Why, I'd follow you anywhere!

[Tynian]

I need to make CHR relevant. And I don't mean in just a "shoppie will sell me stuff for less" sort of way. I'm looking for some actual relevance that makes you think, "Hmm, I need to be more charismatic." And not just in role-playing relavent sort of way, but in a game mechanics sort of way -- In a "anyone got a +3 chr item for sale" sort of way.

Only I'm having trouble coming up with ideas. Logical, easy to code, and ideas having true game impact most appreciated. ::up::

Lend me your brilliance!

[Anonymous Mammal]

Guard mobs less likely to attack players with high charisma not of the same race.

Assisting mobs less likely to assist another mob vs a player with high charisma.

Thief mobs less likely to steal gold from players with high charisma.

Aggressive mobs may give pause before attacking a player with high charisma.

[Miressa]

Perhaps Mish and the Bankers would be a little kinder with their cut if dealing with a person a tad more charismatic.

[DarkClaw]

If you really wanted to go all out you could implement factions
into the game. Course that'd be a lot of work, I'm sure. ;-)

[pitt]

Tweak the sacrifice command to allow sacrifices to god+, including retired god+, as well as your FLI. If you're ugly, the god might curse you (blind,deaf,weaken,curse,teleport,rift). If you're pretty, the god might bless you (cure light/critical, strength, bless, shield, armor, cloak).

RANDOM ROLL (Adjusted by CHR) | Result
1 | Teleport
2 | Dispel Magic
3,4 | Drop an item from inventory.
5,6,7 | Drop all gold
8,9,10 | Sex Change
11,12,13 | Someone ruffles you absently.
14,15 | Someone winks at you.
16,17 | Cure Light
18 | Shield
19 | Stone Skin
20 | Free Random Item

The current and retired gods+ could have magic themes. Current imms could write their own, and the retired ones that drop by could too if they wanted, otherwise one could get a 'This immortal isn't accepting sacrifices' kind of message.

[Pol]

Funny you should mention this! I was actually working on some ideas for CHR and was going to post on this this weekend.

My thinking was that CHR could be sort of a measure of the force of one's personality or will, so I geared the suggestions towards that rather than just being a measure of comliness.

Here's what I've got thus far:

1. Increase effectiveness of "mind" affecting spells or spells requiring force of personality/will - sleep, charm, fear, confusion, haunt, turning, control weather, dispel evil/good, imprint, charge, portal, summon, exclude, absorb, etc.

2. Protect against same.

3. Allow high charisma characters to be non-aggro'ed by same-aligned mobs and city guards, low CHR chars to be aggro'ed by otherwise non-aggro mobs.

4. Mentioned before, but worth mentioning again - base some Thug skills on CHR. E.g.. Mug, Intimidate (cause an opponent to flee), etc.

5. Along the same lines, have Bards tied to CHR tightly - perhaps have spells cast by Bards be affected by CHR in the same way WIS affects spells for other classes.

6. Tie CHR to other skills - e.g., info2, steal, righteous assault, sphere use, etc.

7. Have CHR affect banker's charges.

8. When using pracs, have the prac mob occasionally "Spend extra time" with high CHR characters thus they gain a little extra in the skill they're practicing.

If I think of any others, I'll let you know.

Glad you're doing this, Tyn! It's been a long time coming :)

Pol O'Song

[Belsambar]

I like the lower cuts from Bankers.

Randomly get floating dmg for high chr?

Increase speed-regens for those with high chr ((if that's not how it already works))

Add an extra flag for mobs, so that certain mobs ((such as dragons)) will try to occasionally actually HOARD someone with high chr....ie, you leave the room, it hunts, you go back to the room it's in, it leaves you alone. ((doesn't seem like a bonus I know, but if you bad recall and the mob looks at you and hugs you and tells you 'Please don't leave me!' it a: Gives you a chance to get away alive and b: is kind of how certain things might act if they really did see someone with extreme high chr.))

Maybe certain mobs might follow you and act 'charmed' by your mere presense.

High chr PC's get chances at things like 'double gold' for sacrifices. Or something.

I could come up with a few more, but that's a couplle ones off the top of my head.

[Cordir, Lady of Fate]

A while back, I proposed an additional line item in the LOOK (playername) info, just above the health desc, and just after any entered descriptions, which would have specific messages for race, sex, and a comeliness/charisma indicator... I don't know if that's something under consideration or not, or already part of Tyn's plans...

I agree with Comeliness affecting certain mind altering spells, especially Charm Person.

-C

[Pol]

Couple of additional thoughts here...

9. Extending DC's idea...though we don't have factions/reputation (lord how I hated coding around these things for NWN) but we do have...debt! Perhaps CHR can affect the amount of debt one receives or carries?

10. Have CHR affect the frequency with which mobs ghost and hunt.

11. A little silly, but...have low CHR prevent one from using Gossip or Tell ("You're so ugly and vapid, no one's listening"). :)

Pol

[Belsambar]

More.....


Have chr affect exp gained from mobs.

Have chr affect tnl's to a degree.

High chr can prevent curse, charm.

Low chr, some shoppies might actually completely refuse to deal with you.



....And I do like the idea of CHR affecting mind affect spells as well.

[Seto]

Have chr affect exp gained from mobs.


I like this idea, Maybe make it a 20 or so exp range. Perfect Chr and you get like 10more exp then you would otherwise, horrible chr and you get 10 less.

not sure if 20 would be to much or too little but it would surly make the Chr a sought out for stat. ::up::

[kehrindrek]

one question: what about those folks who would prefer to remain ugly? would ogres for example be forced to become more charismatic in order to compete with elves? i see charisma as somewhat more of a role-playing stat but i suppose that could be true of any stat. and really everyone wants to have the most capable character anyway so maybe it doesn't matter.

regardless i see charasma as more than just how pretty one is. charsma should affect one's ability to get ahead in the world. maybe even get around the world. some ideas:


1) major overhaul to the vortex. perhaps it's not even "the vortex" anymore. entry or use depends on a certain minimum of charisma. or perhaps navigation to desired exit critically depends on charisma. one can always walk right? :D or take the ship.

2) chr becomes the anti-effect on one's foe. chr gives foe -da or +svs or -hr during combat.

3) major affect to xp.

4) major affect to pk debt.

5) modifier to other stat gains. for example int + chr now needed for best mana gains.


that's it for now. i might consider some more. i particularly like #2.

[Miressa]

For you ugly folks....

Very low chr could scare lower level mobs away (sort of like the guards cowering in the presence of someone greater) - or even a "flee" affect.

[Gyro]

I would like to see CHR become more than just something to wear when buying from a shoppie or purely for RP. I am not sure if the classes all have different CHR caps or if the max is 25, this would influence, at least to me, what it could be used for other than lower prices. I'd like to see CHR become more than about "This person is handsome or wellspoken" but rather about the strength of that person's personality and influence.

If everyone could have 25 CHR, then I like these ideas:

*Have to increase exp gained per kill. (Cant really think of an RP reason why this would work, I would think intelligence or wisdom would determine how much you learn from each battle)

*Have high CHR determine if certain aggro mobs attack, maybe based on level? That way a lvl 15 with 25 chr can't walk through DR but maybe avoid the bandits on the way to bazaar.

*Have low CHR cause mobs of near the same level or lower randomly flee. (this is both a positive and negative.)

*Have CHR determine charm/sleep/fear/confuse as these spells attack the mind of the target, a more persuasive person is going to do better. CHR would also act as a defense.

*Have high CHR limit how long/how tenacious a hunting mob will be. (to an extent)

*Have high CHR lower debt and add to the benefit of bribing.

*Have high CHR lower banker fees and penalties. (but not enough so a storage char can just wear 25 chr and avoid these pitfalls)

*Have CHR affect level gains and trains. (The gods favor this person more and so it boosts the chance of gaining that little extra)

*Have High CHR give the chance for assisting mobs to target the players enemy, not the player themselves.

*Have High CHR lower the chance an enemy (mob or player) will land a critical hit or floating dmg strike, as the person is so charismatic that the enemy cannot bring themselves to go full tilt.

If CHR is dependant on class choice (I dont think it is but i'm not sure) then I think this ideas would work better.

*Have CHR determine charm/sleep/fear/confuse/mute, but to a greater extent. Same with blocking these.

*Have steal and mug be determined by CHR as well as dex/str

*Have very low CHR provide an armor/damage/hitroll boost to the player, as their enemy is too horrified and intimidated to defend at their full abilities.

*Have rift, cloak, absorb, exclude be boosted/affected by CHR, lowering their pure reliance on int/wis (Shamans use powers granted to them from the spirit world, and so they need to be persausive to get the spirit's full and total support)

*Have CHR boost effectiveness of cleric healing/damage spells, as they must persuade their deity to imbue them with power.

*Have CHR be the "anti-stat", so an opponnent is weakened by either -da/+svs/-hr/-dr. (A charming thief might be better as mentally disarming their enemy than say a more solitary person like a ranger.)

*Have CHR be a boost to level gains, either greater chance of max hit/mana or trains, extra pracs. Perhaps a special boost to a level, so you'd get a message like The Gods enjoy your quick wit and charming face and award you an extra 2hp and 1ma! (this might not work as it would make older players less competitive, pure stat wise, versus new players)


That is my opinion about how CHR could be integrated to be a sought out stat. Thank you to the many people that posted good ideas, 95% of those above are not mine, but just taken from the previous posts.

[Furnock]

For you ugly folks....

Very low chr could scare lower level mobs away (sort of like the guards cowering in the presence of someone greater) - or even a "flee" affect.

I agree but have nothing else of value to offer (what else is new).

The Bookend scores 1 and 20 would cause dramatic reactions.
As the scale goes towards the middle, things get a bit more boring and average. Much like a chr of 10.

1 - 5 Racial Mob does a fight or flee check. Higher % of Attack. May attack or run in fear.
ANY Mob in room while Mr. Ugly is fighting (PVM or PVP) may just start helping the opponent.

15-20 Racial Mob does a fight or flee check. Higher % of Flee. May attack or grovel at your feet.
ANY Mob in room while Ms. Pretty Pants is fighting (PVM or PVP) may get assistance from that mob.

6-14 Suffer with the rest of the average looking people. You are unremarkable. Deal.

I like the affect mental spells/abilities. I thought CHR already had something to do with Charm.

[Belsambar]

CHR has always capped at 25, so you know....

And I like that last set of ideas, there were some good ones there.