How strong are raw charisma bonuses?

Question

I am designing a few edges for my custom setting at the moment, and the question came up about how strong certain bonuses should be. I have designed two edges that give a flat bonus to charisma.

I have two (mutually exclusive) edges that either give you +3 to charisma when interacting friendly with people of either the same sex or the different sex (there are only humans in this setting, and only male/female)

Is a bonus of +3, even though it is only in a special circumstance to strong? I had a +2 bonus at first, but regarding the edges that just give +2 to charisma in all situations, I felt the new edges where not worth choosing over the old ones.

(If you want to know why I feel the need to add edges like these: I just like tinkering with the system and my players 90% of the time don't pick an edge because they feel it is "strong" or with a "perfect build" in mind, but instead because they feel it fits the character. I am just trying to provide more options for this kind of playstile.)

Answer 1

Charisma modifiers are always conditional to some extent, but it's left up to the GM to decide when they should apply. Attractive probably won't help if your face is covered with a helmet, or if you've disguised your appearance with extensive makeup, or if you're interacting with someone who is blind. The Charisma bonus from Noble probably wouldn't apply if you're incognito, or dealing with those who don't respect the nobility. And so on.

You may find the guidelines in Savage Abilities useful for designing new Edges, but I would recommend caution when adding more Charisma bonuses - it's already possible to get a +8 bonus with just the core Edges, and in my opinion that's already extreme, particularly in combination with Edges like Connections, Reputation, etc.

From the description you gave, I would say that Attractive and Very Attractive already fit the bill. If you wish to tweak them slightly, that can be handled through trappings.