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Message: <blockquote data-quote="EzekielRaiden" data-source="post: 9084226" data-attributes="member: 6790260">Then why can't we have a "credibility test" for GMs that likewise casts them in the worst possible light?And I did not. I found most of them reaching at least a little bit, and some actively unfair.Not really. While there is always room for conflict between rival houses and different nationalities and the like, class identity has always been a factor in human economic, social, and political structure. Aristocracy generally recognizes fellow aristocracy, even if only to disparage or "put them in their place" etc. Like, let's look at the actual text here.It seems quite clear to me that, from this text, a broad interpretation is intended. You aren't just welcome among the aristocracy of your specific Lichtenstein-sized country. "You are welcome in high society, and people assume you have the right to be wherever you are." That's painting in extremely broad strokes. "Other people of high birth treat you as a member of the same social sphere." That is essentially identical to my statements above about class identity. Aristocracy recognizes aristocracy.Now, I could absolutely see this resulting in a delicate diplomatic dance required to secure a proper audience with a local noble in the City of Brass. I could see it being that this merely gets you the proverbial foot in the door, because genies can be picky and capricious. But it sure as hell should not just be, "Nope, that only applies to the duchy you came from. You get nothing from anyone else." As Soviet said, getting an audience does not at all mean you get what you want out of said audience. The genie might just gloat, or use it to exploit the PC, and I have an example that cashed out as exactly that.Note, as usual, this isn't 5e. But it's what I would do in any D&D game with something like this, e.g. a 4e character with the Noble Scion Background or Noble Theme.[SPOILER]PCs needed a favor from a Jinnistani noble (essentially, getting fake papers for a moderately large group of people that would pass muster in most places, so no one would ask where these people really came from.) They got a proper diplomatic appointment and went to Mount Matahat, an earth-genie court in Jinnistan co-ruled by four children, two sisters and two brothers, of the original ruler of that place, who take turns being the Padishah Sultan(a) for 200 years at a time. Kavur, the elder brother, wanted to supplant his older sister Malikah early by getting the court collectively to raise a vote of no confidence about her leadership. But he did not tell the party this. Instead, he said he wanted to keep his involvement in their stuff quiet, so he would help them if they helped him with something first--and to do that, they would go to his younger brother Zubayr and help him with something, and ask as their boon that they be able to attend an upcoming masquerade ball. The party did this, got their invite and fancy clothes, and attended the party.Thing is, this whole thing was a set-up from the beginning. Kavur knew that someone was going to be murdered at the party and that the murder would be framed on one or more visiting nobles. He sent the PCs there as perfectly deniable assets whose positions would be carefully monitored so they would be unquestionably innocent of the murder, and thus poised to aid in solving the mystery. But, more or less no matter what happened, Kavur stood to benefit:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">If his agents failed to solve the crime, his sister would commit a diplomatic incident, allowing him to exploit the chaos to secure his position in preparation for a slightly delayed no-confidence vote.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">If his  agents "solved" the crime by identifying the wrong culprit, he could then swoop in, reveal that this was wrong, and thus prove his sister had improperly trusted outside foreigners, enabling the no-confidence vote.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">If his agents did truly solve the crime, his sister would be made to look incredibly weak--not only allowing a member of her court to be killed, but getting deceived into risking a diplomatic incident in the process. By revealing his part in ensuring the problem was resolved, he could force a no-confidence vote almost immediately.</li> </ul>The best result was, of course, correctly solving the crime, but even an abject failure would serve his needs because of plausible deniability. That's why he agreed to help them in the first place; it was practically impossible for them to cause him harm and very possible (indeed, it actually happened) for them to give him a significant boost.[/SPOILER]That's the kind of thing you can get from a cunning, ruthless, amoral noble "granting" an audience to a fellow individual of good breeding and better sense. That's the power of saying "yes" and doing something new and better and dangerous with it, rather than finding a reason to say no because it is inconvenient or too much effort or not on the rails you've set.Or you can just do the incredibly easy thing of, "I don't really want to give you that audience, so I'm just going to say no because your features, no matter how generally worded, just don't apply." That's a thing you can do, I guess.</blockquote>

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