Cumulative Mental Powers - FAQ Inconsistency

[Hugh Neilson]

Searching due to a discussion thread, I come across the following:

 

If a character attacks someone with a Cumulative Mental Power, how does he have to describe the effect he wants to achieve — in raw game terms (“I want EGO +20, with a +20 bonus for non-detectability”), or in “real world” terms that the GM assigns numbers to (“I want to read his memories and not have him know I’m doing it”)?

You state it however the GM wants you to state it. Some GMs may prefer an effect-based description, others the easy-to-use raw numbers.

 

and

 

If a character’s using a Cumulative Mental Power and wants to achieve the +20 “Power cannot be detected by target” modifier, how does that work? Will the target instantly be aware of what’s going on, but forget once the full declared Effect Roll is achieved?

In a Cumulative situation, it doesn’t make any sense for the target to have awareness of the attack right away but forget it later. In this situation, the best approach would be to have the mentalist declare a specific total he wants to achieve (such as “I’ll keep attacking until I get a total Effect Roll of 70,” or what have you). If that suffices to achieve the desired command and the +20, the target’s never aware of the attack. If it fails to achieve that total, the target becomes aware at that point that he was being attacked by a Mental Power that failed. If the attacker stops (or is stopped) before achieving his declared total), the target becomes aware at that point that he was being attacked by a Mental Power that failed.

 

The two answers seem inconsistent. In the first, the character does not need to speculate as to the EGO of the target. If the target has EGO of 10, he rolls until he gets 50. If the target has EGO of 30, he rolls until he achieves a total of 70. If the target's EGO is 40, he rolls until he gets 80. The target has normal breakout rolls in all cases.

 

In the second, the character must speculate as to the EGO of the target. He rolls until he gets a result of 70. If the target has EGO of 10, he has -4 to the breakout roll. If the target has EGO of 30, he has normal rolls to break ot. If the target's EGO is 40, the attack reaches 70 points of effect and fails.

 

Of course, this is undoubtedly a 5e inconsistency which you can now rectify with a 6e FAQ entry (yet another reason everyone should buy 6e - stick with 5e and you're stuck with the inconsistency! ]

 

Which approach is correct:

 

(a) Announce the desired level of effect (whether "I want EGO + 20 Effect +20 so the target will not know he was affected" or "I will read deep into his mind in a fashion he will be unaware of"). The GM determines the total effect roll required based on the target's EGO and announces when that level is reached.

 

( Announce the total effect roll desired (eg. "70 points of effect). The GM determines the result of that effect roll, and it either succeeds (with possible breakout penalties) or fails.

 

My preference is (a) - the mentalist doesn't know effect roll numbers, only what he tries to achieve, and (eventually) how long it takes and (possibly even later) whether he succeeded.

[Steve Long]

Re: Cumulative Mental Powers - FAQ Inconsistency

 

I don't know that the two answers are necessarily inconsistent, but the approach you label (a) is sufficient under the rules; characters aren't required to name a flat numerical total that might or might not achieve what they want.