Intimidation

Intimidation is the skill you use for producing a sudden, strong, negative emotion in a target— usually fear. With high Intimidation, you exude menace, choose exactly the right words to chill others to the bone, and get people to lose their cool in an instant. Bodyguards, mob enforcers, and “bad” cops have high Intimidation.

### ***The Brush-Off***

*If things get to the point of a face-off, there are a lot of other actions an opponent can do other than stand there and be intimidated—such as disengage or pull out a weapon. However, one of the real strengths of Intimidation is that first flash of contact, when people instinctively get out of the way of someone intimidating. Used in this fashion, Intimidation can establish a powerful, menacing first impression. If you are actively doing something intimidating, you may roll a quick contest of Intimidation against the opponent’s **Discipline** or **Presence**. If successful, the target is taken aback for a moment, generally long enough for you to brush past them, though the target will usually have plenty of time to call for help if appropriate. This can’t be done in a fight or against any target who is already ready for a fight; but in those “first contact” situations, Intimidation is gold for control.*

### ***Interrogation***

*Intimidation is the “bad cop” skill for interrogation situations—a special kind of application of the above trappings. It’s not a soft touch; it’s all about getting in the face of the perp and convincing him that you are the harbinger of his personal doom. Other social skills, such as **Deceit** and **Rapport**, are necessary to make it an interview rather than an interrogation and belong firmly in the “good cop” camp.*

### ***Provocation***

*When you don’t control the situation well enough to make your target afraid, you can still use Intimidation—just not for the usual “be scary” purpose. Instead, psychological or social attacks may be made to provoke the target— usually by enraging them or otherwise getting them to lose their cool. Harry Dresden is particularly fond of this trapping and uses it to turn the tables on his captors whenever possible.*

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### ***Social Attacks***

*There are more graceful social skills for convincing people to do what you want, but few skills offer the pure efficiency of communicating that failure to comply may well result in some manner of harm. Nothing personal.*

*You can use Intimidation as an attack to deal **social stress,** cutting through the usual niceties by making things blunt, ugly, and expedient. This can force someone to get to the point, make him spill the truth, or cause him to flinch and show weakness when surrounded by sharks. The target usually gets his choice of social skill to defend against such an attack—for whatever help that might offer him—so long as it’s appropriate to the attack. He might try Rapport to attempt to laugh it off, Pressence to keep a poker face,  Discipline to keep his cool.*

### ***Threats***

*At its core, Intimidation is about putting the fear of you into someone. To manage this, you must be in a position to make a reasonable case that you actually can deliver some kind of harm or unpleasant circumstance to your target. You can achieve this with reputation, appearance, weaponry, or even with a good, scary speech. Ultimately, this is about power—defined here as your demonstrable ability to control the situation, rather than the victim’s control over it.*

*Without this context, the victim may be at an advantage (+2) when defending, or may simply be untouchable by this method of psychological attack.*

*Under certain conditions, Intimidation is one of the few skills able to deal direct mental stress (see **Mental Conflicts**) to a target as an attack, and you can use it both in andsocialconflict situations.*