More than any other skill interactions in tabletop RPGs, Charisma skills present a unique challenge from a rules creation and adjudication standpoint. The difficulty comes from the blurred line between player and character in the context of a social interaction. In a game setting, players usually speak on behalf of their characters, talking directly to the GM at the table and role playing conversations, threats and persuasion in real time.
This leads to two problems, both of which are the opposite side of the same coin. On the one hand, you have the shy player that isn't necessarily good with words (or at least not so good at being put on the spot) that plays a highly charismatic and influential character. On the other you have the player who always seems to know what to say, and is eloquent at the table at the drop of a hat, but is playing an uncharismatic character whose statistics suggest should have difficulty imposing its personality on others. The core of the problem boils down to a philosophical question: should a character be punished or rewarded for the eloquence of the player? After all, most players of strong characters aren't required to lift weights on their character's behalf, players of hearty characters aren't called on resist actual poison, and so on.
Realm of Runes takes the side of the character. When conversing in real time, Realm of Runes makes the explicit assumption that player speech might be what your character wants to say (or the general idea you want to convey) but the result of your check is the most important aspect for determining how it actually came across to the other party. You might have an amazing speech in your head and stumble all over it, or your quick wits and strong personality might race ahead of your inner monologue's ability to keep up. Either way, it's your character's abilities that are in the spotlight, not your skill as a thespian in the player's chair.
Now that we've established how Charisma skills are used in Realm of Runes at the meta level, let's take a look at each of the skills individually and explore what they can do for your character.
DECEPTION
Deception is the go-to skill for verbal and visual trickery, and is the home of lying, disguises, and generally trying to get others to accept information that isn't actually true. It's also the home of the Feint activity, which uses your character's skill in misdirection to get opponents to leave themselves open to more deadly attacks than you might have been able to pull off otherwise.
Deception skill feats not only make you better at feinting, deceit and impersonation, but also begin to blur the lines between Deception and Diplomacy. Inveigle lets you use trickery to get others to help you. Lie To Me gives you a temporary boost to all social skills against a target if you catch them trying to lie to you, which pairs well with Takes One To Know One, which lets you use your own Deception to set the difficulty for others to try to trick you, both with words and magical illusions. Not The Face! can be used as a reaction to distract others into reducing a critical attack against you into a regular attack instead, and Feint Of Heart lets you even Feint against creature's that can't normally be distracted.
Deception has a good mix of utility and combat applications, and is a good choice for characters that might only want to pick one Charisma skill to focus on, either because they have other areas they prefer to invest in or don't have a lot of skills to go around.
DIPLOMACY
Diplomacy is the go-to skill for friendly interactions with others that are neither hostile or deceptive. Its most common uses are for things like navigating an unfamiliar settlement, gathering information about topics of interest, making friends, and asking those friends to do things that they might be reluctant to do otherwise. It's also the skill used for establishing a hypnotic trance and finding items for a discount off the typical price.
Diplomacy skill feats tend to double down on making you an easy person to get along with. Genial Countenance gives you a permanent bonus to all social skills, and Glad Hand helps you ensure that even people you meet for the first time are impressed by how nice you are, or at least appear to be. Diplomacy skill feats can also give you access to new ways to influence hypnotized creatures, such as drawing out forgotten information or implanting suggestions that a target might carry out later without realizing, and Legendary Hypnotist can let you establish a trance in moments, even if the target doesn't want to be hypnotized.
Most uses of Diplomacy are designed for general utility rather than combat, and its ability to enhance other social skills makes Diplomacy a great choice for characters that like to be social, even if their preferred interactions aren't necessarily diplomatic in nature.
INTIMIDATION
Intimidation is the go-to skill for forcing others into doing things against their will or shaking their resolve in combat. Of the Charisma skills, it's the most offensively-oriented. So much so that characters don't need a whole lot of investment in order to make it a Strength skill instead of a Charisma one. If you're more brawn than personality, you can still be good at demoralizing your foes to give you and your allies an edge in a fight, or using the threat of violence to get others to go along with your plans.
Intimidation skill feats make you better at imposing fear, but also at resisting it. Bullying Will lets you use your own Intimidation skill for determining how hard it is for others to frighten you, while Battle Cry lets you intimidate foes right at the beginning of combat before anyone even has a chance to do anything, and can also be used again when you or your allies score critical hits against opponents. Intimidation feats can also blur the line between Intimidation and Deception, daring others to call you out on your falsehoods instead of more elegant, quick-witted means of trickery.
Intimidation is the most combat-focused of the Charisma skills, and is a good choice for characters that like to make their presence felt on the battlefield before they even get started, possibly even cowing opponents into giving up or dying of a fright-induced heart attack instead of actually fighting.
PERFORMANCE
Performance is the go-to skill for quick one-off performances, like telling a few jokes or showing off on the dance floor to impress someone, and for staging more in-depth performances during downtime to earn money. Performance is the most flexible Charisma skill, and despite its small number of inherent uses, a character that focuses on Performance will find that many other activities are even more effective when enhanced with a touch of drama and embellishment.
Most Performance skill feats unlock ways to use Performance in place of other skills for a number of activities. Practical Artistry lets you use Performance to Craft and Repair items instead of Crafting, which is normally Intelligence-based. Dramatis Personae lets you use Performance to Impersonate others instead of Deception, and Performance Combat lets you use Performance for combat maneuvers like Disarm and Trip instead of Athletics. Other Performance skill feats make you even better at certain categories of performance, which in turn makes you even more effective in areas that you have replaced with your ability to perform.
Performance can have a great mix of utility and combat applications, but requires the most investment of any Charisma skill in order to achieve that versatility. It's a skill that strongly resists dabbling, and rewards those who answer the call to keep investing in it with unparalleled flexibility across many different areas.
Charisma skills translate a character's force of personality into potent and tangible effects, with a strong focus on the character itself. The versatility of these skills, especially Performance, can elevate Charisma from an easily overlooked ability to one that rewards investment, all without punishing those who still choose to ignore it. The inclusion of robust rules for assisting others in skill activities, including retroactively, means that there's still good value in investing in these skills even if there's another character in the party that likes to be the primary point of contact in most interactions. Next time we'll alternate back to classes, with the one that first comes to mind when talking about Charisma and social skills: the Bard.
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