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Old 12-13-2018, 11:07 AM   #51
whswhs
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
Default Re: When do you use Reaction Rolls?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Rupert View Post
The big part is the latter clause, where it notes that skill descriptions count. As whswhs has noted, if it specifically notes that some advantage does apply for one skill, that implies that it does not for others.
Yes, and of course you CAN make an exception and apply an unusual modifier, just as you can make an exception and treat Law or Dancing as an Influence skill. It's a judgment call, which the rules specifically allow.

As far as Voice is concerned, the appeal to Darth Vader appears to be rhetoric rather than demonstration; as Aristotle says, where demonstration relies on induction (that is, comprehensive survey of the evidence), rhetoric relies on striking examples. But "Darth Vader is a memorable villain and his striking voice makes him so" does not mean that everyone with a resonant voice is capable of being intimidating. Nor does it mean that people without striking voices can't be intimidating. Indeed, a Disturbing Voice, with a harsh rasp, can just as well be intimidating.

I'd also suggest that while a movie villain, or for that matter an opera villain, might well have a memorable voice, that doesn't necessarily mean that a person who is intimidating in the real world would have such a voice. "I'm not a terrifying monster, but I play one on TV" might be what's going on.

In purely literary terms, the most memorably scary line I've read in fiction is "You're going to be thumbs, my dear," in Panshin's first Villiers novel. It wasn't described as being delivered in a basso profundo!
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