Charisma may be significant

[dor]

I think that Charisma may be significant - more than what people think:

My 1st playthrough was in Normal mode (not HC) in Hard difficulty.
My Charisma level was 5 or 6.

I currently play Hardcore mode and in Very Hard difficulty (my 2nd playthrough).
My Charisma level is 1 (due to a tutorial which I read about setting the SPECIAL values).

In my 1st - when I faced a bunch of enemies with Rex and Arcade Gannon - they never died, doesn't matter which enemy I faced. They also managed to kill the enemies quite fast.

In my 2nd - when I face a bunch of Cazadors or Nightstalkers - my companions die quite fast.
They also can die when facing Fiends.

Ergo I think that Charisma is quite an important attribute.
In my 2nd playthrough I try my best to avoid confrontation with large packs of Cazadors or Nightstalkers ...

[Belanos]

You're absolutely right, Charisma is more important than many people realize when it comes to companions. Here's an explanation from the Wiki:

"Nerve

Each companion also has a special attribute referred to in the game as Nerve. Nerve boosts the damage and Damage Threshold of each companion by 5% for each point of Charisma a character has. So Nerve grants a total bonus of +50% damage and damage threshold to companions with 10 Charisma and only +5% to both at 1 Charisma. A player character with a starting Charisma of 1 can boost their companion's nerve to the maximum by use of an Empathy Synthesizer, Intense Training, Party Time Mentats (+5), high Survival (so that alcohol adds +3 Charisma), or stacking moonshine with another type of alcohol.

Because Nerve only affects DT and damage, companion quests that bestow other bonuses upon completion (such as movement speed) are potentially less effective for those with high Charisma."

[Brick]

Originally posted by Belanos:

You're absolutely right, Charisma is more important than many people realize when it comes to companions. Here's an explanation from the Wiki:

"Nerve

Each companion also has a special attribute referred to in the game as Nerve. Nerve boosts the damage and Damage Threshold of each companion by 5% for each point of Charisma a character has. So Nerve grants a total bonus of +50% damage and damage threshold to companions with 10 Charisma and only +5% to both at 1 Charisma. A player character with a starting Charisma of 1 can boost their companion's nerve to the maximum by use of an Empathy Synthesizer, Intense Training, Party Time Mentats (+5), high Survival (so that alcohol adds +3 Charisma), or stacking moonshine with another type of alcohol.

Because Nerve only affects DT and damage, companion quests that bestow other bonuses upon completion (such as movement speed) are potentially less effective for those with high Charisma."

Yea, this is one of the only reasons to have high charisma, animal friend can also be nice, but most people would rather have a beastly pc than companions doing the dirty work

[kevlarGG]

i've prioritized charisma in all of my playthroughs, Speech checks help save so much time throughout the game

[MTV]

It's good for companions but not worth it overall imo.

You can have a charisma 1 courier and still roleplay the smooth talker/diplomat with high intelligence and tag. Charisma itself has almost no speech checks while intelligence has tons.

[Belanos]

Originally posted by M'aiq ♕:

Charisma itself has almost no speech checks while intelligence has tons.

Charisma adds points to Speech, so indirectly it has tons of checks as well.

[Brick]

Originally posted by Belanos:

Originally posted by M'aiq ♕:

Charisma itself has almost no speech checks while intelligence has tons.

Charisma adds points to Speech, so indirectly it has tons of checks as well.

Just tag speech/make it higher at lvl up

[Belanos]

Originally posted by Daedric Brick:

Just tag speech/make it higher at lvl up

I do that anyway, while still leaving my Charisma points as is. There are plenty of Speech checks in the game, more than any other type, so having a fairly high score in it can help a lot.

[Brick]

Originally posted by Belanos:

Originally posted by Daedric Brick:

Just tag speech/make it higher at lvl up

I do that anyway, while still leaving my Charisma points as is. There are plenty of Speech checks in the game, more than any other type, so having a fairly high score in it can help a lot.

2 speech per charisma aint that great tho, and with 1 Charisma you can use drugs, alcohol, equipment and skill mags to increase your speach by more than 40

[red255]

yeah Charisma is important with companions 2 things though.

with 100 survival you can get +3 charisma from booze, +5 from party time mentats +1 from mentats.

so you can raise it to 10 from 1 with common drugs.

and two.

if you have companions play the game for you, its not very fun.

but yeah on very hard mode ALL NPC get a buff so your companion NPC are stronger to match enemy NPC so they are just as strong on EASY, and VERY hard.

so using companions is basically playing Very Easy mode with high nerve.

[N0P3]

I have noticed through several playthroughs myself that Charisma has some impact on companion performance and disposition for and toward you. I generally take Charisma as a secondary citizen most times, but when it's in focus seems to loosen tongues and motivate those around your charcater most definitely defining the special as "Charisma."

I did a speech playthrough with Charisma once, maxing speech, barter and getting all the talkative perks like Lady Killer; etc. Was fairly eye opening, but Intelligence and Science better be in the mix somewhere close and maybe max out survival for rare occasion (and I mean rare).

Aside from the essentially broken perk, the whole mess is simply for possibilities in build terms; you could re-invent the wheel burning up alot of time running through the perk system for every viable combination, but that's what makes the game playable after 100% and seven years later.

[Abdelhazred]

Originally posted by kevlarGG:

i've prioritized charisma in all of my playthroughs, Speech checks help save so much time throughout the game

I keep Charisma, Intel, and Luck higher than other stats. Not because of any sort of strategic value though; I usually end up modeling my characters after myself even if they don't look like me.

[Carl!!!!]

Originally posted by dor:

I think that Charisma may be significant - more than what people think:

My 1st playthrough was in Normal mode (not HC) in Hard difficulty.
My Charisma level was 5 or 6.

I currently play Hardcore mode and in Very Hard difficulty (my 2nd playthrough).
My Charisma level is 1 (due to a tutorial which I read about setting the SPECIAL values).

In my 1st - when I faced a bunch of enemies with Rex and Arcade Gannon - they never died, doesn't matter which enemy I faced. They also managed to kill the enemies quite fast.

In my 2nd - when I face a bunch of Cazadors or Nightstalkers - my companions die quite fast.
They also can die when facing Fiends.

Ergo I think that Charisma is quite an important attribute.
In my 2nd playthrough I try my best to avoid confrontation with large packs of Cazadors or Nightstalkers ...

Also, companions don't die in normal, while with you. They can die when not actively following you though. Hardcore however lets companions die, so charisma in this case would be more beneficial than softcore.

[Vassago Rain]

Charisma controlls the secret value called ' companion nerve,' which determines bonus damage and bonus DT of your NPCs.

At 10 charisma, your buddies deal 1.5 times the damage they normally would, and have 1.5 times the DT.

It's not worth the investment, and if you want to buff your CHA at any time, use mentats and booze.