Mouth of Baen

Even the most upright of wizards is tempted at times to use this persuasive device. The caster must make a hand sign and speak in a certain tone of voice while pronouncing a short sentence or phrase. All those affected by the spell assume the phrase to be true without considering the source of their assurance, as if it were some common-sense bit of knowledge they had already possessed. Some examples of use might be “I am the new magistrate,” “She’s clearly innocent,” or “These are not the droids you are looking for.” Wise magicians will conceal the gesture in an attempt to make the spell undetectable to those not well acquainted with its use. Those affected cannot notice the spell.

The base cost of this spell is 1 strain, and the base difficulty, d8. In addition to the normal skill check, the spell also calls for a challenge roll: the caster rolls Presence and everyone within earshot must make an opposing roll with Intuition against the caster or be affected. The caster may single out specific targets (while leaving all others unaffected) by increasing the difficulty by a step, and take more strain to increase their Presence roll result on a 1-for-1 basis (this should be done before any opposing rolls are made). If a given target also knows this spell, they may choose Intuition or Intellect to resist it with, and also take strain to increase their roll (before the caster’s Presence result is revealed to them).