Social Combat Reference
Debate Actions
| Action | Speed / DV Penalty |
|---|---|
| Join Debate | Varies / -0 |
| Social Attack | Varies / -2 |
| Simple Charm | 6 / -1 |
| Guard | 3 / 0 |
| Monologue / Study | 3 / -2 |
| Coordinate Attack | 5 / -2 |
| Move | 0 / -0 |
| Dash / Climb / Swim | 3 / -3 |
| Read Motivation | 5 / -2 |
| Miscellaneous Action | 5 / Varies |
| Inactive | 3 / Special |
Join Debate
Roll (Wits + Awareness) for all debaters and compare. The player with the most successes sets the reaction count. Everyone else goes (their difference in successes) ticks later, max of 6.
Joining a debate at a later date compares to the set reaction count.
Social Traits
| Trait | Use |
|---|---|
| Charisma | Used for honest social attacks. |
| Manipulation | Used for attempts to deceive. |
| Appearance | Used to determine MDV modifiers. |
Social Abilities
| Ability | Notes | Speed / Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Socialize | Not used to attack, but replaces War and Stealth in social situations. Limits dice pools when leading and is used to establish surprise. | — |
| Linguistics | Modifies the MDV in written attacks. | — |
| Investigation | Used to interrogate and question a target, either a person or a group. | 5 / 2 |
| Performance | Oration, dances and theatrics; these attacks target everyone in the audience. | 5 / 1 |
| Presence | Intimate attacks based on force of personality. Can only be used on a single target (a person or a group). | 4 / 2 |
MDV Calculation
PMDV = ([Cha or Man] + [Investigation, Performance or Presence] + Specialty) / 2
DMDV = (Willpower + Integrity + Essence + Specialty) / 2 (round down)
- 1st Excellency adds roll successes.
- 2nd Excellency adds paid successes.
- 3rd Excellency adds ½ Ability to DV.
MDV Modifiers
| Modifier | Value |
|---|---|
| Action DV Penalties | -X |
| Wound Penalties | -X |
| Onslaught Penalty | -X |
| Coordinated Attack | -X |
| Botched Attack (Last Action) | -2 |
| Difference in Appearance | -X* |
| Difference in Linguistics | -X* |
| Difference in Magnitude | -X* |
| Situational | Bonus |
|---|---|
| Contradicts Intimacy | +1** |
| Contradicts Virtue of 3+ | +2** |
| Contradicts Motivation | +3** |
* Varies, cannot exceed + or - 3. ** Can also apply as a penalty when supporting behavior. Only use the highest of these modifiers.
Resisting Social Attacks
Spend 1 WP to resist the effects of a successful natural persuasion.
After spending 2 WP in one scene, a character is immune to further persuasion attempts (a different approach could outmaneuver this).
Attack Effects
| Effect | Result |
|---|---|
| Affecting Intimacies | Reduce an Intimacy by one point and/or increase another Intimacy by one point. |
| Compelling Behavior | The target is convinced to spend the rest of the scene doing any one task that does not violate their Motivation. |
| Breaking Motivation | If the target is reduced to 0 temporary Willpower by attacks opposing the motivation and then goes for (Essence + Willpower) days without recovering full Willpower, it is broken. Further social attacks may cause behavior that contradicts the target’s motivation. |
Intimacies
A character cannot have more than (Willpower + Compassion) Intimacies. Excess Intimacies gradually blend away at one per night.
Intimacies have a strength equal to the character’s Conviction.
To deliberately change Intimacies, characters may add or remove one point to the Intimacy per scene spent building or eroding it.
Once the Intimacy reaches Conviction points, it is in effect. An Intimacy lowered to 0 points is removed.
Impossible Orders
Orders that a target finds it could not survive are unacceptable orders.
Orders that cannot possibly be followed for obvious reasons are impossible orders.
Both can be resisted without spending any Willpower.
Unnatural Effects
| Type | Description |
|---|---|
| Compulsion | Creates an intention in the target: “I want to do something.” Can be used to make the target form Intimacies. |
| Emotion | Sparks emotion within the target: love, lust, fear, respect, anger, etc. |
| Illusion | Creates a belief that causes the target to accept something as true that is not. |
| Servitude | Binds someone to a cause. Makes them believe it is worth serving but does not control their actions. |
| Total Control | Target’s actions are utterly dictated by the effect. Only one total control effect can be active on a person. |
Social Groups
Social Units use the Traits of their leaders, modified by bonuses provided by the unit.
Social Units also have a number of special traits described below.
| Trait | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Magnitude | The size of a social unit. Used to calculate MDV modifiers. |
| Policy | The agenda the group shares; similar to Motivation for solo units. |
| Loyalty | Equals the permanent Willpower of the leader; used for social actions instead of temporary Willpower. |
Damaging Social Units
If attacks exhaust the Loyalty pool, reduce the Magnitude by one as followers leave. The unit also did not resist the attack (effects apply).
Then refresh the Loyalty pool to the maximum (-1 if the last attack went against the group Policy).
Magnitude
| Magnitude | Members | Equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 1 | Solo |
| 1 | 2–10 | Fang |
| 2 | 11–75 | Scale |
| 3 | 76–150 | Talon |
| 4 | 151–300 | Wing |
| 5 | 301–650 | Dragon |
| 6 | 651–1200 | |
| 7 | 1251–2500 | |
| 8 | 2501–5000 | Legion |
| 9 | 5001–10000+ | 1st Age Legion |