Player Guide: Volume 4 - The White Glove Affair

Levels: 7 to 8+ Tone: Ocean's Eleven meets Bridgerton. In space. What you need: Your social skills, a good disguise, and nerves of steel.

First: The Veridia Interlude (L8-9)

Before the main event, your crew visits a hidden settlement for some well-earned downtime. This is your chance to breathe, shop, and connect with your characters before things get intense.

Downtime Activities

Your GM will offer you downtime days. Here's what you can do with them:

Activity	What It Does	Skill Used
Craft	Build or modify gear	Crafting
Earn Income	Make money between jobs	Various (Lore, Crafting, Performance)
Treat Wounds	Heal up between adventures	Medicine
Retraining	Swap a feat, skill, or option	Varies (takes days)
Shop	Buy gear, weapons, supplies	Gold pieces
Socialize	Build relationships with NPCs	Diplomacy, Society

Tip: This is your last comfortable shopping opportunity for a while. Stock up on anything you've been eyeing. Healing potions, backup weapons, disguise kits, whatever makes you feel prepared.

The settlement has NPCs worth talking to. Some of them have history, connections, and perspective that might matter later. Take the time to have conversations. Ask questions. Let your character react to what they see. These quiet moments pay off in ways that combat encounters never do.

Volume 4 is built around infiltration, deception, and manipulation. Your swords and spells still matter, but the crew that talks their way through this volume will have a much easier (and more stylish) time than the crew that fights through it.

Skills That Shine Here

Skill	Why It Matters
Deception	Maintaining cover identities, bluffing past security, misdirecting rivals
Diplomacy	Winning over NPCs, gathering intel at parties, negotiating alliances
Intimidation	Pressuring rivals, breaking someone's composure, making threats land
Society	Knowing etiquette, reading social situations, understanding cultural norms
Performance	Blending in at formal events, creating distractions, entertaining crowds
Perception	Spotting lies, eavesdropping, noticing who's watching you
Stealth	Moving unseen, planting evidence, slipping away from attention

Don't have these skills? That's fine. Not everyone needs to be the face. You can use Aid actions to help teammates (+1 to +4 bonus on their check), serve as lookout, handle the physical side of the heist, or create diversions.

How Disguise and Impersonation Work

You'll be pretending to be someone you're not. Here's the quick version:

Create a Disguise (Deception): You roll to establish your false identity. This sets the DC that others must beat to see through you.
Impersonate (Deception vs. Perception): When someone interacts with you closely, they get a Perception check against your Deception DC. The better your disguise setup, the harder you are to catch.
Maintain the Con: Ongoing social situations may require repeated checks. One bad roll doesn't blow everything instantly, but suspicion accumulates.

Degrees of success matter here. A critical failure on a social check is much worse than a regular failure. Conversely, a critical success can turn an enemy into a temporary ally.

High-Society Events

Expect formal gatherings where the rules of engagement are social, not martial. Think of these as skill-based encounters with real stakes.

Etiquette checks (Society) determine whether you fit in or stand out
Eavesdropping (Perception, Stealth) lets you gather intel while blending in
Reading the room (Perception, Society) helps you identify who matters, who's dangerous, and who's vulnerable
Making an impression (Diplomacy, Performance) opens doors and loosens tongues

The key insight: Social encounters use the same four degrees of success as combat. Beat the DC by 10+ and you make a powerful impression. Miss by 10+ and you've made a scene. Plan your approach just like you'd plan a combat turn.

Auction Mechanics: Bidding as a Team

The climax involves a competitive auction where the whole crew participates. This is a team activity with defined roles:

Role	What You Do	Primary Skill
Bidder	Makes the actual bid check	Wisdom + Initiative
Analyst	Reads the competition	Perception
Distraction	Draws attention away from your strategy	Deception
Hacker	Manipulates the system	Crafting (Computers)
Observer	Watches for threats	Perception
Persuader	Intimidates other bidders	Intimidation

Every successful support role gives the Bidder a +2 circumstance bonus. The more prep work you do beforehand (eliminating rival bidders through social encounters), the lower the final DC gets. Teamwork is not optional here; it is the mechanic.

Leveling Up: 7 to 8+

At Level 8, your characters are experienced professionals. Here's what changes:

Expert proficiency in your key skills means you're genuinely good at what you do
4th-rank spells (for casters) open up powerful new options
Class feats at L8 often provide new tactical choices or improve existing abilities
DCs are climbing: Expect DCs in the 23-28 range. Invest in your best skills.

Practical tip: If you haven't been investing in at least one social skill, now is the time. A single skill increase to Expert can be the difference between "smooth operator" and "escorted out by security."

General Advice for This Volume

Talk to each other. Coordinate your social approaches the way you'd coordinate combat tactics. Who's the face? Who's the backup? Who's watching the exits?
Gather information first. Recall Knowledge, Gather Information, and simple observation give you advantages before you commit to an approach.
Play your character's discomfort. Not everyone is built for high society. A rough-around-the-edges character struggling with formal etiquette is great roleplaying, and your GM will reward it.
Don't forget you can fight. The heist may go sideways. Have a Plan B that involves running, fighting, or both.
Enjoy the ride. This volume is designed to feel different from dungeon crawls and space combat. Lean into it.

Last Updated: 2026-04-09