Facesaving

Facesaving(Communications) by Taalismn

The art of verbally back-peddling from an embarrassing slip of the tongue("Yes, that dress DOES make you look fat."), botched off-the-cuff remark(“Nice servant wench you got…oh, she’s your daughter?”), tactless joke("It's not as if he drowned in the cesspool...oh, he did?"), inadvertently caught-on-tape comment("I'm going to throw you off this %$%$^ing balcony!"), or critical fumble of the Public Speaking skill, in the hopes the incident will quickly be glossed over and forgotten. A regularly taught, and all-too-often exercised, skill of public officials and media celebrities, Facesaving is the 'after-the-fact' variant of 'the more commonly known 'fasttalking' and incorporates many of the same movements. Groveling, forced grinning, disarming and hopefully not too nervous laughter, placating hand movements, not-quite-eye-contact, sweat control, and subtle, but rapid, back-shuffling motion are common to Facesaving methodology. So is implied temporary insanity, psychotic break, tragic misunderstanding, and appeals to a common human fallibility. A successful Facesave means that the Facesaving party is not immediately punched out, dragged down, or tarred and feathered, though the offended parties may still bear a grudge.

Bonus: +1 to dodge in the first melee round of an enraged assault. After that, you’re on your own, bub.

Base Skill: 25%+5% per level of experience. Bonuses from M.A. stat apply.