| stemfish |
Most modules have at least one point where the party needs to talk their way into something, out of trouble, get information, bluff, or some other social related skill. More often than not, the character at the table with the highest charisma modifier is expected to fit that role and be the talker for the party. This can be fine, if you play a bard, you're creating a character who is designed around talking, but what about people who take charisma based characters, whom don't want to be the face?
I had a new player join with us for his first session of PFS, and he came to the table with a blaster sorc. We got through the first part of the adventure, and got to a town where the party had to find out where the next clue was. The sorc didn't put any ranks into diplomacy, and two of the other three players began to question his decisions. When he said that he simply didn't like being the leader of the party, they continued to question why he would play a charisma based character, if he didn't plan on being the 'face' of the party. One went as far as to say, 'Any character with a high charisma will be the leader of the party. If you don't think you can do that, then you shouldn't be playing a charisma based character.' As DM I was able to get the party to roleplay it out in character without needing an actual diplomacy roll for gather information and move past the issue as best I could (skipping one scene entirely as it was nothing but a set of social rolls in a row), but it left a sour taste in everyone's mouth for the rest of the session.
Afterward, my friend asked me if it was too late to change up his character. We talked it over, and he decided that if he was going to go through this every time he wanted to play, then he just didn't want to be a charisma sorc, instead he'd turn the sorc into a wizard. But I don't like this decision, as he's pretty much off of charisma based classes. I also talked to the other players and went over how they were getting on his case for no reason - similar to people who get angry at clerics who do anything besides healing - as it wasn't what he wanted to do. If he needed to make a skill check he would, but that they shouldn't tell him what to do as either a person or character.
So, any advice on how to help out players who want to play charisma based characters, but not be forced to roleplay for the group?