Acting skill, hiding Disadvantages?

[Solomon Draak]

Quick and simple question:

a character with disadvantages that make him obnoxious, like Intolerance, Bully, Compulsive Carousing ( when dealing with puritans ), Fanaticism ( when dealing with opposed ideologies ) and the like, could - if he succeded in his self control roll - hide his true colors with the Acting skill?

[johndallman]

Yes, while he keeps on making his self-control rolls. He may not come over as fully conforming to his surroundings, but that's a question of how well he does on his Acting roll.

[Pursuivant]

Sure. People with serious personality disorders do it all the time. In the short term they can sometimes get away with it.

There are no official rules for concealing traits, but -1 to Acting per -5 points in disadvantages you're trying to hide seems fair.

That assumes that you've got some control over the trait you're trying to hide, however. Any stress which requires a Self-Control roll might double Acting skill penalties. If you fail your Self-Control roll, your true nature becomes obvious regardless of Acting skill.

Due to the strain of pretending to be something you're not, you might also have increased penalties to both Acting and Self-Control rolls if you have to conceal your bad behavior for a long period of time.

For traits which don't require Self-Control rolls, the GM might require periodic Will or IQ rolls to avoid secretly indulging your bad behavior.

Psychopaths who can completely conceal their true nature should have a Secret rather than the obvious disadvantages, a Compulsive Behavior with a high Self-Control roll, and other seriously antisocial traits as Quirks. That allows the "but he seemed so normal" reaction from neighbors after the police exhume dozens of bodies from the serial killer's crawl space.

[Donny Brook]

For many such traits, Acting is superfluous. If you are passing your self-control rolls you don't need Acting; if you fail, Acting won't help.

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by Donny Brook

For many such traits, Acting is superfluous. If you are passing your self-control rolls you don't need Acting; if you fail, Acting won't help.

That's not necessarily true. Acting rolls can also be helpful to fool people about the reason you are doing something. Sure you're setting fire to this place because you failed your Pyromania roll, but with a sufficiently good Acting roll you might be able to convince people there was a [sensible] reason to burn it to the ground immediately.

Edit: Note that for many of the traits it doesn't actually matter if you make the self control roll (or Acting roll), the reaction penalties apply all the time regardless. Presumably your reputation as an evil bastard, dangerous lunatic or whatever has gotten around. If you are in fact meeting people for the first time and they wouldn't have heard about you, I might very well allow an Acting roll to conceal your nature for a first brief meeting.

[Donny Brook]

Originally Posted by malloyd

... Acting rolls can also be helpful to fool people about the reason you are doing something. Sure you're setting fire to this place because you failed your Pyromania roll, but with a sufficiently good Acting roll you might be able to convince people there was a [sensible] reason to burn it to the ground immediately.

Yes, absolutely. BTW, what's the hold-out penalty for a jerry can? :)

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by Donny Brook

Yes, absolutely. BTW, what's the hold-out penalty for a jerry can? :)

Why would I conceal it? Look see this biosafety indicator strip here. It hasn't changed color at all. This building was so absolutely soaked in miasma I'm amazed people didn't get cancer just from walking by it on the street. Maybe they did and it hasn't shown yet. Anyway it [had] to be destroyed for all our safety.

[Pursuivant]

Acting skill might also be useful in Quick Contests vs. Psychology skill to hide negative personality traits if someone is trying to get a sense of your personality on first meeting.

You don't have to make Self-Control rolls to hide your problems, but you do need to avoid minor "tells" in your behavior or conversation which give a trained observer clues as to your true nature.

[RGTraynor]

Originally Posted by Donny Brook

For many such traits, Acting is superfluous. If you are passing your self-control rolls you don't need Acting; if you fail, Acting won't help.

Mm, beyond Malloyd's comments, what someone would want Acting for is concealing the Disadvantage.

Take me as an example. Unfortunately, I seem to have developed the Bad Temper disadvantage as I've gotten older. I can keep from blowing up, but while I'm a pretty good actor I don't have much of a reflexive poker face, and people can tell I'm furious and bottling it up.

So I figure it doesn't do all that much good in making your self-control roll, only to have the Queen give you a very narrow stare, and drawling flatly "Do we have a problem here, sirrah? Anything you want to get off your chest?"

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by Solomon Draak

Quick and simple question:

a character with disadvantages that make him obnoxious, like Intolerance, Bully, Compulsive Carousing ( when dealing with puritans ), Fanaticism ( when dealing with opposed ideologies ) and the like, could - if he succeded in his self control roll - hide his true colors with the Acting skill?

Yes. Someone can be Intolerant and conceal their feelings with Acting to avoid getting the immediate reaction penalty from the targeted group. Of course later on this may produce an even more negative reaction when their true colours emerge.