How far can you take a mentalist?

[Demonsong]

How far can you take a mentalist?

Disolification (sp)? Would it be going too far; if in a Super Heroic Campaign for a Mentalist to describe the ability to turn ones self in to a body of pure mental energy. I know it’s a Supers Campaign but I try to stay believable and in character. And since this power would be going in to a multi-power with other psionic abilities I want your input as to how far out the power would be.

Thanks

[pinecone]

Short answer...why not? Especially if hes got Teleport powers,he just fades out but goes nowhere...

[OddHat]

The Wildcards series of books explained all Super Powers as manifestations of psionics, and they're the closest to a "realistic" super-hero setting out there. If he pays the points and you don't mind having someone with Desolidification in the game, no problem.

[Old Man]

I don't see why not. Just make sure it has an acceptable vulnerability.

[Mordacius]

How far can you take a mentalist?
This depends on two factors:
- Are there any campaign restrictions on psi powers, because you guys are trying to do a particular setting? (For example, nobody but nobody could have this power in Babylon 5 HERO.)

- Are there any campaign restrictions against buying Desolid? (It is a potential game breaker, so some GMs won't want to deal with it.)

If nobody cares about those two things, *anything* can be defined as a mental power, if you spin it right - as seen in the aforementioned Wild Cards example. :)

BTW: Julian May's Saga of Pliocene Exile is another good example of people getting outright superpowers that are entirely psionic - a couple of characters in it probably qualify for very fit VPPs.

[MisterD]

I myself try to (but might fail once or twice) to NOT make a mentalist a jack of all trades type character. THat is for a Mage/Gageteer type character in my mind.

What is the theme, focus, source of the character's psionic powers?

A bunch of TK abilities and becomming pure thought.
THat I do not see.
A bunch of Telepathic abilities and becoming pure thought.
That I see.

Having.... Ooops. that is a character I am working on and might post soon for critique before puting it on my site.

[Rene]

Speaking of Wild Cards, the Astronomer (a major bad guy) is a mentalist with a extremely varied array of telepathic/telekinetic abilities. He can turn insubstantial.

[SilverMarble]

You might want to take a look at the Effectiveness Rating from DH#3 (I Think). We use it in our campaigns and it workes flawlessly. As far as restricting superpowers in a normal Champions Universe, I think that it falls to the player to describe the special effects. There are many ways to describe how a mentalist goes desolid, e.g. the character could excite the atoms in their body to a point where they are effictively desolid through some sort of fine work TK special effects. But please check out the ER in DH#3, I think it will give you the opportunity not to have to judge wether or not a character can have a specific power.