Roleplaying a four Charisma...

[Ferret]

I think this would work well played like Sonny from I, robot. In a nutshell he had no idea how to act or respond to people. It's fairly hard to give a good example, but my mum described him autistic. Which I think is fairly aucrate.

Also if he thought of everyone as one thing, a basic 'You are people' whether they are human, dwarf, orc etc. and that he is not.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

You're looking at playing a warforged with low charisma? Dare I hope that he's some flavor of Lawful?

Brilliant!

Warforged are creations specifically for war. They have no existence (until very, very recently) outside of the army.

The character is, in fact, so successfully bred for war that he has no individual initiative. He's a BattleBot - canny enough and observant enough to carry out his orders, but he needs someone giving him those orders.

He sees himself only as part of a larger group (reflected in his Lawful alignment). Alone, he's lost, and seeks to find another group to latch on to. He needs structure, desires it, but is completely unable to enforce it on himself. He needs someone else to place the structure in his life.

He still thinks of himself as Cyrish Army, 10th Warforged Brigade, 2nd Regiment, 4th Battalion, 3rd Company, 2nd Platoon, 1st Squad, 4th Element. This unit, of course, no longer exists (or does it?) - wiped out in the Mourning, or in battle, or whatever. But he needs something else to replace that structure in his life.

 

[Tonguez]

Hows this for a scale

10 0 Average person fully functional in society
8 -1 A geek/dick (socially inept but functional = low self esteem)
6 -2 A loser/creep (socially disfunctional = low self esteem)
4 -3 A nobody/scumbag (socially handicapped = no self esteem)
2 -4 You don't exist as your mother drowned you at birth
0 - 5 You are a rock

 

[Doctor Shaft]

Definitely just treat the character as a hulking robot that's still in the mode, so to speak, just as Patryn suggested.

Have him stand out in the rain when the PC's don't tell him to follow them inside someone's hut. Or when they go shopping, the PC's just walk about on their own, he could just be standing in the town square, rigid, back straight, perhaps observing things in his mind since he's supposed to really smart, but for the most part the townspeople mistake him for either a shut down Warforged or just a piece of the scenery. Either way, no one wants to touch it because your character is like some kids abandoned, rusty bike.

I think with cha 5, which seems to be the way you're adjusting the score, you can have a slapdash good time playing the character. But instead of playing with the usual "funny comments" or witty behaviors, you just play him as the odd-man out. He doesn't say anything... but he also doesn't do anything, especially when the situation calls for you to actually do something.

Think the Royal Tennenbaums or something. I'm not sure which character to point to, since they all did have a bit of charisma that captivates them on screen, so I'd tone it down a good notch... but some of the characters were hugely apathetic. To the point of having few lines... but just being there.

 

[azmodean]

ooh, I like Patryn's idea, you could have him refer to himself by his serial number (and the rest of his full rank unless someone shuts him up)

When I was reading the dialogue Trainz posted, I was thinking, hmmm, kind of like C3P0.

One thing, IMO mental stats have noting to do with a character's desires but rather their abilities. A very low cha creature may desperately want recognition, but they have no ability to interact with others, so they never get it. I like the idea of the other characters dismissing anything the character says, but only if the player is ok with that.

 

[Mallus]

Think the Royal Tennenbaums or something.

Now I'm seeing this character spending each session sitting in a bathtub, smoking cigarettes...

 

[Sir ThornCrest]

did you see that questionable movie Aliens 4? Wynona Rider robot = cha 4

She played a robot with feelings, she had a real low opinion of herself but believed in the common good and protection of mankind....The warforged 4 charisma may be a absolute brute in battle but he is forever enveous of normal humans, he wants to be excepted, and he is, if there is a fight.
But when it comes time for social gatherings he wasnt forged for that....has no idea how to dance, sing, tell jokes......I would think the party would enjoy teaching him a joke and then ask him to tell the joke to others, watching him butcher the joke time and time again. The 4 cha may really be trying, just that part of his brain was removed, or was never there.

Thorncrest

 

[Kae'Yoss]

You're looking at playing a warforged with low charisma? Dare I hope that he's some flavor of Lawful?

Brilliant!

Warforged are creations specifically for war. They have no existence (until very, very recently) outside of the army.

The character is, in fact, so successfully bred for war that he has no individual initiative. He's a BattleBot - canny enough and observant enough to carry out his orders, but he needs someone giving him those orders.

He sees himself only as part of a larger group (reflected in his Lawful alignment). Alone, he's lost, and seeks to find another group to latch on to. He needs structure, desires it, but is completely unable to enforce it on himself. He needs someone else to place the structure in his life.

He still thinks of himself as Cyrish Army, 10th Warforged Brigade, 2nd Regiment, 4th Battalion, 3rd Company, 2nd Platoon, 1st Squad, 4th Element. This unit, of course, no longer exists (or does it?) - wiped out in the Mourning, or in battle, or whatever. But he needs something else to replace that structure in his life.

Why do I keep thinking "seven of nine"?

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Why do I keep thinking "seven of nine"?

Because she's really hawt?

 

[der_kluge]

I think charisma 4 could be summed up by "Helen" on the last episode of Trading Spouses. Egads!

Some of her comments:

these kids came over in sandles and she pointed to them and said
"did someone steal your shoes?"

when it was time to leave
"I want to tell them that I'm leaving. I hope they don't cry."
and
"they're going to really miss me when I'm gone."


Oh man, she was a piece of work, let me tell you.