Speech Mannerisms

-1 point

Speaking oddly is grounds for many interesting quirks.
Distinctive Speech
The way you talk makes you easy to identify. You might have
a distinctive accent, a fondness for particular expressions or
quotations, quirk-level Disturbing Voice (p. B132) or Stuttering
(p. B157), or an incontrovertibly sesquipedalian vocabulary – be
specific. Whenever somebody is searching for you in particular
and you can’t avoid speaking, you suffer -2 on rolls to pass as
someone else and others have +2 to attempts to identify you.
This is twice as bad as Distinctive Features (p. 14) because
it doesn’t mark you until you open your mouth.
Fast Talker
This doesn’t mean you’re good at Fast-Talk – you just talk
too fast. You have -1 to rolls against Administration, Leader-
ship, and similar skills when speaking complex
instructions (not when barking one-word orders),
and give others -1 to their rolls to understand you,
most often IQ rolls like those on p. B24.
Forbidden Word
Quirk-level Cannot Speak (p. B125). There’s one
important word that you can’t utter, whether due to
a psychological aversion or a supernatural curse.
To make this relevant, the GM may have it crop up
as a password, assess penalties to others’ rolls to
understand you as you pussyfoot around the con-
cept, or have enemies exploit this as a way to iden-
tify you.
Inaccessible Idioms
You possess an ordinary voice – an exceptional
one, if you enjoy the Voice advantage – but you’re
out of touch with how ordinary people really com-
municate. This is common among those who’ve
grown up in enclaves or been imprisoned for a
long time . . . not to mention old-timers, cold-
sleepers (“One million dollars!”), time-travelers,
and immortals. When you must “sell” an idea, typ-
ically using Diplomacy, Fast-Talk, or Propaganda, you roll
at -1 unless your audience shares your background.
Involuntary Utterance
Being unable to avoid a vocalization is a verbal version of
Dead Giveaway (pp. 13-14), working like Distinctive Features
(p. 14) and Obvious (p. 12) by turns. This could be a trivial
Neurological Disorder (p. B144) or a symptom of a serious
condition like the zombie plague (“Braaains!”).
Loud Voice
You may think you’re whispering into the throat mike or
speaking sotto voce, but you aren’t – others can hear every
word! This is a disadvantageous form of Penetrating Voice
(p. B101) [1]. You get the benefits of that perk, but as you can’t
turn it off, you also have a level of Noisy (p. B146) [-2]: -2 to
Stealth whenever you must coordinate with allies by voice
while being sneaky, or +2 to eavesdroppers’ Hearing when
you’re conversing normally and don’t wish to be overheard. It
all adds up to a quirk.
Third Person
You don’t seem to know the word “I”! You habitually call
yourself by your name or an alias. The GM may occasionally
assign -1 to others’ reactions or rolls to understand what you’re
talking about. This is especially suited to silly campaigns.