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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ainamacar" data-source="post: 6136300" data-attributes="member: 70709">I'm inclined to think of Intelligence as a measure of reasoning, Wisdom as measure of recognizing/mastering desires, and Charisma as the capability to pursue one's desires.  Or: Intelligence determines the smart thing to do, Wisdom determines whether or not one can pursue the smart thing, and Charisma determines the effectiveness of autonomous action.So consider the example of the drunkard.  Intelligence can tell them that they are ruining their life.  Wisdom deals with the self-awareness of the desire and the battle to choose one course or another.  Charisma influences how definitively they avoid the bottle or how ferociously they give in.  A drunkard with high Int, low Wisdom, and high Charisma could give 1000 fantastic reasons to stop drinking, no Wisdom to actually master the desire, and recklessly pursue the bottle with Charisma.  If the same character had low Charisma they might still be a drunk but they might not drink with such abandon.In a more stereotypical D&D context, suppose we have a character attracted to a princess who is, by all societal standards, firmly off-limits.  Intelligence would help give a measure of the pros and cons of pursuing the princess.  Wisdom would deal with whether or not the character can help him or herself ("I must have her.")  Charisma would indicate how successful they might be at pursuing the princess, or restraining from the pursuit, once the will is set.  A character that doesn't feel the desire in the gut might not need high Wisdom in this case because what the intellect tells them is a good idea is never challenged by desire.  Of course, a character with really low Int might draw all the wrong conclusions about whether pursuing the princess is a good or bad idea, and still end up in a mess of trouble.One could apply a similar pattern to matters of perception, although I'm finding it trickier.  Perhaps Intelligence is analysis, Wisdom is situational awareness of environment/desires, and Charisma is awareness of autonomy/emotions.  In social conflicts Intelligence might help one hypothesize an opponent's "angle", Wisdom might detect desires, and Charisma might help detect coercion.  An NPC that is trying to con the PCs might be detected with Wisdom while an NPC that is operating honestly but under coercion might be detected with Charisma.  I think that would leave intact the painfully oblivious and easily exploited character with high Charisma but low Intelligence and Wisdom, while giving Charisma a legitimate perceptive role.  Even assuming Wisdom is self-awareness and distinct from Charisma as "sense of self", the analogous perceptive qualities of other-awareness and "sense of other" does walk a tightrope.For resistances I think Charisma would be perfect against blunt compulsions or other things where the character knows something is amiss and desires to fight.  Wisdom wold appropriate for subtle effects, like noticing illusions or charms that alter perception and appear to leave it intact, but don't coerce.  Intelligence would be appropriate for effects that can be defeated by reasoning or applying direct knowledge, like disbelieving suspected illusions, overcoming confusion, or other effects where perception may be disrupted but the target's essence is not.That breakdown would hopefully move some of the interesting mind-affecting effects around, but also give each kind a distinct impact on the game.  Characters with low Charisma could be told what to do, characters with low Wisdom could be altered in hopes they behave accordingly, and characters with low intelligence could be tricked outright.</blockquote>

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