Presence (mechanic)
Lots of people are naturally charismatic people, well versed with the social graces and skilled in the art of manipulation. But some people have centered their entire careers on their ability to win others over. These people are often celebrities living firmly in the public eye, prominent businessmen, philanthropists and politicians, and even film and music stars. Such people possess something more significant that just strength of personality. Stardom, personal fame, bureaucratic leverage, aristocratic ties — all indicate an ability to attract attention, to lead nations, elicit favors, and seduce and manipulate those who are vulnerable to such manipulation.
In game terms, this ability is called presence — a combination of the character’s personal charisma, public reputation, sense of style, social grace, and sex appeal. Presence is the outward projection of an character’s refinement and sophistication, and shows others that he isn’t just a person worth paying attention to, but a figure of notoriety and social importance in the world.
Using Presence
In game terms, presence is used to influence people with your celebrity and charisma. In order to use the presence system, an character must have the Jet Setter feat.
There is no inherent DC when making a presence check. To make a presence check, the character must spend one hero point and devote one or more standard or move invoking their reputation, either by speaking, staging a live performance of some kind, or otherwise acquiring his target’s attention. The character names their target and the effect they are trying to achieve (see Presence Actions, below), then they roll a d20, adding their Charisma modifier and any applicable bonuses from feats, talents, as well as modifiers from the table Presence Modifiers, and consults the table Presence Bonuses, to determine the resulting presence bonus. This bonus is applied differently for each of the options described under Presence Actions — see each description for details.
You may spend an additional hero point to increase your d20 roll, as usual.
Presence Modifiers
| Condition | Modifier |
|---|---|
| Character has had recent public exposure | +1-4* |
| Character is trained in Deception or Knowledge [Bureaucracy] | +2 |
| Character is trained in Knowledge [Social Sciences] or Persuasion | +2 |
| Character has the Musician feat | +2 |
| Target’s current disposition toward the character is helpful or better | +2 |
| Target’s current disposition toward the character is hostile or worse | –2 |
| Target has a bonus to Will Defense vs mind-affecting effects | –Bonus |
- Character has had recent public exposure: Characters currently in the limelight — from a political campaign, album or film release, novel debut, or any of a host of other public events — have a much easier time leveraging their celebrity. See the table below for details of how much of a bonus Exposure provides.
| Exposure | Bonus |
|---|---|
| Light (local ad campaign, televised interview) | +1 |
| Medium (album release, national tour) | +2 |
| Heavy (film release, election campaign) | +3 |
| Saturation (world tour, global ad campaign) | +4 |
Presence Bonuses
| Character Level | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Check Result | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |
| 1–10 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +2 | +2 | +2 | +2 | +2 | +2 | +3 | +3 | +3 | +3 | +3 | +3 | +4 | +4 | +4 | +4 | +4 | +4 | +5 |
| 11–15 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +2 | +2 | +2 | +2 | +3 | +3 | +3 | +3 | +4 | +4 | +4 | +4 | +5 | +5 | +5 | +5 | +6 | +6 | +6 | +6 | +7 |
| 16–20 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +2 | +2 | +2 | +3 | +3 | +3 | +4 | +4 | +4 | +5 | +5 | +5 | +6 | +6 | +6 | +7 | +7 | +7 | +8 | +8 | +8 | +9 |
| 21–25 | +1 | +1 | +2 | +2 | +3 | +3 | +4 | +4 | +5 | +5 | +6 | +6 | +7 | +7 | +8 | +8 | +9 | +9 | +10 | +10 | +11 | +11 | +12 | +12 | +13 |
| 26–35 | +1 | +2 | +2 | +3 | +4 | +4 | +5 | +6 | +6 | +7 | +8 | +8 | +9 | +9 | +10 | +11 | +11 | +12 | +13 | +14 | +14 | +15 | +16 | +16 | +17 |
| 36+ | +1 | +2 | +3 | +4 | +5 | +6 | +7 | +8 | +9 | +10 | +11 | +12 | +13 | +14 | +15 | +16 | +17 | +18 | +19 | +20 | +21 | +22 | +23 | +24 | +25 |