Skill | Deception (Mind)

Deception is the art of intentional misdirection—through lies, forged documents, false personas, misleading behavior, or selective truths. A skilled deceiver can manipulate assumptions, obscure intent, and create convincing illusions in speech, writing, or conduct. This is not about influence through honesty (see Persuasion)—it’s about getting what you want by shaping the truth to fit your needs.

Typical Uses:

• Telling a believable lie in conversation

• Forging travel papers, letters, or legal documents

• Posing as someone else through behavior or disguise

• Concealing your true intentions, motives, or affiliations

• Distracting guards or redirecting suspicion

• Bluffing convincingly under pressure or interrogation

Situational Modifiers:
Use the Difficulty Ladder to reflect the plausibility of the lie, the context, and the target’s mindset:

• Trivial (+50%): Lying to a child about something harmless

• Effortless (+40%): Bluffing about something no one’s likely to check

• Easy (+30%): Lying with visual props or reinforcing context

• Routine (+20%): Stretching the truth or omitting facts

• Favorable (+10%): Target is friendly, distracted, or uninformed

• Everyday (0%): Basic lie in a neutral situation

• Challenging (–10%): Target is skeptical or alert

• Hard (–20%): Inconsistencies or bold claims in your story

• Very Hard (–30%): High-pressure situation or expert audience

• Extreme (–40%): The lie contradicts visible or known facts

• Near-Impossible (–50%): The target knows the truth and must doubt it anyway

Working Without Training:

• Base chance is half Mind, rounded down

• One difficulty step harder than trained use

• Cannot attempt written forgeries or impersonations beyond basic bluffing

Opposed Checks:
When the lie matters, the GM may call for a contested roll—Deception vs. Insight. Success means the target believes the falsehood (or at least doesn’t call it out). Failure may reveal the deception or raise suspicion, depending on the context and margin.

Companion Skills:

• Insight (to gauge what the target is likely to believe)

• Performance (for elaborate impersonations, accents, or scene-setting)

• Crafting (Forgery) (for counterfeit documents, signs, or relics)

• Crafting (Disguise) or tool use (for altering physical appearance)

Narrative Examples:

• A charlatan claims to be a royal envoy and gains entry to a noble’s hall.

• A thief distracts the gate guard with a false report of fire in the stables.

• A spy flashes forged orders to redirect a patrol away from the safehouse.

• A disgraced noble bluffs their way through court, concealing their true identity.

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File Created: 04/30/2025
Last Modified: 04/30/2025