Taunt

Typically used with: Persuasion.

In short: provoke. Taunt is similar to Intimidate in certain regards. Instead of an imposing demeanor, a character with ranks in Taunt uses a litany of verbal jeers and jabs to upset opponents. While intimidation instills fear, taunting entices anger, which quickly leads to slip-ups.

Taunting another character in combat takes 4 AP. You may taunt any bestial, elemental, humanoid, or legendary creature. Failed Taunt checks can be retried at a cumulative −2 penalty each time.

Tormenting

During combat, you can use Taunt to incite rage from a single opponent, increasing their chances of mistakes and carelessness. Make a Taunt check opposed by the opponent's Virtue check. If your result is highest, your rude gestures and stinging comments hit their mark, and they're pissed. You impose a −2 penalty on all of their rolls during the encounter. A single opponent can only be intimidated in this manner once per encounter.

Taunt and Intimidate are incompatible: you're either frightening a person, or you're ridiculing them, so the penalties do not stack.

Signaling

You can also use this skill to steal an opponent's attention. Make a Taunt check opposed by their Virtue check. If your result exceeds theirs, they look your way with great annoyance and gain the distracted condition. If your opponent rolls a Critical Failure, they gain the wide-eyed condition against anyone but you. The effects last a single round.

Instead of imposing the distracted condition for one round, you can opt to turn an opponent's violence toward yourself, drawing it away from an ally. This is extremely useful when a comrade is outnumbered or outmatched.

Alienating

A good insult can make bitter enemies out of close friends. Make a Taunt check opposed by their Mind Control check. If your result is highest, you may worsen their Disposition toward you. For each 5 points of difference, you worsen the creature's Disposition by one level. You can only attempt this once per day per person.