[Social Engineering] Granting / sharing Social Traits? (Non-supernatural)

[vicky_molokh]

Greetings, all!

I've been wondering: what would be a reasonable build for being able to grant (temporarily and permanently) social traits. Not in the supernatural Affliction / Area Effect / Affects Others way, but in a bureaucratic way.

Stuff like a King being able to grant Knighthood more-or-less freely, a general on the board dispensing Military Rank promotions and demotions, a diplomat with the right of assigning diplomatic courier status (and thus providing a limited immunity), a Black Ops Company or Conspiracy X Administrator who may designate people for Zeroing, Big Bad Boss whose word is good enough to make the local underworld act as a Patron to the target for a while etc.

Thanks in advance!

[PK]

That's just part of having an appropriate level of Rank and/or Status, depending on the specifics and the setting.

[Kromm]

The authority to grant most social traits is associated with some kind of Rank, so you must first establish the Rank hierarchy for an organization that could legitimately grant the relevant traits and then decide which levels of Rank give the power to do so. In some instances, Status might be needed instead of or as well as Rank. There are no hard-and-fast rules beyond that. It may seem impressive to be able to grant fellow PCs or even yourself "free" social advantages, but it isn't that amazing – for such benefits to carry any weight, you must grant them "on the record," which means answering to those of higher Rank and/or obeying your organization's constitution. If the recipients don't meet the prescribed standards, then the social traits won't count and you will almost certainly face censure of some kind.

This isn't limited to advantages, by the way. It applies equally to disadvantageous traits. You can't go about smiting people with Enemy (Law Enforcement Organization) or Social Stigma (Criminal Record) just because you dislike them. You must respect due process.

There's no extra point cost for any of this – it's simply part of what high Rank buys. For example, a Rank 8 general doesn't just get the power to command Rank 0-7 troops. He also has the ability to promote, say, a Rank 1 soldier to Rank 2, to grant certain officers Security Clearance with projects overseen by the army, and to decorate troops in a way that gives Reputation. Granting high Rank, important Security Clearance, or a large, far-reaching Reputation is likely to be subject to review, however. In some republics, for instance, certain levels of Rank and some decorations call for presidential endorsement.

[johndallman]

Social Engineering pages 12-13 has some guidelines about when buying Rank requires buying Status as well, or vice-versa.

Even in countries that don't require a head of state or legislature to sign off on high-level military decorations or ranks, there tend to be councils of senior officers who do selection or approval. That tends to be a hallmark of constitutional government, in fact: when a head of state can make people generals just because they're friends of his, you have a high degree of personal rule going on.