Inconspicuous

Custom Merit: Inconspicuous •/••/•••/••••/•••••

As per House Rules/Merits, this merit represents the effort your character puts into hiding his light under a bushel basket. An inconspicuous character is one who goes out of his way to avoid being known for a particular trait, striving for the distinction of 'average' and unremarkable. This merit may be taken more than once to reflect hiding multiple traits, and requires a descriptor for each.

For each dot you have, information-seekers must subtract the dot-level from any attempts to spot, investigate or research that particular secret. i.e. Inconspicuous (Lottery Winner) 2 would apply a -2 penalty.

See the XP Tiers page for more details of how this merit is used on Fate's Harvest. This merit is mutually exclusive with Fame of the same type. i.e. if you are Inconspicuous (Ninja), you cannot also have Fame (Ninja)

Rules of Thumb

Changelings, this merit has nothing to do with your Wyrd level, and cannot/will not conceal your power in that regard. If you are a Wyrd 8 character with Gentrified Bearing, people are going to notice you, and remember you, and quite possibly put you on a list in case you some day go woolly... :)

It can, however, be used to cover your long-term efforts at concealing such things as membership in Entitlements, Courts, etc.

If at any point a large number of people learn your secret, you may be asked to either lower your dot level in the Inconspicuous merit or trade it for Fame/an appropriate Flaw.

The levels correspond to the amount of effort you are putting into concealing something.

For example:

Bob has Inconspicuous 1 (Martial Arts) to conceal his skill at karate/other styles, but makes no effort to conceal his bangin' body. Which, it must be said, is kept in such bodacious shape BECAUSE of his karate, and has suspiciously karate-inspired muscle groups and movement habits, along with a collection of eastern weapons on the walls in his bedroom. He also corrects people on karate moves when they're watching movies together. Anyone who really knows what to look for can probably figure out his "secret" hobby without much effort.

Wendla, however, has Inconspicuous 5 (Martial Arts) to conceal her own skill at karate/other styles. She has a well-paid, discreet private instructor, she has a false identity with a separate mailing address, she has disguises, allies, and doubles up on dance lessons to deceive the world into believing she is so athletic and light on her feet because of her excellent cha cha cha. She deliberately moves incorrectly when she is around others, and deliberately stays silent/deflects/lies/tells partial truths when martial arts come up in conversation, professing less knowledge than she truly has. There is no paper trail which could possibly trace her identities back to one another, unless someone found the guy who made her false ID...

Inconspicuous • At one dot, you aren't putting a lot of effort into hiding. Mostly, you just keep your mouth shut and hope people don't know what they're talking about.	Inconspicuous •• At two dots, you're still not putting THAT much effort into hiding it. Maybe you pick off-hours for lessons, or have your little sister go and buy your stuff, but it'd still be pretty easy to find out you were good at something.
Inconspicuous ••• At three dots, you're starting to know what you're up against. You've got some good hiding places and you're getting better at coming up with excuses for why you're building all that muscle from those private workouts.	Inconspicuous •••• At four dots, you're pretty good at this. You've got reasonable alibis, dupes to support them and the goods to make sure you can constantly prove you weren't doing what people accuse you of doing.
Inconspicuous ••••• At five dots, your alibi has an alibi, and it'd take significant digging, stalking and detective work to figure out just what you're hiding. You've spent the money on secret stashes and safes, maybe private training and a lot of bribes, or even an off-shore bank account to make it all the more difficult to trace.

Examples

The following are some sample reasons your character might purchase the merit:

• Traitor - You betrayed your last Freehold. You're trying to make amends, but the stain is there if people find out about it. In this example, rather than Fame, you might take the Notoriety Flaw if you were ever discovered.
• Sharpshooter - Librarian by day, sharpshooter by whatever hours of the day you can convince people you aren't on the range. It can be useful to be underestimated. No one suspects the little old librarian of being Deadeye, and that's exactly how you like it.
• Assassin - Your skills are for hire, but you'd rather keep that little secret to yourself -- and those who pay you very, very large sums of money.
• Contracts - You know darn near every Contract out there, including a few goblin ones the Freehold really wouldn't be too pleased with.