I've asked questions about this a few times, but I'm still not totally clear on it's function. Let's put it this way, say I put Minsc (cha9) as my party leader. Is this going to be a problem if I have someone with good charisma do my shopping. Furthermore, does charisma come into play when an npc initiates dialogue (therefore having a party leader with low charisma would be a bad thing)? I hope this all makes sense and someone can basically explain how charisma works in this series. Thanks.

charisma does make a difference in certain situations. i can't remember a specific example right now, but i know that i had minsc talk to somebody and they shrugged him off and then my main guy talked to the same person and there was a lot of dialogue.
all in all, i don't think it makes a huge huge difference, especially if you have someone with decently high charisma in your party.

I don't think that CHA is important for dialogue options. At least not as important as WIS. A certain creature (I don't want to spoil) in Sahuagin City can be talked out of a certain behavior with WIS > 13. Different CHA stats hadn't this effect.

but even if I don't have him initiate dialogue, does it make a difference if my party leader has low charisma?

I think that charisma is very important. Apart from knocking prices down just like reputation, it affects how certain PC and NPC characters respond. For example in BG1, I had a charisma of 3 (!!!!!!!!!!!!) and talked to Minsc for the first team so that he joins my party. He said that he and his hamster (Boo) didn't like mu face (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) and refused to join. Worst still, if you talked to him again, even with Imoen for example (16 charisma) he wouldn't say anything and I had to load game.

ok, I'm totally not being clear.

In the party formation, you have six slots. I like to put Minsc in the first slot so he's at the front of the action. The only problem is that he has low charisma. Does the fact that I have a NPC with low charisma in the first slot have any effect on the game?

It just affects how certain people ract and can make up for a low reputaion sometimes, if your taht worried, in the first chapter you find a ring of charisma, give it to minsc.

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The thing you are fit for is to die at my hand

Charisma usuall effects quest rewards (it did in BG1 anyway)
for instance, a quest in BG1 prologue, sumthin to do with crossbow bolts and a guard, will get you a dagger +1 if you have high charisma. If it is low you only get 15gp or something lame like that

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Haladar
Mithril Cavalier of ALSB
Guardian of The Holy Temple of Aerie

The leaders charisma boosts also the other partymembers morale, they get bonuses if its like 16 our higher

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Im Nik, the servant of my queen, Ellesime,

The Elven highpriest of Seldarine.

Emerald High Priest of ALSB

Aerie = :ladyhearts:

Aerie = :fairy:

Aerie is a :littleangel:

This must sound dumb but how do you make someone a party leader please?