Telepathy

[Vestnik]

Yo, peeps,

 

I'm building a character with telepathy. Nothing fancy, just the ability to communicate mentality. But in 5th edition rules, as far as I can tell, the power is set up as an offensive power for which you have to make an attack role, exceed EGO by a certain amount and so forth. I just want the character to be able to communicate mentally with people who wish to do so, and not drag out hidden thoughts. (The character is effectively mute, as speaking entails effects similar to those of the Inhuman guy whose name I can't remember. Blackvolt?)

 

Am I missing something? Do I really need to make an attack roll every time I want to chat with my friends? Thanks much, o Hero gurus!

[archermoo]

Re: Telepathy

 

Yo, peeps,

 

I'm building a character with telepathy. Nothing fancy, just the ability to communicate mentality. But in 5th edition rules, as far as I can tell, the power is set up as an offensive power for which you have to make an attack role, exceed EGO by a certain amount and so forth. I just want the character to be able to communicate mentality with people who wish to do so, and not drag out hidden thoughts. (The character is effectively mute, as speaking entails effects similar to those of the Inhuman guy whose name I can't remember. Blackvolt?)

 

Am I missing something? Do I really need to make an attack roll every time I want to chat with my friends? Thanks much, o Hero gurus!

 

Sounds like Mind Link is more what you are looking for then.

[Greywind]

Re: Telepathy

 

Mind Link, small group.

[Vestnik]

Re: Telepathy

 

Mind Link' date=' small group.[/quote']

 

But then the character could not broadcast a message to a crowd. Basically, I want the same effect as speaking, but telepathically.

[Greywind]

Re: Telepathy

 

Fast and easy, special effects for him talking.

[Comic]

Re: Telepathy

 

When you say telepathically, you mean that if his mouth is covered, there are loud noises, there is darkness to hearing or the audience have been hearing flashed, then the voice still carries?

 

Also, you mean if the audience is unwilling to hear, they can shut out the voice, or not?

 

Does mental defense (or anything) prevent the voice being heard?

 

Can the speaker voluntarily and reliably choose to speak to a single target or a group?

 

Is the target area geographic, or psychic? (IE can only communicate with people within the same room, vs can communicate with 'all teammates everywhere'?)

[Sean Waters]

Re: Telepathy

 

If we assume that normal people are capable of 'hearing' a mental voice, and your character is capable of detecting their mental conversation:

 

Detect A Class Of Things: mental chatter 11- (Mental Group), Discriminatory, Increased Arc Of Perception (360 Degrees), Sense, Transmit 19 points

[Dr. Anomaly]

Re: Telepathy

 

If we assume that normal people are capable of 'hearing' a mental voice, and your character is capable of detecting their mental conversation:

 

Detect A Class Of Things: mental chatter 11- (Mental Group), Discriminatory, Increased Arc Of Perception (360 Degrees), Sense, Transmit 19 points

 

The problem with this build is that only other telepaths could hear him, though; the 'transmit' won't do a thing to get his 'voice' to those who don't have a way to 'hear' him (don't have some kind of mental sense).

[Sean Waters]

Re: Telepathy

 

The problem with this build is that only other telepaths could hear him' date=' though; the 'transmit' won't do a thing to get his 'voice' to those who don't have a way to 'hear' him (don't have some kind of mental sense).[/quote']

 

That rather depends on how drunk you get the GM before running this little baby past him.

 

 

What?

[Vestnik]

Re: Telepathy

 

When you say telepathically, you mean that if his mouth is covered, there are loud noises, there is darkness to hearing or the audience have been hearing flashed, then the voice still carries?

 

Also, you mean if the audience is unwilling to hear, they can shut out the voice, or not?

 

Does mental defense (or anything) prevent the voice being heard?

 

Can the speaker voluntarily and reliably choose to speak to a single target or a group?

 

Is the target area geographic, or psychic? (IE can only communicate with people within the same room, vs can communicate with 'all teammates everywhere'?)

 

Hmmm. Let me ponder... OK pondering process is now completed.

 

Yes, he could communicate despite loud noises, audiences with impaired (or no) hearing, and so forth.

 

I hadn't thought about the second point, but audiences could not block it out -- except maybe with the mental equivalent of covering one's ears?

 

Mental Defense wouldn't prevent it, but somebody's being Mind Controlled "Not To Listen" would.

 

The speaker can speak to one person or two a group, as he wishes. I suppose the latter would require AE. He could also listen to a group or individual as he wishes, but it would only be thoughts they want him to hear. No "deep thoughts" or even surface thoughts -- just conscious communication.

 

The target area is geographic -- the people around him.

 

I'm kind of surprised such a staple power as "talk via thought" isn't covered in the Telepathy power description. The real culprit here is the requires an attack roll and having to hit or exceed the target's EGO -- otherwise Telepathy with Communication Only would work fine.

[Talon]

Re: Telepathy

 

For powers like this, I will generally say that if the character can achieve a 18- Attack Roll against the average CV (I would say ECV 4 in this case, probably), then the roll isn't required most of the time. So if the character can buy ECV 14, they can talk to people without making attack rolls.

 

(For Telepathy, I also say that 10 points of effect are enough to establish communication with willing targets -- or unwilling targets briefly, long enough to get a word or two in and give them a chance to become willing targets.)

[Mentor]

Re: Telepathy

 

As the power sounds like the Telepath is only tryng to reach the "surface thoughts" of the receiving brain, a simple "equals EGO" should be sufficient, but Mental Defense would still operate, so you would need rather more than a couple of D6 effect to have a guaranteed success.

[Maccabe]

Re: Telepathy

 

Is there any reason why this can't be built with IMAGES (sound) Only to simulate speech?

Telepathy can get past language barriers which isn't eaxctly what you were asking for. It can also "talk" to deaf people , again doesn't look like what you wanted.

[Checkmate]

Re: Telepathy

 

I agree with the SFX of your normal voice. You have the advantage of being heard in loud areas, but you can't scare off animals, or talk to non-humans. All in all I'd say they balance out giving you a cost of 0.