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Opposition is a number ranging from 0 to 5 which measures the general state of the relationship and level of trust between two individuals. It fluxes slightly with regard to the individuals feelings on your manner of appeal.
Check out the Opposition Complications, at the bottom.
This is the, in theory, the most common level of opposition. It represents a mark who simply doesn't really care. He isn't particularly against you, and doesn't honestly have any deeply ingrained problems with your arguement, he just doesn't have any reason to care or otherwise do what it is that your asking.
Most Extras will fall into this level of opposition, but usually people with this level of opposition won't even fall into this system. These interactions should usually just be roleplayed out, especially for heroic Exalted games. In these cases, roleplaying should generally include an attempt to get the uninterested character to listen to you and then convince him to do whatever it is your attempting to do. Only bother to actually roll out the appeal if its Magnitude is 3 or higher.
This is the more practical lower limit of opposition, simply because it represents the first level where you will actually be opposed. People at this opposition level just don't like you, or they don't like what it is your suggesting. They probably don't even trust the words your saying and might very well find this entire appeal somewhat suspect. They don't, however, have any real personal reasons for this. An example would be a haughty noble who considers beggers as beneath him, but doesn't really have anything against this specific begger.
This level of opposition generally just makes things a little harder, but not hugely so. The most notable change over Opposition 0 is that it requires two successes to work minor Magnitude 1 appeals on these individuals.
With this level of opposition, your not just facing a general dislike. Whomever your mark is generally and specifically doesn't like you, and is notably less likely to do much more than tell you the time of day due to this fact. This is somewhat more than just a general distaste, but not quite up to the level of actual hate, and the reasons for this can often times be somewhat petty or even specific. In particular, its notably difficult to make an appeal over Magnitude 1 at this level of opposition. An example of someone with this level of opposition is an old jilted lover or a long-time sibling with whom you have an antagonistic relationship.
Though its affect on the lowest appeals remains the same, with Magnitude 1 appeals still only requiring two successes, this level of opposition truly shows at the higher levels when you need 4 or five successes to successfully make an impact.
This is the level of true enmity, not just dislike but an actual persona vendetta. The character personally and intensely dislikes you, but in addition considers your goals and aims to be in opposition to his own. He is, in short, an enemy. These relationships tend to be fairly dry and passionless, and individuals at this level perhaps could get past their issues if the problems that keep them apart could be solved. An example of someone with this level of opposition is a old jaded self-interested Dragon-Blooded, or a long-standing rival with whom you have a long history of bad blood.
This level of opposition makes interactions notably harder, especially if one uses the Opposition Switching rule below (which is recommmended). The character can ignore you simply based on your enmity for the lower Magnitude appeals, and his opposition makes more impressive appeals legendarily difficult.
This is the most common upper limit of opposition, and represents truly passionate enmity mixed in with a solid level of bitter hate. The mark doesn't just oppose you on general principle or because your goals cross, at this level it's really personal. This is the level of opposition reserved for extremely bad blood, bitter betrayal, and true loathing. Often times Appeals at this level of Opposition are difficult simply because the mark would rather attempt to kill you as opposed to chat. An example of someone with this level of opposition is an idealistic young Dragon-Blooded in the Wyld Hunt, or a ex-lover who deeply hurt and betrayed you during a moment of weakness.
When you reach this level, appeals start off fairly hard and just climb up higher. With a stunt it can require seven successes simply to talk to someone with whom you have this level of opposition, and it just scales up from there!
This is a truly epic level of opposition, and is rather rare on a personal relationship level. More often a characters level of opposition raises to this level because of his feelings toward a specific arguement that a particularly detested enemy is making. In these cases, even getting the character to listen to you can be a legendary endeavor! There are a few examples of actual long-standing Opposition levels at this level however. Most Immaculate Monks are conditioned to have Opposition 5 with regard to the entreaties of the Anathema, and the Demons of Malfaes are not unlikely to have this level of Opposition with regard to the entreaties of the creatures of Creation, unless those arguements are carefully structured so as to appeal to their specific nature.
In general, this is the opposition level of truly epic social feats. With stunts it can require a maximum of 14 successes to affect an enemy of this level with appeals, and Counter-Arguements can make this even more difficult. With strategic use of Swapping Opposition, the successes required for appeals start at 5 and just get higher and higher.
Opposition Swapping:
Sometimes you really don't want to do something for somebody, not because of what they are asking but because you just donn't like them. Opposition Swapping is for those times, as it represents a defense based not on what is being asked but on who is making the appeal.
Whenever you swap your opposition, you lower the Magnitude by 1 and switch the primary function of both values. Now your Opposition score forms the base threshold, which you add your Magnitude to, but cannnot more than double. This is most commonly used when people you really hate ask you to do very insignificant things. Normally the threshold to convince someone to listen to you is 2, at most, but a Solar trying to get an Immaculate Monk to listen to him might have to deal with a Threshold of 5 or higher!
Opposition Flux:
In general, Opposition is fairly stable, representing the general level of distaste between two individuals and this is how it is described above. However, this value is calculated for each individual appeal based on its circumstances. Some appeals might make an individual more or less opposed to the character making them, and this is representing by providing a bonus or a penality of one point to the Opposition rating. This might even raise to two points in some situations, but that level of change will likely be low.
This Flux only occurs due to the actual nature of the appeal, not the nature of what is being asked of the mark. I.e., raise the opposition if a begger tries to get a Dynast to give him some coins by faking an illness when the Dynast is paranoid about Deathknights and their plague magic. He's notably more opposed to an appeal made via plague than he would be against a similar appeal of the same nature that was made via war injuries rendering the begger an invalid. Individual fluctations in the nature of what is being given are better reflected by modifying the Magnitude, not the Opposition.
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