Back in the day CHA was good for determining how many hirelings a character could have and their morale, but few people delve constantly into dungeons these days and even fewer do so with small armies of hirings. Now, folks are running around the countryside or in urban settings playing politics and these are exactly the sort of places where CHA can shine.
CHA is not appearance
I'd like to get this out of the way straight on. CHA is not comeliness. We don't need a stat for appearance. Let every character be as beautiful or ugly as the player wants.
CHA as Social Network
NPCs are the lifeblood of any campaign. They are the interface the characters use to engage with the world and the GM has to create a metric shit ton of NPCs over the course of a campaign. Instead the GM should assign players the task of generating an NPC for each point of CHAr. If they have a 5 CHA they create 5 NPC, if they have an 18 CHA they create 18 NPC. These NPC don't need stats, just a name, maybe a basic personality, and how they know the character (family, same town, co-workers, etc).
The catch is that the players don't determine if the NPCs like their character or hate them. That's the GMs job (and that should be kept secret) and the lower the CHA the higher percentage of the NPC will dislike the character. Round down.
Table 1: NPC Table
CHA | Like/Dislike |
|---|---|
03-05 | 1/2 hate, 1/2 dislike |
06-10 | 1/2 dislike, 1/2 neutral |
11-14 | 1/4 dislike, 1/2 neutral, 1/4 like |
15-18 | 1/2 neutral, 1/2 actively like |
21+ | Every likes |
- Hate - NPCs that hate will make a hobby out of planning the characters demise, spreading gossip, and generally being a shit.
- Dislike - NPCs that dislike are mostly indifferent but will grab a pitch-fork and join the mob going after the character if the opportunity came up.
- Neutral - NPCs that are neutral will probably remember the character if they are brought up in conversation.
- Like - NPCs that like the character are folks that will volunteer to help and will never have to check morale if accompanying the character.
The GM can then use this network of player created NPCs to have a friendlier helpful vibe for those with higher CHA and to have folks actively spitting on the shoes of those with low CHA.
CHA as Social Class
Nobles have high Charisma. They might be total fools but growing up giving orders to servants and such fills one with the confidence that is the core of Charisma. So instead of rolling social class separately (as in some games) we can simply state that anyone with a high CHA (say 15+) is of the noble class. Perhaps their father is a knight and they have no claims themselves, or they are a bastard, whatever. Medium CHA (10-14) are most likely townsmen. The upper end probably come from wealthy merchant families, the lower end are at least independent craftsmen that aren't constantly trampled by the system. Anyone below 10 CHA comes from poor or serf/slave background. They must kow-tow to survive on a daily basis and it is rare for a leader to appear among this lot.
If you break down the numbers you'll find this way out of whack compared to actual medieval social class percentages but it'll work in a game in which nearly everybody dumps their worst numbers into CHA.
CHA and Fame
CHA can also be used as a bellwether for fame. Unless one keep moving around the tales of ones accomplishments will spread and folks will start to recognize the character based on their appearance. A GM might consider making a CHA check (including level) each time a band of adventurers enters a new town. If the check succeeds someone in the town recognizes them. When that happens before long everyone will recognize them.
At this point the GM must determine the reaction. It is one thing to be recognized for a career of saving villages and stopping trouble, and another altogether for being known as the folks that nearly killed the king but slipped away before being caught.
Also any magical items should be added to the CHA score for this roll. Typically just a 1 or 2 is sufficient, you don't want to tally up and judge every magical item. Only the flashy ones need be counted.
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