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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lizard" data-source="post: 4476710" data-attributes="member: 1054">There's a difference between "Getting out of the way" and "Taking the first bus to the airport and hopping a red-eye to Argentina". No rules system can define all character traits, but defining NONE is too much -- or, rather, too little. My current PC has Int 20 (26 w/Tiara) and Wis 16, but he is constantly walking glassy eyed towards the Big Glowy Dangerous Thing, because he's obsessed with Forbidden Knowledge TM. There is no system in 3e for what Hero would call Psych Lims, so this has to be roleplayed by me basically ignoring the character's attributes. (I consider this a flaw in D&D). However, I *can* at least partially reflect his nature by having him put points in EVERY knowledge skill -- even though this makes him (disdainful sniff) "sub optimal" because not all of his skills are maxed out for his level. To the extent the rules DO allow me to model his personality, I let them. He's a shameless lech with no social graces whatsoever, and his Charisma of 8 DOES reflect that. (Last game, there was a joke that "We'll aid the Diplomacy check." "How?" "We'll keep Kolgrim (my character) out of the room.")In a 4e game, or any game with no personality/roleplaying mechanics, any check my character would make for diplomacy would be as good as anyone else's who didn't specialize in it. In 4e, he'd have a +8 to all social skills by now, just because. In 3e, he has a -1. Period. He put no points in them (he doesn't care), and so, he sucks at social interaction, and likely always will without magical aid, even if he lives to be an epic level archmage. I like that this is reflected in the mechanics. If he is put in a situation where he has to try to be diplomatic, he will very likely fail, doing worse than a random shmuck off the street. If there were no mechanical support for this, it would make his personality less "real" -- when it *mattered* (when the dice are rolled), he would be just as good as anyone else.</blockquote>

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