Suit

[aegis]

Hi,

I have a question about the suit power that gives the ability to make a bureaucracy check at the minimal cost, once per mission, without paying its cost. When the player uses it, if the GC decides to make the target immune to bribe by spending 2 action dice, would you say that the power is wasted - though I wouldn't call making the GC spend 2 action dice a waste of power - for the mission or not ?

Thanks in advance for your answers.

[spinningdice]

Actually "immune" isn't quite what it sounds like. If you read the description of the 'bribe' check it simply ups the DC by 15 and increases the error range. Since you're still rolling the check it takes place as normal.

Unless I'm wrong somewhere.

[aegis]

No, you're absolutely right. I should have been more specific. Actually, the player is also using this horrible Fixer power : let's deal.  After a common discussion, we decided that spending 2 action dice should be enough to consider that the 15 to the DC is added after the use of this power (which otherwise would give automatic victory to the character). The question is, when he decides to use let's deal and suit together, and I use 2 actions dice to "counter" it, are the two powers expanded or not?

For few more details, my agents are currently in mission in Mitrovica, a highly unstable city north of Kosovo, close from the new and not-recognized-yet border with Serbia. They are dealing with an underground nationalist organization called Ibarhvac, whose supposed boss (or high-ranking member) recently killed two other agents of the agency (Pitfall actually) and severely wounded one. The team of five is on his tracks. Three of them are currently breaking into his mansion to search for evidences, while the two others were trying to create a diversion by forcing him to play at Mitrovica's only casino, the Royal Palace Hotel.

Except that Lazarevic, thanks to two successful Sense motive checks, saw through their deception (because of a little detail) and captured the two agents. One of them - a woman - has tried to bribe one of Lazarevic's two bodyguards but failed, because he is totally lawful to his boss (and because of my 2 action dice, ouch), and now she's trying again with the second one ! The thing is, she doesn't have cash anymore, and the player wanted to use the suit power for the first guard already. When I decided to "immune" the guy, he decided not to use suit after all.

The roleplaying is nice, the player is absolutely not trying to abuse of his power (he suggested that both guards are immune after I spent the two dice), but I still would like to know how this is covered by the rules. I think the answer should be somewhere on the roplaying part. How would you play the suit ability? Is it something you must mention when you talk to the guy you're trying to bribe (like "I don't have money, but I'm working for Pitfall and they have a lot of assets"), so that is expanded whether it succeeds or not, or is it something that takes place afterwards (like a phone call to the agency for immediate refunding), so that it's not expanded 'till it has effectively been used ? 

[Krensky]

Let's Deal I doesn't come into play as this isn't an opposed Bureaucracy check, it's a Bribe check, which is against a DC. It also sounds more like Streetwise then Bureaucracy. The player's also wrong, unless both guards stem from a single NPC block that provides two mooks, they each cost dice to make immune to bribery.

As for the RP, it depends. Dangling your org's assets as a promise of future rewards is pretty typical though.

[aegis]

Thanks, I kind of forgot this detail. It changes a lot of things, though, and Let's deal is suddenly less ugly. What about suit, then?