Deception

General Skill (Cunning)

Sometimes a character needs to persuade someone to act a certain way, but lacks any leverage for the discussion. In times like this, a certain degree of moral flexibility may be necessary. Whether it is an effort to persuade someone to make a purchase, do a favour, or simply be somewhere else, a well-timed and convincing lie can often be the difference between success and failure. When a falsehood plays the central part of a persuasive effort, that character is employing the Deception skill. Con-artists, infiltrators, and many less reputable diplomats and merchants are all masters of Deception. Many individuals outside of these fields make use of this skill, but it is seldom a critical focus of their development.
Attempts to deceive are subject to the perceptions of the target. Deception is opposed by the subject's Discipline. In situations in which the character is attempting to trick multiple subjects or a target who believes that character to be trustworthy, the character need not make an opposed check. In such circumstances, the difficulty of the check is determined by the number of subjects or their disposition (or both). Larger crowds or groups who are more likely to disbelieve the character require a more difficult check, while deceiving those already fooled by the character may require a lower difficulty.

• If a character wishes to mislead a buyer or seller about an object's value so that they may adjust the purchase price to their advantage, they uses Deception.
• Any time a character wishes to distract an opponent through guile - even within the context of a physical confrontation - they may make use of Deception.
• When pursued, a character may choose to use Deception as a means to lay a false trail, in the hopes that the tracker might make a wrong  turn, thus leaving the acting character ample time to escape.

Extra on a Deception attempt may be spent to extend the duration of the Deception action. This could give the acting character ample time to travel off world before the treachery is noticed or might even leave the target less likely to notice the fraud and more susceptible to further deceptions.
may be used to increase the value of any goods or services gained through the action. The subject might simply believe that they are agreeing to fair terms with the liar. may be spent to fool the target into believing that the character is a trustworthy sort. Future Deception checks against the target do not require an opposed check, they are simply made at a baseline difficulty depending on the nature of the lie.
during a Deception check gives away a portion of the lie. Perhaps the target realizes that they have been lied to, but is unable to identify how much of the interaction is false, thereby becoming more suspicious of the character. may represent a more extreme example of this phenomenon; the target not only distrusts the character, but spreads the word of their deceit and harms their reputation amongst a small community of people. Additionally, the target may realize that they are being lied to and use the situation to their advantage, perhaps to insert some false information of their own. Perhaps the target is able to slip shoddy gear past the character by playing along with the lie.

Visit the General Skills page for details on General Skills, or the main Skills page for a table of all skills.