Are there rules for trash talking anywhere?

[Black Leviathan]

You're basically attempting a ruse to make your enemy act recklessly so you can take advantage of their haste/over-extension. That's pretty soundly in the wheelhouse of Feint. Since it's verbal I'd use a skill other than your Weapon Skill. If you're trying to panic your foe use Intimidation. If you're trying to antagonize your foe or make them overconfident in victory use Fast-Talk. Enemy would resist with Will rather than their weapon skill.

[Plane]

In terms of Basic Set the closest I can think of would be if B358's "Influencing the PCs" (MoV penalty to skill use for Influence Skills contests) were applied more broadly.

Originally Posted by Polkageist

Or an IQ based feint.

MA101 (left) Ruse

Originally Posted by Anders

Fast-Talk based Feint?

requires MA51 "Skill Adaptation" perk per MA101 (right) "Feints Using Non-Combat Skills"

Originally Posted by WingedKagouti

Try Rapier Wit (B79). Additional rules can be found in Powers.

I kinda wonder if we allowed anybody to try Rapier Wit at default (P173) what would be a good stat to base it on.

If we just assumed 1 point then a 5-pt ability is 500% then the -8 per 100% penalty would result in a -20 penalty which basically makes it impossible for most people.

If otoh we assumed a 20pt ability (1 pt of IQ: something we allow any sentient creature to do) then a 5pt ability is only 25% and it's merely a -2 penalty.

If that seems too easy, we should keep in mind that this is the standard "I need to take a concentrate maneuver and spend 3 FP rules".

To allow cost-free action-free "Rapier Wit at Default" and do something like sub IQ for Will, we'd probably need to do something like Rapier Wit (Reduced Fatigue 3 +60% Reduced Time 1 +20% Based on IQ +20%) [10] which would be a -4 penalty.

Failing the roll would mean you don't enjoy the reduced fatigue 3 and do end up losing the 3 fp though. I don't think there's any way around that unless you bought the enhancement on the underlying ability, and +60% on even 1 point of IQ [20] is going to cost 12 points.

You can probably cut that down a bit by Limited Enhancements: like Reduced Fatigue 3, maximum duration 29 seconds -75% [+15%] so that you only enjoy -3 to FP costs for using IQ1 (or abilities used at default from IQ1) for 29 seconds before having 5 minutes of downtime where you don't enjoy the -3 to FP costs. Which would limit being able to do constant Rapier Wit attacks if allowed.

Maximum Duration is probably something you shouldn't be able to apply to "Abilities at Default" since they don't have unlimited durations like actually owning the advantage: the "could normally leave “on” indefinitely" clause doesn't apply since they have a 1-minute duration.

Instead if you wanted to change that I imagine it'd be something like Reduced Duration to make it cheaper, or Extended Duration to make it more expensive.

Rapier Wit (Extended Duration: 10x +40%) [7] might normally stun someone for 10 seconds instead of 1, but as an alternative I could see passing a will roll to enable that ability as giving you 10 minutes worth of being able to use rapier wit instead of 1 minute. Whether that's legal is iffy though.

Forcing limitations if it's allowed to do could be one way to avoid exploitation. Like maybe instead of allowing IQ-4 checks to get Rapier Wit for 1 minute, you want it to be an IQ-2 check.

You could...

1) cut off the suggested reduced time (save 20%) so it does take a concentrate maneuver to try and get it, since most people will need to pause to think of their trash talk (those who own Rapier Wit [5] just have the instinct to do it without prep)
2) add "Takes Recharge: 1 hour" for another -30% (so if you got it for 1 minute you could only use it 4x). This should extend to future UAAB attempts to use it.
3) add Reduced Duration 1/30 -30% so that you only have it available for 2 seconds instead of 60 seconds? This steer away from the cinematic "spamming Rapier Wit attacks every second until someone's stunned" effect, since you'll need to be taking regular Concentrate maneuvers to refresh your ability to launch those free actions
4) add Increased Immunity 2 -20% so that if the abilities fails there's a cumulative -2 for the rest of the day against the target you failed to fluster: you can't just keep trying the same insults, you must get increasingly creative to try and offend them!

This would work out to +80%/-80% so it's only 5 points and only a -2 penalty.

Other alternatives (if you don't want takes recharge, reduced duration or so much immunity) might be stuff like Aftermath/Backlash or Attracts Threats or Temporary Disadvantage.

Takes Extra Time -10% converting use of Rapier Wit from a free action to a Concentrate (rather than a Ready) seems kinda reasonable, which would allow you to also buy All-Out Concentrate for -25% if you were only able to deliver the insult while not focusing on defenses.

Worth noting that crit failing "Using Abilities at Default" will turn off your ability for 1 second, so you'd be temporarily -1 to IQ if you didn't manage to activate Rapier Wit on yourself. In your horrible failure to try and think of an insult, you had a brain hiccup!

This also (since using UAAD rules requires perceiving the 1st IQ of sentient beings as a "power") would risk "crippling" your IQ (P156) if you fail the require Will check: MoF minutes of crippling normally, or 1d months worth of -1 to IQ on a critical failure.

That seems like a pretty good balancing mechanism if it were allowed.

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

That's the crux of the problem. Nothing much will work on an enemy who doesn't have the relevant Disads.

Yup. You're trying to affect someone who's in a fight, with adrenalin pumping, reacting as automatically as their training allows. You need to play on their flaws to get past that.

[Plane]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

Nothing much will work on an enemy who doesn't have the relevant Disads.

MA130's Mind Games: The (Regular) Contest of Wills works better on those with disads. If you have a low will it's hard to avoid getting drawn into the staring contest even if you don't want to.

One step that seems to be left out of it: there should probably be some kind of perception check by the target to actually NOTICE someone is trying to do a staring contest with you. You wouldn't logically need to apply willpower to stop staring at someone if you don't even notice they're doing it.

Given that Fearlessness gives a bonus to the contest, it seems like Fearfulness should also penalize it, another possible oversight as latter wasn't mentioned.

Losers need to roll on B560's "potential combat" reaction table, so it's one way you can provoke someone into a fight.

That's presumably silent but I could see using talk-based provocation rules synergizing with it.

Using Rapier Wit to afflict mental disadvantages is I think also covered in GURPS Fantasy.

[Stormcrow]

You'll have to add Not Mute on top of your racial template and raise your IQ, but that should get you started on statting up a talking pile of trash.

[Anders]

Originally Posted by Stormcrow

You'll have to add Not Mute on top of your racial template and raise your IQ, but that should get you started on statting up a talking pile of trash.

Are we talking the Fraggle Rock trash heap here?

[tshiggins]

Originally Posted by Anders

Are we talking the Fraggle Rock trash heap here?

That would also require the advantages Charisma and Empathy, as well as the skill, Psychology, and a couple of minions.

Most notably, it should not include any advantage that would result in accurate prophecies. :)

As an oracle, Marjorie is a con-artist, but she's a pretty good counselor -- at least for the simple problems encountered by Fraggles and Doozers.