Bunch of Mental Power questions.

[Kdansky]

in this http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?p=573587#post573587 thread, we were talking about mental powers. I will sum up the questions:

 

All examples use the following:

- Mindthief, a character with Telepathy, Mind Scan (about 193874 AP), EGO attack and Mind Control, he hates Dude.

- Dude, a character without any importance, very gullible, thinks he's a friend of Mindthief.

- OtherGuy: an ally of mindthief.

- Egoguard: Dude's friend, he has Mental Awareness.

 

1. If Mindthief wants to talk to Otherguy, he can first mind scan for him (entire planet, etc etc), then use Telepathy.

1a: Does Otherguy know who is using Telepathy against him and can he lower his ECV accordingly? Or do they need to arrange a certain time ("I'll contact you at 06:10.00, do not block me, please")

1b: will his ECV be lowered against all powers Mindthief uses?

1c: will his ECV be lowered against all mental powers from anyone?

1d: How long will he need to lower his ECV? Just 1 phase?

1e: can Otherguy choose to NOT roll the breakout so Mindthief can stay in contact for as long as he likes without paying end?

 

2. Mindthief is contacting Dude, who lowered his ECV.

2a: Can Mindthief change the telepathy level and dig up something without Dude knowing/wanting to do that?

2b: Can Mindthief use Mindcontrol / EGO Attack on Dude's 0 (?) ECV?

ac: Can Mindthief have an open connection to Dude AND Otherguy at the same time (we think yes )

 

3. If Mindthief is Mindscanning for Dude, finds him and opens a telepathy channel, can he drop Mindscanning? If he's using a deep telepathy, he'll have a targeting sense established anyway.

 

4. Mindthief is in telepathic contact to Dude.

4a: Mindthief is paying end. Can Egoguard sense him? Is that targeting (even if mindthief is 2913847 km away)

4b: Mindthief is not paying end (but Dude rolls bad on breakouts). Can Egoguard sense him? Is that targeting (even if mindthief is 2913847 km away)

 

5. (This is a blatant copy of TRL's post)

I voluntarily lower my mental defences to allow ThoughtThief to communicate telepathically with me (I know: the name should have been a give away...but I have gullible (Psych Lim, common, strong)). He gets to the EGO + 30 level (he rolled 30). I then sense him trying to read my thoughts and slam my defences back up. I have EGO 20 and 20 points of mental defence. A was acting as if I had EGO 0 and no mental defence. What happens to the telepathy?

 

1. It remains in place at the EGO + 30 level

1.a ...but you get a new breakout roll based on the 'new' defences

2. It remains in place at the EGO + 10 level

2.a ...but you get a new breakout roll based on the 'new' defences

3. It is automatically broken as he would have needed at least 40 points of effect to get me at all with defences up

4. Something else

 

Some questions might be redundant (or depending on each other), but I'd like to be perfectly and completely sure

This should go into Errata/FaQ I think

[Steve Long]

Re: Bunch of Mental Power questions.

 

1.

A. See 5ER 116 and 119.

B-C. A character who chooses to lower his ECV chooses to do so for one particular power used by one particular person. Other powers used by that person, and any power used by another person, work against the character’s full DECV — unless he chooses to lower it as to them.

D. If a character chooses to lower his ECV so a friendly person can more easily use a Mental Power on him, his ECV remains lowered as to that person for that power for the entire Segment in which he chose to lower his ECV and the other character “attacked” him.

E. No, that would be abusive. A character who’s subject to Mental Powers cannot refuse to make his Breakout Rolls. The GM may choose to alter this rule in the interest of common sense, dramatic sense, and considerations of game balance. If a character wants his Telepathy to cost 0 END, he should pay for the appropriate Advantage.

 

At the GM’s option, a character who would prefer not to succeed with his Breakout Rolls may voluntarily lower his EGO to decrease the roll. However, doing so lowers his EGO for all purposes and power as to all attackers — in short, it leaves him vulnerable to other mental attacks.

 

 

2.

A. No. See 5ER 119.

B. No; see 1B-C.

C. A character can use Telepathy on two or more characters at once, provided he establishes the Telepathy on each one separately (e.g., uses an Attack Action to make an Attack Roll, succeeds with that roll, victim doesn’t break out, and so forth), that he pays all END costs associated with each use as appropriate, and satisfies all Limitations (if any) on the Telepathy. However, if Character A maintains Telepathy with both Character B and Character C, it creates no mental linkage or connection between B and C.

 

3. If a character uses Mind Scan to locate a target for a Mental attack or power, and does not have Line Of Sight to that target, if he stops using Mind Scan for any reason (or if the target succeeds with a roll to break out of the Mind Scan) then any powers maintained or used through the Mind Scan lock-on instantly stop working when the Mind Scan stops working.

 

4A-B. See 5ER 163.

 

5. If a character voluntarily chooses to lower his ECV and/or Mental Defense to allow another character easy access to his mind, he cannot thereafter “reactivate” his ECV or his Mental Defense unless his attacker does something to change the nature/use of the Mental Power (e.g., trying to alter the level of effect, feeding the power END to keep the Breakout Roll from improving). Having chosen to expose himself to the attack, the character has to live with the consequences of his actions. The GM may choose to alter this rule in the interest of common sense, dramatic sense, and considerations of game balance.