Lark Discipline

Bards, spies, diplomats, and information brokers: Adepts of the Lark use their unique skillset to gain information and influence people. The Discipline of the Lark offers four lines: Perform, Diplomacy, Gather Information, and Storied Fighting. Adepts of the Lark may choose prowess in Might, Charm, and Resistance.

Rank 1

Gifted Performer	Choose one type of Perform (such as Singing, Dancing, Tumbling, or Oration). Passive: Quickly learn new routines for your chosen form of performance. You can learn songs or speeches after a single listen, or complex dance steps after seeing it only once. Passive: Gain a +2 bonus to Perform checks of your chosen type.
Friendly Demeanor	You are particularly good at gaining an instant rapport with strangers, either telling the right kind of joke, or commiserating in the right way, or finding some shared experience. As long as the target is not already hostile this increases their disposition by 1 step.
Social Awareness	Passive: In social settings gain a +2 bonus to notice small but relevant details about the environment and people using Sense Motive or Perception. Active: Reduces the number of successes needed to find specific information by 1.
Flourish	Perform a standard attack as a dashing or extravagant maneuver in combat to gain +1 bonus dice which must be spent during this encounter. This may not be combined with bonus dice granted by Story Points.

Rank 2

Inspiring Performance	Active: You perform a song, dance, or oration that inspires those who hear or see you. The performance must be at least 5 minutes long. Restore Rank Vigor to any friendly targets who can see or hear you. Targets may also ignore -1 of fatigue penalties for 1 hour. 3 Mana
Charming Words	Makes a single target view you as a friend. Targets lower than neutral disposition may not be affected. Target gets a Resistance save vs. your Charisma + Diplomacy + Lark. On a failure they immediately increase their disposition to Friendly. An affected target never obeys suicidal or obviously harmful suggestions, but might be convinced that a dangerous task is worth doing. Any overtly hostile action by you or your friends immediately breaks this effect. If the character also possesses the Friendly Demeanor power, you may also affect Unfriendly Disposition. 1 Mana.
High Society	Passive: Choose a type of society you often associate with (thieves, merchants, nobles, mages, priests, soldiers, etc). Gain a +2 bonus when using Gather Information through those channels regardless of your official status. This bonus stacks with the bonus from the Status benefit. Active: When Gathering Information using your society ties you carefully conceal the value of the information and who it’s intended for making the request hard to track. Gain a +Rank bonus on Deception rolls to conceal information about the request. 1 Mana.
Use the Environment	Using environmental items such as ropes, tables, and doorways during a Move action grants +1 bonus dice which must be spent during this encounter. This may not be combined with bonus dice granted by Story Points. 1 Mana.

Rank 3

Find Your Inner Strength	Active: As a free action you call out inspiring words that cause your friends and allies to find an inner strength and free themselves from magical effects. Allows friendly targets who can see or hear you to re-roll their Resistance vs. any current magical effect. This may be used once per encounter. 2 Mana.
Very Important Person	Active: You choose a target who you have made a successful Diplomacy check on. The target actively seeks to benefit you based on your stated needs and desires. The intensity of their willingness to help you is based off their current disposition +1. If they are at a Friendly disposition they will treat you as a close Ally and attempt to meet your needs, grant you discounts, offer services, or refer you to someone who can help you. 2 Mana. At Rank 5 the effects improve. You carry yourself so confidently that targets of successful Diplomacy treat you as a celebrity or noble; someone who is worthy of respect, fear, or adoration. Rather than simply trying to meet your needs, targets will attempt to anticipate your desires, putting in significant effort and expense to impress you.
Little Birds	Passive: Once you have been in a region for a minimum of a day and performed a successful Gather Information check the locals begin to volunteer information to you. Interesting information will start showing up without effort. Active: Once you have been in a region for a minimum of a day and performed a successful Gather Information check you may distribute your efforts by rolling a single daily Gather Information check with your largest bonuses for Status and High Society which spurs agents across the region to search for the requested information even if it is normally outside of their traditional knowledge. 2 Mana.
Legendary Strike	A melee attack which allows bonus dice applied to this attack (such as from Story Points or 'Use the Environment') to gain 2 damage dice instead of 1. This strike may be combined with other Maneuvers such as Flurry Attack. This power may only be used once per opponent in an encounter. 2 Mana.

Rank 4

Captive Audience	Grants a +2 bonus to Perform, +3 at rank 5. While you perform, those who hear or see you must succeed on a Magic Resistance roll or become spellbound and resist all attempts to turn their attention away from your performance or oration. Targets suffer a Rank penalty on Perception checks, and unless they are directly threatened will be unlikely to respond to anything other than the performance. Attacking or threatening an entranced target will immediately break the effect. 3 Mana.
Rapid Diplomacy	When hostile targets engage the player in combat, you may make a Cha + Diplomacy + Lark roll vs. Resistance (Mind Effect) for all hostile targets within 10 yards. On success you and the targets of your diplomacy are considered out of combat, and if you have not already failed a previous Persuasion roll in this encounter, may make a Diplomacy roll to attempt to modify the targets disposition. This may result in combat rounds ending (see Diplomacy rules)
All Of Our Knowledge	Passive: Years of learning secrets have given you an encyclopedic knowledge granting a +2 to any Knowledge skill roll. Active: If the knowledge for a specialized task such as Craft, Knowledge, or even details of a spell exist in a region you can locate it in a matter of hours. If the information you seek is available you automatically succeed on a Knowledge check about the source material otherwise you gain detail on where the information may be located. Craft checks gain +2 and are treated as Trained skills. 3 Mana.
Storied Hero	Passive: Each session you gain 1 Bonus Story Point. You may never have more than 1 Bonus Story Point at a time. Active: Spend 1 Story Dice to gain: +1 Dodge OR +2 Speed for one round. Active: Spend 1 Story Dice to immediately re-roll an Initiative roll.

Rank 5

Fabled Performance	Active: You perform a song, dance, or oration that affects those who hear or see you. The performance must be at least 5 minutes long. While you perform, those who hear or see you must succeed on a Magic Resistance roll or following the performance they experience a mood decided by you for 1 Hour. (Ex. fear, sadness, depression, hope, joy, lust, anger) The exact actions individual targets take will be determined by the Storyteller. 4 Mana. Active: The performance causes dramatic mood, personality, or life changes based off the emotion you selected. These changes may fade over time, but are effectively permanent. (Ex. a fallen paladin hears your angelic song and resolves to return to the church) 1 Story Point.
Challenge Beliefs	Active: You speak fluently and passionately to up to Rank targets within intimate conversation range challenging their closest held beliefs. Your logic and emotion are enough to cause even the staunchest believers to reconsider their motivations. Targets who are asked to consider diametrically opposed viewpoints or perform an action deeply contrary to their nature (Difficulty 5) reduce the difficulty rating on the diplomacy roll by 2. If the Diplomacy roll succeeds then their re-evaluation of their motivations may cause long term, or permanent changes to be determined by the Storyteller. In the short term, they will at least be willing to listen to a diplomatic attempt. 1 Story Point.
Tell Me Everything	Passive: Your mere presence is enough to loosen lips and inspires people to whisper secrets in your ear. When interacting in any social setting roll a Cha + Gather Information + Lark vs. Magic Resist for all nearby targets. Targets who fail are magically compelled to give you information of value. They will always attempt to give secrets or gossip about others and avoid giving up damaging information about themselves or their interests. Active: You concentrate your conversation on a single target drawing on their desire to confess their darkest secrets. The target gets a Resistance roll however they suffer a -5 penalty. The target will always try to rationalize why they volunteered the information afterwards and in most cases will not be aware they have been manipulated. 4 Mana
Legendary	Passive: Story Dice gained in an encounter (such as those gained by Flourish or Use the Environment) may now be retained for the remainder of the Session. Active: Once per Session if you are rendered incapacitated due to damage you may spend a Story Point to return to 1 Health. Active: Once per Chapter if you are rendered Dead due to damage (does not include Slay effects) you may spend a Story Point to stabilize at 0 Health.