APG: Mental Powers and Interaction Skills

[FreeDice]

The following is an example from page 29 of the APG:

 

Example: Brainstorm wants to use his Persuasion to convince a guard to let him go. He decides to mentally enhance his Persuasion with 40 points worth of his Mind Control, giving him +4 to his Persuasion 12- (total 16-). ... The GM rules that the guard will try to resist the attempted persuasion with an EGO Roll. His base roll is 11- and he has 5 points of Mental Defense. This adds to his EGO Roll, giving him a 16- roll to resist Brainstorm’s Persuasion roll.

 

Is this correct? Without using his Mind Control, Brainstorm has a 12- Persuasion against the Guard 11- EGO, effectively giving him +1 in the Skill versus Skill Contest. When he uses the Mind Control, his 16- Persuasion goes up against a 16- EGO + Mental Defense, netting him +0 in the Skill vs. Skill Contest.

 

Brainstorm does worse when he uses his Mind Control? Is that a typo or is there rationale I'm missing?

 

Thank you so much!

[Steve Long]

Re: APG: Mental Powers and Interaction Skills

 

There's nothing wrong here. The guard just happens to have some Mental Defense, which is very helpful against this optional use of Mind Control. Most people don't, making it a very effective tactic.