Cyberpunk RED skill
Acting
Acting is a skill in Cyberpunk RED: Pretending to be someone you are not and making other people believe it.
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Key facts
- Stat
- COOL
- Category
- performance
Overview
Acting is sustained deception in person: assuming a role, holding an accent and a manner, and staying in it while somebody who suspects you asks questions. It is not one lie, it is being a different person for as long as the job requires. At the table Acting is the social infiltration skill. It gets the crew through a lobby as contractors, into a party as guests, past a checkpoint as employees who belong. It is also the counter-skill to Human Perception, which makes it the roll you make when someone across the table is trying to work out whether you are lying. Where Persuasion argues from a real position, Acting builds a false one and lives inside it.
How it works
Linked Stat: COOL Category: Performance Resolution: 1d10 plus COOL plus skill level, usually opposed by the observer's Human Perception. A natural 10 adds another roll; a natural 1 subtracts one, which is normally the moment the story falls apart. What raises the DV: How much the audience knows. Passing a bored guard is easy, passing a specialist who works with the people you are impersonating is not, and holding a role over hours gives many more chances for something to slip.
Tips and playstyle
Best for: Infiltrators, Medias, and Rockerboys, and any crew whose plans start with walking in the front door. Character concepts: A performer who found a more profitable stage, a corporate spy, a Fixer with three working identities, a Media who goes undercover for a story. Synergies: Wardrobe and Style and Personal Grooming supply the look the performance sits on. Human Perception tells you when the audience is not buying it, and Language matters the moment your cover is supposed to be from somewhere else.
Frequently asked questions
Acting or Persuasion?
Persuasion is convincing someone as yourself. Acting is convincing them you are somebody else. If the plan requires a false identity rather than a good argument, this is the skill.
What opposes Acting?
Usually the observer's Human Perception. That makes a crew's own Human Perception useful for judging how convincing a teammate's cover is before you commit to it.
Do I need a costume?
Effectively yes. GMs commonly raise the DV sharply if the look does not support the role, which is why Acting characters almost always carry ranks in Wardrobe and Style as well.