Charming also gets considerably easier the higher you go in levels. A dark blue con at level 20 is a lot closer to your players level than a dark blue con at 50/54/59 etc. Your level in relation to what you're charming is one of the most important factors.
At low levels everyone suffers for mana. Faster meditation, better clarity line spells, and theft of thought will ease things as you get up there in levels.
For what it's worth, as an erudite you did very well in putting all those points into charisma. High elf is the generally agree'd on min/max given the balance of charisma/intelligence, but erudites are a fine choice and perfectly capable. When charming just remember to try and crank your upbuffed charisma up to 200 or more (not hard as charisma gear is cheap).
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