Due to GM madness in an awful place where things made little sense, my charisma permanently became 1. Don't worry about how that happened, that doesn't matter. I worry about how to RP having a charisma of 1.
A quick look through the bestiary the only creatures with a charisma of 1 are oozes, constructs, and SOME plants (assassin vines, giant flytraps and others have more charisma than I do). Based on this I can only imagine that to have 1 charisma you are completely void of personality.
I am a mute, who on the rare occasion that he might speak, would be intentionally arrogant and offensive when he makes his point. Even that seems like too much personality. Does anyone else have any idea on how to RP such a thing? I had hoped that I could RP my way out of the situation, but the RP would involve not RPing... HELP ME!!!!
If it helps, Alligators/Crocodiles also have a Cha of 1.
Really...I wouldn't bother with it. It's like RPing an Int of 1. You either RP it as the stat implies (sub-human) or you don't at all.
You might get some mileage out of being as emotionless and unfeeling as a machine, speaking in a monotone and letting pure logic and stimuli be your guide, but that probably won't be fun for very long. But maybe it will be long enough to get it reversed.
The "how" of your Cha becoming 1 may actually give some valuable insight.
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Looks like they have Cha 2, Rynjin. There are some vermin with only 1, but those aren't much better than the oozes and constructs, from a RP perspective.
Honestly, I'd switch my alignment to TN and tell the GM you start hugging and/or trying to eat every nice thing and punching and/or trying to eat every not-nice thing, without a care in the world. While your party is busy putting you down or institutionalizing you, roll a new character. I don't think it's worthwhile to actually spend any time or effort on playing a character with 1 Cha. =/
Is there physical disfigurement too, or just a really crappy attitude and demeanor? All those are challenging RP opportunities.
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The Terminator might be a good example.
Or just about any Kevin Costner performance.
Really though, the best way to RP a CHA 1 character is to never engage in any social interaction. You're not mute, but you act like you are. If you do talk to people, you probably do it inappropriately: standing too close, talking way too loud, choosing tones of voice that are contrary to the meaning you want (like sounding angry when you're really just bored), and ending social interactions prematurely (walking out of a room in mid-conversation).
In social situations where non-verbal interaction is required, still be inappropriate: washing your hands in the holy-water font, walking into a person's home without knocking, picking your nose, scratching your butt, farting, being unwashed in dirty clothes at a fancy ball, etc.
Whatever is proper, you usually do something less acceptable. Not because you're too dumb to learn etiquette, but because you just don't give a rat's tail about it.
Don't play him to be deliberately offensive (he probably has the wisdom to know better), but just socially clueless.
this has a pretty good way of explaining how characters act with different stat lines. You are 1` level above catatonic so~~~~ dunno how well thats going to realistically work out. Might have to roll up a new character.
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/basics-ability-scores/ability-scores
The line for Cha 1 from the Ability scores list is:
1 (value)Zombie, golem, shrieker (Examples) Barely conscious, appears blank and expressionless (behaviour).
Really though, the best way to RP a CHA 1 character is to never engage in any social interaction. You're not mute, but you act like you are. If you do talk to people, you probably do it inappropriately: standing too close, talking way too loud, choosing tones of voice that are contrary to the meaning you want (like sounding angry when you're really just bored), and ending social interactions prematurely (walking out of a room in mid-conversation).
Talking incessantly about things that no one cares about seems good too (ie- too boring to actually keep people's attention, annoy people with excessive information). When you roll a knowledge check, do a encyclopedic description of the animal
...and maybe go on about the time your uncle saw an animal like it (but not exactly that kind of animal) and he started throwing rocks at it, and then he decided to throw a shoe, but the animal took the shoe away. He had to work for a week in order to buy a new pair of shoes since the local cobbler had left town and he had to order a new one from the next town over. He wore a sack on that foot until the the merchant got the shoes in, but he found a rat in the sac one day after he put his foot in...
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Hm, interesting... it has been said that Charisma is also the strength of ones' self and force of personality. So I'd picture is as not actively responsive, if at all, and if you DO try and communicate, you might make gargling sounds, drool, or just make odd grunting noises.
Or, as some had suggested, maybe very terse, socially ignorant, or flat out near-robotic. You have quite a few options as far as this goes. I'd picture your characters eyes generally being emotionless now, and whenever something happens that REALLY invokes feelings in anyone in a normal state of mind, your character MIGHT respond with "Oh."
Something like this.
The Core Rulebook defines charisma the following way:
Charisma measures a character’s personality, personal magnetism, ability to lead, and appearance
And there is a sentence about the absence of charisma:
A character with a Charisma score of 0 is not able to exert himself in any way and is unconscious.
A good reference is probably a piece of furniture - it has charisma 0. It has no interests, wishes or fears, catches no attention and is totally submissive in social situations (meaning: no resistance to others' actions).
Charisma 1 would be very close to it. A PC with that value would just follow the group unless told to do something else. In combat he does probably defend himself, but doesn't engage unless ordered. In social situations he irritates by a combination of little response (a nod might be already too much) and either following or ignoring orders. So I'd say he is close to a construct.
It might be fun for a while, but I'd talk to the GM about repairing the damage - probably with a quest.
Well, maybe he now poops and pees all over the place? Burps and throws up in public? Always speaks in an obnoxiously loud voice. And in general is a rude dude? I mean really, a charisma of 1 is just really freaking bad if you think about it. I pity the situation you are put in man.
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I would interpret Charisma 1 as a complete inability to communicate in any way, as Charisma 0 is permanent unconsciousness(until it raises above 0). In that interpretation, people would likely think you're asleep most of the time. Perhaps think of it as being "locked-in". Your intelligence and wisdom remain, but any function of communication simply doesn't exist in your brain, including body language and facial expression.
How about you become someone's familiar? Familiars in practical application have little physical use, so you basically just act normally as a party member with that as a fluff explanation. The concept of being a familiar allows you to roleplay without communicating; just your existence indicates a purpose. "I am a familiar and I never communicate." How would you play that? What would it be like to be a familiar? That's a roleplaying challenge for you.
You could even cheat the system a bit by using the mind-link rule, meaning you have limited communication, having only the ability to speak through your "master". In session, beyond declaring physical action, you whisper anything you say to that player, and they say whatever the hell they want. Maybe they tell the party what you said. Maybe they paraphrase it. Maybe they make something up. You role-play the consequences of that. "I don't think you look fat in that, but my familiar does."
It's more fun than is sounds. I played an Oracle with Tongues in a language no one else spoke. I was being too meta, so the GM challenged me, as a player, to NEVER SPEAK during combat. It was a good challenge and was a blast to play out.
It would be even funnier if you get your charisma back later; "I DID NOT think she looked fat in that, you jerk!"
I hope your character has a great reason to travel with the adventuring group, otherwise he might a comfortable place to sit close to food and not follow when they leave town.
The line between a creature and an object should be be thin. When something moves and talks, it might take you a moment to figure realize that it is not an object.
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Due to GM madness in an awful place where things made little sense, my charisma permanently became 1. Don't worry about how that happened, that doesn't matter. I worry about how to RP having a charisma of 1.
A quick look through the bestiary the only creatures with a charisma of 1 are oozes, constructs, and SOME plants (assassin vines, giant flytraps and others have more charisma than I do). Based on this I can only imagine that to have 1 charisma you are completely void of personality.
I am a mute, who on the rare occasion that he might speak, would be intentionally arrogant and offensive when he makes his point. Even that seems like too much personality. Does anyone else have any idea on how to RP such a thing? I had hoped that I could RP my way out of the situation, but the RP would involve not RPing... HELP ME!!!!
I see a lack of Cha resulting in an absence of social skills. You are not necessarily rude(unless you want to be) but you do not have any sort of awareness of social norms, what is rude, or not. You do not pick up on body language and other subtle things that others do.
You might butt in line, not because you WANT to be rude, but because you don't understand it. I liken this to some children who haven't matured in some ways. Just because you have a low CHA doesn't mean you have to be nasty or out-right mean, it just means that there is a disconnect between you and what is happening around you.
Just like a low Int score does not make you an automatic idiot (you can be very wise and yet not intelligent), a low Cha doesn't mean you're a jerkface!
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To keep it from being unbearable for both you and the other players - I'd just say that your character has absolutely NO instincts about what others are feeling in any given situation. However - as long as he's got a halfway decent Int - he can try to fake it. Just play it as if he's not QUITE getting it.
For example: After the bad guy is hopping mad - ranting at the group - someone else in the group says a sarcastically snarky comment to great effect.
Later - when someone in the party is upset at him for being distant etc - he says exactly the same sarcastically snarky comment with very similar mannerisms. He doesn't get that there's a contextual difference - just that both were mad - and it worked before.
Act as if you have no sense of self. You don't always respond to your own name, you have no concept of sharing things. This might mean that you attempt to eat others' food when your hungry. You also have no sense of decency. the concept of clothing makes no sense to you. Finally, I think you should agree with EVERYONE. You have no personality, and therefore, no personal taste. When someone tells you their opinion, it is, at that moment, also yours.
Honestly, the fact that your GM allows it is shocking to me.
1 Charisma basically means you're Terry Shaivo, with the ability to move.
Reminds me of the bad old RPGA days when they handed you a character sheet and told you how you had to roleplay it. One person at the table would end up with the Kender and a guarantee to win the session; other people would get something with no chance of winning roleplay points at all, like "You are shy and quiet; you defer to the other PCs due to lack of confidence."
You should have a conversation with your DM. Ask him if he wants you to irritate and annoy him and the other players by playing your PC as so extremely unlikable to the point that the game can't progress, or whether he wants you to play games on your cellphone throughout each session because your PC is near-catatonic. If the former, ask why he is setting you up to get kicked out of the group for being annoying. If the latter, ask him to contact you when your character gets "cured" because there's no real point in you sitting around like a cardboard cutout and watching everyone else get to have fun. If he doesn't get the point and help you come up with a solution so you can have fun with your friends, start looking for another group.
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In a campaign many years ago, one of my friends was playing a tiefling wizard and had dumped his Charisma down to 6. We adventured for a long time and became quite powerful. When we interacted with NPC the wizard would often act as the party face, because the player is much more charismatic than his ccharacter. The GM would try to RP the NPCs repsonses appropriately and it would be frustrating for the player, because his best efforts always felt wasted. One day the GM finally blurted out that his Charisma is really bad and that when the tiefling is next to the other party members, people are likely to think he is a servant. Much like dumping Wis or Int, dumping Cha can be difficult to RP, especially if the player's hypothetical mental characteristics are very different from the PC's.
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Not to derail the thread...
As another player in the game, The GM didn't even so much as "allow" it, more "allowed it to occur", but it was also mildly the fault of the player. There was an in game random effect that could occur, and you could set the level of randomness. He had set the randomness to the highest level, (which by the way is something that completely made sense for his character to do, with his alignment axis in chaotic and in the situation that presented itself). His stat could just as easily have -doubled- rather then reduced to 1.
Other examples that happened was my character turned very dragonish. My character later lost -every- piece of equipment to a different effect. Currently walking around with nothing. Both occurred due to choices made, and some random effects. I could have earned a bunch of wealth... but instead lost all my gear. At least stuff can be replaced... while stats are a harder thing to fix. No restoration spell will work.
It is a crazy place, run by an 'old school' GM that does often enjoy throwing out the rulebook from time to time and include things you will never find in any source-book. Bad things can happen. Opened mindedness and rolling with things are key to the campaign, something I try to remind myself often while playing. Looking forward to see what happens next. I say this for the people thinking that the GM was "out for blood". This was definitely not the case.
The original poster is one of the finest role-players I have the pleasure of knowing. If anyone can pull it off, I know he can. Pretty sure I could not. Working on restoring him will be a thing that we will look out to be able to do in the future.
Think of the most offensive, annoying difficult to get along with person you know. Someone who even if they have some good qualities, their personality and demeanor makes it impossible to respect them. That person most likely has a charisma of 4 or 5.
Your character is magnitudes worse than that. All the negative aspects of the person you thought of should be amplified, and then anything you can think of that would make them worse should be added.
No sane person should want to be anywhere near you or associate with you. Any idea you put forth should be ignored or mocked, not because it is good or bad but because it is coming from you. If you support something, that itself is a reason for people to oppose it.
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Vermin, Intelligent Plants, Zombies, Constructs, Oozes.
Cha 1 has no sense of self. Hodor has more charisma than you, he knows his own name.
This is beyond rude or repulsive, this is a character without an ego.
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An animal wouldn't care about pooping in public, or wearing clothes for anything but protection, or killing and eating the nearest tasty looking animal when it got hungry.
While he might not grasp WHY he shouldn't do those things (though I'd argue that's as much Wis as Cha) - he'd still know that he shouldn't or it'll cause trouble which he doesn't want to deal with.
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Even Lurch from Addam's Family might have a charisma of 3, though it is a good place to start for an example.
Charisma represents agency, and inhibition.
Having 1 Charisma means you absolutely lack both.
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All the things that were listed with a CHA of 1 all seem to be a type of animal, so I'd play it like that. You are now, essentially, a really really smart animal. Just imagine what your dog might do, in regards to what people think of a socially normal, and so something similar. An animal wouldn't care about pooping in public, or wearing clothes for anything but protection, or killing and eating the nearest tasty looking animal when it got hungry.
You have no force of personality, so you might not ever tell people what to do. Maybe you just start doing something when it's time to do it and never bother to ask people about it, because it no longer occurs to you. You might just take things because you want them, only regarding how it might affect you if you do, and not if it would upset someone, much like how a dog will try and steal your sammich, or a crocodile might eat your dog.
No, the basic dog from the Bestiary has Cha 6. I haven't found any animals that have only Cha 1. The OP's character is in the realm of oozes, mindless undead and soulless constructs. A Cha 6 would be an interesting challenge that would have multiple real-world and fictional examples to pull from but a 1? There's no point even trying, in my opinion. Luck of the die is all well and good, and it may have been a fun encounter for the party, but if the GM actually said that it was permanent and couldn't be Restored, it's time to roll a new character.
1 Charisma basically means that you're incapable of making decisions for yourself.
Honestly, you'd need to be told to use a restroom, or you'd risk pissing yourself on a daily basis.
A variant of low charisma that I like is the person who can't get anyone to pay attention or has no force of personality at all. (Kids in the Hall had one of my favorite examples of this kind of character.)
There's also the angle of being almost invisible to other people, like the guy who talks in meetings but no one "hears" him. Then the guy next to him says the same thing, and everyone lauds him for being brilliant.
I mean, if you're still just as intelligent and wise, it could be really frustrating to be completely ignored. But that's more of how the world responds to you, so you're GM would have to go along with it.
You can't compare a PC with Bestiary Cha 1 creatures because the vast majority of them also have incredibly low Int values. Your character probably has a normal range or higher Int, so obviously the character isn't going to act like an ooze or a plant.
Without any sense of self or personality (not to mention being barely conscious at all), the character will never be able to communicate any of their thoughts with the rest of the party, even if they still had them. It doesn't matter how much brain power there is on the inside if it can never be communicated.
Even the Tranquil from the Dragon Age universe probably have 2 to 4 Cha.
EDIT: Most creatures with Cha 1 do not have any Int but I've managed to find 3 that do have positive Int scores. The Retreiver, the Mythic Flesh Golem (the regular Flesh Golem has no Int), and the Slithering Tracker. The Slithering Tracker has 11 Int and 10 Wis, so it's as close as we're going to get to the OP's PC. Here's the descriptive text for it:
Although intelligent and cunning, slithering trackers are entirely alien creatures. They do not possess any language of their own, although they can usually understand the dominant language of the region they dwell in—usually Undercommon. Some underworld inhabitants do manage to forge alliances with slithering trackers, or at least exist with them in symbiosis by providing the creatures with easy and regular prey, but as one can never truly know a slithering tracker's desires or motivations, such alliances are dangerous to rely upon.
I wouldn't want that as a party member.
1 Charisma basically means that you're incapable of making decisions for yourself.
Honestly, you'd need to be told to use a restroom, or you'd risk pissing yourself on a daily basis.
That is one way of looking at it. Charisma, like all the stats, and possibly more than most, represents a lot of things.
One way to get a very low charisma is to essentially have a 'zero' across the board for those characteristics. That is pretty much how oozes and zombies get to it.
With an intelligent being though, it is unlikely that they are completely null, rather that while they have a positive value for some aspects of charisma (although probably not very high) they actually have a negative for others.
An ooze doesn't have any appreciable personality or self-will. A person with a similar charisma almost certainly has some self-will, but their personality isn't just nothing, it is actively repulsive. They aren't just lacking personality, they exhibit behaviors that actively disgust and annoy.
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I imagine a sentient being with low charisma could be someone with zero self esteem and is severely depressed. Someone who takes everything very personally and takes it very hard.
GM: The monster charges through and attacks Droopy.
Droopy: ugh...of course it does..it preys on the weakest target first. Maybe I'll do the world a favor and not dodge its blow...
I imagine a sentient being with low charisma could be someone with zero self esteem and is severely depressed. Someone who takes everything very personally and takes it very hard.
GM: The monster charges through and attacks Droopy.
Droopy: ugh...of course it does..it preys on the weakest target first. Maybe I'll do the world a favor and not dodge its blow...
Even that is too much agency for a character with 1 charisma.
That said, depression has nothing to do with Charisma levels.
The way I would play a CHA 1 character would be that my 'force of personality' has gone from 'average' at 10, to 'actually offensive' at 1. NPCs would find him creepy, disturbing to be around, and not somebody to interact with at all. It does not have to be physical appearance, just a feeling the character exudes. Just being in prolonged contact with the character would make NPCs want to go take a bath. It would be nothing the way the guy looks, acts, or what he says, it would be an almost tangible force of 'psychic ugliness' surrounding the guy.
That's definitely a start.