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<blockquote data-quote="James Gasik" data-source="post: 9608271" data-attributes="member: 6877472">If it then becomes the DM's job to ensure that a high Int/Wis character has the opportunity to not make mistakes, then why don't we see more leeway with people playing Charisma higher than their own?&nbsp; Because, whether or not you've seen this in action, the socially awkward/high Charisma character can be talked over, ignored, or be expected to explain exactly how they are employing their ability to persuade, in a way that a high Strength character is not.Nobody (I hope) is asking a high Strength character's player exactly how they are lifting heavy objects or grappling foes.&nbsp; But there is often a double standard with the non-physical ability scores.&nbsp; Which is made worse because while I know how much a character can lift with their Strength, there is no way for anyone to judge how intelligent someone with Int 16 is*, nor how persuasive someone with Charisma 17 is.&nbsp; In fact, the people who wish to police the roleplay of these ability scores don't even know where they would stand on this scale!*There is the old Int x10 = IQ shorthand, but not only is that inaccurate because IQ has it's own problems as a metric, if Int 20 is the highest someone can have without magic, then it has to actually be equal to the smartest real world human, which is, I believe, something like 276.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="James Gasik, post: 9608271, member: 6877472"] If it then becomes the DM's job to ensure that a high Int/Wis character has the opportunity to not make mistakes, then why don't we see more leeway with people playing Charisma higher than their own? Because, whether or not you've seen this in action, the socially awkward/high Charisma character can be talked over, ignored, or be expected to explain exactly how they are employing their ability to persuade, in a way that a high Strength character is not. Nobody (I hope) is asking a high Strength character's player exactly how they are lifting heavy objects or grappling foes. But there is often a double standard with the non-physical ability scores. Which is made worse because while I know how much a character can lift with their Strength, there is no way for anyone to judge how intelligent someone with Int 16 is*, nor how persuasive someone with Charisma 17 is. In fact, the people who wish to police the roleplay of these ability scores don't even know where [B]they[/B] would stand on this scale! *There is the old Int x10 = IQ shorthand, but not only is that inaccurate because IQ has it's own problems as a metric, if Int 20 is the highest someone can have without magic, then it has to actually be equal to the smartest real world human, which is, I believe, something like 276. [/QUOTE]

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