Influence
There are 6 base Influence styles that determine a character's style of interaction with others. The scores here also determine how many dice are rolled when doing an Influence Skills check.
- Psychological Influence - using reason and psychology to get what you want. Psychological Influence skills are Detect Lies, Manipulate, and Reason.
- Social Influence - using charm and social status to get what you want. Social Influence skills are Negotiate, Persuade, and Seduce.
- Economic Influence - using money to get what you want. Economic Influence skills are Barter, Bribe, and Ransom.
- Mystical Influence - using "mysterious" or "magical" pull to get what you want. Mystical Influence skills are Bewitch, Calm, and Rapport.
- Cultural Influence - using cultural pressure to get what you want. Cultural Influence skills are Inspire, Pressure, and Shame.
- Force Influence - using force to get what you want. Force Influence skills are Interrogate, Intimidate, and Threaten.
Base Influence Points
On Character Creation, players are allotted 33 total points to put into the 6 styles. Each style must have a minimum of 1 and a maximum of 10.
Upgrading Influence
Players may upgrade base influence for 15,000 XP per point. Players are not capped like they are with base traits, except that they cannot exceed the maximum score of 10 for any one Influence style. The reason for this is that a character may not have a high associated base trait, but may still be very adept at the particular style of influence. For example, a character of medium strength may still manage to be incredibly intimidating, or a player of low overall Aptitude might still become very skilled at reasoning or manipulating others.