Intimidation

This is the skill of hostile persua-
sion. The essence of Intimidation is to
convince the subject that you are able
and willing, perhaps even eager, to do
something awful to him.
You can substitute an Intimidation
attempt for any reaction roll; see
Influence Rolls (p. 359). Exception:
You cannot intimidate someone who
has the Unfazeable advantage!
The
results
of
a
successful
Intimidation attempt depend on the
target. An honest citizen probably
cooperates, sullenly or with false
cheer. A low-life might lick your boots
(even becoming genuinely loyal). A
really tough sort might react well
without being frightened: “You’re my
kind of scum!” The GM decides, and
roleplays it. If you rolled a critical suc-
cess – or if the subject critically failed
his Will roll – your victim must make
a Fright Check in addition to the other
results of the Influence roll!
Group Intimidation: You may
attempt to intimidate up to 25 people
at once, at -1 to skill per five people (or
fraction thereof) in the group.
Multiple intimidators can attempt to
intimidate
proportionally
larger
groups; for instance, three thugs could
try to intimidate up to 75 people! Base
the skill penalty on the size of the tar-
get group divided by the number of
intimidators (round up). Resolve the
outcome with a single Quick Contest:
the highest effective Intimidation skill
from among the intimidators vs. the
highest modified Will in the target
group.
Specious Intimidation: You can
attempt a Quick Contest of Fast-Talk
vs. the subject’s IQ
before your
Intimidation attempt in order to
appear to be intimidating when you
can’t back it up. If you win, you are at
+3 on the subsequent Intimidation
attempt, which can go a long way
toward offsetting the high Will and
Fearlessness of martial arts masters,
world leaders, etc. If you tie or lose,
however, your Intimidation attempt
fails automatically, and you suffer a
“Very Bad” reaction instead of just a
“Bad” one!
Modifiers: +1 to +4 for displays of
strength, bloodthirstiness, or supernat-
ural powers (GM’s judgment); increase
this bonus by +1 if you are Callous
(p. 125). Appearance (p. 21) matters: +2
if you are Hideous, +3 if Monstrous, or
+4 if Horrific. Size also matters: add
your Size Modifier and subtract the
subject’s. Appropriate Reputation mod-
ifiers (positive or negative) certainly
count! You get -1 for Oblivious (p. 146)
and -1 to -4 for Shyness (p. 154).
Subtract the subject’s Fearlessness
(p. 55) from your roll. The GM may
assign a +1 or -1 for especially appro-
priate or clumsy dialog. Requests for
aid are always at -3 or worse.