Social Combat

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• Resolve: Mental solidity. (WITS + Integrity + Specialty)/2, round up
• Guile: Conceal thoughts. (MANIP + Socialize + Specialty)/2, round up

Influencing someone is a social attack. Make an Influence roll (CHA, MANIP or APP + Ability) vs Resolve. Page 215.

• Instill: Try to force a new intimacy upon someone. Declare the idea you want to instill. ST will levy any penalties, up to -5 on the attempt. If successful, target gains a new Minor intimacy. This can be used to strengthen or weaken existing intimacies, but only if the argument presented is more compelling than what generated the intimacy initially.
• Persuade: Compel a target to perform certain tasks. The level of your intimacy with them will determine the level of tasks you can convince them to do. If you have no intimacy with them, they can only be convinced to perform the most trivial of tasks.
• Bargain: Compel a target to perform a task in exchange for something. Does not rely on intimacies.
• Threaten: Compel someone to do (or not do) something in exchange for you NOT doing something, typically inflicting bodily harm. This can also potentially instill a negative intimacy.
• Inspire: Uses Performance and picks an emotion to target. You can convince someone to form a new passion or act on an existing intimacy.
• Read Intentions: (PER + Socialize) vs Guile to determine what is motivating someone during a scene. This can also determine someone's Intimacies, and the character should declare what sort of Intimacy they are trying to find before rolling. ST should tell them if they succeed but the target has no Intimacies that fit the description.

• Targeting more than one person for Influence levies a -3 penalty
• Trying to influence from body language alone gives a +2 to defender's resolve
• Trying to persuade someone to not take an action he's already be influenced to take, defender gains a +3 Resolve

• Spend a willpower to stop a new intimacy from being created
• Spend a willpower to stop a Major or Defining Intimacy from being weakened
• Reject a successful Inspire action. See Decision Point for how to use a willpower to resist this.

A decision point occurs when a character fails to Resist an Influence roll that inspires him to action. Page 219.

• Choose an intimacy and explain how it justifies resisting the Influence
• The Intimacy must be of equal or greater strength to the roll. Must be a different one than the one that applied to the Resolve roll to resist the Influence in the first place
• If the ST accepts the justification, a willpower is then spent and the Influence is resisted

Page 222.

• Cannot use the same methods previously used
• Must try a new angle, use a new tactic, offer more rewards, or “fire warning shots” for an Intimidate
• Inspire and Read Intentions cannot be retried

This type of Influence can be rejected outright without the need of a willpower. A player can choose to have his character Influenced, if he wishes. Page 220.

• Suicide
• Something completely antithetical to a person
• Any Instill action that does not exploit an Intimacy strong enough
• A bargain that doesn't offer something enticing enough or the threaten action isn't sufficiently threatening

• If Appearance is higher than a target's Resolve, character gets a bonus equal to the difference
• Appearance can be rolled as part of social combat if appropriate

• Defining: Highest strength intimacy. Defines her most major motivations and personal principles. May have multiple. Add +4 Resolve bonus to uphold or -3 Resolve penalty to act against it.
• Major: Second highest strength intimacy. Extremely important people or principles. May have multiple. Gives a +3/-2 Resolve.
• Minor: Notable relationships or beliefs. May have multiple. Gives a +2/-1 Resolve.
• Positive: Something the character has affection for or general positive feelings toward
• Negative: Something the character has disdain or a dislike for

Page 170-171.

• Minor Intimacies can be created or current Intimacies strengthened from the social influence of other characters
• Minor Intimacies can be created or current Intimacies strengthened when the player wishes and the ST agrees
• A new Major or Defining intimacy may be gained in extraordinary events

Page 171.

• Minor Intimacies can be removed or current Intimacies downgraded by the social influence of others
• Minor Intimacies can be removed or current Intimacies downgraded when the player wishes and the ST agrees
• When a player hasn't reflected an Intimacy in his roleplaying for a while, the ST may consider removing or downgrading it