Voice of Dissension
(Vigilante)
There are a lot of ways to look at vigilantes, but we generally find ourselves more attracted to the comic book hero version, depicting those that fight for justice whether the law wants them to or not. This week’s article is about the rioter, the anarchist, and the disenfranchised; the common man, fighting for change because the law has failed, and justice must be put back into the hands of the people. This week’s new archetype is called the voice of dissension, and while mild-mannered during the best of times, he is able to bring entire cities to their knees when he see justice undone.
New Vigilante Archetype
Voice of Dissension
There are many sorts of people that become a voice of dissension, but all share a commitment to the health and prosperity of their communities, a strong desire for equal treatment of all peoples, and a gift for bringing people around to their viewpoints. In their social identities, they use whatever platform is available to them to spread their word peaceably. In their vigilante identities, they incite riots, protect peaceful protests, and marshal the seething mobs towards productive goals, ensuring that their message gets across. These are the heroes who forsake their name to begin a movement, and give every enraged soul a voice to cry out that the injustice stops here.
Social Talents: A voice of dissension can select from any of the following social talents, in addition to general social talents.
Face of the Crowd: A voice of dissension has a gift for making the news, and is able to effectively communicate with rumormongers, town criers, and even legitimate reporters to get his message across. The voice of dissension gains a +4 competence bonus on all Bluff, Diplomacy, and Intimidate checks when speaking to members of the press and similar characters likely to massively distribute information (at the GM's discretion). This bonus increases to +8 at 10th level.
Platform of Protest (Ex): A voice of dissension is able to use his social identity’s high status in order to generate great awareness in his area of renown. By spending at least an hour speaking in public about a particular topic, he can choose to champion that issue, spreading wide awareness of the issue within his area of renown. Permanent residents of his area of renown become aware of the issue, and visitors to the area become aware of the issue with a DC 10 Knowledge (local) check. As long as he continues to champion the issue, he gains a +2 circumstance bonus on all Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, and Sense Motive checks he makes with people who are aware of the issue. He counts as continuing to champion this issue indefinitely, until he uses this ability to raise awareness for a different issue. The voice of dissension must have the renown social talent to choose this social talent.
Incite Protest (Ex): At 5th level, a voice of dissension can incite a protest while in his vigilante identity. By speaking for 1 minute to a group of at least 10 characters who are not hostile to the vigilante, he can influence their behavior. He makes a special Diplomacy check to influence the attitude of the crowd. Any character whose attitude is improved to helpful must succeed on a Will save (DC = 10 + 1/2 the voice of dissension’s level + the voice of dissension’s Charisma modifier) or be affected as though by a suggestion spell. For the purposes of this effect, any action that involves damaging property or committing violence is considered to be reasonable, though any suggestion which is obviously harmful to the recipients of the suggestion still negates the effect. Characters remember what they did while under the influence of this effect and may react differently to the voice of dissension after the effect ends. A character cannot be affected by this ability more than once in a 24-hour period. The caster level for this suggestion effect is equal to the voice of dissension class level.
This ability replaces the startling appearance class feature.
Incite Riot (Ex): At 11th level, a voice of dissension can whip a crowd into a violent frenzy against his foes. As a standard action while in his vigilante identity, the voice of dissension can attempt to inspire 1 or more characters who can clearly see and hear him to engage in enraged violence. If he does, affected characters must succeed on a Will save (DC = 10 + 1/2 the voice of dissension’s level + the voice of dissension’s Charisma modifier) or be whipped into a violent rage, gaining a +4 morale bonus to Strength and Constitution for a number of rounds equal to the vigilante’s level. Characters affected in this way can’t use Intelligence- or Charisma-based skills (except for Intimidate), nor can they use any ability that requires concentration.
This ability replaces the frightening appearance class feature.
Incite Rebellion (Ex): At 17th level, while in his vigilante identity, a voice of dissension can inspire people to rise up against oppressive authority and fight for justice. As a full-round action, the voice of dissension can deliver a rousing call to arms to all characters which can clearly see and hear him. He specifies either a specific individual or a group of identifiable individuals, such as elves or everyone in a specific organization. The crowd gains a +2 circumstance bonus on all attack and damage rolls made against the specific individual or the named group.
This ability replaces the stunning appearance class feature.