Characters with nonhuman minds?

[BossMorgrum]

I feel like I'm missing something obvious, but is there any more correct way for a PC to be one of the nonhuman mind types than to just make up a Talent [(Alien Mind) 10pt]? 

[Gnome BODY (important!)]

I'd personally guesstimate the cost via (Campaign DC standard * 2) Mental Defense, Not against Powers Affecting [Chosen Class of Minds] (-1/4?), Side Effect: Character Affected by Powers Affecting [Chosen Class of Minds] (-1/2), Always On (-1/2). 

Assuming your EGO is in the teens, that should provide effective immunity to mental powers that don't affect your new CoM, so from there it shouldn't be problematic to handwave it to actual immunity.  Bring the multiplier up to 2.5 if you're low EGO. 

[Duke Bushido]

I'm more or less with Gnome BODY (that's been happening a lot lately). 

 

I was never a huge fan of the "class of minds" concept introduced officially s few years back; it was counter to the way sentience / sapience works in my campaigns.  The only difference those new rules made for me was that instead of not doing a possible thing, I was now completely ignoring an official thing. 

 

I, lik Gnome seems to, prefer to distinguish particularly "alien" or otherwise vastly different minds with exagerated mental defences rather than closing the character off from a part of his own schtick; that just struck me as a counter-productive idea. 

 

And if your character actually _is_ limited because of the otherness of his mind, I feel that this is far, _far_ better represented with appropriate Limitations and Disadplications than it is by mandatory depriving him of effectiveness. 

[Ninja-Bear]

2 hours ago, BossMorgrum said:

I feel like I'm missing something obvious, but is there any more correct way for a PC to be one of the nonhuman mind types than to just make up a Talent [(Alien Mind) 10pt]? 

The big question is “What does the different class of mind do in game?” Answer that, and you got your correct build.

[BossMorgrum]

14 hours ago, Ninja-Bear said:

The big question is “What does the different class of mind do in game?” Answer that, and you got your correct build.

So, some backstory. I'm porting Cthulhutech over to Heroes (The system it runs on is garbage). The players each pick an entity from the Cthulhu mythos to evoke when they need to hulk out and thrash some cultists [Multiform: Cthulhu Monster]. The player in question wants to channel a flying polyp, and those things are noted as having minds too alien for the Great Race of Yith to possess or control. The player actually suggested "just buying a trainload of MD," but I was working from the assumption that the Great Race was probably just throwing a huge Mind Control [Human Class of Minds], so just having the polyp form be an invalid target would be a clean and simple way to simulate that. 

Having said that, a pile of MD with a bunch of "you're half-possessed by an incomprehensible monster" Side Effects is probably more flavorful.

[Tech]

23 hours ago, Duke Bushido said:

I'm more or less with Gnome BODY (that's been happening a lot lately). 

 

I was never a huge fan of the "class of minds" concept introduced officially s few years back; it was counter to the way sentience / sapience works in my campaigns.  The only difference those new rules made for me was that instead of not doing a possible thing, I was now completely ignoring an official thing. 

 

I, lik Gnome seems to, prefer to distinguish particularly "alien" or otherwise vastly different minds with exagerated mental defences rather than closing the character off from a part of his own schtick; that just struck me as a counter-productive idea. 

 

And if your character actually _is_ limited because of the otherness of his mind, I feel that this is far, _far_ better represented with appropriate Limitations and Disadplications than it is by mandatory depriving him of effectiveness. 

 

I do the same thing, or give the thing a high Ego CV. I've even given a truly alien villain a mental damage shield vs certain powers such as Telepathy and Mind Scan.

[Gnome BODY (important!)]

5 minutes ago, Tech said:

I do the same thing, or give the thing a high Ego CV. I've even given a truly alien villain a mental damage shield vs certain powers such as Telepathy and Mind Scan.

Did the Damage Shield accomplish much?  I had a similar character planned but realized that if anyone's going to have Mental Defense it's going to be the guy with mind powers.  In fact, all the mind-power-men I've seen have had MD. 

[Tech]

21 minutes ago, Gnome BODY (important!) said:

Did the Damage Shield accomplish much?  I had a similar character planned but realized that if anyone's going to have Mental Defense it's going to be the guy with mind powers.  In fact, all the mind-power-men I've seen have had MD. 

 

I was ridiculously expensive for the damage I was doing: 1d6. However, it was also against a def other than Mental Defense. I don't recall the specifics of how I built it but when our resident mentalist tried Telepathy for the first time on the baddie, I mentioned the mind is so alien the heroine took damage, it was more than sufficient to get her to stop. The heroine was concerned about what else might happen and got the point across: don't treat this guy like other supervillains you meet.

[Shoug]

On 2/12/2020 at 3:46 PM, Ninja-Bear said:

The big question is “What does the different class of mind do in game?” Answer that, and you got your correct build.

This is the best answer. Cannot feel emotion like a Vulcan? Psychological Complication. Has strange value structure that causes it to take offence to weird things and become violent? Enragement complication. They speak martian and are therefore capable of omnipotently controlling matter at will? Matter Control.

[Tjack]

3 hours ago, Shoug said:

This is the best answer. Cannot feel emotion like a Vulcan? Psychological Complication. Has strange value structure that causes it to take offence to weird things and become violent? Enragement complication. They speak martian and are therefore capable of omnipotently controlling matter at will? Matter Control.

   Wow, a Stranger in a Strange Land reference.   Cool. 

[Greywind]

3 hours ago, Shoug said:

This is the best answer. Cannot feel emotion like a Vulcan? Psychological Complication. Has strange value structure that causes it to take offence to weird things and become violent? Enragement complication. They speak martian and are therefore capable of omnipotently controlling matter at will? Matter Control.

 

Vulcan's feel emotions. They don't act on their emotions.

[Duke Bushido]

On 2/13/2020 at 9:00 AM, BossMorgrum said:

The player in question wants to channel a flying polyp, and those things are noted as having minds too alien for the Great Race of Yith to possess or control. 

 

 

Given this, you may want to choose Reduction or even Negation in addition to your MD.