Socialize
Charms
Wise-Eyed Courtier
Method
Cost: 3 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Simple
Minimum
Socialize: 2
Minimum Essence: 1
Prerequisite
Charms: None
Use of this Charm allows a character to instantly
read the superficial subtext of a social situation. The surface attitudes (“she
is angry at him”) and relationships (“she respects him a great deal, perhaps he
is her father or like a father”) of the individuals involved are apparent at a
mere glance. Characters who are skilled at concealing their motives will
project the exterior emotions they are pretending.
It’s up to the Storyteller’s discretion as
to how skilled a character must be to appear to feel other than they really do
— Socialize or Performance 2 and a serious effort should suffice. This Charm is
not a form of mind reading, nor does it offer precise results — it simply
allows the Exalted get his bearings when faced with confusing or unfamiliar
social situations.
Motive-Discerning
Technique
Cost: 6 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Simple
Minimum
Socialize: 4
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite
Charms: Wise-Eyed Courtier
Method
This Charm allows an Exalted to tell,
through a short, topical interaction, what the target’s true motives in a
situation are. For example, an Exalted who talked to a woman about her sick
father would be able to tell if she was at his bedside out of love, filial
loyalty or greed for her inheritance.
Where there are mixed motives, the Exalted
will gain a rough feel of in what proportions they occur. This power is
especially useful for Exalted leaders, as it lets them keep their entourages
free of the self-serving and the corrupt.
Mastery Of Small
Manners
Cost: 3 motes
Duration: One scene
Type: Reflexive
Minimum
Socialize: 2
Minimum Essence: 1
Prerequisite
Charms: None
The character attunes himself to the
patterns of human interaction and allows Essence to guide his responses to
social situations. While this Charm is active, the character will reflexively
respond in the appropriate and mannerly fashion for the situation at hand.
These manners are not deep, covering only simple things such as greetings,
eating customs, gift customs and flirtation mores. The character will never
make an unintentional faux pas but is not charismatic so much as simply well
behaved. Too much active interaction spoils the effect of this Charm.
Knowing The Soul’s
Price
Cost: 10 motes, 1 Willpower
Duration: Instant
Type: Simple
Minimum
Socialize: 5
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite
Charms: Mastery of Small
Manners, Motive-Discerning Technique
Everyone has a price, though it may not be
in gold. It could be aid in a personal endeavor, flattery, sex with an
unachievable object of desire, the recovery of a lost possession or any number
of things — but there is invariably something that, when offered, will crack
the strongest morals and ethics. To have it, an individual will betray trusts,
engage in corruption, plant evidence — almost anything. This Charm allows the
character to know what that thing is for a given individual. It is up to the
Storyteller to define precisely what a given person’s weakness is — the things
some people require may be difficult or impossible to obtain, while other
characters may simply need to be offered a large sum of money. Generally, the
higher a character’s Temperance score, the more likely her price will be
something other than money and the more likely it will be difficult to arrange.
Understanding The
Court
Cost: 20 motes, 1 Willpower
Duration: Instant
Type: Simple
Minimum
Socialize: 5
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite
Charms: Motive-Discerning
Technique
This Charm allows an Exalted to read
motives on a grand scale, gaining a picture of the flows and eddies of power in
an extended social situation such as a king’s court or a mercantile community.
The character must spend a number of days equal to (10 - her Essence score) in
observation of the situation. The character need not be part of the social
milieu to observe, she need simply be close to it; a character disguised as a
servant or maid will be able to observe adequately as well. It’s up to the
Storyteller to decide how the information is conveyed. Some Storytellers will
want to draw a diagram, while others may simply explain who says “jump!” and
who asks “how high?”
The character’s understanding is limited by
what she has witnessed — for example, if an important figure is absent during
her period of observation, she may be able to deduce a great deal from how
people act in his absence but will not know for certain until she can
reconstruct her picture once he has returned. Also, the character’s
preternatural understanding is rooted in the time it was made. Unless the
mapped situation is extremely stagnant, events will cause the pattern of
interactions to change over time. Characters relying on years-old understanding
are liable to make errors in judgment.
Venomous Rumors
Technique
Cost: 10 motes, 1 Willpower
Duration: One day
Minimum
Socialize: 5
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite
Charms: Knowing the Soul’s
Price, Understanding the Court
Through the use of this Charm, an Exalted
can turn her target into a social outcast. The target’s words seem false,
tentative or devious, by turns, and even his friends notice the worst parts of
his personality — and all of it is true. This Charm is not an illusion. It
simply brings the worst parts of the target to the fore. The Exalted must touch
her target to use this Charm. For a full day afterward, the target takes a
penalty on all social rolls equal to twice the Exalted’s
Essence score.
Welcome Guest Method
Cost: 3 motes
Duration: One
scene
Type: Simple
Minimum Socialize:
3
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite
Charms: Mastery of Small Manners
A character using
this Charm becomes more socially attractive: People find her words charming,
her appearance and manner intriguing and her overall presence pleasant and
enjoyable. The Chosen’s player gains automatic successes equal to his
character’s permanent Essence on Socialize rolls to make new acquaintances,
gain introductions and so forth.
Flawless Discretion Style
Cost: 8 motes
Duration: One
scene
Type: Simple
Minimum Socialize:
3
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite
Charms: Mastery of Small Manners
While this Charm
is in use, any effort to spy on the Exalt has its difficulty increased by the
character’s permanent Essence score. Background noise is always just loud
enough to cover the character’s conversations, inopportune interruptions
prevent others from listening in or looking over the character’s shoulder, and
searchers never find anything incriminating in the character’s quarters or
possessions. The Charm does not guard against open inquiries or observation:
The character can still be interrogated or openly watched; it only makes it
difficult to monitor the Chosen covertly.
Graceful Courtier Attitude
Cost: 2 motes per
point of reduction
Duration: One
scene
Type: Simple
Minimum Socialize:
4
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite
Charms: Mastery of Small Manners
By attuning with
the flow of Essence, the Chosen becomes virtually unflappable. No matter how
difficult or unusual the social situation, she navigates it with enviable ease
and grace. Every 2 motes of Essence spent allow the Exalt’s
player to ignore one point of difficulty on all Socialize rolls imposed by
conditions such as a foreign environment, interpersonal tensions, bad weather
and bad food, even insult or injury. The difficulty of any Socialize roll
cannot be reduced below 1, and this Charm only overcomes penalties that
increase the difficulty, it does not make normally difficult feats of Socialize
easier (such as convincing a hated enemy to be cooperative). The Exalt using
this Charm appears graceful and dignified under the worst circumstances.
Graceful Deflection Technique
Cost: 4 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Socialize:
3
Minimum Essence: 1
Prerequisite
Charms: Wise-Eyed Courtier Technique, Master of Small Manners
The Chosen’s
mastery of social graces can remove him from danger in more ways than one.
Through a combination of reading an opponent’s body language and the use of
witty or engaging banter, the character may add a number of dice equal to his
Socialize Ability to a single dodge attempt in combat. The character’s opponent
must be capable of hearing and understanding the Exalt’s
words, so this Charm is ineffective against opponents who are deaf, do not
speak the same language or are largely mindless (such as zombies or beasts).
Distracting Banter Method
Cost: 8 motes
Duration: One
scene
Type: Simple
Minimum Socialize:
4
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite
Charms: Graceful Deflection Technique
The Exalted
engages in an almost nonstop stream of witty banter with her opponents,
intended to distract them and keep them off balance. So long as the character
keeps up the dialog, opponents attacking her subtract a number of dice from
their pools equal to the Exalt’s Essence. This Charm
only works on opponents capable of hearing and understanding the character’s
words and whose Essence is lower than the character’s. The Charm ends if the
Chosen stops talking for more than a turn.
Masterful Dissimulation Method
Cost: 5 motes
Duration: One
scene
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Socialize:
4
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite
Charms: Motive-Discerning Technique
This Charm allows
the Exalt to conceal his true feelings and motivations; a character using this
Charm can speak pleasantly to a hated enemy without any hint of his true
feelings showing through. Add the Chosen’s permanent Essence score to the
difficulty of rolls to pick up on the Exalt’s true
feelings and motivations. Charms that automically do
so (such as Motive-Discerning Technique) require a successful reflexive opposed
Perception + Socialize roll against the Exalt’s Wits
+ Socialize to succeed while this Charm is in effect.
Reading The Heart
Cost: 10 motes, 1
Willpower
Duration: Instant
Type: Simple
Minimum Socialize:
5
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite
Charms: Motive-Discerning Technique
With a masterful
understanding of human (and inhuman) nature, the Exalt using this Charm can
learn a subject’s Nature simply by engaging him in a brief conversation. This
provides the Chosen with information about the subject’s motivations on a broad
scale, rather than relating to a specific situation (such as that gained from
Motive-Discerning Technique). While the Exalted gains a rough idea of what
motivates the subject, she does not necessarily know how the subject will react
in any given situation.
Exalted Accolades
Cost: 10 motes, 1
Willpower
Duration: One day
Type: Simple
Minimum Socialize:
5
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite
Charms: Understanding the Court
Using this Charm,
an Exalt can draw attention to someone else’s achievements and good qualities, improving
her reputation and standing within a particular social circle. The subject’s
virtues are emphasized and talked about, while others tend to turn a blind eye
to the subject’s faults. The Exalted must touch the subject in a public
setting. For a full day afterward, the subject’s player gains a bonus on all
Social rolls equal to the Exalted’s Essence score.
This Charm has no effect on characters with a higher Essence than the Exalt
activating the Charm.