Enthrallment

Prerequisites:
Charisma 1 and
Public Speaking at 12+.
Bards in fantasy can often influ-
ence others through storytelling. The
GM may choose to represent this abil-
ity using the four Enthrallment skills
described below. Depending on the
setting, these skills might be magical,
psionic, or a cinematic form of hypno-
tism. Each has a time requirement, FP
cost, and duration, and requires two
skill rolls to use.
At the outset of the tale, roll vs.
Public Speaking skill; if you can’t grab
your audience’s attention early on, you
won’t have much of a chance of con-
trolling them by the end. On a success,
proceed to the Enthrallment skill roll;
critical success gives +1 on that roll. On
a failure, you may still attempt the
Enthrallment roll, but at a penalty
equal to your margin of failure. Critical
failure means your Enthrallment
attempt fails automatically.
After the time required to enthrall
has passed, roll a Quick Contest of
your Enthrallment skill vs. the Will of
each audience member. If you win,
you affect your audience – see the
individual skill description for effects.
If you lose or tie, there is no effect.
However, if you critically fail, your
audience instantly turns hostile!
You may never learn these skills at
a skill level higher than your Public
Speaking skill.
Audience Size: An “audience” can
be one listener or a hundred – as many
as can hear the tale. However, the
number of audience members that
you can enthrall at one sitting is limit-
ed to your Charisma level squared, to a
maximum of 25 people at Charisma 5.
Modifiers: All four Enthrallment
skills are at -3 for Low Empathy
(p. 142). If the player actually tells a
good tale, the GM should reward him
with +1 to +3 to the Public Speaking
and Enthrallment rolls!
Defaults: None.
Prerequisite: Suggest at 12+.
This skill allows you to tell a story
so skillfully that those listening lose
their will and do whatever you want
them to do. In effect, they believe
themselves to be in the tale, and are
vulnerable to being manipulated by
you, the teller of the tale.
If you win the Quick Contest, the
audience becomes intensely loyal to
you. They follow any direct order you
give. In the absence of a direct order,
they act in your best interest, as they
understand it. If you tell someone to
do something very hazardous, or that
goes against his usual code of behav-
ior (GM’s decision), he gets a Will-5
roll
to
break
the
captivation.
Otherwise, he is your loyal supporter
for all intents and purposes.
Time: 30 minutes of uninterrupted
storytelling.
Fatigue Cost: 8 FP, whether suc-
cessful or not.
Duration: Captivation lasts until the
subject becomes unconscious or falls
asleep, you become unconscious or fall
asleep, you attack the subject, or the
subject loses half his HP to injury.
Defaults: None.
This ability allows you to bring an
audience over to your point of view,
granting you a bonus to your reaction
rolls with them. You may use this skill
whenever a reaction roll is called for.
If you win the Quick Contest, add
your margin of victory to any reaction
roll those in the audience make
regarding you – for any reason – to a
maximum of +3 (+4 on a critical suc-
cess). If you critically fail, the best pos-
sible reaction is Poor (see p. 560).
Time: 1 minute.
Fatigue Cost: 2 FP, whether suc-
cessful or not.
Duration: Until you do something
to change the audience’s opinion!
Defaults: None.
Prerequisite: Persuade at 12+.
This ability lets you give your audi-
ence a single, simple suggestion. A
suggestion should have no complex
grammatical clauses – just a subject,
verb, object, and at most two modi-
fiers. “Kill the king!” is acceptable;
“Kill the king if he doesn’t accede to
our demands!” is not. A given subject
gets +5 to resist if your suggestion
goes against his personal safety, and
+3 if it goes against his beliefs, convic-
tions, or knowledge.
If you win the Quick Contest, the
audience members try to act on the
suggestion to the best of their abilities
– each assuming that the idea was his
own.
Time: 20 minutes of uninterrupted
storytelling.
Fatigue Cost: 6 FP, whether suc-
cessful or not.
Duration: 10 minutes – or longer, if
you continue to talk to the audience
and can make a successful Suggest roll
every 10 minutes! Once the suggestion
lapses, audience members only won-
der why they acted the way they did if
the suggestion was something they
would never have done normally.
Defaults: None.
Prerequisite: Persuade at 12+.
This ability allows you to instill the
audience with any one emotion.
Allowed emotions include anger, bore-
dom, depression, disgust, fear, greed,
hate, jealousy, joy, love, lust, patriot-
ism, peace, sadness, and unrest.
If you win the Quick Contest, your
audience experiences the emotion you
select. How they act as a result is up to
the GM.
Time: 10 minutes of uninterrupted
storytelling.
Fatigue Cost: 4 FP, whether suc-
cessful or not.
Duration: One hour.