Linking CHA and Beauty

[phindar]

This is my response to the idea of linking CHA and physical attractiveness from another thread. Instead of posting it there where it'd be off topic, I thought it would be more considerate to make it its own thread and continue this facet of the discussion here. To sum up, I don't think a character's physical attractiveness should factor into his CHA score, because beauty is subjective, and CHA actually does something. I don't think a paladin's lay on hands, a cleric's turn attempts, or a sorcerer's bonus spells and save DCs should be dependent in part on how hot the character is.

You can have your high Charisma character be as ugly as you want... Conversely, you can have your stunningly beautiful character suffer from a low Charisma

I agree, but thats why I think CHA and beauty should be considered separate. If they are linked, by that logic you could make one character who is ugly and forceful, another meek and hot, and they could have the same CHA score. They would get the same number of bonus spells as Sorcerers, one for having a forceful personality, the other for being pretty.

That is to say, if CHA is linked to beauty but you can make a character a high CHA as ugly as you want and a low CHA as beautiful as you want, in what way is CHA linked to beauty? If the book says they are linked, but we are saying they can be completely independent from one another--that you can make high CHA uggos and low CHA hotties-- then they aren't really linked. It doesn't make any sense to say CHA is a measure of physical attractiveness, except when it isn't, which can whenever.

 

[Xyanthon]

Charisma should not be linked to beauty. I remember back in the day when there was the comliness stat. Now as I recall there was a lot of people who didn't like this idea but I think it did serve to illustrate the intent that chraisma and physical attractiveness are not the same thing.

 

[Felix]

I like (CON + CHA)/2 = Comliness.

Physical health and a healthy personality are both attractive; an aggrogate of the two makes for an easy beauty stat.

 

[JRR_Talking]

Physical Beauty: 2d6+2+CHA modifier (for a starting range of 0-18)

Anything with a Physical Beauty less than 0 is repulsive to all living things and must force a Will save of DC 10-(PB stat) or sicken/frighten or similar

it is highly recommend no PC starts with a PB less than 0.

Thoughts?

John

 

[Felix]

I suppose I should ask the question:

What benefit does adding another stat provide you (besides ending the "I'm better looking than you/no you're not" argument)?

It's not as if Charisma is busy modifying all that many thing in-game; don't you think adding another stat, and then providing situations where it would modify a roll would necessarily take away from CHA, the next most obvious choice for beauty-related interactions?

 

[Aus_Snow]

I agree that atrractiveness should not be represented by the Charisma score, to any extent.

However, I don't think there needs to be another ability score. Just remove appearance from Charisma, and the game will work just fine - better, IMO.

Just my 2c (i.e., house rules).

 

[Turanil]

To sum up, I don't think a character's physical attractiveness should factor into his CHA score

In this thread I discussed the problem as I see it. Basically, physical appearance has nothing to do with Charisma. Now if Cha is a measure of physical attractiveness, I rule it's a matter of natural charm and seduction, not pure beauty. By default I rule that all people have an average look, that some may find pretty and others distasteful. Now if a player wants his/her character to be really "beautiful" or "ugly", I created two feats for that (See post 11 in that thread ).

 

[Stalker0]

The way I see it is a matter of degrees.

For a 14 cha, this could be a beautiful woman with an okay personalty, an ugly woman with an amazing personality, a slightly beautiful woman with a decent personality, etc.

However, once you start hitting 16-18, you need to have both. That's a person who is the cream of the crop, they have both good looks and a good personality.

 

[Aus_Snow]

The way I see it is a matter of degrees.

For a 14 cha, this could be a beautiful woman with an okay personalty, an ugly woman with an amazing personality, a slightly beautiful woman with a decent personality, etc.

However, once you start hitting 16-18, you need to have both. That's a person who is the cream of the crop, they have both good looks and a good personality.

Hawt sorcs all the way, eh.

 

[Thanee]

Appearance/Comeliness should not be am ability at all. There's no need for an ability without mechanical influence.

Just choose how the character looks like in compliance with the character's ability scores.

Bye
Thanee