I play Arcanum as a level 17 Half Elf woman . I am near the beginning of the game : I have to search the mines of the Black Mountain Clan.

For an unknow reason, I have a -2 penalty to the Beauty Statistic of my character. She has 8 BE instead of 10 BE : the number is displayed in red. I don't know what causes this Stat penalty. Changing the equipment doesn't cancel it and I don't have any memory of having been drunk (and even if it was the cause, waiting one day doesn't cancel the penalty).

What could possibly cause this ? Thank you.

A scar maybe? It should be listed in the log.

Yeah it's probably a scar. You can visit a doctor to get it "fixed".

That's it ! Thank you, guys ! I keep learning things about this game.

Getting scars is a very common source of confusion. I think every new player runs into it. It's so easy to miss the combat message when it happens, and players rarely check the log, so I think most people turn to google to figure out why their character is suddenly uglier.

Not me. I just look in the mirror. ;)