Skip to main content

The Multiple Aspects of Charisma

Charisma is a quality which allows the inspiration of devotion in other people.  In terms of game mechanics, charisma may drive the ability to influence others and may act as a source of power for magical abilities.  Charisma also influences how others may see us, such as through physical beauty or in terms of power of personality.  Because charisma has multiple aspects, role-playing a high or low charisma can take on a combination of options.  In this article, we're going to discuss those options and look at some examples.

There are several aspects of Charisma.  Physical beauty describe how the character looks.  Familiarity describes how well the character reflects the expectations of normalness.  Communication reflects how good a person is in portraying a positive light when speaking.  Stature describes the nonverbal communication that the character portrays through their body.    Combinations of these can result in a high, low, or average charisma.

Physical beauty is difficult to quantify.  It can be made up of combinations of facial structure, body structure, and even clothing.  However, physical beauty is one of the easiest to portray in game, by directly describing the character as beautiful.

Familiarity is context sensitive and will mean different things to different people.  A dwarf who is charismatic in his homeland may be homely in an elven village or to an orc chieftain.  Familiarity may also include dressing the same, using the same language, or even having the same ideas.  Those outside familiarity may be described as odd, weird, or creepy.

Communication is an ever important aspect of charisma.  Speaking well will bring others to your side.  Speaking poorly may upset or alienate people. 

Stature is a difficult power of Charisma to describe.  A model who knows just how to walk on the catwalk had good stature, as does the paladin who rides tall and straight on his mount into battle.  The small halfling who lays sprawled across a chair sideways or the old woman who carries her groceries hunched over are weak of stature.  Someone with good stature carries with them a force of presence that adds additional charismatic impact to anything he or she does.

For an example, I am going to use Crayla, my female elven archer.  Crayla has average charisma.  She has very good physical beauty, so much so that she may attract unwanted attentions.  However, she has very poor communication skills.  She is caustic and unsympathetic when she speaks, often putting people off.  She has slightly above average stature that she gains from her use of the longbow, but has slightly below average familiarity because of her elven background of living poorly on the edge of urban areas, rather than in elven villages.  When I roleplay Crayla I emphasize her stance as she draws her bow or prepares to do so.  When Crayla speaks she often comes across as gruff and says sometimes odd or upsetting things.  I often remind my GM of my character's beauty so he can have her beauty become a problem when appropriate.  When in higher society, I also make Crayla slightly awkward.

So that's our view of charisma in role-playing characters.  Take a little closer look at this next time you play and see what new aspects of Charisma toy can bring to your game.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

5E Starting Gold and Equipment for Higher Levels

The DMG has a rough recommendation for starting gold and equipment for higher levels, but with my groups running one-shots, we wanted to nail it down to level by level. Here's my DMG-inspired table. Generally I allow equipment to be traded in during character creation for half book value, where applicable. I also, as a GM, offer to make custom magic items for players who can't choose. A list of magical items by rarity can be found here  with stats available in the DMG. I also generally allow players to buy healing potions (2d4+2) for 50gp and greater healing potions for 250gp (4d4+4). PHB items are available at book cost at creation. I do not allow other equipment to be purchased except in game. This is generally based off the "high magic" campaign. Level Starting Gold Starting Equipment / Magic Items 1 - 160gp  OR Standard starting equipment 2 210gp Standard starting equipment 3 285gp Standard starting equipment 4 365gp Standard sta

Rules for Flying Creatures in 5E

I'm not one for just throwing my players willy-nilly into something new without an idea of how it would work.  Flying races are on the horizon for one of my games, so here are my clarifications for flying creatures: A flying creatures requires a minimum space of at least 3 times their height in all directions in order to flight. For example, a 6 ft tall flying creature requires a room to be at least 18 ft in all dimensions before they can fly in it. A flying creature can attempt to grapple a creature.  If the the target or grappler are flying, grapple attempts are at disadvantage. If neither are flying, grapples are per RAW.  The state of flying or walking is determined by the last square you have moved.  To change between walking and/or flying, you must use at least 1 space of movement.  Movement rules per RAW apply (PHB pg 190 "Using Different Speeds") A successful grapple check by a flying creature can allow the flying creature to potentially carry the creature

Exploiting Weakness in D&D 5e: A Guide for the Evil Plotting GM

I wrote a similar article to this on Pathfinder, and though this is a pretty evil topic, it has been of use to a lot of folks out there.  So, now, I think, is the time to start a similar article for D&D 5e.  This will be a living document to be updated with suggestions and more information as I find better methods. In general, 5e is a lot more challenging for a GM, because the classes are reasonably balanced and because the game mechanics don't have a lot of scale over the 20 levels. Here's a general list of things to increase the difficulty for the party: Increase the number of foes and the CR (ignore the book CR system if it isn't offering a challenge) Spells against the PCs low saves.  A high level sleep spell, for example, could take out a party with no elves. Drag out the opportunity for the long rest.  After 2 short rests, the 3rd battle of the day is tough. Hit the most vulnerable PC first. It almost always forces another teammate to take an action to a