Overview

“Glint” is a term used in the Ninth World to describe anyone who’s good with people. This might be a positive thing: a diplomat, salesperson, performer, or charmer. Or it could carry a somewhat more negative connotation: a con artist, swindler, or charlatan. Glints, then, are people who focus on interaction. They’re negotiators, information gatherers, and spokespeople. Glints aren’t just pretty faces or smooth talkers, however. They’re really something special, with capabilities that extend far beyond an ease with interpersonal interaction.
Glints focus primarily on Intellect—particularly the aspect of Intellect that is a measure of charm and charisma. They also often have a decent Speed Pool, useful for when their words go wrong or just aren’t enough. They rarely wear heavy armor or carry large weapons. Most of the time, they avoid combat if they can, or stay to the edges of a fight, helping allies with their abilities and observations rather than diving into the melee.

Glints in Society

In many cases, Glints are the hubs around which the wheels of society turn. It’s not unusual for Glints to become leaders—whether officially, with a title, or unofficially, by simply wielding a great deal of influence. Other times, they operate at a lower level, as diplomats, merchants, or even entertainers. Glints aren’t just good talkers. They’re good listeners as well. They understand people, and can quickly glean others’ motivations. They use this understanding to gain insight to always know what to do or say.
Glints get along with everyone. They can trade rough jokes with a group of stalwart Glaives just as easily as exchanging puns with a cadre of scholarly Nanos, and they can do and say all the right things to get either group to like them as well.

Glints in the Group

No one’s likely to ever be sad that there’s a Glint in the group, because the Glint can serve as the group’s spokesperson. The face. A Glint talks to the merchant to get the best deal, interacts with the guards to see if they’ll let the group past, or helps convince everyone in town that the group isn’t responsible for all the destruction they caused. The Glint might even be the leader of the group (although the Glint most often leads from the back). The group wants the Glint to be in a place where they can observe, and provide advice, aid, and inspiration.

Glints and the Numenera

Glints have a great many advantages, but it’s a dangerous world out there and they are not Glaives with armor and large weapons or Nanos with offensive and defensive esoteries. In other words, many Glints rely on the numenera to defend themselves.

Advanced Glints

A Glint might start out as a fast-talking con artist, but as they advance they might use their skills to gather companions and friends that travel with them. They make contacts and connections with the world, so that they always know what’s going on around them. Eventually they can predict the actions of others with astounding accuracy. They can sway or terrify large groups of people and even serve as a leader in a dangerous situation.

Glint Tiers

FIRST-TIER GLINT

First-tier Glints have the following abilities:
Effort: Your Effort is 1.
Physical Nature: You have an Intellect Edge of 1, a Might Edge of 0, and a Speed Edge of 0.
Cypher Use: You can bear two cyphers at a time.
Practiced With Light Weapons: You can use light weapons without penalty. If you wield a medium weapon, increase the difficulty of the attack by one step. If you wield a heavy weapon, increase it by two steps.
Interaction Skills: You are trained in two skills in which you are not already trained. Choose two of the following: deceiving, persuading, public speaking, seeing through deception, or intimidating. Enabler.
Starting Equipment: You start with stylish clothing and a light weapon of your choice, two cyphers (chosen for you by the GM), one oddity, and 9 shins (coins). If you start with a ranged weapon that requires ammunition (arrows, for example), you start with 12 of that type of ammunition. Before choosing your weapon and other gear, you might want to wait until after you’ve chosen your pronouncements, descriptor, and focus.
Pronouncements: Glints have a variety of special abilities that they can use called pronouncements. Almost all require that you can speak to use them. Unless otherwise described, if they affect another creature, that creature must be able to perceive and understand you. Some pronouncements specify a duration, but you can always end one of your own pronouncements anytime you wish. Choose two pronouncements from the abilities described below. You can’t choose the same ability more than once unless its description says otherwise.

• Coax Information (1 Intellect point): If you have a conversation with someone (lasting at least a minute), you can get that someone to give you some information you desire during the course of the conversation. If this information is extremely secret or vital, the difficulty may be higher than simply their level (likewise, if it is not very vital, it might be lower). Best of all, if you are successful, the person either doesn’t realize the information slipped out, or they are not alarmed that they gave it to you. Enabler.
• Connection With an Organization: You have a general connection with an important organization, such as the Order of Truth, the Angulan Knights, the Twelfth Ode (a criminal gang), the aristocracy of the region, a merchant guild, and so on. The difficulty of all tasks related to interacting with members of that group is decreased by one step. Further, you can use this connection to get help, lower prices on goods, or whatever is appropriate. You and the GM should work out the details together. You can choose this ability more than once, and choose a new organization each time. Enabler.
• Contact: You have an important contact who is in an influential position, such as a minor noble, the captain of the town guard, an Aeon Priest, or the head of a large gang of thieves. You and the GM should work out the details together. You can choose this ability more than once, and gain a new contact each time. Enabler.
• Encouragement (1 Intellect point): While you maintain this ability through ongoing inspiring oration, your allies within short range modify the difficulty of one of the following task types (your choice) by one step to their benefit: defense tasks, attack tasks, or tasks related to any skill that you are trained or specialized in. Action.
• Fast Talk (1 Intellect point): When speaking with an intelligent creature who can understand you and isn’t hostile, you convince that creature to take one reasonable action in the next round. A reasonable action should not put the creature or its allies in obvious danger or be wildly out of character, but it might be more than could be accomplished with a simple persuasion task. Action.
• Friendship (1 Intellect point): You convince a sentient creature to regard you positively, as they would a potential friend. You gain an asset in all future interactions with the creature until you give them a reason to no longer regard you well, at which point this effect ends (and may result in the difficulty of future interactions increasing by one step, because scorn is a powerful emotion). The affected creature isn’t “charmed” supernaturally—they are not compelled or controlled in any way. A target affected by this is simply more likely to perceive you as a friend if you give them a reason to believe this to be so. This isn’t enough to keep a hostile foe from attacking, but it can help in a subsequent interaction task to do that.
• Influence: You can, at a later date (in the course of play), leverage influence over an individual or even a group. Using this influence, the difficulty of tasks related to interacting with this individual or group is decreased by three steps. However, once you declare whom you have influence with, you cannot change it unless you select this ability again when you gain a new tier. Further, depending on the circumstances that you and the GM work out, the influence may be temporary. For example, you might have incriminating evidence over the mayor of a city about his lurid romantic affair with the chief constable. However, if that affair ends, so does your influence. Enabler.

SECOND-TIER GLINT

Second-tier Glints have the following abilities:
Pronouncements: Choose one of the following Glint pronouncements (or a pronouncement from a lower tier) to add to your repertoire. In addition, you can replace one of your first-tier pronouncements with a different first-tier pronouncement.

• Beast Companion: A level 2 creature of your size or smaller accompanies you and follows your instructions. You and the GM must work out the details of your creature. You’ll probably make rolls for it in combat or when it takes actions, although most of the time the companion will use its actions to provide an asset in whatever it is you are doing, if in a position and capable to do so. The beast companion acts on your turn. As a level 2 creature, it has a target number of 6 and a health of 6, and it inflicts 2 points of damage. Its movement is based on its creature type (avian, swimmer, and so on). If your beast companion dies, you can hunt in the wild for 1d6 days to find a new companion. You can take this ability more than once, each time gaining an additional companion or increasing the level of your existing companion by 2 (maximum level 6). Enabler.
• Calm Aggression (3 Intellect points): You can convince a hostile creature to refrain from taking violent action for one round. On your next action, you (or someone else) can attempt to convince the creature to refrain from being hostile longer-term, but if you fail, the creature acts as it wishes.
• False Identity (2 Intellect points): You make a very convincing argument to a sentient creature that you are someone else. The difficulty of this kind of deception is reduced by one step. This is useful when bluffing past a guard, or as the supplement to a physical disguise. If you apply a level of Effort, you gain an asset in any attempt to convince the creature that you are something else—a being of some other species. This almost certainly needs the supplement of a physical disguise. Enabler.
• Gather Intelligence (2 Intellect points): When in a group of people (a caravan, a palace, a village, a city) you can ask around about any topic you choose and come away with useful information. You can ask a specific question, or you can simply obtain general facts. You also get a good idea of the general layout of the location involved, note the presence of all major sites, and perhaps even notice obscure details. For example, not only do you find out if anyone in the palace has seen the missing boy, but you get a working knowledge of the layout of the palace itself, note all the entrances and which are used more often than others, and take notice that everyone seems to avoid the well in the eastern courtyard for some reason. This ability takes about an hour to use.
• *Impart Ideal (3 Intellect points): After interacting with another creature who can hear and understand you for at least one minute, you can attempt to temporarily impart an ideal to the target that you can’t otherwise convince it of. An ideal is different than a specific suggestion or command;an ideal is an overarching value such as “all life is sacred,” “my political party is the best,” “children should be seen, not heard,” and so on. An ideal influences a creature’s behavior but doesn’t control it. The imparted ideal lasts for as long as befits the situation, but usually at least a few hours. The implanted ideal is jeopardized if someone friendly to the creature spends a minute or more bringing the target back to its senses. Action.
• Personal Insight (2 Intellect points): You get an idea of what is wanted by a sentient creature that you have interacted with (or perhaps merely closely observed) for at least a few rounds. This might be their goal, one of their needs, or their orders. It might be long-term or immediate. The specifics vary from creature to creature. Although the use of this insight can take many forms, at the very least it can be an asset in future (non-combat) interactions with the creature, for as long as the insight remains true. Action.
• Skill With Defense: Choose one type of defense task in which you are not already trained: Might, Speed, or Intellect. You are trained in defense tasks of that type. You can select this pronouncement up to three times. Each time you select it, you must choose a different type of defense task. Enabler.

THIRD-TIER GLINT

Third-tier Glints have the following abilities:
Expert Cypher Use: You can bear three cyphers at a time.
Pronouncements: Choose one of the following Glint pronouncements (or a pronouncement from a lower tier) to add to your repertoire. In addition, you can replace one of your lower-tier pronouncements with a different lower-tier pronouncement.

• Companion: You gain a level 2 NPC companion who is completely devoted to you. You and the GM must work out the details of the companion. You’ll probably make rolls for it in combat or when it takes actions, although most of the time the companion will use its actions to provide an asset in whatever it is you are doing, if in a position and capable to do so. The companion acts on your turn. As a level 2 companion, it has a target number of 6 and a health of 6, and it inflicts 2 points of damage. If the companion dies, you gain a new one after at least two weeks and proper recruitment. You can take this ability more than once, each time gaining an additional companion or increasing the level of your existing companion by 2 (maximum 8). Enabler.
• Dangerous Personal Insight (3 Intellect points): If you interact with or study a sentient creature for at least a round, you gain an advantage over them in combat, having spotted a weakness or devised a viable tactic. You gain an asset on attacks made against that creature for 28 hours. Action.
• Further Personal Insight (3 Intellect points): If you have used Personal Insight on a creature, you can use this ability once at any later point to ask a question about how to get that creature to act in a desired manner. For example, “What do I have to do to draw the callerail out of the ravine so I can pass through?” “What can I do to convince the merchant to give me the key to the back entrance?” The answer assumes you are successful in any tasks in question (if you need to make a roll to imitate the roar of a jiraskar to get the callerail to leave, the answer assumes you succeed). The answer might also be out of your means, such as “bribe the merchant with a level 6 artifact” when you don’t currently have one. Still, the answer “you cannot” or even “you likely cannot” is a valid answer—and valuable information in its own right. Action.
• Group Friendship (3 Intellect points): You convince a sentient creature to regard you and up to ten creatures you designate that are within immediate distance of you positively, as they would a potential friend. Action.
• Oratory (4 Intellect points): When speaking with a group of intelligent creatures that can understand you and aren’t hostile, you convince them to take one reasonable action in the next round. A reasonable action should not put the creature or its allies in obvious danger or be wildly out of character. Action.
• Pay No Heed (4 Intellect points): You convince a creature that something it observed within the last round is nothing of import—even if it is dramatic or dangerous, like the collapse of a nearby wall, the theft of one of its items, or even the death of a companion. The complete effect lasts only one round. That is to say, the creature ignores the event for one round, and if presented with no further evidence that it happened, it is forgotten. But if after one round the creature cannot help but notice the result of the event (the collapsed remains of a wall, the absence of the item, or a nearby corpse), they react appropriately. Action.

FOURTH-TIER GLINT

Fourth-tier Glints have the following abilities:
Pronouncements: Choose one of the following Glint pronouncements (or a pronouncement from a lower tier) to add to your repertoire. In addition, you can replace one of your lower-tier pronouncements with a different lower-tier pronouncement.

• Blend In (4 Intellect points): Creatures still see you, but they attach no importance to your presence for about a minute. While blending in, you are specialized in stealth and Speed defense tasks. This effect ends if you do something to reveal your presence or position—attacking, using an ability, moving a large object, and so on. If this occurs, you can regain the remaining period of effect by taking an action to focus on seeming innocuous and as if you belong. Action to initiate or reinitiate.
• False Group Identity (4 Intellect points): You make a very convincing argument to a sentient creature that you and a group of up to ten creatures you designate are not who you truly are. The difficulty of this kind of deception is reduced by one step. This is useful when bluffing past a guard, or as the supplement to a physical disguise. If you apply a level of Effort, you gain an asset in any attempt to convince the target creature that you and the other creatures are something else—beings of some other species. This almost certainly needs the supplement of a physical disguise. Enabler.
• Feint (2 Speed points): If you spend one action creating a misdirection or diversion, in the next round you can take advantage of your opponent’s lowered defenses. Make a melee attack against that opponent. The difficulty of the roll is decreased by one step. If your attack is successful, it inflicts 4 additional points of damage. Action.
• Group Insight (4 Intellect points): You get an idea of what is wanted by a group of sentient creatures that you have interacted with for at least a few rounds. This might be their goal, one of their needs, or their orders. It might be long-term or immediate. The specifics vary from group to group. Although the use of this insight can take many forms, at the very least it can be an asset in future interactions with the creatures. Action.
• True Insight (4 Intellect points): If you have used Personal Insight on a creature, you can use this ability once at any later point and ask a question about how that creature will react in a hypothetical situation. For example, “If I ask the captain to sail the ship to Ancuan, what will she say?” “If we take away the prince’s biomechanical staff, what will he do then?” You always get as accurate an answer as possible. Action.

FIFTH-TIER GLINT

Fifth-tier Glints have the following abilities:
Adept Cypher Use: You can bear four cyphers at a time.
Pronouncements: Choose one of the following Glint pronouncements (or a pronouncement from a lower tier) to add to your repertoire. In addition, you can replace one of your lower-tier pronouncements with a different lower-tier pronouncement.

• Bond of Friendship (5 Intellect points): You help guide a long-term ally within immediate range to rely on the bonds of your friendship to help you work together. For the next hour, as long as you remain within immediate range, you each provide an asset to each other on all actions, you ignore movement penalties due to terrain, you each subtract 2 points from all damage suffered, and you each inflict 2 additional points of damage when you attack. You can use this ability in subsequent rounds on other friends, but you remain the central “hub” for all activity—all of them must remain within immediate range of you, regardless of the position of other friends. Action to initiate.
• Dangerous Group Insight (5 Intellect points): If you interact with or study a group of sentient creatures (all of which must be in short range) for at least a round, you gain an advantage over them in combat, having spotted a weakness or devised a viable tactic. You gain an asset on attack rolls made against any of those creatures for 28 hours. What’s more, if you use an action speaking with an ally about the group, that ally then gets the same asset. You can speak to one ally per action. Action.
• Network of Contacts: You have a large number of important contacts in influential or knowledgeable positions, spread out over all the regions where you’ve been in your career. Some of these contacts know each other and maintain lines of communication to you, regardless of where you are, as long as you’re with one of them. You and the GM should work out the details together. Enabler.
• Skill With Attacks: Choose one type of attack in which you are not already trained: light bashing, light bladed, light ranged, medium bashing, medium bladed, medium ranged, heavy bashing, heavy bladed, or heavy ranged. You are trained in attacks using that type of weapon. Enabler.
• Terrify (6 Intellect points): All non-allies within short distance who can hear your dreadful, intimidating words flee from you at top speed for one minute.

SIXTH-TIER GLINT

Sixth-tier Glints have the following abilities:
Pronouncements: Choose one of the following Glint pronouncements (or a pronouncement from a lower tier) to add to your repertoire. In addition, you can replace one of your lower-tier pronouncements with a different lower-tier pronouncement.

• Battle Management (6 Intellect points): You give orders or advice (requiring no action on your part) and the difficulty of attack and defense tasks by your allies within short range who can hear you is decreased by one step. This lasts for about a minute, but the allies must remain in range. Enabler.
• Coax the Crowd (7 Intellect points): You convince a large number of people—all within long range—to change a belief and take a long-term action or set of actions. For example, you might convince them to turn against the queen and storm the castle, or welcome a group of visitants as friends in the community. This takes about ten minutes to accomplish, during which time you can’t be seriously interrupted or the attempt automatically fails.
• Complete Lunacy (6 Intellect points): You convince an intelligent creature to do something that they would never normally do, short of outright killing themselves (although they might do something obviously dangerous) or committing violence against someone or something they love. You could convince the duke to take off his clothes and run around his castle. You could convince an Aeon Priest to give over her most valuable numenera device. This isn’t mind control—they’re actually convinced it’s the right thing to do and will believe so long after they’ve done it. Action.
• Inspiration (6 Intellect points): You speak words of encouragement and inspiration, and all allies within short range who can hear you immediately gain a recovery roll, gain an immediate free action, and have an asset for that free action. The recovery roll does not count as one of their normal recovery rolls. Action.
• True Understanding (5 Intellect points): You take the full measure of a creature after spending at least ten minutes interacting with or closely observing it. From that point onward, the difficulty of all tasks related to interacting with or contending with that creature is reduced by three steps. Enabler.

GLINT BACKGROUND

When you’re a Glint, you’re more than just someone with “people skills.” You wield the ability to change minds, and thus societies—and even shift the tide of history. Something in your background explains these unique talents, whether it is genetics, enhancements, training, or something else. Choose one of those three options described below as the source of your skills, knowledge, and abilities (or create your own). This choice will provide the foundation of your background and give you an idea of how you can improve. The game master (GM) can use this information to develop adventures and quests that are specific to your character and play a role in your advancement.

GLINT CONNECTION

Your type helps determine some connection you have to the setting. Roll a d20 or choose from the list to determine a specific fact about your background that provides a connection to the rest of the world. You can also create your own fact.

GLINT EXAMPLE

Tammie wants to create a Glint. She puts 4 of her additional points into her Intellect Pool and 2 into her Speed Pool; her stat Pools are now Might 8, Speed 11, and Intellect 15. As a first-tier character, her Effort is 1, her Might Edge and Speed Edge are 0, and her Intellect Edge is 1. She’s smart and charismatic, but not particularly tough. Tammie chooses the pronouncements Fast Talk and Encouragement to help get into places and aid her friends. As her Interaction Skills, she chooses deceiving and persuading—she really wants to be able to influence people to get them to do what she wants. A Glint starts with two cyphers, and the GM chooses an injector that will harden the skin for an hour and add +2 to Armor as well as a ray projector that fires a beam of powerful heat that inflicts 5 points of damage. Tammie decides that her character also carries a dagger, but keeps it hidden in her boot. She doesn’t want anyone to know she’s armed. As a light weapon, it inflicts 2 points of damage but reduces the difficulty of attacks by one step. Tammie chooses Charming for her descriptor, really focusing on maximizing her persuasive abilities. Charming increases her Intellect Pool to 17. She’s trained in all positive social interactions, which means she’s actually specialized in most of those kinds of activities (thanks to the skills she took). She also gains a contact, and she and the GM work out that it is the priestess of a local religion with a lot of clout in the community. However, her descriptor gives her an inability in both resisting mental attacks and lore or knowledge tasks, which means that while she’s charismatic, her high Intellect Pool doesn’t mean she’s necessarily strong willed or well-educated. For her focus, Tammie chooses Works Miracles. This is really the final piece of the puzzle for figuring this character out—she’s not a con artist, she’s a religious figure. She can use her abilities to not only further help her friends, but also ingratiate herself to others. She’s not going to be much in a fight, but she’s hoping she can talk her way out of most such situations.