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If I have a base Charisma level of 10, does temporarily bolstering it above and beyond that with suits or chems have any kind of positive impact on Charisma Checks or from a calculation standpoint does it treat a Charisma value of 15 the same as a Charisma value of 10?

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  • I'd expect having charisma over 10 points would continue to increase your chances to pass a check, the same way other special points continue to help past 10 points. I never played a charisma focused character so I can't be sure how it works.
    – VanBuzzKill
    Commented Jan 27, 2016 at 9:18
  • I started off with Charisma 10, and generally try to wear Charisma-focused gear when I know I'll be getting into an important dialogue. (Though I do often forget.) I've yet to fail any Charisma checks, so I really don't know if having Charisma >10 helps or not.
    – Iszi
    Commented Jan 27, 2016 at 17:40
  • Related, if not duplicate: gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/245193/…
    – Iszi
    Commented Jan 27, 2016 at 17:40
  • @VanBuzzKill It's very possible that the benefit to Charisma checks caps at 10. For most (if not all) SPECIAL skills, the things they affect get tweaked by (Multiplier)*(Stat). So, thinks like Carry Weight will obviously keep going up as the stat increases, no matter how high it goes. But stuff that's chance-based, like Charisma checks, could be working off a percentage system. And once you've hit 100% success chance, there's really no further you can go. (e.g.: If each point in Charisma is worth 10% chance of success.) But nobody here's confirmed how that works yet - just a guess.
    – Iszi
    Commented Jan 27, 2016 at 22:41

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Probably

In general, boosting stats past 10 still helps. This can be directly observed with most stats, and most easily with Strength: increasing your Strength past 10 continues to improve your carrying capacity. You can find more on this in the answers to the question: Can SPECIAL stats be increased past 10?

However, unlike your carrying capacity, you cannot directly observe your chance to succeed on a persuasion attempt. It's possible that you already have 100% chance to succeed on persuasion attempts at 10 Charisma. Iszi asks about this in the question: How does Charisma affect your negotiation skills?

But Not Enough to Matter

A few of us recall failing a check at 10 Charisma, but didn't keep a record of it. Even if we recall correctly, it was only once or twice ever. Iszi claims to have never failed a persuasion attempt with a character that started with 10 Charisma. So, once you get past 10, it might help, but not enough to really matter.

This is especially true if you don't mind loading and trying again. In that case, what's the difference between a 98% chance and a 100% chance?

Update:

I definitely failed a persuasion check with 10 Charisma last night. I was talking to the Alpha of the Pack in Nuka-World, Mason. There is a red check to tell him to be a "good dog". I failed that one.

I recorded a video of it with my Xbox One DVR. I'll link to it once I figure out how to upload it.

This is the first time I've failed a check with 10 Charisma since I first answered this question, seven months ago. I've played through the game multiple times since then, so it's extremely rare.

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  • Oh, I totally forgot about bartering prices! Definitely right on that one. I do still notice a difference when I swap in my Charisma gear (total +5 Charisma, I think, without adding in the occasional drug use) before I head off to the market.
    – Iszi
    Commented Jan 27, 2016 at 22:35
  • @Iszi I was tryingto pay attention to this over the weekend, and I'm not sure that Cha > 10 actually helps with barter prices. I tried a transaction at 11 Cha, noted the price, then canceled. I drank some beer and took some grape mentats, putting my Cha at 17, and set up the same transaction. The price was the same.
    – DCShannon
    Commented Feb 1, 2016 at 18:32
  • @Iszi I did some more tests regarding charisma and bartering. I might ask a separate question about it. The character I was testing with has 6 copies of Tales of a Junktown Jerky Vendor and Cap Collector 2, with 8 base Charisma. I found that I achieved the best possible prices with 9 charisma, and neither boosting my charisma nor taking grape mentats had any further effect. I have to conclude that there's an upper cap on the barter modifier, and that the perks and the charisma both count toward it.
    – DCShannon
    Commented Feb 2, 2016 at 16:31
  • While playing yesterday I failed a persuasion attempt with 10 charisma, reloaded, drank a beer, and passed the test. To avoid spoilers Ill only say this test was not critical for missions/story, just a conversion with an NPC that has a humourus result
    – RyanS
    Commented Feb 5, 2016 at 18:32
  • @RyanS Can you tell me who you were talking to? If we can reproduce it, that would be nice.
    – DCShannon
    Commented Feb 5, 2016 at 19:04

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