Scent Falsehood

Scent Falsehood (•)

 * Action: Instant and contested
 * Dice pool: Wits + Subterfuge vs. target’s Composure + Supernatural Tolerance
 * Cost: 1 Wisp
 * Duration: 1 scene

The Noble smells a lie as another in her hearing speaks it.
 * Dramatic Failure: The Charm fails, but the Noble believes it has worked, and thus will believe the target implicitly, unless and until he says something she knows is not true.
 * Failure: The Noble does not win the contest; the Charm fails, but she is aware of the failure.
 * Success: The Noble wins the contest. Whenever the target says something he doesn’t believe, the Noble perceives the falsehood automatically. The Charm detects only literal untruth - omissions, evasions, equivocations and honest opinions don’t register. Factual assertions made in conscious ignorance do register as false.
 * Exceptional Success: The Noble’s nose catches subtle misleadings as well as direct falsehood; when the target’s statements are true but significantly incomplete, she will know that something has been left unsaid.

Upgrade: Collective

 * Modified by Commonalty
 * Cost: +1 Wisp

The Noble may use the Charm on the members of an organization who she can see, using the Commonalty modifier. Each member contests the Charm independently.

Unwitting
When the Noble detects a lie, she rolls Wits + the activation successes on the Charm as a reflexive action. If she succeeds, she gains a hint of the truth the target is concealing; on an exceptional success, she learns exactly what the target knows of the subject of his lie.

Alert

 * Requires Aria •

When the Noble detects a lie, she gains additional insight into the liar’s motive for deception. For example, she could smell the difference between a lie told out of envious malice and one told out of fear, or tell the difference between a sleazy propagandist and a dedicated, noble spy.

Guilty

 * Requires Terra •

When the Noble detects a lie, the liar experiences a strong pang of guilt, and finds it far harder to deceive again. He takes a penalty equal to the activation successes on all Subterfuge rolls for the duration. Further lies in the scene do not increase the penalty.

Melancholy

 * Requires Lacrima •

When the Noble detects a lie, the liar knows his deception has failed, and any further lies are pointless. He must roll his Composure, and loses a point of Willpower if he fails.

Righteous

 * Requires Tempesta •

When the Noble detects a lie, she may punish the liar with impunity. If she attacks the liar as her next action, he may not apply Defense to resist the attack.