Accent impersonation help

[UmbraLux]

When it comes to what skill to use, I generally ask the players to 'convince me' if it's not an obvious choice.  If one wants to use Performance to display his accent while another wants to use Deceit, I'll allow both as long as they have a logical reason.  No real need to draw hard and fast lines between skills in every case, sometimes a reason and willingness to 'make do' should be enough.

[Orladdin]

When it comes to what skill to use, I generally ask the players to 'convince me' if it's not an obvious choice.  If one wants to use Performance to display his accent while another wants to use Deceit, I'll allow both as long as they have a logical reason.  No real need to draw hard and fast lines between skills in every case, sometimes a reason and willingness to 'make do' should be enough.

^  This, exactly.

I would knee-jerk say that performance is what you'd use for faking accents.  People suggesting deceit seems reasonable, to me, too, but itsn't my initial conclusion.

What really bugs the shit out of me, though, is everyone saying performance is simply for painting and stage acting and is good for absolutely nothing else.  I'm not even an actor and I balk at your small-mindedness.  Come on, guys, really?

[Sanctaphrax]

What really bugs the shit out of me, though, is everyone saying performance is simply for painting and stage acting and is good for absolutely nothing else.  I'm not even an actor and I balk at your small-mindedness.  Come on, guys, really?

I don't think anyone actually said that.

PS: The OP here asked about disguising herself as an American person. That's a pretty clear use of Deceit. Acting out an American character on stage would be a different thing.

[Orladdin]

What really bugs the shit out of me, though, is everyone saying performance is simply for painting and stage acting and is good for absolutely nothing else.  I'm not even an actor and I balk at your small-mindedness.  Come on, guys, really?

I don't think anyone actually said that.

There!  Right there you did it \/

... Acting out an American character on stage would be a different thing.

Lying is one thing.  Acting is another.  Whether or not it's on-stage is irrelevant.  It's all in how your character approaches it and how they flavor it. 

For example, let us say you killed the Summer Knight in a Canadian train station at noon.  On the way out, some gruffs wander through, looking for the culprit.  You throw on an Old Glory t-shirt and pick up a news paper.  They stroll up and start asking you questions.
If they ask you the time, and you make it seem like your from the U.S. instead of Canada, your answer is covered by performance. 
If they straight-up ask you if you killed the Summer Knight, your answer is most likely covered by deceit. 
If they ask you the time and you intentionally tell them the wrong time, your answer is covered by deceit.
If they ask you if you are a U.S. citizen and you roll your eyes, gesture to your shirt and say, "what do you think?!" it's covered by performance. 
If you say "yes," it's deceit.

Performance is flavoring, deceit is lies.  Suggesting performance only applies in an art studio or on a stage essentially makes the skill worthless-- it becomes that cooking skill that has been bantered about for a while now:  Far too situational for nearly any player-character to take.

[Mr. Death]

So, I'm reading through the rulebook, and Performance has a stunt to mimic someone's "mannerisms and voice" instead of Deceit. That would seem to indicate that an accent with intent to fool someone--which Performance is not, as generally the people in the audience know you're not really Henry VIII--would fall under Deceit.

[Sanctaphrax]

You use Performance for art. Which can be useful for maneuvers in social scenes. It also modifies public speaking. And it can be used as a specialized knowledge skill.

I most certainly did not say that Performance is only good for painting and stage acting.

Skills do what their trappings say they do. The trappings of Performance are Composition, Art Appreciation, Playing To An Audience, and Creative Communication. None of these include disguise.

Sure, acting is similar to disguise. But there are also arts that are similar to Craftsmanship and Fists. You should not let Performance do everything that's similar to some branch of art.

I've found the skill plenty useful without any such nonsense.

[Orladdin]

So, I'm reading through the rulebook, and Performance has a stunt to mimic someone's "mannerisms and voice" instead of Deceit. That would seem to indicate that an accent with intent to fool someone--which Performance is not, as generally the people in the audience know you're not really Henry VIII--would fall under Deceit.

Wow, really?  That's surprising.  Well, don't I have egg on my face!

I can't look at the books right now, but I certainly feel silly if that's true.  It's also a little unfortunate from the design perspective, I think, as it makes the performance skill paper-thin.

Ah, well.  I stand corrected.  Thanks guys.

[Richard_Chilton]

The text of the stunt is:
Impersonator: Given a few hours to study someone’s behavior and modes of speech, you may imitate their mannerisms and voice, using Performance instead of Deceit to convince someone you are that person. Without strongly controlling the circumstances (e.g., impersonating someone over the phone), such impersonations won’t last very long. If combined with the Makeup Artist stunt (page 151) and plenty of preparation, you may use either Performance or Deceit to pull off a full impersonation, using the better skill for all relevant rolls and getting a +1 against Investigation rolls trying to penetrate the disguise.
----
Interestingly enough, Makeup Artist is a Deceit stunt.

Richard