Debate Style: Reason

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Your character has extensive practice and training in formal logical thought, either in life or undeath. She may be a philosopher, military tactician or scholar. Dots purchased in this Merit allow access to special debate maneuvers. Each maneuver is a prerequisite for the next. So, your character can’t have Dilemma until she has Reference. The maneuvers and their effects are described below. Only one maneuver can be performed in a given turn.

Reference (•)

Your character is so skilled at carefully tying his statements to known or assumed truths that everything he says is just that much more difficult to attack. His wording is precisely chosen to remind the audience of accepted truths, even if the statement itself is not necessarily accurate. At the beginning of any turn, you may declare that the character is using Reference, and add a +1 to his Integrity for the turn. Your character can only use Reference if his argument that turn is based on Intelligence or Wits.

Dilemma (••)

Your character knows how to word an argument so that the opponent is forced to make a choice between two statements, both of which actually damage her side of the debate. You must declare that the attack is a Dilemma, and make an Intelligence- or Wits-based roll as normal. If the roll is a success, the roll does not contribute progress toward the target number for victory, but the opponent is momentarily occupied in attempting to unravel the dilemma and may not apply her Integrity to the next argument leveled against her (which may be from your character in the following turn or from some other source beforehand).

Kairos (•••)

Your character has an advanced sense of “Kairos,” or the “opportune moment.” He knows exactly how debate flows, and is well experienced in taking advantage of that flow to keep the audience on side, even when making use of unconventional tactics. Any time he makes a successful Intelligence- or Wits-based argument, he may declare it is a “Kairos” statement and follow it up by switching tactics without suffering the normal +5 penalty to his target numbers.

Once Kairos is used, the debater’s tactics are considered switched from then on. If he wants to change tactic again without penalty, the debater will have to use Kairos again.

Hyperbaton (••••)

Your character is capable of laying carefully constructed verbal traps designed to make an opponent look foolish, and even to open herself to an unexpected, weakening reply. When the opponent makes an attacking argument, your character may make a Defensive Argument in response (doubling his Integrity), and then suddenly answering with a quick, Wits-based reply that comprises a surprise attack. This reply is made at a –1 penalty. However, it does not subtract the opponent’s Integrity as normal.

Drawback: If your character is the target of any further arguments this turn, he cannot apply his Integrity against them. In addition, if the character was not already making use of the Deft Argument tactic, then Hyperbaton is a change of tactic and will invoke the +5 modifier on his target numbers.

Elocutio (•••••)

The character is so well trained and so familiar with the rules of reason and logic that he is able to make arguments that attack multiple opponents’ positions with a single statement. Make a normal Intelligence- or Wits-based attack roll for the character. This roll receives a dice penalty equal to the number of opponents attacked with this argument (to a maximum of –5 dice). Successes achieved on this roll are applied to the cumulative totals for defeating all of the targeted opponents.

Drawback: To perform an Elocutio attack, you must expend a point of your character’s Willpower before you make the initial attack roll. The Willpower does not grant an additional +3 bonus to the roll. If the attack fails, the Willpower is wasted.

See Also Debate Style: Reason • Debate Style: Rhetoric

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