[Railstar]

Charity is the father of strength.

That was the creed of a religious knight I once played. Not quite his motto, which was either “Better to do right and die than to do wrong and prosper”, or “Better to die for the Kaiser than live for myself” (he was from a very Holy Roman Empire inspired background), but I don’t think I ever rolled a self-control check for that character’s Charitable.

Body Language & Diplomacy to spot ruses? Sure. Once he knew it was a ruse the self-control check wasn’t necessary (Diplomacy allows him to predict the possible outcome when negotiating, which was really good when it came to figuring out whether they wanted help for their problem).

Another factor is defining “help.” Usually the character satisfied Charitable with legitimate enemies by sparing their lives, treating their wounds, and releasing prisoners if it looked like death or slavery was going to happen if he kept them. Often in fights someone would be taken out of the fight after a crippling injury, so if he disabled 3 out of 5, he could normally convince the remaining 2 to drop their weapons so they could help their remaining companions to safety. He would take their weapons unless they were in a dangerous environment.

Often against people he fought with a quarterstaff instead of his sword (with the Two-Handed Sword skill) so his enemies wouldn’t bleed out. In combat, if he stunned someone with an arm/leg injury, he would move onto the next target rather than finishing that other one off.

It helped that this guy was Wealthy, and so didn’t need money all that much, and was in a religious order who was fairly supportive of his behaviour. He was also heavily armoured enough to use Sacrificial Dodge fairly frequently or throw himself into danger for the sake of others. In many ways he was from a background that made it easier to be Charitable.

In essence, Charitable was mercy to his enemies, kindness to strangers, and loyalty to friends.