Your take on charismatic half-orcs

[BVB]

As a player or DM, how do you play a half-orc with a high charisma rating? Must they be brutish and ugly? One could assume that any cross-race offspring has a chance to inherit a wide variety of attributes mixed between the two parents, and yet the PHB and other materials would suggest there are no handsome or refined half-orcs.

For example, I'm looking at a set of original attributes that included an 8, 16 and 18 (the other attributes aren't notable for this discussion), and the player decided to play a half-orc by arranging them so that the 8 was boosted to a 10 for strength, the 16 dropped to a 14 for intelligence, and the 18 dropped to a 16 for charisma. As for background, he decided that the character was raised in human society by a loving, considerate woman (possibly the result of rape during an orc raid) who simply chose to ignore racial stereotypes and bring out the best potential in her son.

Although the player has established that the character is clean, well-spoken and intelligent, at least two other players end up speaking in character with "dumb orc" conversation cues. I've suggested that the orc-player simply use their reactions as motivation for his own characterization -- a constant struggle against society's assumptions based on his heritage and appearance alone -- but it still bothers the player who happens to be of mixed racial heritage himself.

(By the way, the character is a bard. He's boosted his charisma at fourth and eighth level so that it's now at 18.)

How would you handle the character and the gaming situation?

 

[I'm A Banana]

Charisma has jack diddly to do with cleanliness and physical beauty.

Think of Conan the Barbarian. A thuggish savage creature with a vague smell and a love of blood. But compelling. Interesting. He had a force of personality that made people want to follow him and made the wiminfolk swoon.

Similiarly, most orcs are little charismatic than rats. Most people don't want to follow rats anywhere, and don't care what happens in the life of a rat. They're just rats.

A charismatic half-orc can be hideously ugly with awful table manners, but the fact remains that it doesn't matter. Trashing the table looks cook and having scars is a sign of battle confidence and intimidation factor.

But, in general, charismatic half-orcs are just the old 'playing against type' cliche.

 

[nsruf]

Seems like the player already knows how he wants to play the Cha and the party doesn't go along. Maybe if you reinforce his desired image by having NPCs react favorably - even to the point of defending him from his comrades puns?

I play a pretty intelligent (Int 13) but average (Cha 8, so Orc-average) half-orc in a Realms campaign, and he frequently ends up as the party's spokesperson because he is the most reasonable (the Paladin actually tends to piss people off with his attitude).

Plus, if the player (not character) feels uncomfortable with the stereotype, addressing this OOP might be in order.

 

[BVB]

But, in general, charismatic half-orcs are just the old 'playing against type' cliche.

... And yet another oversimplification, resulting in a cliche within a cliche. Cute.

So I'd ask you: Exactly how charismatic do you think a half-orc can be before he becomes too charismatic? Your comment makes me curious now about where the line is crossed when one plays "against type."

 

[BOZ]

one word:

Personality!

 

[Tonguez]

Charisma = Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate
I think the Conan parallel is a good one, it doesn't matter that he has a jutting brow and is less than handsome this Orc is able to keep peoples attention (afterall Winston Churchhill wasn't handsome either).

He has a commanding voice that makes people listen, his poise and stature inspires confidence, he has a disarming smile (despite the tusks) and the glimmer in his eyes is something that others find compelling/attractive/cute/damn sexy (depending on preferences).
Don't forget that Intimidation factor too - he can call on all his Orcish heritage to appear terrifying if he wants to.

Assuming the players are friends I'd welcome the challenge the other characters are creating through playing out the racial prejudices - the whole point of playing a non-typical Half-Orc is to explore the realm of negative stereotyping and how to overcome it (something that the player might have personal knowledge of - NB I'm 'mixed heritage' too-).
That has the potential for good roleplaying and character development as the character proves his worth despite the initial setback.

 

[BigFreekinGoblinoid]

one word:

Personality!

Yeah! If I was playing an Orc ( or other monstrous humaniod )with a high carisma score, I would roleplay him with care - Perhaps he is always joking around, but has a self-depricating, not hurtful sense of humor. Perhaps he'd also be very friendly, always having something nice to say upon meeting a stranger, or going out of his way to help others.

Depending on the chosen alignment, you could also add other qualities - like an intense sense of loyalty.

An evil charismatic Orc would be much more difficult for me to RP, but maybe not for a player who was already evil, and had experience is such matters...

 

[omnimpotent]

Sounds like a player I'd like to have at the table.

How would I handle the character? Have a few situations where the high charisma and the skills I imagine the character would have are really handy. Situations where talking is a vastly superior tactic than hacking. Also, some spotlight roleplaying always makes a player's day. After the characters make themselves popular in some village, have some grubby 6 year old street urchin ask him how he can be an orc and a good guy at the same time, and let him talk it out. Or have the character wind up talking to a "wild" half-orc with a big axe, who eventually bails the whole party out of a sticky situation, but he'll only rescue non-orc PC's if the half orc speaks on their behalf. (Odds are the other PC's didn't make a good impression first time they met...)

How would I handle the gaming situation? Well, any time someones behavior at the game starts to upset other players, it's time to speak to the offending player(s) away from the table, and let 'em know that they aren't as funny as they think and that they're starting to spoil someones fun. I figure everyone's at the game to enjoy themselves, so if what they want to do is ruin someone's fun for the evening, they can stay home.

 

[Chronosome]

Well, in my campaign, there was one charismatic half-orc NPC: "Bear", a lovable big, dumb lug of a barbarian. He was very polite and helpful, and knew he wasn't very smart--so he wouldn't force his opinions in situations.

In combat, however, his high charisma manifested as a dramatic change in personality from sweet and dumb to a scary, low-voiced "You shouldn'ta done that to my friend" feel. Then he'd tear his enemies to pieces like a kython...

That's one take, anyway.

 

[BVB]

Good responses so far. Thanks.

So far the character hasn't interacted with any more traditional (i.e. stereotypical) half-orc NPCs in the game, barbarian or otherwise; I haven't spoken with the player about that yet and I have to wonder how the character will handle the situation -- Will he try to avoid ties to his troublesome heritage, or seek to embrace at least some aspect of it? (shrug) We'll see, I suppose.