Alertness: This Ability displays how aware you are of your physical surroundings. It has nothing to do with eerie feelings or the supernatural; it’s just a measure of knowing what’s physically out there. Alertness extends to sounds, smells, and touches as well as sights.
• Novice: You know which side to look on when someone taps your shoulder.
•• Competent: You could see how a stage magician did his tricks.
••• Practiced: Pickpockets knew to avoid you.
•••• Expert: No one’s managed to sneak up on you in decades.
••••• Master: You can hear a pin drop and know what type of grenade it came from.

Art: Also known as Artistic Expression, this Talent reflects your ability with a visual art: drawing, painting, sculpture, and so forth. Given such talents, you can work within your chosen medium to produce works of startling power.
• Novice: You’re creative but unskilled.
•• Practiced: You’ve put some time and work into your chosen medium.
••• Skillful: Professional art could bea viable career option.
•••• Expert: You’re a working pro whose work displays fascinating appeal and skill.
••••• Master: You’re an acknowledged master of your field.

Athletics: Athletics is a measure of general physical fitness and skill at using one’s body in ways other than combat. This Ability measures how good you are at climbing trees, leaping chasms, walking tightropes and hitting fastballs. Athletics are complex Talents, requiring the combination of Physical Attributes and motor skills. Any roll that requires only an Attribute, such as powerlifting, does not involve Athletics.
• Novice: You weren’t the last kid chosen on the playground.
•• Competent: You are the terror of the company softball league.
••• Practiced: You played for the varsity team in college.
•••• Expert: You could have made an Olympic team.
••••• Master: You signed a $200M contract and the fans didn’t think you were overpaid.

Awareness: As Alertness measures awareness of the natural world, Awareness measures a character’s ability to sense the supernatural world. It’s a kind of “sixth sense,” the ability to look beyond the mundane façade of everyday life in the World of Darkness to see what’s lurking beneath the surface. Generally, only supernatural beings have Awareness, although there are a rare few mortals capable of it as well.
(Note: Awareness is not available for Changelings, Fera, and Werewolves. Characters of those splats instead make use of Kenning and Primal Urge, respectively.)
• Novice: You pick up strange vibes from certain places and people sometimes.
•• Practiced: You know the supernatural when you see it or come in close contact with it.
••• Competent: You can sense the flow of hidden forces through the world, peering behind the veil of mundane life.
•••• Expert: You pick up on subtle and hidden supernatural forces all around you.
••••• Master: You can sense a supernatural influence anywhere nearby, and you sometimes pick up on more distant forces, if they’re strong enough.

Brawl: Brawl covers a character’s prowess in unarmed combat, ranging from brutal street fighting to the “sweet science” of boxing and everything in between. For characters capable of changing their form it also includes fighting with tooth and claw (and any other sort of appendage). It handles knowing how to hit and how to do the most damage, along with how to defend yourself.
(Note: Consult the combat house rules for details on the differences between this talent and the Martial Arts skill.)
• Novice: You know how to throw a punch without hurting yourself and the common places on the body that are the most vulnerable.
•• Practiced: You can hold your own in a fight against most people.
••• Competent: You’ve fought regularly for some time (and you usually win).
•••• Expert: You could be a professional fighter, even a title-winner.
••••• Master: Welcome to fight club. You’re in charge.

Empathy: This Talent is related to sensing and understanding what others are feeling. This is not to say that using Empathy automatically makes you sympathetic to what you pick up from others, but you do get an accurate reading of what they are really feeling.
• Novice: You can keep your foot out of your mouth.
•• Practiced: Everyone cries on your shoulder.
••• Competent: You know why others do what they do.
•••• Expert: It’s almost impossible to slip a lie past you.
••••• Master: Your psychiatrist told you about his mother.

Expression: This is your ability to get your point across clearly, whether through conversation, poetry, or even in 140 characters or fewer. Characters with high Expression can phrase their opinions or beliefs in a manner that cannot be ignored (even if their opinions are misinformed or worthless). Additionally, this Talent represents your ability for poetry, creative writing, or other literary art forms.
• Novice: Your talent has matured past crude poetry on notebook paper.
•• Practiced: You could lead a college debate team.
••• Competent: You could be a successful writer.
•••• Expert: Your work is Pulitzer material.
••••• Master: You rank with Cicero and Daniel Webster.

Intimidation: Intimidation allows you to gently — or not so gently — coerce another into doing your will. Uses of Intimidation range from subtle threats to making examples to causing severe physical pain, and each of these techniques has a time and a place.
• Novice: You could take candy from babies.
•• Competent: You never lacked for other kids’ lunch money.
••• Practiced: “Nice place you got here. Be a real shame if something happened to it…”
•••• Expert: You could terrorize writers into making their deadlines.
••••• Master: You can frighten off vicious animals.

Intuition: Some call it a “gut feeling” while others say it’s subconscious logic, the ability to leap to the right conclusion without actually thinking it through — a matter of pure intuition. Intuition is the ability to choose between two (or more) options with a better chance of picking the right one. It represents that gut instinct for making the right decision at the right time. It’s the ability to roll when a character makes a decision largely at random, like whether to cut the red, green or blue wire as the timer counts down to zero, or picking the right away out of a maze while running away from something.
• Novice: You’ve got a knack for making the right choice.
•• Practiced: You’ve learned to listen to and trust your instincts.
••• Competent: When you have a “bad feeling” about something, everyone listens.
•••• Expert: You could make a killing in the stock market.
••••• Master: You’ve always managed to make the right choice at the last minute… so far.

Leadership: You are an example to others and can inspire them to do what you want. Leadership has less to do with manipulating people’s desires than it does with presenting yourself as the sort of person they want to follow. Anyone can lead a group into some sort of conflict; a good leader can get them back out intact. This Talent is usually paired with Charisma rather than Manipulation.
• Novice: Captain of your Little League team.
•• Practiced: Student body president
••• Competent: An effective CEO
•••• Expert: Presidential material
••••• Master: You could be beloved dictator of a nation.

Streetwise: On the streets, everything can be had for the right price. Streetwise is the art of knowing what you want, who has it, and how you can get it from them safely. With Streetwise comes an understanding of slang and street customs, as well as an instinctive way of fitting in.
• Novice: You can sometimes get what you’re looking for.
•• Competent: You can get connected with a few hours’ effort.
••• Practiced: You know where the bodies were buried.
•••• Expert: You know where the bodies were buried, who buried them, and where they rented the equipment.
••••• Master: You can get anything, at any time, in any place.

Subterfuge: Subterfuge is the art of deception. Characters with this Talent know how to conceal their true feelings and act in a completely different manner. Subterfuge is used when telling a convincing lie, or hiding one’s emotions and reactions.
• Novice: You can get away with the occasional lie.
•• Practiced: You’ve got decent poker face, and you know how to bluff.
••• Competent: You can keep track of complex lies and hide your feelings easily.
•••• Expert: You can pull of complex con games with style and panache.
••••• Master: No one would ever suspect you; every one trusts you implicitly.

Blatancy: Through theatrical flair, audience appraisal, and raw audacity, you’re good at getting away with blatant acts of magick. Typically, this involves using tried-and-true dodges: “We’re shooting a movie,” “It’s all an illusion,” “Haven’t you ever seen a flash-mob before?” – that sort of thing. As you might expect, such claims typically require props to lend credibility to your claims (a “camera crew,” stage magic gear, a pack of willing conspirators, etc.). If and when you have the goods to back up your dodge, however, you can pull reality over people’s eyes more often than you would be able to do otherwise.
• Novice: “No, seriously – we’re filming a video.”
•• Practiced: “That just looked easy. It took me years to figure out how to do that trick.”
••• Skillful: “All the necessary permits and explanations are posted on our website.”
•••• Expert: “We did this trick on Mythbusters.”
••••• Master: “Nothing to see here – move along.”
(Source: M20 Core Book, page 291)

Carousing: You can be the life of the party. This Ability is the knack of having a good time at a social event and making sure that others enjoy themselves as well. It involves knowing the best places to go, eating and drinking without making a fool out of yourself and drawing out others so that they'll have fun.
• Novice: You can hold your liquor and keep your wits about you.
•• Practiced: You've been to a few parties in your time, and people find you an enjoyable guest.
••• Competent: You know how to wine and dine someone quite well.
•••• Expert: Everyone wants you at their parties.
••••• Master: Your gatherings are the greatest social events around.
(Source: Mummy: The Resurrection, page 60)

Cooking: Food’s your thing. You’re good at preparing it, pulling meals together from odds and ends, and noting when something’s not quite right. A gifted cook can whip up an impressive meal on the go; spot tainted or poisoned chow; discern unusual ingredients (griffin, horse-meat, Soylent Green…); or create nutritious meals from whatever’s close at hand – a vital skill in the wilderness or certain Realms!
• Novice: Pretty decent in a kitchen.
•• Practiced: Good enough to work a restaurant gig.
••• Skillful: A culinary artist.
•••• Expert: Able to make food from normally inedible substances.
••••• Master: A master of each aspect of food preparation, from skinning to serving.
(Source: M20 Book of Secrets, page 28f)

Diplomacy: You’ve got a knack for smoothing things over, making friends, and getting people to see past their differences. When you need to, you can also back up your guile with spine. A combination of ingratiating people skills, social psychology, knowledge of the situation, and innate timing allows you to gain people’s respect and then maneuver them to your desired point of view. A good diplomat can be transparent about his motives and yet still have people doing what he wants them to do while believing it’s their idea to do so.
• Novice: Advice columnist.
•• Practiced: Relationship counselor.
••• Skillful: Hostage negotiator.
•••• Expert: Noted diplomat.
••••• Master: Jimmy Carter.
(Source: M20 Book of Secrets, page 19)

Do: Often mistaken for a mere martial art, Do is the devotion to a way of life. A time-honored secret of the Akashic Brotherhood (who began to hide its practice when Do was abused by lesser souls), the art is occasionally taught to non-Brothers in the interest of keeping Do alive.
Although it’s reflected by a unique collection of combat maneuvers and magickal techniques, the Way is far more than a simple series of advantages. In story terms, Do is a highly disciplined state of being. Diet, philosophy, meditation, internal and external reflection, and a refined sense of one’s place in the cosmos all characterize the study of Do; a character who does not pursue each element of that study cannot master the art’s benefits. The Storyteller should make sure that a practitioner of Do acts accordingly. If the character behaves with selfish excess, he loses his ability to access Do. In many regards, Do is much more than a few dots on a character sheet. To the mages who pursue it, Do invests, guides, and enhances everything they do.
• Insect (ant, grasshopper, mantis, roach, etc.): Initiated into the simplest secrets of Do, you’ve begun learning the proper methods of diet, meditation, and exercise.
•• Crawler (lizard, snake, toad, etc.): Like the beasts that crawl upon the earth, you’re beginning to discover the keys to a higher state. Your body, mind, and spirit have achieved a kind of unity; with that understanding, you’re capable of impressive feats.
••• Four-Footed Animal (horse, dog, cat, etc.): Like the greater beasts, you have unlocked the power of natural attainment. Your hands become like claws or hooves; your body surges with a strength unknown to most of those who would consider themselves human. This is the highest level many devotees achieve, the rank of an accomplished Tao-shih.
•••• Bipedal Animal (monkey, bear, ape, etc.): Through great effort and understanding, you’ve opened the gates that hold lesser beings in their distracted state. Your body, mind, and spirit can accomplish miraculous things, and you have earned the right to be considered a true heir of Do, a Sihing. To go beyond this point requires supreme devotion and a practice that typically takes lifetimes to refine.
••••• True Humanity: Your devotion has returned you to the original state of human grace. At this point, you no longer concern yourself with what can be done, but merely with what should be done. Onlynow might you be regarded as a Sifu: a Master of the Way.
(Source: M20 Core Book, page 292f)

Flying: People don’t usually fly. You do. Whether it’s because you’ve got (or can grow) wings and you know how to use them or else you’re simply practiced in the fine art of aerial maneuvers, you’re at home in the air as well as on the ground. Unlike the Jetpack Skill, this Talent reflects a knack for unassisted flying. To possess it, a character must have either wings or the innate (or magickal) power of flight. Really small or precarious flying methods (brooms, carpets, levitation discs, etc.) can count as Flying methods too; such control involves more instinct and comfort than technological expertise. For climbs, plunges, take-offs, landings, fancy moves, chases, aerial combat, or other airborne feats, this Talent comes in handy when you take to the sky.
• Novice: Suicide case.
•• Practiced: Awkward angel.
••• Skillful: Quidditch player.
•••• Expert: Winged avenger.
••••• Master: Wind-dancer.
(Source: M20 Core Book, page 293)

Haggling: You are skilled at bargaining and can reduce another's price, or get some other concession, under most circumstances. To bargain, make an opposed roll using your Manipulation + Haggling against the other character's Wits + Haggling (or Wits + Alertness). Each net success you score reduces the price by five percent if you are buying, or increases the character's offer by five percent if you are selling. Failure means the price does not budge. A botch angers the other character, driving her away in disgust or worsening her offer by 50 percent in either direction (Storyteller's call).
• Novice: Bargain hunter
•• Practiced: Market trader
••• Competent: Horse trader
•••• Expert: Con artist
••••• Master: Marco Polo
(Source: Vampire Players Guide (2nd Edition), page 23)

High Ritual: There’s both an art and a science to a good rite. You’ve studied not only the techniques and trappings of ritual practices but also the symbolic, psychological, and metaphysical principles behind the big show. In general, this Talent reflects a familiarity with rituals appropriate to your spiritual or magickal pursuits; a Catholic priest understands the various Church ceremonies, whereas an Eleusinian priestess knows her way around Greek mystery rites. Beyond that knowledge, though, you understand not only the rituals of your chosen practice but also possess a gift for staging rituals in general.
• Novice: You could plan a wedding, call the corners, or recite the Stations of the Cross.
•• Practiced: Your parties and rites earn respect from your community.
••• Skillful: Beyond your familiarity with specific rituals, you’ve begun learning about other practices as well.
•••• Expert: An acclaimed priest or priestess, you’ve got a knack for powerful ceremonies and a broad understanding of specific ritual techniques.
••••• Master: You’ve mastered not only the rites of your culture but many ritual practices of other cultures too. So potent is your knowledge that you could make atheists into believers.
(Source: M20 Core Book, page 293)

Homiletics: You can give persuasive homilies, and inspirational sermons. You manage to turn almost any daily event into a life-enriching experience with many lessons to learn. This can be used from the pulpit, from a street corner, or even at the local bar; the audience can be a congregation or a circle of friends,
• Novice: You can retell a good homily you once heard.
•• Practiced: You can construct a small sermon of your own.
••• Competent: You can do this every week if you have to.
•••• Expert: You actually make people listen.
••••• Master: You have changed lives.
(Source: The Inquisition, page 54f)

Instruction: You’re really good at relaying information, teaching material, and helping other folks understand potentially complex principles. It’s not so much that you’re an expert on the subject at hand (though you might be), but that you’ve got a knack for taking your subject and making it easier to comprehend. A very useful Talent for mentors, professors and, of course, instructors for any given course of study, this Ability helps your character share his expertise with other characters.
• Novice: You can pass along basic concepts.
•• Practiced: A topic’s finer points are easy for you to express.
••• Skillful: Assuming you know something, you can teach it.
•••• Expert: You’re one of those folks that people want to learn from.
••••• Master: A master of all aspects of learning, you’re a teacher that pupils recall for the rest of their lives.
(Source: M20 Book of secrets, page 19)

Interrogation: You are able to extract information from people by fair means or foul. Using a mixture of threats, trickery and persistent questioning, you ultimately unearth the truth.
• Novice: Nosy neighbor
•• Practiced: Movie cop
••• Competent: Talk-show host
•••• Expert: Investigative journalist
••••• Master: Spymaster
(Source: Vampire Players Guide (2nd Edition), page 24)

Intrigue: Machiavelli’s ghost smiles upon you. In the vicious whirlpools of backstabbing power, you’re a force to be reckoned with. A combination of instincts, audacity, knowledge, guile, and ruthlessness gives you insights and edges that most folks lack. You may serve a greater purpose, work toward hidden agendas, or simply enjoy making puppets dance. Whatever your ultimate purpose, you’re a player, not a pawn, in your personal Game of Thrones.
• Novice: Ned Stark.
•• Practiced: Cersei Lannister.
••• Skillful: Varys the Spider.
•••• Expert: Littlefinger.
••••• Master: Tyrion Lannister.
(Source: M20 Book of Secrets, page 19f)

Lucid Dreaming: Most folks float through dreams with no sense of control. Not you. When you choose to assert yourself in the dreamlands, you may shift the tone of a dream, change locations, confront nightmares head-on, or even construct dreams of your choosing.
In game terms, this Talent lets you manipulate your surroundings in a dream (Perception + Lucid Dreaming, difficulty 6); shape new structures (difficulty 8); or take complete control over that dream and your place in it (difficulty 9).
• Novice: You’re aware of your dreams and can remember them if you choose.
•• Practiced: You can try to dream a certain dream.
••• Skillful: Some control over your dreams.
•••• Expert: You know how to influence and read dreams as aspects of your inner self.
••••• Master: You understand themetaphysical elements of dreams and can manipulate them, recall them, inspire them, or share them to your will.
(Source: M20 Core Book, page 294)

Malkavian Time: This Malkavian-specific Trait represents a Lunatic's particular connection to her clan's shared subconsciousness; needless to say, it's quite supernatural in nature. It allows the Malkavian to “plug into” the floodwaters of the Madness Network and filter out messages, impulses, shared visions, and knowledge of upcoming clan gatherings.
• Novice: Your “cousins” are usually surprised when you manage to make it to a gathering.
•• Practiced: You've become accustomed to the occasional Call.
••• Skillful: You sometimes hear echoes of messages that might not be intended for you.
•••• Expert: When one of the family dies, you know.
••••• Master: You are the undisputed local authority on what is necessary.
(Source: Clan Book Malkavian (Revised Edition), page 59)

Masquerade: This Talent cannot be taken during character generation, and is available only to vampires. Masquerade reflects how skilled a character is at appearing to be mortal: feigning respiration, creating a heartbeat, producing pink skin (by bringing blood to the surface), sneezing, masking vampiric tendencies, et al. Masquerade may be paired with a Social Attribute to determine whether the character successfully passes as a mortal among mortals.
• Novice: You might succeed - in ideal circumstances.
•• Practiced: You are able to pass casual inspection.
••• Competent: You are undetectable under most normal circumstances.
•••• Expert: You may succeed even under duress.
••••• Master: Even a witch-hunter would be fooled.
(Source: Vampire Players Guide (2nd Edition), page 24)

Mimicry A skilled imitator, you can mimic voices or sounds; the higher your rating, the greater your ability. The human larynx is quite flexible, capable of a wide vocal range. At the lower levels, you can imitate accents or the voices of specific people, while higher levels help you fake an impressive range of sonic phenomena.
• Novice: You mock celebrities for fun.
•• Practiced: Given time and practice, you can mimic a decent range of accents and voices.
••• Skillful: Your impersonations can fool folks who’re familiar with the people or sounds you’re imitating.
•••• Expert: You’re like that dude in those old Police Academy flicks.
••••• Master: Your ability to mimic almost anyone or anything is downright unsettling.
(Source: M20 Book of Secrets, page 20)

Negotiation: An acute perception for what people want makes you a master wheeler-dealer. Combined with social savvy and the ability to say “No” when you need to do so, this perception lets you bring other folks around to your point of view, helps them strike bargains, and puzzle out the potential agendas that drive them to – and away from – the bargaining table.
• Novice: You mediate disputes at home.
•• Practiced: You’re good at herding cats toward a common destination.
••• Skillful: Your arbitration skills are in professional demand.
•••• Expert: Regardless of the dispute, you often get your way.
••••• Master: You could forge lasting peace between old enemies, and leave them happy to have followed your lead.
(Source: M20 Book of Secrets, page 21)

Newspeak: Language is your playground. In a brave new age, you coin brave new words. Why? Because language is the gatekeeper of status and initiation. Obfuscatory miscourse is keycode. Disinfotech relegates the bleaters to Sidelinedia. Coprosperity sails on neochop, and so you bait the beespeakers and decompartmentalize linguiblocks. What the hell are you saying, anyway? Whatever the hell you want it to mean!
Essentially, this Talent helps you spin and juggle buzzwords, either existing or original. Beyond the roleplaying fun you can have with this Trait, Newspeak provides a verbal arsenal for social entanglements. By pairing Social Attributes with this Ability, you can excite, incite or inspire your audience (Charisma + Newspeak); dazzle, befuddle or intimidate opponents (Manipulation + Newspeak); or blast holes in Preconceptionsville by pairing beauty with brains (Appearance + Newspeak). Intelligence + Newspeak may help you decipher or deconstruct someone else’s wordstorm, while Perception or Wits might help you keep track of a slogan-spitting raconteur… or beat her at her own game!
(Ideally, this Talent should be roleplayed out. Relegating it to a simple roll of dice is no fun at all.)
• Novice: Lol
•• Practiced: u mad, bro?
••• Skillful: Your neologic metaphases into commcom.
•••• Expert: Masspeak is youspeak. Youspeak is allspeak.
••••• Master: That whirring sound you hear is Orwell’s grave.
(Source: M20 Book of Secrets, page 21)

Panhandling: You are a skilled beggar. You are able to get people to give you money just by asking for it. The art of panhandling is performed through a subtle blend of Manipulation, Empathy, Intimidation, Streetwise and Subterfuge. You know whom to ask, how to approach them, what to say, and how to avoid police. This is a useful Talent for picking up quick cash or for creating a cover.
• Novice: You can tell a good hard-luck story.
•• Practiced: You can gain sympathy from most people.
••• Competent: Real smooth. You can hit even the hardhearted for a few bucks.
•••• Expert: People want to take you home and feed and clothe you.
••••• Master: You can get whatever you want (within reason) for free.
(Source: Vampire Players Guide (2nd Edition), page 24)

Public Speaking: You are able to mold the emotions of a crowd by making a speech. This might be at a political rally, in a courtroom, at a lecture or even at the barricades once the revolution is underway. Whatever you want your audience to feel is what it feels.
• Novice: Entertaining speaker
•• Practiced: Compelling speaker
••• Competent: Inspiring speaker
•••• Expert: Popular champion
••••• Master: Demosthenes
(Source: Vampire Players Guide (2nd Edition), page 25)

Scan: Your quick eyes spot things other people miss. Darting your gaze across a place or situation, you can catch a quick appraisal that would take most people a while to observe. Generally combined with Perception, this Talent helps your character scope out potential targets, threats, clues, faces, escape routes, and other vital details. He might not always know just what it is he sees, and he has to actually think about scanning an area in order to use this Ability. Given time for a fast glance or two, however, he’ll probably snag enough material to work with once he’s got the chance to process what he’s seen.
• Novice: You catch the obvious hints.
•• Practiced: You’re good at noticing the little stuff.
••• Skillful: Quick appraisals are your specialty.
•••• Expert: Few details escape your gaze.
••••• Master: Sherlock Holmes wishes he were you.
(Source: M20 Book of Secrets, page 21)

Scrounging: Dude! Where’d you find that? You’re pretty good at spotting goodies in the oddest places. A skilled scavenger, you can discover all kinds of unlikely stuff.
• Novice: You and Macklemore hit thrift shops together.
•• Practiced: You are Macklemore.
••• Skillful: You scrounge most of what you need from society’s cast-offs.
•••• Expert: Given enough time and trash, you could find almost anything you need.
••••• Master: Money-wise, you live off little or nothing.
(Source: M20 Book of Secrets, page 21)

Search: Given time and motivation, you know how to toss a room or comb the woods. You’ve honed an eye for clues, mastered the classic hiding spaces (and puzzled out some new ones), and learned how to follow your instincts. If there’s something to be found, you’re likely to find it…
• Novice: You’re good at finding lost stuff.
•• Practiced: Clues seem to jump out at you.
••• Skillful: The last place to look is the first place you try.
•••• Expert: The pros consult you when something or someone needs to be found.
••••• Master: Your gift for detections seems downright supernatural… and probably is.
(Source: M20 Core Book, page 294f)

Seduction: You’re good at being bad. A master of attraction, you can draw people into engagements they might otherwise ignore or avoid. This Talent reflects the combination of carnal allure and emotional manipulation that can wind people around your fingers (or other parts of your anatomy…) whenever you want their attention.
Seduction isn’t always sexual.It does, however, play off the target’s desires. Note that you don’t have to be gorgeous to use this Ability; many seducers, in fact, seem unremarkable until they put this gift to work.
• Novice: You can score desperate drunks.
•• Practiced: You can have almost anyone you want.
••• Skillful: You’re good enough to get people to go against their better natures.
•••• Expert: Turn on the charm, turn off their brains.
••••• Master: Vows, homes, hearts, and marriages are yours to break at will.
(Source: M20 Core Book, page 295)

Sense Deception: Over the years, you have developed the ability to know instinctively when people are not telling you the truth or not telling you the whole truth. There is a way they look, a tone of voice, a movem ent of the eyes - you can't analyze it, but it's always there and your instincts rarely let you down.
• Novice: Sometimes you can tell, hut you still get suckered - though more rarely than the average person does.
•• Practiced: It takes a silver tongue to pull the wool over your eyes.
••• Competent: Anyone who can slip one past you is a highly skilled con artist.
•••• Expert: You could make a living screening people for security.
••••• Master: People whisper behind your back, and many are nervous talking to you. Your ability is almost supernatural.
(Source: Vampire Players Guide (2nd Edition), page 26)

Style: You may not have been born good -looking, or possessed of a natural charm, but you know how to dress and make the most of your appearance. Even if you are not physically attractive, heads turn because of your dress sense and style. Note that this Talent only applies to people's reactions to your appearance; once you get closer, it's up to you.
• Novice: Good taste
•• Practiced: Socialite
••• Competent: Celebrity
•••• Expert: Celebrity advisor
••••• Master: International model
(Source: M20 Book of Secrets, page 22)

Ventriloquism: You have the ability to throw your voice, making it appear to come from somewhere else. This Talent can be used for entertainment - or deception.
• Novice: You could do a ventriloquist act at a children's party.
•• Practiced: You could get a spot with a local amateur vaudeville club. You can make someone standing next to you appear to speak.
••• Competent: You could almost make a living from your talent, with occasional TV variety shows breaking up the round of cheap clubs and theatres. You can make someone (or something) within five yards of you appear to speak.
•••• Expert: You could take your act to Vegas. You can make your voice appear to come from any spot within 30 feet of you.
••••• Master: Young hopefuls bombard you with questions, and Variety calls you the savior of a lost vaudeville art. You can make your voice appear to come from anywhere within earshot.
(Source: Vampire Players Guide (2nd Edition), page 26)