Intimidate and Charisma

Another of the d20 rules that is often said to not make sense, but really does is the association between the Intimidate skill and the Charisma attribute. "Why is the slim 150-pound half-elf Bard better at intimidation than my 250-pound half-orc barbarian?" goes the argument.

This discounts the fact that the player asking the question had the opportunity to assign a high score to Charisma, but never mind. Let's deal with the argument rather than the munchkin :-)

The basic problem with the argument is that it reflects a common misconception amongst gamers that high Charisma is tied to good looks, or at least being well-spoken. Neither of these is necessarily true. Certainly, it is unlikely that Napoleon, Julius Caesar or even Abraham Lincoln would have won any beauty contest, but there are few who would argue that they don't have high Charisma scores. By contrast, the character Harmony in Buffy the Vampire Slayer can be considered very attractive, but clearly has a very low Charisma (and Wisdom, and Intelligence, but that's another matter). Similarly, it's not hard to picture a nobleman army lietenant who is perfectly well-spoken, but gets not one whit of respect from the men under his command, or a foul-mouthed drill sergeant who gets the best out of the troops.

No, Charisma is not particularly tied to appearance or eloquence (although it can be). Instead, Charisma represents the strength of a character's personality, and the ability to affect others. Essentially, it's the 'mental' equivalent of Strength, in the same way that Intelligence is the counterpart of Dexterity, and Wisdom mirrors Constitution.

Now, to the specific issue of Intimidation. The classic example of intimidation is not the big guy browbeating a smaller guy into submission, as is often thought. Instead, we usually see a pair of hulking bruisers backing up a smaller guy, as HE intimidates the mark. Effectively, in terms of game rules, the bruisers are using the "Aid Another" action, to assist the smaller guy in his skill check.

Still, that doesn't really address the issue. Instead, we need to accept that the guy with the big muscles, but low Charisma, must fail to impress his point on the target. Perhaps his body language fails to impart the right message (when trying to intimidate, the big guy should try to tower over the smaller guy, and press him into a small space. Perhaps the low-Cha guy failed to do that). Or, perhaps his tone gives the small guy reason to believe that the big guy is bluffing. Whatever.

As for the frothing half-orc barbarian, what is needed here is a racial bonus to Intimidate checks, or a bonus to the same associated with Rage. And, if the player of the Fighter wants his character to be especially good at intimidation, there's always the much-maligned Skill Focus feat.

Where I will agree that there is a problem is the notion that Intimidate is a class skill for Barbarians, Fighters and Rogues, but not to any other class. Yet there is precedent for Wizards and Sorcerers being considered scary by virtue of their mystical might, regardless of whether they actually do anything mystical with it. (Consider the classic witch) Certainly, not ever Wizard should necessarily be good at intimidation, but making it a class skill doesn't guarantee that - Wizards have enough to spend their few skill points on anyway.

This latter comment applies to certain other skills, including Climb, Jump, Swim, Gather Information, Perform, Profession and Ride, which I feel should be class skills for everyone, allowing characters who are so inclined to gain ranks in these skills easily. I doubt few people would take advantage of these options, and the applications of these skills are hardly game breaking (some, like Hide, Use Magic Device and Tumble are potentially game-breaking if equally available to everyone). Still, that's another matter.

(Perhaps a better option would be to give 3 'floating' class skills that each character can choose, like in Exalted. Characters then treat these three as class skills for all their classes, for the duration of their career. The problem there is that the three skills I named above would be particularly popular choices, I think.)