Savoir-Faire
From SuspireWiki
The legendary social acumen of the Courtiers does not come about from simple training or a natural gift for dealing with social situations. The root of their reputation is their discipline Savoir-Faire, created by their ambitious founder when he formed the bloodline. It is this discipline that sets them a cut above the other Daeva and makes them opponents to be feared and respected in the social area.
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1 – Between the Lines
By speaking in quiet tones to others, the Courtier can actually force another to hear something else entirely from their spoken word that anyone else who may be listening can hear. While it’s no godsend, it does have it’s uses – especially when one wishes not to be overheard.
Cost: 1 Vitae per scene
Roll: Manipulation + Socialize + Savoir-Faire – Resolve
Action: Instant
- Possible Modifiers
- +2 – Kindred is a member of the Courtiers
- +2 – Power affects a vampire with whom the user has a blood tie.
- +2 – Kindred is under a full vinculum to the user
- +1 – Kindred is under a partial vinculum to the user
- -1 Kindred is not from the Courtier bloodline
- -1 Each individual after the first
Ostensibly, it’s understood that the “true” sentence cannot be longer than the spoken sentence. For example, one could not say to everyone in general “Can you believe what he said?” and have the Between the Lines say “I’m fairly certain he’s heading outside to his car to grab some sort of weapon. Maybe we should prepare.” since that’s obviously much longer than the “false” sentence.
2 – Schadenfreude
It’s no great secret that in most social circles, you have to cut someone down to make your way up, and the Courtiers have become pretty damn good at it. So good, that a good many of them have developed the ability to gain back some of their volition just by doing what comes naturally to them.
Cost: –
Roll: –
Action: Reflexive
This power is considered “always active” once learned by the Courtier. Each time the Courtier wins a social battle the Courtier will be able to gain one point of Willpower (at Storyteller’s discretion). An example of this would be to cause another individual to frenzy test for humiliation, or for individuals whom would normally side with an individual to consider them anathema for being so socially ridiculed.
3 – The Power of the Court
Courtiers have learned to integrate themselves so well that getting what they want out of others has been developed into an actual method of supernatural ability. With this power, the Courtier finds it incredibly easy to force their way into the patron-client system of give and take, and shift the balance drastically in their direction.
Cost: 1 Vitae
Roll: Presence + Persuasion + Savoir-Faire
Action: Reflexive
Dramatic Failure: Not only does the Courtier fail, but the power backfires, as if the Courtier had been beaten into frenzy by another (and thus subject to the weakness of the Courtiers). The Courtier may not try again for the rest of the night.
Failure: The power has no effect and the user knows it. The Courtier may not try again for the rest of the scene.
Success: The power works and the Courtier is able to enjoy the benefits of 9-again on a number of rolls equal to successes that involves Empathy, Intimidation, Persuasion, Socialize, or Subterfuge (provided those rolls do not involve discipline usage). These rolls can be done whenever the Courtier wishes in the scene and do not necessarily need to be one after the other.
Exceptional Success: The power works exceptionally well and the Courtier is able to enjoy the benefits of an 8-again roll, rather than the standard 9-again as mentioned above.
The bonuses granted by this power are only available for the scene they are activated in, and this power cannot be activated more than once per scene.
4 – Social Telephone
Most people know, especially Kindred, that the best notification of what’s going on is always, always done through word of mouth. The Courtiers recognize this, since they utilize it frequently, but they’ve also developed the ability to change and mutate rumors into shadows of themselves, just by adding small compulsions passed on by word to those whom listen.
Cost: 1 Vitae
Roll: Manipulation + Subterfuge + Savoir-Faire vs. Composure + Blood Potency
Action: Instant, contest is reflexive
- Possible Modifiers:
- — Character attempts to affect one person
- -1 Character attempts to affect two people
- -2 Character attempts to affect six people
- -3 Character attempts to affect 20 people
- -4 Character attempts to affect a vast number of people in the vampire’s immediate vicinity (an auditorium, a mob)
Dramatic Failure: Not only does the Courtier fail, but the power backfires, as if the Courtier had been beaten into frenzy by another (and thus subject to the weakness of the Courtiers). The Courtier may not try again for the rest of the night.
Failure: The power has no effect and the user knows it. The Courtier may not try again for the rest of the scene.
Success: For each success gained, the individuals who hear the rumor from the Courtier are compelled to tell a number of other people equal to their successes on the roll and add one piece of information to it – which does not necessarily need to be true, or even truly realistic (since the game of telephone often wasn’t very realistic in it’s end).
Exceptional Success: While this is it’s own reward, it also has a side effect of pulling out more people into the mix – and the number of individuals the others are compelled to tell is doubled per success.
To be noted, this doesn’t not compel them to say, breach the Masquerade (they don’t have to rush and tell the first person they see), but it does force them to be compelled to tell individuals who are within a same strata of the affair. They don’t necessarily realize they’ve been manipulated supernaturally, since this is a subtle power, and instead just turns them into a sort of gossip.
Furthermore, it’s important to note that individuals who were present (and thus affected by this power) are considered “not individuals to tell” and the Kindred so compelled by this power must tell individuals who were not present at the power’s activation.
5 – Maker of Kings
It’s no great surprise that Courtiers (even the old, mortal ones) considered themselves the individuals who made or broke kingdoms. While their self-supporting narcissism might generally just be superfluous fluff, this power of the Courtiers actually allows them to claim the right of making or breaking kings.
Cost: 1 Willpower
Roll: Manipulation + Socialize + Savoir-Faire
Action: Instant; contest is reflexive
- Possible Modifiers
- +3 – Individual is under a full vinculum to the user
- +2 – Individual is under a 2 step vinculum to the user
- +2 – Power affects a vampire with whom the user has a blood tie.
- +1 – Individual is under a 1 step vinculum to the user
Upon activation, the Courtier places overwhelming supernatural support (or derision) on one particular individual. Those who were supportive of (or not) are compelled to support the individual in question wholeheartedly (or completely choke and refuse support when it is most counted upon).
This power is activated without rolling. It is only rolled when an individual wishes to contest the power (which may be done reflexively, once per round). The contest roll is Resolve + Blood Potency.
Dramatic Failure: Not only does the Courtier fail, but the power backfires, as if the Courtier had been beaten into frenzy by another (and thus subject to the weakness of the Courtiers). The Courtier may not try again for the rest of the night.
Failure: The individual in question wins the contest, and though he’s stricken with thoughts of indecision, he can still support (or not support) as he so chooses for that round.
Success: The Courtier wins the contested roll and the individual who attempted to resist must succumb to the power’s intent for one round. A subsequent attempt to resist must be made in another round.
Exceptional Success: The Courtier wins the contested roll with an exceptional success and the individual whom was attempting to resist finds their will to do completely crushed and they must succumb to the intent of the power and continue to do so for the remainder of the night.