Friday, July 11, 2008

New Knack: Behind Closed Doors

Behind Closed Doors
Charisma Knack
Prerequisite: Standing Invitations

The prerequisite knack will open many doors, and get your name on invitation lists. Some events, however, are more exclusive than that. Judges chambers, Senate investigations, boardroom meetings, palaces of the Gods, and the hidden grottos of secret cabals are typically above that power. Luckily, this Knack prepares you for exactly those situations, by extending the lure of your presence beyond closed doors.

If you are standing at the last public place outside a private meeting, such as the front gates where armed guards or Cerebus himself stands watch, you may spend any number of Legend points. If you spend more points than the Legend Rating of any of the authority figures inside, one of them chooses that moment to step outside for a status check or smoke break. As you can imagine, getting Condi Rice to take a break from the meeting in the Oval Office takes but a point or two, whereas getting a response at the Windowless House of Mictlan will run a good 12 or 13 points.

If you do so, this reveals your presence to those inside. Further, it does so in a way that strikes them as coincidental, polite, and unintrusive. Thus it provides a window for you to attempt to convince them to let you in. In the absence of other factors, the difficulty (of a Charisma + Politics roll) to get them to grant admission is 1 + the combined Legend Rating of everyone attending the secret meeting. Clever roleplaying, situational modifiers, and preexisting relationships (if any) between the PCs and NPCs can all lower that difficulty or add bonus dice to your roll.

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