Charisma

[88e]

What revamp do we expect the Charisma stat to have? It's famously been a dump stat for the last two games, even when New Vegas tried tying it to companion combat. The SPECIAL preview vid seems to say that it lessens drug withdrawal, for... whatever reason, which is still pretty useless. How else might it be improved in FO4?

Would be nice to see a return to FO2. Maybe CHR <5 could mean you can have only one companion, while CHR >5 allows you both a human and non-human companion? I hope most speech checks stay skill-exclusive like in FNV, though. Made the roleplaying a lot more immersive.

 

[MercenarySnake]

In all honesty I see this SPECIAL stat as a dump stat with maybe a few decent perks, if they have speech checks the responses would more then likely consist of illogical reasoning and/or speaking like a first grader.

 

[PossibleCabbage]

If you want Charisma to be an important stat, you kind of have to make "talking to people" a critical part of your game since the stat is best modeled as "force of personality." If you're going to make a game mostly about fighting, it's almost automatically going to be a dump stat. They'd probably be better off not having it, but they're quite fond of the SPECIAL acronym. So it's probably a dump stat again.

 

[Practicat]

I could see Wasteland Whisperer, which falls under Charisma, being useful. But it would only be worth having if you could pacify multiple creatures charging at you in quick succession. In that case, I posit that it would be very useful. The Intimidation perk would also be very useful if, again, you can pacify multiple enemies (this time human) in quick succession. Might be able to save a lot of ammo against stronger enemies.

 

[phipboy]

The pacification would seem very awkward without some sort of interaction with the enemies/animals at least. Like having a quick talk with the NPCs maybe. Pointing your gun at the enemy and them magically turning into your allies would be pretty jarring. Pointing your gun at them and pacifying them when they're not even looking at you or doing something else would be the biggest offender.

 

[Practicat]

The pacification would seem very awkward without some sort of interaction with the enemies/animals at least. Like having a quick talk with the NPCs maybe. Pointing your gun at the enemy and them magically turning into your allies would be pretty jarring. Pointing your gun at them and pacifying them when they're not even looking at you or doing something else would be the biggest offender.

One thing that should have been fixed in FONV is that when you're hidden and you aim your gun at an enemy nearby, they'll still say "what do you think you're doing?!" or some other alert response, like they know you're there, when in actuality they don't.

It's easily fixable with the GECK, but I was a little disappointed none of the developers at Obsidian did so. It's quite apparent when you're playing a max Sneak character.

 

[PossibleCabbage]

I could see Wasteland Whisperer, which falls under Charisma, being useful. But it would only be worth having if you could pacify multiple creatures charging at you in quick succession. In that case, I posit that it would be very useful. The Intimidation perk would also be very useful if, again, you can pacify multiple enemies (this time human) in quick succession. Might be able to save a lot of ammo against stronger enemies.

If we assume that the third rank of the Animal Friend perk is like the first rank of the old one (animals don't attack you unless you provoke them), then maybe the third rank of the Wasteland Whisperer perk is analogous (i.e. intelligent wasteland denizens won't attack you unless provoked). You probably have to extend "provoke" to something other than "attack", so things like trespassing and theft should similarly trigger hostility. I would say "Flagging someone with your weapon" should make them hostile, but "flagging someone with your weapon" is how you pacify them with the first rank, so that won't work.

 

[88e]

If you want Charisma to be an important stat, you kind of have to make "talking to people" a critical part of your game since the stat is best modeled as "force of personality." If you're going to make a game mostly about fighting, it's almost automatically going to be a dump stat. They'd probably be better off not having it, but they're quite fond of the SPECIAL acronym. So it's probably a dump stat again.

I've always played social, friendly characters and it's still useless. In FO3 you could save scum until you passed checks, and every useful check in FNV had alternate skills you could use to persuade. Very badly designed and implemented.

I like the idea of pacification, maybe it will lead to speech dialogue designed to avoid fights before fights happen. I guess the trouble is balancing CHR's usefulness versus the other skills in dialogue.

 

[Dr Fallout]

If you want Charisma to be an important stat, you kind of have to make "talking to people" a critical part of your game since the stat is best modeled as "force of personality." If you're going to make a game mostly about fighting, it's almost automatically going to be a dump stat. They'd probably be better off not having it, but they're quite fond of the SPECIAL acronym. So it's probably a dump stat again.

I've always played social, friendly characters and it's still useless. In FO3 you could save scum until you passed checks, and every useful check in FNV had alternate skills you could use to persuade. Very badly designed and implemented.

I like the idea of pacification, maybe it will lead to speech dialogue designed to avoid fights before fights happen. I guess the trouble is balancing CHR's usefulness versus the other skills in dialogue.

In a way Charisma would have been much more useful in FO4 due to the absence of speech BUT as there will be less chances of persuading and using it it's absolutely useless.