Sun-Touched Dragon King [Exalted/Highschool DxD]

[heralding_bubble]

Character Info Anima Power Attributes Abilities Merits Flaws Intimacies

• 
  
  
  
  Name: Issei Hyoudou
  Gender: Male
  Exaltation Type: Solar
  Caste:
  Motivation: To become a Harem King, a person worthy of the affection of multiple girls
  Battle Theme:
  Anima Banner:
  
  Essence: O
  Personal: 13/13
  Peripheral: 33/33
  Committed (Personal): 0
  Committed (Peripheral): 0
  Willpower: 5/5
  Limit: 0
  
  Health:
  -0 [X]
  -1 [X] [X]
  -2 [ ] [ ]
  -4 [ ]
  Incapacitated [ ]
  Dying [ ] [ ]
  
  Join Battle: 2d+3
  Dodge DV: 1
  Parry DV: 1
  Soak: 2
  Hardness: 0
  
  Read Intentions: 2d
  Resolve: 2
  Guile: 1
  
• 
  
  
• 
  Strength: OO
  Dexterity: OO
  Stamina: OO
  
  Charisma: OO
  Manipulation: O
  Appearance: OO
  
  Perception: OO
  Intelligence: OO
  Wits: OO
  
• 
  Those marked with - are Favoured/Caste Abilities, that which is marked by + is the Supernal Ability.
  
  Archery:
  –Athletics:
  –Awareness:
  Brawl:
  Bureaucracy:
  –Dodge:
  –Integrity: O
  Investigation:
  Larceny:
  Linguistics: O
  –Lore: O
  >> Specialty: Eroge
  Medicine:
  –Melee:
  –Occult:
  Performance:
  +Presence:
  –Resistance:
  Ride:
  Sail:
  Socialize:
  Stealth:
  Survival:
  Thrown:
  –War:
  
  Craft:
  >(Expertise):
  
• 
  Language: Japanese
  
  Selective Conception: You have full conscious control on your own fertility. You cannot ensure pregnancy, but you can prevent any undesired one.
  
  Common Sense: You have an inner voice that warns you when your present course of action is unwise or dangerous, a voice that sounds remarkably like that of the Storyteller.
  
  Past Lives O: You have brief flashes of memories from your past Exalted incarnations, allowing you to grasp at the bare basics of the glories of the past. Can be used to boost applicable Craft, Lore, and Occult rolls with (Merit Rating) dice. May sometimes cause flashbacks - visions or emotions for example - to past lives. Can be increased by meditation.
  
• 
  N/A
  
• 
  Defining Ties:
  
  Major Ties:
  Beautiful Females (Lust)
  
  Minor Ties:
  Parents (Filial Love)
  Perverted Trio (Friendship)
  Good looking men (Jealousy)
  
  Defining Principles:
  "I will have a harem!"
  
  Major Principles:
  "I will help a girl in need."
  
  Minor Principles:
  "I help people in need."
  
  

Charms

• 
  
  Cascades

  • 
    Archery, the discipline of using ranged weapons. The bow is the dominant form of ranged weapon in Creation in all its different varieties, from the simple wooden self bows used by subsistence hunters to the composite bows carried by the Realm's archers. However, Archery also applies to the use of more exotic weapons. In the South, weapons fueled by a reagent called firedust shoot streamers of flame rather than arrows, and in the North, the nation-states of the Haslanti League favor the crossbow.
    
    Athletics, the discipline of physical fitness and acrobatic maneuverability. It is used in performing feats of strength, such as lifting up a fallen cart or bending the metal bars of a prison cage. It is also used for movement both in and out of combat—racing towards a distant enemy, jumping over a gaping chasm, climbing a brick wall, and swimming against a powerful tide are all uses of Athletics.
    
    Awareness, the practiced discipline of alertness and wariness of one's surroundings. It is used for rolls to notice or pick up on sensory information, but is also important in combat, adding to the Join Battle roll that determines a character's starting Initiative and allowing her to notice hidden enemies.
    
    Brawl, used by unarmed combatants who fight based on instinct and a natural talent for violence, rather than any particular discipline or style. It's used for punches, kicks, head-butts, shoulder thrusts, grappling, and all similar methods of using one's own body as a weapon. Brawl also conveys an aptitude for brawling aids such as brass knuckles and improvised weaponry such as chairs and broken bottles. In addition to covering attacks, Brawl can also be used to calculate a character's Parry rating in combat, although parrying a weapon capable of inflicting lethal damage with one's bare hands requires a stunt.
    
    Bureaucracy represents a character's acumen in organizational, mercantile, and legal endeavors. Bureaucracy is used to assess and evaluate the resources—both wealth and manpower—available to one's self or one's rivals, as well as to understand the legal codes of a society or the bureaucratic structure of an organization.
    
    Craft is used to create or repair objects through skilled labor, whether forging a sword, cutting the gem for a merchant prince's brooch, or planning and overseeing the construction of a temple. The Exalted and other supernatural beings are capable of using this Ability to create artifacts, treasures of legendary quality that possess powerful magic of their own.
    
    Special rules: When a character first buys this Ability, she must declare an area of expertise to which her crafting skill applies. Potential areas of expertise include weapon forging, armoring, architecture, tailoring, woodwork, carpentry, cooking, and anything else a player might come up with, covering similarly broad (but not all-encompassing) concepts. Additional areas of expertise must be purchased as independent Abilities—thus, a character might have Craft (Weapon Forging) 4, and Craft (Gem-cutting) 2. Of note are Craft (Artifacts) and Craft (Geomancy); these two craft skills in specific are needed to craft artifacts and design and raise manses, respectively.
    
    Dodge is the skill of evading one's enemies, deftly maneuvering out of the way of attacks or managing to avoid the dangers of fighting on hazardous terrain. In combat, a character's Dodge rating contributes to her Evasion, but is also used to escape from close-quarter conflicts with enemies or to take cover from the attacks of far-off foes.
    
    Integrity is the Ability to remain resolute in one's beliefs, principles, and decisions when they are challenged, an active discipline of self-assurance and refuting opposing arguments. It contributes to a character's Resolve, which is used to resist the persuasion of socially skilled characters.
    
    Investigation is used to uncover hidden or obscured details through close surveillance or examination, whether it is searching a magistrate's chamber for a hidden letter, unearthing clues at the scene of a murder, or reconstructing the details of a crime from the evidence presented before a magistrate at court.
    
    Larceny covers a range of talents that fall under the general penumbra of criminal activity. Pickpocketing, lock picking, and sleight of hand are all uses of Larceny that rely on physical deftness, but it also applies to more intellectual tasks such as creating an effective disguise, hiding evidence at the scene of a crime, or navigating a society's criminal underworld.
    
    Linguistics is the Ability used to compose works of writing—literary epics, poetic verse, propaganda pamphlets, or even a simple conversational letter. It can be used to influence the thoughts and feelings of characters who read the work using social actions. A character must have at least one dot of Linguistics to be able to read.
    
    Lore represents a character's understanding of the world, covering academic disciplines of history, mathematics, geography, literature, science, philosophy, and similar scholarly pursuits. It can be used both to recall useful pieces of academic knowledge, as well as to perform scholarly research in a library or archive. It is also important in the forging of artifacts and the raising of manses. Players must note the subject of their character's education when selecting Lore, as this impacts the scope of what the Ability may cover for them (see p. 237 for more details on using Lore)—Lore 5 alone makes the character a world-class savant, but doesn't mean she knows everything. Lore areas of expertise can be expanded with specialties and roleplaying.
    
    Medicine is used to diagnose and treat wounds, sickness, poisoning, and other ailments. In the Age of Sorrows, the state of Creation's medical practice is primitive, with bone saws, sutures, and scalpels representing the most advanced medical technology a physician might have access to. In some of Creation's cultures, methods of folk medicine such as herbal treatments, acupuncture, or therapeutic yoga take the place of traditional surgical implements, and can be just as effective, if not more so, in treating certain ailments.
    
    Melee is the Ability of hand-to-hand weaponry, covering swords, knives, hammers, axes, lances, and any other weapon used in close quarters. It is used both to attack with these weapons and to calculate a character's Parry rating when she blocks enemy attacks
    
    Occult represents an instinctive facility for dealing with Creation's mystical and otherworldly elements. It describes a rapport with the uncanny and things normally held beyond mortal ken. This includes understanding of the nature, powers, and ways of gods, ghosts, and demons, but also a sense of those things beyond the ken of Heaven and the gods. Occult is vital to the exorcist and the shaman whose arts cannot be taught to those lacking proper sensitivity, and also to the sorcerer, whose senses pierce the veils of the universe.
    
    Performance is the Ability of influencing others through creative or artistic displays, covering both traditional forms of artistic expression such as music, dance, and poetry, as well as rhetorical speaking through prepared speeches or oratory. It can be used to influence the thoughts and feelings of other characters through social actions.
    
    Presence is the Ability to effectively lead, intimidate, or persuade through force of personality. It can be used to influence the thoughts and feelings of other characters through social actions. When a hot-blooded general rallies her troops with an inspiring battle cry, a witty conversationalist charms those around her over the course of a party, or a thief blurts a convincing explanation for how she came into possession of a carved jade idol, all of these characters are using Presence.
    
    Resistance is the learned Ability of coping with pain, disease, fatigue, and other forms of physical weakness. In combat, it is useful for fighting through the deleterious effects of poisons used by dishonorable foes, or weathering the perils of fighting over hazardous terrain.
    
    Ride is used to ride on a horse, ox, or more exotic mount, as well as to maneuver in vehicles such as chariots or carts that are led by horses or beasts of burden. In combat, the Ride skill is used for moving across the battlefield while mounted. Also includes riding motorcycles and cars.
    
    Sail is used to captain a seafaring vessel through the great oceans and rivers that make up much of Creation. It is used both for maneuvering a vessel and for plotting a course using sea charts and navigational instruments. While the vast majority of vehicles in the Second Age are ocean-faring ships, the Sail Ability can also be used to pilot more exotic vessels, such as the hot-air balloon skyships used by the Haslanti League or many of the ancient, wondrous vehicles lost with the First Age.
    
    Socialize is a character's understanding of the social context in which she acts, encompassing both knowledge of decorum and etiquette as well as how to use them to one's advantage in persuasion or manipulation. In formal social situations such as an aristocratic court or a ritualized ceremony, a character can use Socialize to influence the thoughts and feelings of other characters with social actions. Socialize is also used both to read the emotional tells or body language of other characters to discern their inner thoughts, and to conceal such tells on one's self, contributing to a character's Guile rating.
    
    Stealth is used to avoid being noticed, evading the sight of one's pursuers through physical deftness and cunning. In combat, it can be used to catch foes unawares with sneak attacks or to hide from threatening enemies. Outside of combat, it can be used for covert surveillance, silently infiltrating a guarded building, or blending into a crowd after committing a crime.
    
    Survival is the Ability used to traverse and survive in wilderness environments. It covers the basic rudiments of outdoor survival, such as finding shelter, finding fresh water, and gathering food, as well as tracking, navigation, and handling animals.
    
    Thrown is the Ability used for weapons designed to be thrown at an enemy, rather than those which fire projectiles. Throwing knives, shuriken, javelins, chakrams, and nets are all used with this Ability.
    
    War is the Ability of understanding strategy and tactics. It is used both to direct the long-term progress of a war, planning battles to gain the upper hand over enemy forces, as well as to command the soldiers or warriors that serve a character directly in battle.
    
  
  

Weapons Weapon Rules

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  Unarmed

  • 
    Name: Unarmed
    Description: Meaty and Hooky, swift deliverers of Justice!
    
    Accuracy: +4
    Damage: +7
    Defence: +0
    Overwhelming: 1
    Tags: Bashing, Brawl, Grappling, Natural
    
• 
  Withering:
  
  
  
  
  Decisive:
  
  
  
  
  
  Accuracy: Add this many dice to the (Dexterity + Ability) dice pool when making withering attacks with this weapon.
  Damage: Add this many dice to damage rolls when making withering attacks with this weapon.
  Overwhelming: The minimum damage of withering attacks made with the weapon, after soak has been applied. Soak can't reduce a weapon's withering damage pool to below its Overwhelming value.
  Defense: Add or subtract this number from the weapon wielder's Parry. Attunement: To use this weapon, the wearer must commit five motes to make it respond to her desires more easily. Without this commitment, subtract -5 from the weapon's Accuracy and its Defense, and lose two Initiative per attempted attack or defense. These penalties can only be negated by attunement.
  Attunement: To use this weapon, the wearer must commit five motes to make it respond to her desires more easily. Without this commitment, subtract -5 from the weapon's Accuracy and its Defense, and lose two Initiative per attempted attack or defense. These penalties can only be negated by attunement.
  
  
  
  Balanced: The power and leverage provided by this weapon give it an Overwhelming one point higher than normal. For example, a Balanced mundane medium weapon would have an Overwhelming value of 2. This tag is normally found on swords.
  Bashing: This weapon normally does bashing damage when used to deliver a decisive attack.
  Brawl: Attacks with this weapon normally use Brawl.
  Chopping: This weapon is capable of making chopping attacks. A chopping attack costs one point of Defense until the attacker's next turn, as well as one point of Initiative, but raises a withering attack's raw damage by 3, or allows a decisive attack to treat Hardness as two points lower than its true value. This tag is primarily found on weapons with heavy blades, such as axes and chopping swords.
  Disarming: This weapon reduces the difficulty and cost of disarm gambits by 1.
  Flexible: This weapon ignores the Defense bonus granted by full defense actions.
  Improvised: Useable with both Brawl and Melee, these simple weapons can be created out of anything sturdy, heavy and roughly well balanced. Because they are not designed for use as weapons, improvised weapons cost 1 Initiative to use in an attack.
  Grappling: This weapon can be used to make grappling gambits.
  Lethal: This weapon normally does lethal damage when used to deliver a decisive attack. Lethal close combat weapons can deliver bashing damage with an appropriate stunt, by e.g. attacking with the pommel or with the flat of the blade.
  Martial Arts: Attacks with this weapon don't use Melee or Brawl. Wielding it requires an applicable Martial Arts Ability. For example, the hook sword requires facility with a style like Martial Arts (Snake Style) or Martial Arts (Crane Style); Martial Arts (Tiger Style) wouldn't do.
  Melee: Attacks with this weapon normally use Melee.
  Natural: This weapon is part of the user's body. It cannot be disarmed, and never requires a draw/ready weapon action to prepare for use.
  Piercing: This weapon specializes in defeating armor, either by punching through it or slipping through its weak points. A piercing attack lowers the attacker's Defense by one until his next turn, and costs one Initiative to attempt. The resulting withering attack ignores 4 points of soak from armor.
  Reaching: This long weapon negates the advantages of mounted combatants (p. 202).
  Shield: A weapon with this tag allows the character to place the "full defense" action in a flurry, although this flurry can't also contain an attack action. This is normally used to flurry full defense and rush actions together. The damage of shield-tagged weapons is 2 lower than their class would otherwise indicate (thus a medium shield-tagged weapon would have damage 7 rather than 9).
  Smashing: This weapon can make smash attacks. Smash attacks sacrifice one Defense until the character's next turn, and cost two Initiative to attempt. If successful, they knock the opponent back one range band, or knock them prone. Targets may be knocked back into dangerous or deadly threats, like lava pits or steep cliffs.
  Thrown: This weapon can be used to make ranged attacks using the Thrown ability. All Thrown weapons also have their maximum range listed in parenthesis, such as Thrown (Medium). When throwing a weapon, the wielder doesn't benefit from the weapon's normal Accuracy bonus; see Thrown Weapons, below.
  Two-Handed: This weapon requires the user wield it with both hands, preventing them from holding a shield or another weapon at the same time. Two-handed weapons grant a +2 bonus to Clash attacks.
  Worn: Wearable weapons can be removed, but while worn they count as natural weapons. Equipping or removing a weapon with the worn tag takes an action.
  

Armour Armour Rules

• 
  N/A
• 
  Soak: This is how much the armor adds to the wearer's soak value.
  Mobility Penalty: This is the number of dice heavier armor subtracts from all nimbleness-based Athletics rolls, as well as from any rolls involving chases, running, and dodging. Most armor is noisy and this same number is subtracted from Stealth rolls involving attempts to move silently. Finally, this value is subtracted directly from thewearer's Evasion score.
  Hardness: Hardness offers protection from decisive attacks; it has no use against withering attacks. If a decisive attack's damage dice pool is equal to or lower than the target's Hardness, the decisive attack can't inflict damage. A decisive attack that strikes but fails to penetrate the target's Hardness is still considered a successful attack, and causes Initiative to reset to 3 as normal. If a decisive attack's damage pool exceeds the target's Hardness, then damage is rolled as normal; Hardness is not subtracted from the damage pool.
  Attunement: To use this armor, the wearer must commit the listed number of motes to allow the armor to respond to the wearer. Without this commitment, artifact armor is bulky, rigid and immobile and imposes a -5 penalty to Defense and to all actions, which cannot be negated by any means save attunement.
  
  Buoyant: Most armor is made from metal, which means it's heavy and dense, and its mobility penalty applies to swimming. Armor with the buoyant tag is much lighter and does not inhibit swimming at all.
  Concealable: Most armor is obviously armor. It can be decorated, but not disguised. Armor with the concealable tag can be worn under clothing so as not to reveal that the character is wearing armor.
  Silent: All armor can be camouflaged with paint, grease or even dirt, but most armor is noisy. Armor with the silent tag causes no penalties to silent movement.

Experience XP and Training debt for Charms Gaining XP with Omakes Training Times and XP costs

• 
  Current XP: 7
  Total XP: 7
• 
  Sometimes you need a Charm to get outside a dangerous situation, but you don't have the time or the Xp required? This feature will enable you to acquire a Charm instantly, but you will get into debt: all the XP you gain go to it until the cost is met and your free time will be dedicated to the skipped training (In-Game Issei will work out the kinks of it), again until the cost is met.
  
  This works only for Charms: you can't raise Attributes and Abilities this way. Also, you can't learn a Charm if you don't meet the requirements.
  
  The maximum number of Charms that can be under debt is: 3
• 
  An omake usually nets you 1 XP.
  If enough people like the post (I don't know, 10?) it instead nets you 2 XP.
  
  Requirements:
  -The omake must not be from Issei's POV.
  -The omake's length must be at least 700+ words.
  -Please use good grammar.
• 
  Training time for Attributes is [Current Rating] x 7 days of 3+ hours of dedicated training time
  XP cost for Attributes is 6 XP
  
  Training time for Favoured/Caste Abilities is [New Rating] days with 3+ hours of dedicated training time
  Training time for non-Favoured/Caste Abilities is [New Rating] x 3 days with 3+ hours of dedicated training time
  Training time for Specialties is 3 days with 3+ hours of dedicated training time
  XP cost for Abilities is 3 XP for Favoured/Caste Abilities, and 4 XP for Non-Fav/Caste Abilities
  XP cost for Specialties is 2 XP
  
  Training time for Favoured/Caste Charms is [Ability Minimum] days with 3+ hours of dedicated training time
  Training time for non-Favoured/Caste Charms is [Ability Minimum]+[Essence Minimum] days with 3+ hours of dedicated training time
  XP cost for Charms is 8 XP for Favoured/Caste Ability Charms, and 10 XP for non-Fav/Caste Ability Charms
  
  XP cost for Willpower is 5, and has a training time of [Current Rating] days of complete meditation
  
  Essence increases with XP; Essence 2 at 40 XP, Essence 3 at 100 XP, Essence 4 at 175 XP, Essence 5 at 250 XP
  

 

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Intimacies and Social Influence

SOCIAL SYSTEM

• Exalted Third Edition does not feature a social combat system. Instead it uses social influence mechanics, with a focus on character interaction, understanding the motives of other characters, and gaining trust or using appropriate leverage to influence others.
• Exalted Third Edition characters do not have Motivations. Instead, Intimacies have been expanded to be much broader and more nuanced tools for fleshing out characters.
• Intimacies may be "ties" or "principles." A tie is an Intimacy describing the character's feelings toward a person or place, such as "I love Prince Diamond" or "I hate the Mask of Winters." A principle may be any concept that is important to the character, such as "I cannot abide cruelty," "My word is my bond," or "I don't care what I have to do to keep my homeland safe."
• Intimacies vary in intensity, and may be Minor, Major, or Defining.
• Social influence actions may attempt to modify a character's Intimacies, or may attempt to convince characters to do things you want them to do. Intimacies are key to the success, failure, and possibility of such actions being attempted at all.
• Social influence actions may be used during combat.

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​

Intimacies

• Ties describe your character's attachments to people, objects, organizations, and other concrete entities. They have an emotional context which describes your character's feelings towards that entity. Ties are generally written as the subject of the Tie, followed by a parenthetical clarifier to establish context. Examples include Great Forks (Hometown affection), My mysterious benefactor (Wary respect), My wife (Love), Peleps Deled (Hatred), and The Immaculate Order (Admiration).

• Principles describe your character's beliefs and ideals. Principles are generally written as a statement of the Principle. Examples include ideals such as "Honesty is my watchword" and "Pragmatism rules my actions," and beliefs such as "The Immaculate Philosophy is the true guide to righteous living" or "I believe everyone looks out for number one."

The basic mechanical function of Ties and Principles is identical, but some Charms and other special rules may differentiate between them.

Intimacies come in three levels of intensity: Minor, Major, and Defining. Minor Intimacies are notable parts of your character's worldview, but only come into play when the subject of the Intimacy is directly relevant to her current situation. Major Intimacies hold more influence over your character, coming into play even if the subject is only indirectly or tangentially related to the situation at hand. Finally, Defining Intimacies hold sway over every aspect of your character's life—they're the pillars of her worldview, and often things she would lay down her life to protect.

Intimacies help characters to regain Willpower, and govern what actions they can be persuaded to take via social influence. For more information on Intimacies and their role in social influence, see pages 214-215.

Charms will sometimes become empowered by Intimacies, such as by granting a character extra strength to fight to protect his loved ones. In these circumstances, Minor, Major, and Defining Intimacies are "valued" at two, three, and four points, respectively—thus, a Charm granting dice equal to an Intimacy's rating would grant three dice if keying off of a Major Intimacy.

Characters may gain new Intimacies in several ways, all subject to Storyteller approval. The key to changing Intimacies is that the change must make sense given the roleplaying going on during the scene and in the broader context of the story. Characters can't gain beneficial new Intimacies if it doesn't match how they've been played.

• Intimacies can be created at Minor intensity or strength ened by one level by the social influence of other characters (p. 215).
• Whenever the player feels it is appropriate and the Storyteller agrees, the character may add a new Minor Intimacy or intensify an existing Intimacy at the end of a scene by one degree.
• In extraordinary situations, the character may gain a new Intimacy at Major or Defining Intensity based on the events of the story—when an Abyssal murders your brother, it's probably acceptable to go straight to a Major or Defining Tie of hatred toward him.

Losing Intimacies
Losing Intimacies is similarly simple, and likewise subject to Storyteller discretion.

• Intimacies can be degraded by one level or removed entirely (if Minor) by the social influence of other characters (p. 215).

• Whenever the player feels it is appropriate and the Storyteller agrees, the character may remove a Minor Intimacy or degrade an existing Major or Defining Intimacy at the end of a scene—the character just doesn't care about that thing as much anymore. Generally, this should follow several sessions in which the subject of the Intimacy hasn't come up—characters should rarely drop or degrade an Intimacy right after it has been created, even if the Intimacy is undesirable. Alternately, this might follow several sessions showing the character resolving or working to conquer unwanted Intimacies, such as Intimacies of fear or hatred.

• Whenever the Storyteller judges that a player hasn't reflected an Intimacy in her roleplaying for a while, she may declare that it has degraded or even disappeared completely. This is mostly to keep characters from accumulating a lot of Defining Intimacies, which should be reflected in the character's actions at least once per story. Few characters can sustain the kind of intensity needed for more than a small handful of Defining Intimacies, and the Storyteller's pruning helps keep down the clutter.

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Social Influence

• Instill: Change the feelings and beliefs of other people. When taking an Instill action, you declare what you want to make someone to feel or believe. Penalties may be applied if implausible or hard to accept, to a maximum of -5. On a success, target forms an Intimacy towards that belief.

Some people might have existing Intimacies which might prevent Instill actions though, which need to be lessened for Instill to be successful.

—Strengthening a Minor Intimacy, or weakening a Major Intimacy, can only be done if the target has a different Minor or better Intimacy that supports the attempted influence.
—Likewise, raising a Major Intimacy, or weakening a Defining Intimacy, is only possible if the target has a different Major or better Intimacy that supports the attempted influence.
—Strengthening an existing Intimacy requires that the evidence raised or argument made in favor of strengthening it be more compelling than whatever caused the Intimacy to arrive at its current intensity. For example, if a shopkeeper gained a Minor Intimacy of distrust toward the Guild after learning that they often undercut local merchants, he would need even stronger evidence in order to strengthen his Intimacy to Major. Perhaps he learns that a Guild merchant plans to buy out his shop, or speaks to a man who once partnered with a Guildsman and was betrayed and sold into slavery.

• Persuade: Persuade action allows you to convince other characters to perform actions or tasks, the extent of which depend on the Intimacies of the target.

Without an Intimacy to support your roll, you can only convince others to take trivial and risk-free actions. If they have an appropriate Tie or Principle, you can potentially to convince them to undertake great risks, dedicate their lives to a cause, or even die in your name.

Inconvenient Tasks: Characters with Minor Intimacy can be convinced to perform tasks which pose some mild danger or hinderance to them, as long as it doesn't seriously disrupt their life or livelyhood. A severe injury, an angry superior, or heavy financial loss is still more than they will allow. You can persuade people to do things that take longer than a scene to complete, as long as it doesn't disrupt their life.
Example: "I need you to deliver this parcel to that big house in Cinnabar District, with the red jade lion statues by the door. If the man on the door has a scorpion tattoo, don't leave it with him—insist to see the master of the house."

Serious Tasks: Characters with appropriate Major Intimacy can be convinced to perform tasks that have a risk of extreme harm or impediment. A farmer could be convinced to join your militia, or an apothecary might provide you with poison even in the face of corporal punishment. They still balk at the risk of almost certain death or ruin. Tasks that take extended amount of time are possible at this level, even if it requires a long-term commitment such as joining an organization.
Example: "Just because he's your father doesn't make you his slave—why should his fear deny you a place in An-Teng's glorious uprising against its oppressors? This nation needs heroes; men like you!"

Life-Changing Tasks: Characters with an appropriate Defining Intimacy can be made to do almost anything. You could convince a devoted follower to hold off a Wyld Hunt to buy time for your escape, or make a wealthy noble donate the better portion of his fortune to your cult. Only in case of absolute and unavoidably certain death or utter ruin would they balk, and even then they might decide to do it against all the odds.
Example: "I know the old scrolls said the heart of this temple is guarded by a fearsome beast of brass and flame. I know it's frightening, but isn't this why we came so far and spent our fortunes, to be the first ones to scavenge the Great Ziggurat of Lost Zarlath? I'll never make it into the final chambers with my leg like this—you'll have to dare it for both of us!"

• Bargain: Similar to Persuade action but isn't dependent on target's Intimacies. Instead you're offering a bribe, gift, or a favour of some kind that the target believes is worth the difficulty or danger of the task you're asking of him.

• Threaten: Convincing people to do things with appealing to something they don't want, usually the threat of bodily harm, social blackmail, economical ruin, or general intimidation. Can be used as Instill action for a Tie of fear towards you. For it to be effective, target must be more afraid of the consequences of refusing than what he is of whatever you want him to do. Almost always causes the formation of an immediate negative Tie towards you.

• Inspire: Used to incite emotions and strong passions in others, usually with the Performance Ability. When done, you chose an emotion you are attempting to inspire like anger, sorrow, hope, lust, hatred, delight, or something else. On a successful roll, the target is impassioned according to the emotion evoked. The Storyteller chooses what form that passion takes.

Impassioned character may form a new passion, or act upon an existing Intimacy that aligns with the emotion evoked. A tribal warrior-queen who is inspired with anger after hearing a Dawn Caste's roaring oration against her enemies might decide to lead a raid against a hated rival clan, or might decide to begin harassing a political enemy within her own tribe. A merchant prince who is filled with sorrow by the song of a Zenith Caste playing outside his window might spend the rest of the scene weeping with longing for a dead wife or might resolve to undertake some act of generosity with his fortune in remembrance of her kind-hearted ways.

Target doesn't have to drop everything they're doing to act upon an Inspire action, but must be genuinely resolved to take action. A devout follower of the Immaculate Philosophy inspired to make a pilgrimage to Imperial Mountain would set his affairs in order, get supplies for the journey, and explain to his family where he's going before leaving.

Inspire action doesn't automatically create or strengthen Intimacies, but it's often appropriate for it to do so as characters act upon the inflamed passions. An inflamed passion may be treated as a Major Intimacy for the purposes of modifying Resolve and enabling persuade actions, for as long as the character is acting on it.

Inspiring character doesn't automatically know what passions he has inspired in his audience, he must use Read Intentions to find out. Because a character does not—and without magic, cannot—tailor the outcome of an inspire action to a specific target, inspire actions aren't subject to the penalty for group influence detailed on page 221, unless specified by a Charm or other effect.

• Read Intentions: Allows a character to discern what other characters wish to achieve in a scene of interaction. It is not an influence roll, but a (Perception + Socialize) against target's Guile. On a success you get a brief description of what the target wants out of the interaction: "He's seducing you to get you alone," or "She's making polite small talk and waiting for the party to end."

Alternatively Read Intentions can be used to determine what Intimacies a character has. You should generally describe what kind of Intimacy you want to discern ("Does he love anyone?" "How does he feel about me?" "Is he a devout Immaculate?"). On a success you are revealed one or more of the target's Intimacies that fit the criteria, or informed that there is none that fit it.

Read Intentions is not magic. You are analyzing the target's words and behaviour to get a feel for his motives and Intimacies. A target unaware he's being observed suffers a -2 penalty to Guile.

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Appearance

While the Appearance Attribute may be rolled as part of social actions, it also has another function in social influence, granting a bonus against weak-willed characters. Those of low Resolve are more easily impressed and awed by striking, beautiful individuals, or easily intimidated by the profoundly ugly (see the Hideous Merit, p. 162).

If a character's Appearance rating is higher than his target's Resolve, then he gains a dice bonus on all instill and persuasion attempts against that individual equal to the difference. Thus, a character with Appearance 5 attempting to use a persuade action on an individual with Resolve 3 would gain a +2 bonus. This comparison is made before any bonuses to Resolve are factored in.

If addressing a group (p. 220), compare Appearance to the average Resolve of the group (usually 2 or 3) to determine any appropriate bonus.

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Resisting Influence Rolls

Base difficulty for influence rolls is always the Resolve rating of the target.

Even if a character's Resolve is overcome, he may still have an opportunity to deny the influence. If the influence is trying to change how he feel,s such as creating, destroying, or changing his Intimacies, he may spend a point of Willpower to

• Stop a new Intimacy from being created. Although the character is moved, he just can't afford to invest himself in a new person or cause!

• Stop a Major or Defining Intimacy from being weakened. Even though the influence was convincing, the character just has too much invested in the Intimacy to give up now, even if he wants to!

• Reject a successful inspire action—the character uses his force of will to deny his swelling passions.


Refusing influence to make a character do something is trickier. When a roll overcomes his Resolve, he enters a Decision Point.

In Decision Point, you must choose an Intimacy and explain how it justifies resisting that specific influence. The Intimacy chosen must be of equal or greater intensity than the Intimacy which supported the roll, and can't be the one that strengthened his Resolve against the roll in the first place.

If the requirements are met and the argument accepted, you may spend one Willpower point to resist the influence roll. Otherwise the resistance is impossible.

Example: Consider Son of Wolves, a Zenith Caste whose Resolve rating has just been overcome by the influence roll of Naya, a scheming Sidereal. The Sidereal seeks to turn him against his Circle (a serious task), and her persuade action is supported by Son of Wolves's Major Principle of belief in the Immaculate Faith, which manifests as a lingering and unshakable conviction that he and his fellow Solar Exalted are Anathema. Unless Son of Wolves can match this with an Intimacy of Major or Defining intensity, he will be powerless to defy the truth he hears in Naya's words. While he has a Defining Tie of loyalty towards his Circlemates, he already used that Intimacy to bolster his Resolve, rendering it unavailable in a Decision Point. Luckily, he also has a Major Principle of "I can't abide a traitor," owing back to a terrible betrayal he suffered long ago. His player argues that this allows him not to betray his Circlemates even if they are Anathema. The Storyteller accepts this argument, and Son of Wolves is able to spend a point of Willpower to resist.

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Unacceptable Influence

No amount of charisma is usually sufficient to talk someone into suicide, or to convince a die-hard patriot to betray his cause. If a request is so antithetical to the target's nature and personality that it can't possibly succeed, it is an unacceptable influence. A character targeted by one may reject it outright without spending Willpower, even if the roll beats his Resolve. A player can still choose to have his character follow the course of action, but only because he thinks it makes sense, the character cannot be coerced into doing it. Some powerful Charms and spells can compel characters into bowing to unacceptable influence.

Unacceptable influence includes:
• Any instill action to strengthen or weaken an Intimacy which doesn't exploit an appropriately strong Intimacy to do so.
Example: A Deathlord's agent sits down next to a Solar in a teahouse and intimates that the Solar's Lunar companion is not to be trusted, but she gives no reasons—only dim intimations. The Solar has a Major Tie of trust toward the Lunar. Because the Abyssal exploits no Intimacies to support her suggestions, the Solar can ignore her attempt at weakening his Intimacy toward the Lunar.
• Any persuasion attempt which doesn't exploit an Intimacy strong enough to support the proposed task
Example: A zealous Immaculate missionary attempts to convince the high priestess of Hamoji, great volcano god of the Wavecrest Archipelago, to abandon her life of worship. This would be a life-changing task, and the priestess has no Defining Intimacies which would support the missionary's exhortations. As such, the priestess is free to reject the proposed influence at no cost, without the need of a Decision Point.
• Any bargain attempt which fails to offer a properly enticing incentive or threaten action which is insufficiently threatening.
• Any influence that would cause a character to kill himself, or to do something that he knows would result in his certain death.
• Any influence that would cause a character to completely abandon or end one of his Defining Intimacies is unacceptable. A farmer with a Defining Tie of love to his wife might be seduced by another person, but could not be convinced to abandon or murder his wife. A Solar with a Defining Principle of "I will win the allegiance of the sorceress Raksi" could not be convinced to kill her, as this would make fulfilling that goal impossible. Weakening a Defining Intimacy is still allowed, making it possible to first degrade an Intimacy from Defining to Major and then issue the otherwise unacceptable influence.
• Any seduction attempt that violates a character's sexual orientation (as defined by the player, or by the Storyteller in the case of Storyteller characters) is unacceptable.
• Certain Charms allow characters to define special kinds of influence that they may treat as unacceptable.

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Social Complications

Multiple Targets
Whenever an influence roll targets more than one character, it suffers a -3 penalty. Because the different targets can have differing Resolve ratings, the success of the action is determined separately for each target.

Written Social Actions
The Ability used when rolling for written social action is always Linguistics. When a character reads the message, compare the successes rolled to his Resolve to determine if it succeeds. Written social actions can be written to apply against a single intended reader or against anyone who reads them, with the effects for targeting multiple characters.

Gestures and Body Language
When attempting to communicate through gestures, appearance, and body language, the target adds +2 to his Resolve.

Overturning Influence
A character already persuaded to do something receives a +3 bonus to his Resolve against influences that would cause him to abandon or disregard that persuasion. This bonus stacks with the Intimacy bonus from a relevant Intimacy. The petitioner who wishes to overturn the existing influence must spend a point of Willpower before making her argument and roll.

If the contradictory persuasion succeeds, the target may use a Decision Point to resist it by citing a conflicting Intimacy, without spending Willpower. Conversely is he wants to abandon his course of action and accept the new influence, the character must spend a point of Willpower and cite the Intimacy which was used to change his mind.

These conditions remain in place for one story after a character has been influenced, once the next story begins the lingering influences can be overturned as normal.

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Retrying Social Actions

Instill: You must present your target with substantially greater evidence for whatever you're trying to convince him of before you can retry, or you can try again after the current story has ended.

Persuade: Three ways. One, make a different argument playing on a different Intimacy of equal or greater strength. Two, wait and try again next story. Three, wait until the Intimacy that supported your influence roll has strengthened to a higher level of intensity either by strengthening it yourself or waiting until he has done it himself.

Bargain: You can only retry a failed bargain roll by making a new offering that's substantially greater than your previous one.

Threaten: You can only retry a failed Threaten roll if you significantly escalate the threat used to coerce your target.

Inspire: You must wait until the scene has ended to retry an Inspire action.

Read Intentions: Once a Read Intentions action has failed, it can't be retried on teh same target for the rest of the scene.

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A Social Influence flowchart