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Post by Brainstem on Jul 28, 2008 22:05:25 GMT -5
So here's an idea to handle the Control Others Option to Telepathy. Maybe, in order to actually be able to grab a hold of an enemy's mind, the Difficulty is equal to your opponent's Mental Defense? While it may seem kind of obvious, this prevents a character taking Telepathy: 1 and an insane Intelligence from mind from controlling all the NPCs.
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Post by Kaimontfendo on Jul 28, 2008 22:13:22 GMT -5
Except that I seem to recall the rules stating that Ability Bonuses help overcome Difficulty as well. And a change like this wouldn't do much to make Telepathy more balanced.
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Post by Stark on Jul 28, 2008 23:09:13 GMT -5
Yeah, Kaimontfendo's right. Also, though one must exceed Intelligence to mind control someone, the Mental Defense already applies to it... and to any mental attack. So the books preceded you there, lol. I think that the key towards making Mind Control a bit less game breaking resides not in making it harder to mind control someone, but rather in making it harder to keep the control on someone for a long time.
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Post by Kaimontfendo on Jul 28, 2008 23:16:49 GMT -5
No argument from me, Stark Asmodeus. To that end, I seem to recall a house rule that Telepathic Mind Control would last 1 panel for each stone that exceeded someone's Mental Defense. And if you want to maintain control, you'd have to make another attempt.
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Post by Stark on Jul 28, 2008 23:19:26 GMT -5
That works perfectly with me. Thanks for that info.
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Post by Kaimontfendo on Jul 28, 2008 23:31:24 GMT -5
I've never tested it (since I don't care much for Telepathy) but part of me feels like it might go completely the other way and make the option almost worthless, especially since once it wears off, they'll be spending stones to actively resist control attempts, making it even harder. (Fortunately, once you've invaded someone's mind, you'd probably have an idea of how long your control is going to last, so you could make another attempt the last panel before they snap out of it.)
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Post by rennyn on Jul 28, 2008 23:36:31 GMT -5
The best way to limit it that I've seen is it costs 1 + Mental Defense to maintain it every panel (not int, just Mental Defense).
So if someone has an Int of 3 and Mental Defense 3, it'd cost 7 to break in, then 4 every panel to maintain. That is pretty limiting in itself, even with high Int.
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Post by Stark on Jul 28, 2008 23:38:52 GMT -5
Too limiting if you ask me.
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Post by Brainstem on Jul 28, 2008 23:55:36 GMT -5
You could probably treat it like holding up an object for an extended period of time, increasing the Resistance every Panel.
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Post by jayeh on Jul 29, 2008 3:53:50 GMT -5
It would depend on the characters in question...Id hate to break the discussion or anything but this is an rpg. There is an exception to EVERY rule in these games with some character somewhere. Personally i would think that since a character like Carnage or my fav the joker wouldnt be susceptible to mind control. My philosophy on that is you can't control whats already lost. These kinds of characters act as though they dont think anyway so losing their minds is second nature...I would almost hate to see what would happen to someone if they were to try to invade the minds let alone try to control one of these characters. Itd probobly scar them for life...or even turn them insane just from being inside the ind of one of these psychopaths.
But for the sake of rules...I do agree mind control is a bit over the top and should be revised. I think if we take the raising of resistance each panel and combine it with a panel by panel cost itd be a little more even. Or even something like a cost to control every other panel...
Here is a relevant question, how is it done with strength like lets say holding up a heavy item for three panels. Or even a power like magneto using his power to hold something together for three or four panels. These should all have some relation, and should compare to mind control for a length of time. How is controlling a summoned creature done?
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Post by trouble on Jul 29, 2008 9:57:12 GMT -5
Is control other how you would implant a hypnotic suggestion? Because that should be allowed, as that is a pretty standard use of telepathy. That should also be an aspect of duration. Once control is established, you could implant a suggestion, and pay for the duration of the implant.
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Post by Stark on Jul 31, 2008 8:06:41 GMT -5
Most insane characters buy a Mental Defense to justify their mental state, and often receive a situational modifier as well for Insanity. It does't make them Immune to Mental assaults (they'd need to pay 20w for Mental Invulnerability) nor specifically to Mind Control (it'd cost at least 3w for a lesser Immunity, though I as a GM would charge 5w as it is very useful against those pesky telepaths, lol).
Just saying your character's beautiful doesn't mean he automatically seduces everyone. It only helps. The same is true for insane psychopaths.
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Post by takewithfood on Jul 31, 2008 19:08:13 GMT -5
What I don't like is that Control Others is so black and white. If you gain control, it's game over for the victim - if you fail to control them, you're probably screwed.
I haven't play tested it, but I once tossed around the idea of a house rule that allows for a little more wiggle-room. Basically, for every stone of "damage" that gets past your opponent's mental defenses, you get to reallocate 1 of their stones. This is a little like the Fear power, only you can move your victim's stones around instead of just canceling them out. I honestly haven't thought it through any further than that because the issue has never come up: I tend to avoid mind control.
~TWF
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Post by trouble on Jul 31, 2008 20:29:40 GMT -5
I thought of something very similar to that for one of my wife's powers. She wanted a mental bolt that only confused the person, so I thought maybe she could move that persons stones where she wants them, so she couldn't make them do anything, but they could accidentally do something wrong.
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Post by Stark on Jul 31, 2008 21:37:25 GMT -5
That version would make it quite weak, because one must exceed Intelligence+Mental Defense. What's the use of diverting 2-3 stones of your opponent when it costs you like 9-10 stones of Energy to do that?Nah, I prefer Kaimontfendo's version.... and anyway, why not simply not allow it if you think it's overpowered? No use in offering
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