the power of a good illustration

[delericho]

Yeah, the whole "CHA=Beauty" drives me crazy too.

1. Beauty is subjective, CHA is a stat.

2. I'm pretty sure Sorcerers don't get more spells for lookin' good. I'm sure Undead aren't more afraid of attractive clerics.

3. How many beautiful politicians can you think of? How many supermodels are running countries?

Also, looks fade with time, but as you age Charisma increases.

 

[DragonLancer]

Charisma represents force of personality, the life force showing through if you will. It's not a stat for appeareance.

 

[John Q. Mayhem]

Charisma represents force of personality, the life force showing through if you will. It's not a stat for appeareance.

Charisma measures a character’s force of personality, persuasiveness, personal magnetism, ability to lead, and physical attractiveness.

But yeah, I think it's silly, too.

 

[Darth Shoju]

Charisma represents force of personality, the life force showing through if you will. It's not a stat for appeareance.

None-the-less, the picture Kae-Yoss is referring to still fails to represent a character with an 8 Charisma; from the halo of light around her head to the magnetism of her posture and facial expression, nothing about that image says "charisma=8" to me.

Hey, I agree that CHA does not equal appearance, but that picture also does not equal CHA 8

 

[Rolzup]

It's a little big, but this illustration of a scene from Perdido Street Station never fails to inspire me.....

Edit: Which, re-reading the original post, shouldn't count, since it's not really from a game. But still, it makes me want to RUN it as a game.

 

[Lord Zardoz]

In my experience, artists tend to not like to draw ugly things or ugly people. I am not talking about Cthulhu / grotesque ugly. I am talking about "Would need to suffer near alcohol poisoning to consider going home with that" ugly.

Artists do what they do largely because they like creating things that look good. When was the last time you saw a professional drawing of an overweight woman with sagging breasts and a severely cratered face from Acne? Considering that they would have to spend many hours looking at that one image, I dont think many artists could handle doing it. Particularly male artists.

When it comes to drawing people off the opposite sex, artists tend to draw what they would like to find in real life.

END COMMUNICATION

 

[Pants]

What about Mialee?

 

[Kae'Yoss]

I am talking about "Would need to suffer near alcohol poisoning to consider going home with that" ugly.

Loremaster.

What's funny, Kae'Yoss, is that she looks very similar to the girl who is the perfect example from my adolescence of how all the pleasant curves and stunning looks you can imagine don't mean anything if you're an arrogant, spiteful waste of oxygen.

You know, if you keep insulting her, she'll stab your mind

Cha isn't just beauty, that's true, but beauty does play into it. Beyond that, it's force of personality. That shadowmind looks anything but shy. She might be spiteful, but by the looks of her she has ego to spare. And good acting abilities, for that picture doesn't look like someone getting Cha 8 because of being arrogant and spiteful.

I still say that Cha 8 doesn't look like this.

2. I'm pretty sure Sorcerers don't get more spells for lookin' good.

Of course they do. They get an extra helping of bacon, too!

I'm sure Undead aren't more afraid of attractive clerics.

Yes they are. My Player's Handbook says so. (Munchkin's PHB) The living dead are afraid of cute clerics.

3. How many beautiful politicians can you think of? How many supermodels are running countries?

Politicians don't run anything. They're just the puppet government. The real government - the shadow government - is comprised of pretty people. Everyone knows that.

Putting physical attractiveness under CHA is just lazy thinking on the part of game designers, though surprisingly common across the various rules systems. I prefer to think of CHA as the force of one's personality, their personal magnetism, their confidence and ability to lead.

So because you think cha doesn't have anything to do with looks, Wizards may ignore their own rules?

 

[Klaus]

What about Mialee?

"What about me, human?"

 

[WayneLigon]

When you see some of the earlier illustrations of a Chimera, they just don't seem all that scary. Then you take a look at something like this and 'large magical beast' really snaps into focus. You can see people saying 'Attack that? Not for all the gold in the Dwarven Mountains!'