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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mallus" data-source="post: 5751758" data-attributes="member: 3887">Repeat this like a mantra when and if you read my posts on this subject! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Is this a rhetorical question?  Because it's been answered -- the stats do whatever the system declares they do, which, if we're talking about games like D&D, means, practically-speaking, very little when it comes to PC characterization.  Why do you insist you know how to portray a PC better than their players? In the absence of any real guidelines/criteria, or even agreement on what the stats represent, or if they're more of an average or a mean, mathematically-speaking. That's the question I'm interested in.Why should a DM weigh in on that? This assumes the given system models X well. This is a bad assumption. Better to accept a less then 1-to-1 mapping between the character and the mechanics used to represent them in the game space. The advantage to this approach should be obvious: flexibility. The simple answer is I don't. It's just that I don't pretend there are clear, definitive relationships between certain mechanics and characterization ie, I have no problem with an INT 10 character being exceptional tactician... there is nothing unrealistic about non-geniuses excelling in a specific area, AFAIC.   Again, since I think of "strong characterization" in the literary sense -- the mechanics/numbers simply aren't that important.For example, my current Pathfinder character is a mean, laconic, charmless warrior woman who dislikes both lying and command of others. She has a CHA of 22. Why does she have that? As an Oracle, CHA is her caster stat. But it doesn't dictate how I characterize her -- that's simply fiction I'm writing, based more on the cultural/historical fluff from the campaign setting than her superhuman CHA score.  You're making the assumption a PC needs to be "the charisma dude" in order to be an effective leader/persuader/negotiator. This is absurd -- from a real-world perspective. Do you really need examples? Okay, here's an easy one for free - Nixon! It's funny how you're labeling clever play as a "free pass". This comes back to the question: how many system resources does a player have to spend before they can have/use a good idea?</blockquote>

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