Play your low Charisma in a different manner. For example, say you've got someone who's got 5 Charisma but is using Biting Intellect to fix her Intimidate ranks. She's loud, boisterous, and can't open her mouth without offending someone. The thing that's most frustrating is that she's usually right.
Charisma is vague enough that you can do pretty much anything you want with it.
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For intelligence, I'll share a bit of my own experience. Since I am not shy about it IRL, for the purposes of this thread I will admit that, among other things, I have a high functioning form of Autism better known as “Asperger’s.” You may or may not have heard of it, but for the sake of the thread I won’t go into specifics. Lets just say that the condition gives people like myself a mind that works differently from the “typical” person that often translates to difficulties in social situations, and mechanically would be represented by a slight charisma hit, among other mechanics. Now, some people who have what I have, myself included, can actually navigate social situations very well.
However, it’s not because we are just naturally good at talking to people. While we are all different, in the end, what works for some people who have what I have(myself included) is tackling social situations through analyzing them, studying them intently and creating a logic-based system or guide that allows one to successfully interact with others when followed. It can take different forms for different people who have what I have. For me, since I tend to be better with words and facts then numbers, it’s a set of guidelines, rules and calculated, planned strategies that I memorize. However, for somebody else I have met with the same condition as me it was actually literal formulas and equations.(They where more math-oriented then myself.) While this is based on my experiences as a person with Asperger’s, it need not apply to simply that condition.
Instead, this, in my mind, is a perfect model for a character that has int to social skills and a low cha. They know they lack social graces. They know something about them turns people off. Yet, they are smart, so they tackle social interaction like an academic topic, or even a game of strategy. They research and study social interaction, find out what is effective, what is not, what people like and what turns them off. They apply their logic and knowledge to crafting a personal "system” for social interaction that can be anything from equations/formulas for social interaction to a “playbook” of “social strategies,” memorize it, and consciously draw from it when interacting with others. They need not have Asperger’s or any other condition to do this. They can simply he uncharismatic for whatever reason you like, and smart enough to do this and realize it needs to be done.(Though the latter may be more wisdom then int, honestly.)
That’s personally how I would tackle int to social skills with low charisma. Wisdom, however, I am stumped on.
I play a level 7 tiefling (CHA 5) Conversion Inquisitor in PFS. My social skill roll bonuses are usually among the highest in my given group during a session.
For me, the stats of my character are just the mechanical backbone that allow me to get my character to do what I want it to do.
I essentially discount my CHA because of this viewpoint, since I can back up my charismatic, charming and humorous roleplay with the appropriately persuasive rolls.
AM NOT "AM BARBARIAN," BUT AM OTHER BARBARIAN, AND AM THINK BARBARIAN AM BEST AT "NOT-NORMAL TALKY-MAN" GAME.
AM NOT SMART, BUT AM BARBARIAN, AND BARBARIAN AM USE SCARY FACE AT SMASH-TIME, BUT AM SHOW NOT-BARBARIANS THAT BARBARIAN AM "SOH-SHUL JEE-KNEE-US" AT NOT-SMASH-TIME.
AM NOT "SEHN-SIH-BULL," BUT AM BARBARIAN, AND BARBARIAN AM MAKE NOT-BARBARIANS HAPPY BECAUSE AM BARBARIAN. BUT NOT CASTIES THAT BARBARIAN AM SMASH. OR NOT-BARBARIANS.
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I would think high int/wis and low cha would fall into the "insufferable genius" trope. Smart and a good problem solver, who people agree with only because they're right, even if they're abrasive.
Sherlock Holmes then?
play him like House and Sherlock
You could even play the stereotypical "low charisma = ugly" trope. You're hideous and deformed, perhaps scarred horribly in a childhood accident, but you also have a British accent and the biting wit to accompany it.
Diminuendo's House approach would also be a good one.
Be Spock-like, perhaps?
You have the personality of a house plant, but all heed your wisdom due to its logic and accord you proper respect for it.
I play a level 7 tiefling (CHA 5) Conversion Inquisitor in PFS. My social skill roll bonuses are usually among the highest in my given group during a session.
For me, the stats of my character are just the mechanical backbone that allow me to get my character to do what I want it to do.
I essentially discount my CHA because of this viewpoint, since I can back up my charismatic, charming and humorous roleplay with the appropriately persuasive rolls.
Agreed. The only thing that matters is the Diplomacy modifier, not the exact bits that go into making it.
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For intelligence, I'll share a bit of my own experience. Since I am not shy about it IRL, for the purposes of this thread I will admit that, among other things, I have a high functioning form of Autism better known as “Asperger’s.” You may or may not have heard of it, but for the sake of the thread I won’t go into specifics. Lets just say that the condition gives people like myself a mind that works differently from the “typical” person that often translates to difficulties in social situations, and mechanically would be represented by a slight charisma hit, among other mechanics. Now, some people who have what I have, myself included, can actually navigate social situations very well.
However, it’s not because we are just naturally good at talking to people. While we are all different, in the end, what works for some people who have what I have(myself included) is tackling social situations through analyzing them, studying them intently and creating a logic-based system or guide that allows one to successfully interact with others when followed. It can take different forms for different people who have what I have. For me, since I tend to be better with words and facts then numbers, it’s a set of guidelines, rules and calculated, planned strategies that I memorize. However, for somebody else I have met with the same condition as me it was actually literal formulas and equations.(They where more math-oriented then myself.) While this is based on my experiences as a person with Asperger’s, it need not apply to simply that condition.
Instead, this, in my mind, is a perfect model for a character that has int to social skills and a low cha. They know they lack social graces. They know something about them turns people off. Yet, they are smart, so they tackle social interaction like an academic topic, or even a game of strategy. They research and study social interaction, find out what is effective, what is not, what people like and what turns them off. They apply their logic and knowledge to crafting a...
I have to agree with this completely, as someone that has Autism, thats how i process things. Everything is a "pattern" to me. Thats how a navigate social situations. I have trained my self to do it fast, and I make a lot of observations. Some times I am way off, some times I am spot on. Take the new information i gained, and modify my patern.
When friends ask me for details of how i think/what i observe, the amount of effort/forethought I put into conversations and why/how i say stuff it freaks them out. I bring up evidence of advents that happened weeks before in what they say is surprising detail to bring to why I said/believe something. Every case of Autism is different.. For me I see the world in black and white its hard to see stuff in gray. Also I Don't really get emotional in arguments... it seems illogical to get emotions involved in in a Logical form.Its hard for me to understand why people get angry at times also... I also really completely on my intelligence (my iq=135 (another thing is that typical with autism, they score extremely high in one area of intelligence, but low in others, and then it averages out to be what ever. the average person is close on all aspects of his scores. For me I score extremely high on comprehension and average and below average in all others.)) to process threw all the confusing social situations out there...
So yea, you could role play something like this, for a low charisma character and high Int.
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My wizard with 'Clever Wordplay' to use Int instead of Cha for diplomacy tends to try to overwhelm people with speed and logic, to force them to agree with her. "This. And this. And of course that. Oh, you might think XY, but the only possible outcome is Z, so you must let us pass."
My Conversion Inquisition tiefling inquisitor I role-play as being very disturbing in appearance and affect, but strangely compelling and convincing over time.