Balseraph Resonance/Dissonance Clarification

ShowMeGamer · 06-11-2018, 04:41 PM

I've read the core book's description and Game Mechanics section a dozen times, but I'm still not clear on how this works. Does the Balseraph simply have to be internally consistent in his lies? Or does he need to construct and entire subjective worldview that justifies them?

Whitelaughter · 06-12-2018, 07:47 AM

I've always run it as the Balseraph is creating the worldview as they go along, so the player doesn't need to; I would expect a player to provide a weasel to justify an internal contradiction though.
Whether what I've been doing is accurate to the rules though....

ShowMeGamer · 06-12-2018, 02:00 PM

That sounds reasonable. It seems like a big ask for a player to have to come up with a fully formed alternate worldview before play even begins.

thorr-kan · 06-13-2018, 10:28 AM

The resonance examples are for immediate rationalization.

Though it fits Bals's personalities to have some wackadoodle theory they believe...

Jason · 06-14-2018, 08:55 PM

If I remember correctly, the Infernal Players Guide discusses this a bit. Long story short: They have BOTH the ability to create an entire worldview (and get a big bonus to check digit for it), and the ability to improvise shorter-term lies (which don't have to connect to anything else at all). The problem with the former approach, the IPG explains, is that it makes the balseraph more vulnerable to dissonance, but they can mitigate this by (a) repeatedly attempting to resonate on someone until they're thoroughly convinced, even if they rejected the lie before, (b) actually working to make the real world match the lie, or (c) resonating on themselves to convince themselves they never actually got caught in their own lies (yes, really), easing the dissonance in time.

06-11-2018, 04:41 PM	#1
ShowMeGamer Join Date: Jun 2018	Balseraph Resonance/Dissonance Clarification I've read the core book's description and Game Mechanics section a dozen times, but I'm still not clear on how this works. Does the Balseraph simply have to be internally consistent in his lies? Or does he need to construct and entire subjective worldview that justifies them?

06-12-2018, 07:47 AM	#2
Whitelaughter Join Date: Jun 2011	Re: Balseraph Resonance/Dissonance Clarification I've always run it as the Balseraph is creating the worldview as they go along, so the player doesn't need to; I would expect a player to provide a weasel to justify an internal contradiction though. Whether what I've been doing is accurate to the rules though....

06-12-2018, 02:00 PM	#3
ShowMeGamer Join Date: Jun 2018	Re: Balseraph Resonance/Dissonance Clarification That sounds reasonable. It seems like a big ask for a player to have to come up with a fully formed alternate worldview before play even begins.

06-13-2018, 10:28 AM	#4
thorr-kan Join Date: Sep 2008	Re: Balseraph Resonance/Dissonance Clarification The resonance examples are for immediate rationalization. Though it fits Bals's personalities to have some wackadoodle theory they believe...

06-14-2018, 08:55 PM	#5
Jason Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Boston, MA	Re: Balseraph Resonance/Dissonance Clarification If I remember correctly, the Infernal Players Guide discusses this a bit. Long story short: They have BOTH the ability to create an entire worldview (and get a big bonus to check digit for it), and the ability to improvise shorter-term lies (which don't have to connect to anything else at all). The problem with the former approach, the IPG explains, is that it makes the balseraph more vulnerable to dissonance, but they can mitigate this by (a) repeatedly attempting to resonate on someone until they're thoroughly convinced, even if they rejected the lie before, (b) actually working to make the real world match the lie, or (c) resonating on themselves to convince themselves they never actually got caught in their own lies (yes, really), easing the dissonance in time.