Qualities/Cutting Aces

Alibi

Cutting Aces, p. 150

Cost

4 Karma

Lie often enough, and your mind starts coming up with excuses in advance. You’ve been doing this for so long that it often happens subconsciously. You’ve got two or three plausible reasons to be anywhere in the world, at this point, and you’re always forming more as you go. Whether it’s something as simple as “Sorry, I thought this was the bathroom,” to convincing the cops that the explosives you’re carrying are armed and you’re an unwilling hostage, you’re always prepared. You always receive the +2 modifier on Con tests when you have plausible-seeming evidence (per the Social Modifiers Table, p. 140, SR5).

Closer

Cutting Aces, p. 150

Cost

4 Karma

When the pressure is on, you put on the pressure. In high-stakes, high-rewards situations, the adrenaline kicks your mind into gear and the words just come to you. You know how to press the edge when tensions are maxed, so make ’em sweat. Nothing beats the rush of winning. You have a +2 dice pool modifier to Negotiation tests when it is a matter of life or death (gamemaster discretion).

Cynic

Cutting Aces, p. 150

Cost

6 Karma

How many times does Mr. Johnson have to screw you over before you just assume he’s lying to you? What about anyone else? You’ve been stabbed in the back so many times you’ve got little mirrors in your sunglasses to see them coming. You might be a downer, but no one gets the drop on you. How could they? You were expecting their sudden, inevitable betrayal all along. Anyone attempting a Social test against you has a −1 dice pool modifier.

Empathic Listener

Cutting Aces, p. 150

Cost

10 Karma

Charming people always seem to know what to say. You might not be well-spoken, but you weren’t born yesterday, either. A gut feeling, some honest empathy— you’ve got a little insight to make up for lack of social graces. It might not be pretty, but you can win people over by playing to exactly what they want to hear. Substitute Intuition for Charisma on Etiquette tests.

Good Looking and Knows It

Cutting Aces, p. 150

Cost

10 Karma

If you’ve got it, flaunt it! Good genes, good fashion sense, or a good plastic surgeon have blessed you with looks that turn heads. The good news? You can often get what you want just by virtue of that pretty face. The bad news? They won’t forget that face any time soon. Players with this quality receive +1 Notoriety, and Memory tests to remember them gain a +2 dice modifier. On the bright side, you can ignore 2 points of negative modifiers on any Social test.

Groupthink

Cutting Aces, p. 150

Cost

5 Karma

Spend enough time around others and you’ll start to finish one another’s sentences. Yeah, it’s cute, but with practice, you can anticipate your partner’s next move and compensate. These are pack tactics for social wolves. When making a teamwork test using a social skill, each assistant with this quality receives a +1 dice pool modifier and +1 Social limit to the test to determine the bonus they give to the leader’s roll. If the leader of the group has this quality, they can take a −2 to their roll to reduce an assistant’s critical glitch to a glitch or negate a glitch (but not both).

Honest Face

Cutting Aces, p. 151

Cost

5 Karma

Who, me? Whether you sold bad cars to old ladies or spent a whole lot of time looking in the mirror getting ready for Friday night poker, you sure don’t look like a liar, particularly when you are lying. This doesn’t make you look innocent—just without guile. Good for selling lunar real estate. Better for convincing the interrogator you really don’t know anything else.

Whenever someone makes a Judge Intentions test against you, you receive a +2 dice pool modifier to the opposing Charisma + Willpower test.

Innocuous

Cutting Aces, p. 151

Cost

5 Karma

Sure, a guy can be bland and unmemorable, but it’s something else altogether to disappear into a crowd. You know how to dress mundane, slouch your shoulders, pull your hat low, and turn the right corner. You can vanish into the masses, hiding in plain sight, or approach your prey with the herd. You gain a +2 to Sneaking tests to hide in a crowd.

Master Debater

Cutting Aces, p. 151

Cost

10 Karma

Some people try to win others over to their side. You win by crushing their logic with your own. Against you, they either admit you are right or look like an idiot. This won’t win you any friends, but it will get the unassailable fact of your point across, and sometimes that’s enough. Use Logic in place of Charisma for Diplomacy tests.

Memory Palace

Cutting Aces, p. 151

Cost

6 Karma

Photographic memory is one of those things some people are born with. For everyone else, there’s building a memory palace. Months, often years of work go into building a psychoscape where you are at peace, and where any memory is there for your appraisal. While not as thorough as similar adept powers, the time you have spent building the place has given you somewhere to run in your own head when the outer world becomes too much to bear. You receive +1 dice pool modifier to Memory Tests and to resist Intimidation (Interrogation) tests.

Method Actor

Cutting Aces, p. 151

Cost

7 Karma

Strasberg, Adler, Meisner—you’ve studied them all, and you put the system to work for you. You can talk like you’ve walked a mile in those shoes, because you have. With sufficient time to research, observe, and suitably immerse yourself in the role, you effectively become the part. You can fool others, because you’ve already fooled yourself. For every full day that you immerse yourself in a role, you gain a +1 dice pool bonus and +1 Social limit to Impersonation tests for the role you have adopted. The maximum bonus you can gain is equal to your Willpower.

Mnemonic Vault

Cutting Aces, p. 151

Prerequisite

Memory Palace

Cost

8 Karma

Once the Memory Palace is built, it is possible to sort through memories for faster analysis and recall. But those who fear their minds being probed or the tender mercies of an interrogator can use the ability to lock memories away in a vault, hidden in their Palace. These memories are forgotten until the vault is visited again, meaning that a mind probe cannot find them, and truth serums and scanners don’t register a lie when the character denies knowledge. Naturally, these memories are non-existent until the character returns to the vault to see what is locked up there. You receive +2 dice to resist Intimidation (Interrogation) tests and any magical or other effect that would compel you to give up information involuntarily. If you succeed in resisting such a test, the interrogator believes what you have told them is all you know.

Watch the Suit

Cutting Aces, p. 151

Cost

3 Karma

You paid good nuyen for a Starlight gown. There’s no way you’re going to let this clown bleed all over it. You’ve got the presence of mind and the little dextrous tricks to get in a tousle and still come out looking good. This prevents any Stun damage from marring your appearance. Physical damage will still draw blood and leave cuts, burns, or worse that you can’t avoid. You never receive negative dice pool modifiers to Etiquette tests for looking roughed up after a fight in which you did not take Physical damage, and your appearance won’t rouse suspicion that you were recently involved in an altercation.

Alpha Junkie

Cutting Aces, p. 151

Bonus

12 Karma

Some people need to be in charge no matter what. That’s you, big guy. Maybe you have trust issues. Maybe you have an inferiority complex. If you’re in the spotlight and leading the show, all is well, but the moment someone else is calling the shots, you fall to pieces, likely arguing the point or sabotaging the plan just to prove yours was better, anyway. When someone makes a successful Leadership test against you or you otherwise believe someone is trying to take charge over you, you must make a Charisma + Willpower (3) Test. If you fail, you attempt to reassert your control, whether by making your own Leadership test, an Intimidate test, or outright attacking.

Designated Omega

Cutting Aces, p. 152

Bonus

5 Karma

It’s safer when someone else is giving the orders, isn’t it? That way, if it goes sideways, it’s not your fault. Or maybe you just don’t trust yourself to do the job right, or you freeze under pressure. As long as you’re working support or moving with your designated herd, you’re just fine. If you’re put in a position where the team depends on you, or you need to make a critical decision, you freeze up. You take a −2 dice pool modifier to all Leadership tests, whether initiating or resisting.

Disheveled

Cutting Aces, p. 152

Bonus

5 Karma

“You clean up real well!” You’ve never heard this in your life. Somehow, you have a talent for turning high fashion into a parody. Your posture is poor, nothing fits right, your hair is always a mess, and cologne just smells weird on you. The best you can hope for is for high fashion to come off as business casual. The rest of the time? You are a slob. You never receive positive Social dice pool or limit modifiers from the clothing you wear.

Favored

Target Group Prevalence	Karma
Common	5
Specific	3
Degree	Karma
Biased	0
Outspoken	2
Fanatic	5

Cutting Aces, p. 152

Bonus

3 to 10 Karma

Tribality is a curse in the metahuman mind. Maybe you belong to a specific, actual tribe. Maybe there’s a group you look up to, like elves for their grace and longevity, or you think AIs are a misunderstood, oppressed, and perhaps superior new species. Funny how hard it is to see the bloodstains on their hands through those rose-colored glasses.

The Karma bonus granted by this quality depends on how common the favored group is, how often the character is likely to encounter members of the group, and the degree to which the character shows preference toward them. Refer to the Favored Table to determine the Karma value of the quality based on the prevalence of the favored group and the degree of favoritism. When dealing with the target of their favor, a character receives a −2 dice pool modifier per level of severity of the Favored quality for all Social Tests. If negotiations are a part of the encounter, the target receives a +2 modifier per level of the Favored quality. So if a character who is radical in their preference for the Awakened tries to negotiate with the target of their favor, they receive a −6 to their Negotiation Test while the target receives a +6 dice pool modifier.

One Born Every Minute

Cutting Aces, p. 152

Bonus

5 Karma

But he had such an honest face! You’re a sucker, plain and simple. Don’t feel too bad, though, you’re in good company. Lots of folks pay up front for representation in Hollywood, or invest in can’t-lose schemes, or donate to beleaguered Nigerian princes. You are what keeps the grift industry alive, and that’s something to be proud of.

You take a −2 to resist all Con tests made against you.

Social Appearance Anxiety (SAA)

Cutting Aces, p. 152

Bonus

3 Karma per rating, max 3

Like the old flatvid once said, “I can afford a blemish on my character, but not on my clothes.” In the age of style over substance, you need to look your best at all times if you’re going to compete. Problem is, you’ve come to depend on it. When you aren’t clean, coiffed, and cutting, you become very aware of your own flaws, resulting in a −1 die penalty to all Social rolls per level of this quality.

The Goat

Cutting Aces, p. 152

Bonus

8 Karma

Some people say the butler did it. Anyone who knows you looks at you first. Hell, people who don’t know you look at you first. You just look guilty. Probably your shifty eyes and the way you skulk around like you have something to hide. For normal people, this is an inconvenience. For a career criminal, it’s a liability. When nothing is amiss, security still keeps an eye on you (which can be useful for your team if you serve as a distraction), but the moment something happens, they have guns trained and you’re being cuffed. Anyone meeting you for the first time has a suspicious attitude toward you, granting you a −1 Social dice pool modifier (per the Social Modifiers Table, p. 140, SR5).

Ugly and Doesn’t Care

Cutting Aces, p. 152

Bonus

10 Karma

Fell out the ugly tree, blah blah, you’ve heard it all before. And you know what? You don’t care anymore! If people are going to judge you by your looks, then they can kiss your ugly ass. You’re not afraid to get a broken nose or a black eye. There’s nowhere to go but up. Reduce your attribute maximum for Charisma by 1 and your starting Charisma by 1 (to a minimum of 1).