Neithan wrote:
Maghelm wrote:
"And please, think of any situation in which you might be making a Diplomacy check in person and try and tell me that physical appearance won't affect it at all."
Two words: Henry Kissinger. ;)
But the idea is that if you are good looking, you are even better in influencing people as you would be without looking good. That's why charisma and appearance are not completely unrelated. But great charisma does not require great beauty (Darth "walking refridgerator" Vader), nor does beauty cause great charisma (Paris "Charisma 6" Hilton). ^^
You have a point -- yours is a solid argument for the compound stat. There are many attractive politicians -- it certainly helped Kennedy achieve tremendous fame that his political accomplishments alone don't account for --and his attractiveness has always been part and parcel with historical analysis of his presidency. My point is that one of the most famous diplomats/statesmen in modern history (Henry K) was ugly as sin yet even considered a sex symbol in certain quarters due to his intellectual prowess. The upshot being, I can think of an example of physical beauty having zero impact on a diplomacy check. Undoubtedly, the simplest solution is to role play the nature of a Pc's charisma.
However, to stir the pot a bit, I rather like Palladium's Physical Beauty slot and use it in my games. ;)
