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, you can opt to turn an opponent's violence toward yourself. 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.