One thing I've notice in the CRB is that they say what a high characteristic represents, but they don't say how a low characteristic is represented. I've been having some trouble role playing my Chiss with a Presence of 1 so I'll look to you guys for help. How would a character with a 1 in a characteristic be represented? Anyone have examples for each characteristic?

Well how I see it for presence is you are Crude and cocky, you don't filter yourself and just let yourself go. A 1 in anything else just kind of represents a lesser sophisticated.

For Example a 1 cunning you can get by but you are not that quick witted or a 1 in agility means you can run and move around fine but if you try and jump up somewhere difficult then your going to be stumbling around.

So it's pretty much think of it as a basic form of a higher point.

Some examples of a one rating:

Brawn: your character is unhealthy, either really scrawny or even dangerously overweight.

Agility: anything from clutsy to having poor hand eye coordination.

Intellect: your character could be genuinly dumb, but could be uneducated or just prone to believing in actions not words.

Willpower: cowardly or even emotionally scarred in some way. Abused, depressed, or just wants to fit in, even to the point of doing something bad to gain acceptance.

Cunning: a very regimented, by the book thinker. Someone who is not very street smart or naive.

Presence: arrogant, condescending, shy, uncouth, internet user (troll)

I currently play a Chiss in an ongoing game. I've represented the 1 Presence as being cold and condescending to people, especially when trying to do social interaction checks like Charm. Most people are going to assume from the way you behave that you lack social graces, but to a Chiss interacting with others you are just superior and you need to remind them, constantly, of their failings.

As to other attributes, I think there are a number of above suggestions that are great, and I don't really have anything to add.

I honestly think that low characteristics are better portrayed as "poorly applied potential" than "inability." In the example of the Chiss that Mortify plays, the low Presence is more an inherent behavior the character has from his racial background. Through experience, he may learn that his racial bias may be inaccurate (through the purchase of the characteristics increase in a skill tree). Additionally, when a bunch of Chiss are in the room speaking to each other, they might be very charming to each other, but a casual observer just wouldn't "get it" because he's not of the race and lacks the context to understand.

I currently play a Chiss in an ongoing game. I've represented the 1 Presence as being cold and condescending to people, especially when trying to do social interaction checks like Charm. Most people are going to assume from the way you behave that you lack social graces, but to a Chiss interacting with others you are just superior and you need to remind them, constantly, of their failings.

As to other attributes, I think there are a number of above suggestions that are great, and I don't really have anything to add.

This is how I view Gand's Presence of 1 as well with a splash of ammonia in the air around him.

A characteristic of "1" has a huge range. Intellect of 1 covers everything from insects to people who are "a bit slow". It's the D20 equivalent of 3-8. There's no hard and fast rule, it's really up to the player and GM to discuss what it means for the character.

Just a tangent, savage worlds did sonething when it comes to animal intelligence, they put an "A" beside the rating. Because, frankly, some animals are really dumb, while others can figure out things that some humans have issue with.

Part of Presence is confidence, so a low Presence may represent insecurity. Sometimes the low Presence character may overcompensate and appear arrogant, but it's likely just a mask.

From what I've read of the Chiss, representing them as being cold, rigid, and somewhat condescending seems about right. The Chiss tend to be very formal, and have a hierarchal structure to their governing and social interactions, which accounts for some of their behavior.

If you live in such a highly structured society, being charming isn't all that important since you have power based on your privilege and position, which you can wield without concerning yourself with what others think of you. Their leaders and diplomats would be trained (skill ranks), but would still be working from that starting point.

It's really going to vary from stat to stat imo.

A 1 Brawn doesn't necessarily mean sickly, it might just mean a naturally small race.

A 1 Agility probably does mean someone a little less nimble and reactive but not necessarily slow, a bear isn't a ballerina but you'll lose the foot race with one.

A 1 intellect to me doesn't just represent smart or dumb but rather the ability to multi task and be a renaissance man? being? alien? In other words a 1 intellect player could still be a great doctor, it would just be all skill. To be good at something else would require more xp and the additional effort of someone that can't multi task.

Cunning could represent naivete or severe honesty.

Willpower could mean someone's race is genetically inclined to the flight response with stress.

Presence I think has been discussed, but being an indifferent crass jerk makes the team, or someone that's got the personality of a door stop.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I've been playing my Chiss more as a racist arogent jerk, so that seems fitting for the 1 Presence so far. All those stupid humans running around. Ugh. Just the thought of them makes me shudder.

Brawn: Untrained, can punch but won't really be a danger in a fist fight. R2 units, Jawa's, etc.

Agility: Will drop things... a lot. C3PO.

Intellect: Slow on the uptake. Unable to see subtlity or things such as sarcasm, one track mind. Yar Yar Binks, Gamorean Guards.

Willpower: Craven, follower, not quick to stand up for himself and fails if he/she does. Bib Fortuna.

Cunning: Very straight forward person that is a horrendously bad liar, naive, bad negatiator. Luke.

Presence: Cold, calculating, unattractive. Lobot.

(I guess not all of my examples are 1 characteristics...)

Given that most species have at least one characteristic starting at 1 I don't think it should be too bad.

Twi'lek Brawn 1? I've never seen them portrayed as feeble or lethargic or waif-like (of course that could just be the Star Wars universe making the ones with impressive boobs stand at the front).

Personally I'd just say roleplay it however you want based on your understanding of your own character.

It's important to remember that a '2' represents human average. Characteristic scores are relative to that, not to the average for a species.

Thus a '1' is below human average, but there is a great deal of variance you can have there. Take intelligence for instance. a '2' probably represents an IQ of 91-110 and a '3' of 111-130, a '4' 131-150, and etc. That leaves anything 90 and below as being a '1.' There's a big difference between an IQ of 90 and an IQ of 70, as a real-world example might be that the person with a 90 IQ graduates high school and gets a reasonable job and the 70 drops out and works as an unskilled laborer his entire life. Mechanically though, the designers seemed to think that this difference is not enough to warrant a larger variance in Characteristics (for instance 1-10 with 5 as average), which I can get behind, as it simplifies the game. However, because "below average" represents such a wide variety of possibilities, as I have attempted to demonstrate with my IQ example, this leaves the door open for those with '1's in characteristics to feel free to roleplay their lack of ability as they see fit.

Some examples: A person with 1 Brawn could be crippled as an extreme, or a small race, or simply a little out of shape.

A person with 1 Agility might again be crippled, be uncoordinated, or just have bad hand-eye coordination.
A person with 1 Intellect might be genuinely stupid (difficult to play, especially as intelligence is often confused with wisdom, or what would more fall into either cunning or willpower in this game) or just not the brightest bulb in the room
A person with with 1 Cunning might, as others have said, be naive, or I would also say someone who is extremely "lawful" and doesn't lie, cheat, steal, or use trickery in any way.
A person with 1 Willpower might be cowardly as an extreme, or maybe just doesn't have a lot of self-discipline. They have addictions and/or give into their desires easily.
A person with 1 Presence could be someone with a social disorder as an extreme, or perhaps they simply are shy and introverted and have a difficult time talking to strangers or groups