


Low charisma can also be the person who is simply invisible. Never noticed, always ignored, talked over and interrupted. Not hated, but simply not seen as there or impoartant. However a 3 is too low for even this. It's the worst there is, so it should be the person who is actively hated by all on pure instinct, and then near unable to ever change that and people ignore any attempt to do so or treat it as shockingly rude behaivoir.

 

[Mista Collins]

I love playing characters with low stats. It makes it a lot of fun. There may be sometimes where I actually hope for low low low numbers to come up when rolling for stats. It makes the character much more interesting. just have fun with it his low CHA. I agree with everyone that he should be ignored, over-looked and treated rudely.

 

[Khorod]

Low charisma can also be the person who is simply invisible. Never noticed, always ignored, talked over and interrupted. Not hated, but simply not seen as there or impoartant. However a 3 is too low for even this. It's the worst there is, so it should be the person who is actively hated by all on pure instinct, and then near unable to ever change that and people ignore any attempt to do so or treat it as shockingly rude behaivoir.

Hmm. Inanimate objects have a Charisma of 0. So with that low a charisma I think the flatlined personality angle is the most likely way it would play out. The character might even be forgotten in tactics and healing by the other players!

I can just picture the low Cha rogue- he lurks around everywhere, even when seen he's discounted, and every once in a while he kills everything, is profusely thanked by his friends, who then immediately move on to compare each other's kill counts.

As a DM, I'd have NPC's treat him like a tree stump, and be shocked when he turns out to be armed and mobile.

 

[Fast Learner]

Think Smeagol at his most snivelling and grovelling, completely without any backbone or self-respect. Someone who would happily lick your boots clean if it would earn him a pat on the back.

It's not about being ugly or gruff. It's about having no backbone.