Karn has a charisma of 19 unmodified...
A "beautiful" person can have the Charisma of a stick, and an "ugly" person can rule an empire by sheer will. This is, of course, extreme, and human (or demi-human) nature leads us to naturally perceive those with what be believe to be positive physical traits as more charismatic, so it has some place. But much more so than that, Charisma is the couter-point to Wisdom. Whereas the latter is about force of will focused inward on one's self, Charisma is about the ability to impose one's will on others, hence its inclusion as a "mental" ability. Leadership, to be slightly cynical, is about getting people to do what you think they should be doing, or, in other words, manipulating them. This is not necessarily a bad thing -- the Paladin may believe that she is showing people the True Path and helping them focus their energies. Of course, the same ability can be used by the dark side to dominate or (mentally) oppress others. In any case, the abilities come from some combination of physical appearance, force of personality, leadership skill, smooth talking, and apparent moral authority....Charisma, from a role-playing standpoint, offers probably a wider set of options than Wisdom or intelligence do. A middle-of-the-road Charisma could be a slick-talking attractive person who just has no leadership skills or could just as well be an excellent managerial type who faints at the thought of public speaking.
I largely agree that CHA is probably the most abused since it has the least impact on game mechanics of combat for many. However, should the differences between a 10 CHA and a 14 CHA fighter be reflected during RP? How often? Should the 14 CHA always take charge over the 10 CHA? How can we self-police that? Should the GMs police it?Personally, I think the following would go a long way:No CHA may be set below 10 on the character creation page, including dwarves and halforcs.- OR -A new widget is added to our inventory that will query the CHA of the targeted PC.Basically, let's just all agree either that CHA is our dump stat (with a minimum of 10), or let's give ourselves someway to "see" the other persons leadership/beauty OOCly.*uses widget and attempts to make FORT check as the "stunning" 8 CHA woman in the slinky dress walks past*
Not everyone roleplays their stats correctly, and honestly, I think we should just let them do as they please. It's a character, it's a game... I think over-policing just takes out the fun factor. I get a touch irritable when people get nitpicky over my character, but hey, that's life.
I just think that the people who abuse are going to abuse and the people who RP it correctly are going to. Either way, it doesn't seem to make much of a difference outside of DM quests, as people follow the person who knows the terrain the most and beauty is covered by armor.Like I said, when and if it makes a difference, a CHA check should be rolled. That way, the GMs don't have to do anything and we can police each other. The widget sounds like just another mess in the toolset, even if it's only one.