Socially Small

From Edge of Darkness Wiki

Whether natural or carefully cultivated, your character is easy to overlook. Socially, he’s ignorable or of negligible importance. He’s not necessarily forgettable. People are as apt to remember him as they are anyone else, if they even notice him in the first place. Even when they do look at him, he usually weighs in as “unthreatening.”

Mechanically, the character gains a +1 modifier to Subterfuge Skill and Stealth Skill rolls, since people are paying less attention to him, and thus his lies and his attempts to go unnoticed. Some other Skills may also benefit from this Merit, at the Storyteller’s discretion. There are times when being small could benefit a player in Politics or someone using Streetwise. More generally, people with this Merit register as someone whom people don’t need to pay attention to. The character gets chosen last for kickball, but the police don’t pick him up while looking for the usual suspects. Shopkeepers who are strict about loiterers consider him a non-issue. People and creatures who get nervous around others feel a little less so when it’s just him. Even prey animals react a little less to his presence.

This amounts to a –1 penalty to the Wits + Composure rolls to notice this character as a detail.

Skinchangers who emulate small or prey animals commonly take this Merit.

Drawback

Even when the character wants to be noticed, he’s still overlookable or unimportant. Waiting with others to get customer service’s attention, everyone else successfully shouts over him. No one really takes his threats seriously, even when he means them. This applies a –1 penalty to Expression, Intimidation and Socialize rolls, as well as any other actions the Storyteller deems appropriate.

Note

This Merit can also be found in the book Changing Breeds on page 97.

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