Mind Scan ranges and targeting question

[DasBroot]

Good afternoon,

 

How does Mind Scan's targeting area actually work in 6e? 

 

If a character on earth wanted to mind scan the International Space Station, for example, would they need to overcome the -20 penalty (Earth's population) since it's in the area or does the line "The character defines the area he wishes to scan, then attempts an MCV Attack Roll against the DMCV of the target mind." allow them to exclude the earth and just pick the station (provided they at least have a reasonable idea of where it is)? 

 

(If it's the latter then hiding out on a moon base is probably the worst idea a supervillain could have)

[Steve Long]

The issue of “defining the area to be Scanned” is one that’s left to the GM to handle with common sense, dramatic, and game balance sense. He should consider the following guidelines:

 

—the area should be a fairly simple geometric shape, usually a circle. It shouldn’t look like a gerrymandered congressional district, nor should it have “hollow spaces” or unaffected areas in the middle.

 

—the area shouldn’t be defined in such a way as to wreck the scenario and ruin everyone’s fun. Just like most GMs won’t let characters use Retrocognition or Telepathy to solve murder mysteries instantly, they probably won’t let characters use Mind Scan to find a villain (suspect, source of information, hot date...) instantly if finding the villain is a key element of the scenario.

 

In the case of the scenario you describe — scanning an orbiting space station, or the Moon — the following considerations also apply:

 

—6E1 261 restricts Mind Scan to a planetary level as a general rule; it specifically states that a character on Earth cannot Mind Scan the Moon. Whether Scanning for a mind in orbit is permissible is up to the GM, who may consider the region of geosynchronous orbit to be part of Earth as a whole (and thus require a Scan of the planetary population).

 

—the International Space Station travels at the rate of about 5 miles per second, and other orbiting objects are also quite fast. Whatever area the character can reasonably define may not be enough to complete a Scan before the ISS is out of the area (or the GM may impose a penalty reflecting the high velocity).