Persuasion, redux

I wrote previously about my rules on persuasion, a set of rules designed around brokering deals. In my last running, the party was asked to relieve the sadness of the inhabitant of a mysterious tower. My players were unaware of the rules, and I totally neglected to teach them to my players. As I was thinking about it, I came up with a different approach that feels cleaner, well-differentiated from combat, and also far more specific.

I already have a deck of cards as part of my running materials, as we play blackjack whenever my players gamble. That let me to think about other ways I could use the cards during play, and the application to persuasion came in one of those post-midnight flashes of insight. The following approach is indebted to the Russian card game дурак and Zak Sabbath's use of the tarot deck in Demon City.

These rules come into effect whenever the players make a reasonable request of an NPC. Reasonable here means the request is not inherently absurd, impossible, etc. Asking a city watch member to let the party pass is a reasonable request, while asking an innkeeper to believe the party are incarnated gods is not.

Representing the NPC's resistance to the suggestion, the Facilitator will draw, facedown, a number of cards from the deck equal to the NPC's Ascetic tier (1 for Novice, 2 for Apprentice, and so on). The first card drawn represents the NPC's fundamental resistance to the request. If an ace, the attempt fails. If not an ace, the card's suit determines the trump for that person. The player's Grokist skill then allows them to flip cards over, in the order the Facilitator drew them (one card revealed per Grokist tier).

The requesting player will then draw a number of cards equal to their Orator tier, reflecting the arguments available to them at the moment. The player must then choose a number of their cards to play against the NPC's resistance. If they can't match the number of NPC cards, the check immediately fails. If they can match the number of cards, the Facilitator will reveal all of the NPC's cards. In order to succeed, the player must be able to "beat" every displayed card.

In order to beat a card, the player's card must match suit and have equal or greater numerical value (aces are high) or belong to the trump suite.

Each suite corresponds to a persuasion tactic, and the trump suite reflects the strategy to which the NPC is most vulnerable.
Hearts - charm or seduce
Diamonds - bribe
Spades - rationalize
Clubs - threaten

Accordingly, the players can modify some of their cards.
Hearts and Spades values are immutable, but the player may discard a card (either played or unplayed) to change the suite of a card within color (heart to diamond) or to raise an immutable card's value as though it were the other suite (increasing a spade through the mechanic used to increase a club).
Diamond values are increased through spending money. Playing a diamond card requires an initial investment based upon the day rate of the current city, and doubling that amount increases the value of the diamond by 1.
Club values are increased by the persuading character's companions. Each companion with at least 1 rank in Combatant can be used to increase a club's value by 1, once (that is, if the player needs to increase two different clubs by 1, their character need two companions, one per card). However, the number of companions unused must always exceed the NPC's number of companions (if attempting to persuade 4 guards, the persuading character must have more than 4 companions to spend them increasing club values).

If the player beats the NPC's cards, the NPC accedes to the request. If the player fails, the consequences depend upon the undefeated cards.

Hearts leave the NPC embittered towards the PC, and the value on the card represents the feeling's intensity. A number card (2-10) indicates the number of days the NPC will remember the incident - anytime the party encounters the NPC's faction, that NPC will be present and interfere as much as possible (all tests are hard).
Jack: the NPC hires a band of imposters to tarnish the party's reputation.
Queen: the NPC hires a band of brigands to waylay the party and take their stuff.
King: the NPC targets the party's followers and hirelings, forcing them to make a morale roll. If they fail, their morale increases by 1.
Ace: the NPC allies with an enemy of the party or becomes a new antagonist.
Diamond failures require the party to pay through the nose to avoid the Hearts result. The value on the card equals the number of doublings of the daily rate required to assuage the NPC (so, a 4 of Diamonds means the players must pay 16 * the daily rate). The Jack, Queen, King, and Ace are equal in value to 11, 12, 13, and 14, respectively.
Clubs make the NPC belligerent. For number cards (2-10), if the NPC has Combatant ranks, roll 1d10. If the result is less than the number, the NPC and their group attacks until someone has taken an injury or another group of individuals intervenes. If the NPC does not have Combatant ranks, they will find someone who does. The number on the card equals the number of people they find interested in teaching the party a lesson.
Jack: the NPC trashes the party's lodgings.
Queen: the NPC motivates a new faction to take action against the party.
King:the NPC attempts to kidnap someone about whom the party cares.
Ace: the NPC commits everything they have into subduing the party.
Undefeated spades neutralize the player's cards. A number card removes a player's card of lesser numerical value (player's choice).
Jack: neutralizes two cards below Jack
Queen: neutralizes three cards below Queen
King: neutralizes four cards below Queen
Ace: neutralizes all cards and copies the penalty of the highest red card.

Final notes
If there are multiple failures of the same suit, all penalties stack if possible. For clubs, roll for each card. Each additional roll indicating combat attracts an additional fighter to the fray.
NPCs with no ranks in Ascetic cannot defend with face cards or aces - if such a card is drawn, return it to the deck and draw again. This ensures there aren't inordinate penalties to interacting someone without the actual capacity to hinder the party.
Shuffle the Jokers into the deck. If the Joker is trump, the NPC agrees to the request immediately. Any card defeats a defending Joker, and Jokers cannot be played to defeat other cards.
Until the consequence of the persuasion attempt has occurred and a new day has begun, the party may not attempt to persuade the same person(s) again.