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.
Upgrades[]
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.
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