Pteryx

Is it normal to encounter relentless MySQL errors from that site? I was hoping to browse it for more ideas, but have been finding it unusable, and it hasn't cleared up in hours.

Every character recovers their REC's worth of BODY each month by default, with no intervention necessary to make it happen. However, for some character types, notably robots, this may not necessarily make sense. I'm not sure what level of Physical Complication a lack of natural BODY healing should be, though (or, alternately, what level of Limitation on one's REC that would be, if the GM doesn't think it should count towards one's Complication total). Any suggestions? -- Pteryx

I've been pondering using an AoE TK for a power myself. In my own case, the idea is a field in which a character can simply hold items (not people) in place, either in terms of absolute position or position relative to an object a character is physically manipulating. Thus, if the character slid a shelf out of place with his ordinary STR, s/he could either have the items on the shelf hang where they were or follow the shelf as though "stuck" to it thanks to this field, yet couldn't just will the items to fly around. -- Pteryx

There is a difference between "most people can't interact with the object" and "nobody can interact with the object", though. Using EDM for the latter makes sense, but using it for the former seems very awkward to me. I think I will go with the Change Environment approach, since I have seen an optional rule that allows it to impose Complications. Thanks for bringing that one up.

Does the rule saying that Senses (as opposed to mere Detects) don't take an action to use trump the rule of powers used at Megascale generally requiring a Full Phase Action (as seen under the Megarange, Megaarea, and Megamovement headings of the Megascale description)? -- Pteryx

While I can see your point about cost with EDM (which doesn't really do what I'm aiming for, since the item's still there *to* pick up) and CE, Mental Transforms cost more than MC, plus I don't really need an effect that lasts beyond people's departure from the item's vicinity. Of the three Powers you listed, CE makes the most sense as a potential alternative to MC for this purpose.

I understand that. What I was hoping to clarify was how non-Mind Control approaches could help, and thus why you brought them up at all. What were you trying to propose as possible advantages to using Extra-Dimensional Movement, Change Environment, or Mental Transform instead?

I was talking about your venturing into non-Mind Control approaches, though. The first build isn't really "alternate" so much as trying to make the initial proposal work.

None of your alternate approaches strike me as having an obvious way to not affect the person who's supposed to take the object, though, which is the only reason not to use Mind Control I can see...

Inspired by a certain recurring story coincidence in a favorite crime drama. Note that this only keeps the conversation going; actually making someone discuss what you want them to is up to you and your Interaction Skills. Actually, You Are Talking: Mind Control 5d6 (25 base points); Invisible Power Effects (inobvious power fully invisible, including to target, +1), Reduced Endurance (0 END, +1/2), Telepathic (+1/4), Trigger (triggered when someone insists they're not talking; activating trigger takes no time, trigger resets automatically, character does not control activation of personal Trigger, +3/4) (87 Active Points); Does Not Grant Mental Awareness (-1/4), No Conscious Control (nature of conversation's continuation is not predictable, -1), Only To Stop People From Ending Conversations (-1/2) (32 real points) A much cheaper, but GM-controlled and thus probably less reliable and more side-effect-prone, version would have full -2 No Conscious Control instead of Trigger (69 AP, 18 real points). In a game where detection of Mental Powers wouldn't happen, reduce the Invisible Power Effects to +1/2 for invisibility to the target only; the other half is only there because there's technically no in-world power to detect. The version costed above is more the I-don't-trust-my-GM version. -- Pteryx

Even gods wanting or needing worshipers isn't something one can necessarily take for granted in just any fantasy setting, though. What if all they really need is for their domain to stay healthy, and they either see worshipers as a means to that end or don't see the point and would rather be left alone? What if people only even know about a god through divinations and their power isn't so much "granted" as exploited? Even if a god does want or need worshipers, it doesn't have to be because they eat faith like the usual trope runs. Maybe the mortal realm is made of tissue paper from a god's perspective; their trying to act directly runs a very real risk of breaking reality, so it's safer to use mortals. In at least one setting I know, the problem is that Fate forces them to act out archetypal patterns, so they need people with more free will.

I'm not sure here whether you're defining the difference as one of capability or of actions taken. It's possible to have a god with a body who never actually visits the mortal plane, but who could be visited by sufficiently powerful PCs. There's also the question of how "real" or important bodies are. Can you truly kill a god if you beat them up in the proper way, are all bodies mere disposable avatars, are there both avatars and a "real" body, or are there neither? Heck, could a physical god have three equally "real" bodies that you have to all destroy in a short period to kill the god, lest they regrow from its spirit like a gecko's tail? The "right" answer to any of this is really going to depend on the campaign, but I will say two things. First, I personally don't care for the idea for a physical god who comes across as just a really big mortal. Whether embodied or disembodied, I feel a god should have some global influence trivially available (unless we're talking the little gods of specific rivers or the like, in which case that influence should just be over their whole "territory"). Second, it probably goes without saying that fully disembodied gods are strictly GM territory; a PC defined as a god needs a body to inconvenience with at least some of their capabilities being available only "in person". -- Pteryx

Say you wanted to make the ability to temporarily put a Persistent, Area of Effect Mind Control on an object that dissuades anyone from picking up that object except one person specified when the power is set, whom it beckons instead. Would that need linked Mind Controls, or would a single Mind Control be able to broadcast an intent that complex? General build approaches are welcome as well, though I do have some idea of where to begin. -- Pteryx

If you buy levels of the Reduced Negation Adder for a Power and the Proportional Advantage for it, does the Adder increase proportionately in the defined circumstances too or stay at the same level? For example, would a Mind Control 4d6 vs. the Machine class of minds with Reduced Negation (2) and Proportional (x2 effect on email servers) have Reduced Negation 2 or 4 when targeting an email server? -- Pteryx

Hm, the point you make about the god needing to voluntarily allow the Mind Link in Lucius's build is a good one... and actually not what I'm shooting for. I don't really want him to have a choice in "hearing", just in what he does (or, more often, doesn't do) from there. One of the big themes I've been shooting for is that being a god isn't all it's cracked up to be. As for your proposal concerning how to establish LOS for Telepathy, I'm not sure if that works or not. While IRL the maximum range of sight is a function of the earth getting in the way, ruleswise seeing that far seems like the kind of thing one is supposed to use Megascale Senses (which, as I've mentioned, don't actually work as a passive thing by RAW), Clairvoyance (which can't establish LOS), or Mind Scan for, and the rules tend to warn people away from using one mechanic to simulate another, so I'm not sure how many GMs would be on board for that. (And technically, no, he can't see everything, just all of certain things. ) EDIT: Come to think of it... the god's inability to refuse the Mind Link could count as a Side Effect, which suddenly makes the whole Caller ID as Side Effect thing look less cheesy. After all, by this logic, both sides suffer a Side Effect, just different ones.