Bribery

Put it like this lance-constable,' as they turned the corner. 'Would you let a murderer off for a thousand dollars?' 
'No, Sir!' 
'A thousand dollars'd set your mum up in a nice place in a good part of town though.' 
'Knock it off sarge, I'm not like that.' 
'You were when you took that dollar. Everything else is just haggling over the price.'-Terry Pratchett, Night WatchSometimes, money speaks. Characters may be able to bribe their way out of trouble, if the person they're bribing is unscrupulous.. or particularly desperate. It can motivate a Contact up one level of reliability, but can't make more than "usually reliable"!Basic Set, p.44
== Amount ==
=== The Setup ===
Simply asking for a price on a bribe seldom makes a good impression -- usually a -4. To avoid this faux-pas, use Administration, Politics, Savoir-Faire, or Streetwise, depending on what seems appropriate to the situation.Social Engineering, p.49
=== The Actual Amount ===
Bribes tend to be cash or favors worth a dollar amount based on the subject's (not the briber's) wealth level. For Dead Broke subjects, treat as Poor, but add +2!
Amount 	Percentage of Monthly Pay	Bonus to Influence roll
One day's income 	5% 	+1
One week's income 	25% 	+2
One month's income 	100% 	+3
One year'sThis can be a Six-Month bribe at 600% for more consistency.	1,200% 	+4
== Modifiers and Conditions ==
* Traits
** Greedy characters will have to roll for self-control to resist a bribe
** Characters with certain Codes of Honor (such as Professional or Soldier's) will refuse to take bribes (or have a pretty high resistance to them).
** Honest characters tend to refuse bribes and not offer them either.
*** In the strange situation where a character has Greed and Honesty, they get a +5 to their self-control if a deal seems shady, and +10 for an outright crime.
* Particularly small bribes (less than a day's pay) are sometimes seen as contemptable and actually make things worse. Whereas some times and places (for instance, a comically corrupt fantasy city) will have bribes for almost every interaction, and have -2 to reactions if no one's paid a few coins first. 
== Other Considerations ==
* As taking bribes is often some level of illegal, a bribe often needs to be in the form of something ubiquitous (such as cash), or something that can be camouflaged in other sums (campaign donations, fine art, stock market insights). 
* Likewise, a bribe of a particular type might end up becoming a traceable trademark -- you can only pay so many people in diamonds before Interpol (or ISWAT) notices a pattern.
== See Also ==
* Social Engineering
* Streetwise skill
== References ==
* Basic Set, p.521
* Social Engineering, p.48-49