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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Storm Raven" data-source="post: 3224381" data-attributes="member: 307">Nope. Most of them are very charismatic. That is why they are successful partners in law firms. You don't get to be a senior partner without being a rainmaker. You don't get to be a rainmaker unless you can skillfully acquire new clients on a regular basis. There is no doubt but that most of these individuals are highly charismatic. That's what got them their perceived power. And it is all about how they use that power, which is where their charisma comes into play.Oh sure, the barbarian might be superficially scarier. But it isn't about scariness. It is about getting what you want. The barbarian probably doesn't have the personal skills to do that. Whereas the sorcerer might.High charisma is about convincing others that they should do what you want them to do.Umm, no. You don't remember high school very well now, do you? You never had any friends who were girls trying to get on the cheerleading squad either.No he doesn't. Think of all the buffoonish big guys you've seen. Were they intimidating? In many cases, the answer is "no". The gnome sorcerer isn't "just telling you he's powerful" he is using his skilled powers of persuasion to convince you that he is. Something the buffoonish lummox of a half-orc may not be able to do. In The Godfather, who was more intimidating and able to get what he wanted out of people, Clemmenza, or Brasi? Here's a hint - it wasn't the big guy. Or not. Since most of them are intimidating without being big scary half-orcs. They are skilled at Intimidate because they can use fear to get what they want. Sure, you have to display some sort of power to get people to fear you, but the skill comes in using that fear to get to the goal you want. Just scaring the pants off someone isn't the skill. Scaring the pants off someone and getting the result you want as a consequence is.Actually, it models it perfectly. Because the offense is modified by the skill. And the individuals in question are skilled at this sort of thing. They have, so to speak, invested their skill points in the area. Which makes them intimidating on offense. They don't get all they want, because their opposition is usually skilled at detecting such attempts and not falling prey to them - hence the defensive bonuses.In other words, the skill, as written, works very well so long as you make the reasonable assumption that the individuals who go into law and business and succeed are the ones who invest heavily in social skills.If I were DMing, I'd say because it shouldn't. Violent actions may be scary, but they may very well backfire on you. They make you look silly. They may cause your target to stiffen their resolve to resist such a vile individual. And so on.They may be "peeing in their pants", but scaring them is only half the battle. Do you have the skills to close the deal? If not, they may not give you want you want, and react in an entirely different way from what you want.You mean like applying circumstance modifiers to skill checks? Hey look, that's already in the rules, under "Favorable and Unfavorable Conditions". Well, whaddya know. They thought of that already. I guess that pretty much makes the rest of your examples not really relevant, since they all consistute such modifiers applied at the DMs discretion.</blockquote>

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