Charm

Win friends and influence people. Exactly what form Charm takes depends on your personal style: sympathetic pleas, purring seduction, or even calculated manipulation. A high Rating helps you convince someone to do what you want through words alone. Charm isn’t dependent upon physical beauty, social standing, or even manners, but all of those factors can certainly help!

Using Charm counts as a Manipulation, which means it is limited to your Command Range and the target may attempt to Reject or Retort the attempt. Most uses of Charm require language. If the participants don’t share at least one language the the roll suffers a –1 Penalty. You can still confer basic meaning with pantomime and gestures, but it’s hard to be smooth and convincing.

Charm Checks

• Bargain: You spend a few days shopping around for Rare items or trying to get a good deal. Roll a Check, and if you succeed you can buy the item for one Cash Bill less. On a Bad roll you can’t find a deal and make no purchase at all. Rare items apply a –1 Penalty to the roll, and Scarce items are –2 to buy at all.
• Distract: A Check draws attention away from another threat. On a Good result the target is Stunned.
• Perform: Use a few days to create art—and get paid for it. Different types of art require their own tools and the appropriate Mastery. Specific situations may allow you to roll without taking the full time. A Good roll gains you Cash Bills of Currency or a similar boon—such as an invitation to an exclusive club or a meeting with an important figure. On a Bad roll you gain Stress instead.
• Persuade: Convince a target or group that one option is superior to any others. Inside an Exchange the attempt is a Mission. Success convinces everyone to listen to you, and then act based on the merits of your argument. On a Bad roll the audience becomes Hostile. Persuasion is not mind control—success doesn’t force the target to change their beliefs take a specific action.
• Sell: Sell extra items or Commodities without losing money. Selling requires a Project. On a Good roll sell an item and gain its Value as Currency. Each Pair generates an extra Cash Bill, up to the number of items sold. On a Bad roll you have a choice: sell one item and gain nothing, or sell two to gain the Value of one. Trying to sell commonly available items applies a –1 Penalty to the roll. Selling Rare items grants Advantage to the roll.

Charm Saves

• Convince: When someone scrutinizes you to determine if you are lying you roll a Save to oppose them. If you win you project confidence and sincerity whether you are lying or not. If you lose you hesitate and stumble even if you’re telling the truth, and they can ask a yes or no follow up question which you must answer honestly.
• Retort: You may defend against Manipulations like Distract or Intimidate with a Save. Talking back may not be considered polite, but it gets the point across. You may Spare to Retort a Manipulation that did not target you if the attacker and the target are both within your Command Range.

Charm Masteries

• Artistry (*): Used to impress an audience with a performance or a resulting item. Each method of artistry is a separate Mastery. Each form of art takes time to perform, and requires materials (usually the instruments) with a Value. Expensive materials generate a Style bonus for the performance.
• Bureaucracy: Practically a language of its own, specific to legal matters, paperwork, and dealing with functionaries of all sorts. Bureaucracy is fundamentally the same on every planet, even if the specific laws and loopholes are different.
• Fashion: Encompasses the manners and popular trends within the royals and aristocrats of the inner planets. You don’t need to be born to high society to understand—or exploit—its workings.
• Languages (*): Each character receives one primary language as part of their Origin. Any additional languages must be Unlocked by purchasing this Mastery.

Build Points

Score	Save	Points	Label	Description
1	(1)	0	Amateur	You dabble, or try to get by on luck.
2	(1)	1	Proficient	You are trained and competent.
3	(2)	2	Expert	You are talented or extensively trained.
4	(2)	3	Master	You are an accomplished expert.
5	(3)	4	Genius	You have a rare and extraordinary gift.
6	(3)	5	Paragon	You are the greatest of all time.

See Also

• List of general Abilities

Version 3.0.0
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