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> What would really happen to someone who uses Charisma as a dump stat, RPGs exactly opposite to real life
Wounded Ronin
post Apr 27 2014, 09:57 PM
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So, you know how in role playing games, Charisma is usually the "dump stat" because it's the least important.

Upon reflection, I think that most RPGs don't enforce realistic consequences for the entire party having CHA 1, so to speak.

Imagine we're talking about a group of people we either want to hire, or entrust with some important task. Let's say a group of plumbers, or a group of lawyers.

CHA 1 would mean that these guys all give the worst possible impression. They are abrasive, don't seem responsive to your needs as the client, don't give the initial impression of being very competent, and give you an uneasy feeling if you are giving them something to do that is do-or-die.

You probably wouldn't go with them if you had a choice. In the context of Shadowrun, you would think that a team meeting this description would consistently get suicide missions or cannon fodder jobs, or at least stupid jobs that aren't that important. The whole party having CHA 1 you would think would actually create a situation where they would basically have no career and deliberately be put at risk more than they otherwise might.

Think about a Dungeons and Dragons type setting. If the heroes all give the impression of being drunken aggressive idiots because they all have CHA 3, you'd think that the people who send them on quests would basically use them as cannon fodder due to lack of confidence. Like, if I were the king, and a bunch of CHA 3 adventurers showed up, I might tell them to assault the goblin's cave or whatever, but since they seem like a bunch of idiots, I'd consider sending a second party after them to, say, assassinate the Goblin King while the first party is causing a distraction by assaulting the front gate, or something like that.

That would actually be an interesting D&D game. The PCs arrive in the Hall of the Goblin King to find that the King has already been assassinated. But by whom? No time to think as the cry echoes through the cavern, "The king is slain! Take revenge on the murderers!" Later it turns out the King sent his level 9 thief to do it because he thought you party was a bunch of louts.
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