[RPG] Would a PC with advantage on Intimidation and disadvantage on Charisma checks be balanced

balancednd-5ehouse-rulessocial-stats

I’m making a fighter who was tortured in the past. He has a badly healed broken nose, one of his ears was cut off, his face was branded, etc.

I was thinking it would be neat for him to have advantage on Intimidation checks because he’s horrifying-looking and disadvantage on Charisma checks because of his looks – but I was wondering if that would be balanced, or if maybe he should have other disadvantages to even it out.

Best Answer

It is probably balanced

There is actually precedence for this in the variant rule for Lingering Injuries on page 272 in the Dungeon Master's Guide:

Horrible Scar. You are disfigured to the extent that the wound can’t be easily concealed. You have disadvantage on Charisma (Persuasion) checks and advantage on Charisma (Intimidation) checks. Magical healing of 6th level or higher, such as heal and regenerate, removes the scar.

These injuries are intended to provide either a neutral or detrimental effect, so the game designers, at least, see it at as balanced.

In my experience, ability checks that involve Intimidation are prompted by the GM much less frequently than other Charisma checks, but that will vary from table to table and from game to game. Overall, I don't see a balance issue with your proposition.

All that being said, it is ultimately up to your GM whether to allow it in the game, as there are no rules to cover starting with injuries in the rulebooks (and the Lingering Injuries rules are optional).