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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Hussar" data-source="post: 5750770" data-attributes="member: 22779">But, that's never been my point.  I've repeatedly stated that.  The GM's satisfaction is completely and utterly unimportant to me and I'M THE GM!  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" />From my point of view, the only metric that matters is the table.  Does my portrayal of my character meet with the general approval of the table?  The measure of how well a character is roleplayed is how closely does the portrayal of that character match what that character is.  Now, what that character is will be a combination of concrete factors like skills and powers and hit points and the like and all sorts of fuzzy bits like alignment and stats.  Like I said, I don't care if the 8 Int character pulls something smart off once in a while.  That's great.  But, if my 8 Int character turns into Sun Tzu every time initiative is rolled, then I'm not portraying that character very well.  Someone watching my play would be very surprised to learn that my character is actually below average intelligence.  If I'm constantly doing the most optimum thing, always making the best decision, taking the time to learn more information before making any decision and the like, I'm not portraying that character very well.The stats inform how that character is played.  They certainly don't represent any sort of straight jacket on how that character must be played.  You started this thread with the question, "Should PC's be forced to act a certain way?"  and I emphatically answered no right in the beginning.And I still believe that.  No one should ever be forced to do anything.  By the same token, if it reaches the point where the DM, or anyone at the table is turning to me and saying, "Dude, really?  You really have your character do that?" then I know that I haven't really been true to that character.Sure it's fuzzy.  Of course it is.  I'd vehemently oppose any sort of written rules that would codify behavior.  I hated it when they did that with paladins in D&d.  I loathe the alignment rules for EXACTLY this sort of discussion.Funny story.  Few years back I had a fairly new player in my group.  Nice guy.  He insisted that his new PC was chaotic neutral because, in his words, he wanted to be able to do anything he wanted to do.  Ok, fair enough.Several sessions go by and I come back to the player.  "Umm, Dave, your character is totally dependable, never acts impulsively, is cautious, rational, and a total team player.  How exactly is this character Chaotic Neutral?""I'm Chaotic Neutral.  I want to be able to do anything I want.  I don't want any restrictions.""Ok," I answered.  "But, what you apparently want to do is act about as lawful as any Paladin player I've ever seen.  You've never actually done anything that could remotely be described as chaotic with this character.  I have explained that I believe the alignment is simply descriptive, not proscriptive right?"Dave answered, "Yeah, I get that.  It's no problem.  But my character is still totally Chaotic Neutral because I want to be able to do anything I want to do." Honestly, I left it at that.  It wasn't really worth getting worked up about and what the hell, it's his character.  But, it really does tie into this conversation.  His portrayal of that character was very, very far removed from the alignment of this character.  It was jarring to me and to a few of the other players.  Not enough that anyone got really annoyed by it, but, it was jarring.To me, this is exactly the same thing as ignoring any other part of your character sheet.  If I have an 8 Cha and no social skills, I would try to portray that with my character.  His social interactions are going to be a bit awkward and he's probably not going to be giving any speeches in the near future.  Is he going to be Cat Piss man?  No, of course not.  He's not that bad.  But, he's certainly no Sean Connery either.  Exactly how would I portray it? I'm not sure to be honest.  There are too many other factors to bring in that might affect things.  But, I'd at least keep half an eye on the character sheet whenever I do try to portray this character.As far as I'm concerned, that's all I would expect from anyone.</blockquote>

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