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Old 06-08-2016, 02:53 PM   #1
Raekai
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Default Quick Question: How to secretly resist a spell?

Hey, all.

If the magically-enhanced police wants to know if I'm a criminal, they may try to use magic to read my mind. In order to look innocent, I should comply and not resist. However, I am not innocent, so, if I let them read my mind, I will be found out.

If I resist, will they know? If so, is there a way to secretly resist? I figured I might need a whole power to thwart a mind-reading, but I was wondering if there was a skill or a technique or a rule that would allow me to do it without a power. If it is a power, how do I go about building it?

Thanks.
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Old 06-08-2016, 05:15 PM   #2
Nereidalbel
 
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Default Re: Quick Question: How to secretly resist a spell?

Mind Block skill allows you to get mind readers to read something completely different. I'd call it a Hard Technique to invent an entire story, instead of just reading some mundane task, thought.
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Old 06-08-2016, 05:47 PM   #3
Raekai
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Default Re: Quick Question: How to secretly resist a spell?

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Originally Posted by Nereidalbel View Post
Mind Block skill allows you to get mind readers to read something completely different. I'd call it a Hard Technique to invent an entire story, instead of just reading some mundane task, thought.
Awesome. Thank you.

And I should have mentioned it before, but what about a physical spell rather than a mental spell? What if I am an alien and I don't want someone to be able to use magic to find out what species I am?
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Old 06-09-2016, 03:31 AM   #4
PK
 
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Default Re: Quick Question: How to secretly resist a spell?

You want Camouflaged Mind Block, from GURPS Supers, p. 38. It's a Hard technique that defaults to Mind Block at -4, but becomes less effective if you have to keep it up over time.
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Old 06-09-2016, 07:26 AM   #5
Varyon
 
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Default Re: Quick Question: How to secretly resist a spell?

If you don't have Mind Block, I'd allow Autohypnosis to work in the form of convincing yourself you're innocent (easy, roll at skill) or creating a false memory to overwrite the real one (harder, roll at a penalty); in either case you'll want it to be temporary, with some dispelling condition (either after a set amount of time has passed or you've done something you're almost certain to do - say, when you next go to sleep). If you fail outright, he'll read your mind (and probably realize you were trying to trick him). If you succeed, but he has a higher MoS (and note he should be able to use Psychology as a complementary skill), he gets the false reading but realizes something is off about it. If you succeed and have the same or higher MoS, he gets the false reading and is none the wiser.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Raekai View Post
And I should have mentioned it before, but what about a physical spell rather than a mental spell? What if I am an alien and I don't want someone to be able to use magic to find out what species I am?
That's going to be a lot tougher. Passively, you'll basically need some sort of magical/superscience item that makes you scan as something else. More actively, you could use Hypnotic Hands or similar to make the person think you scanned as human (or whatever), do some sort of reality warping so they actually do scan a human, and so forth.


Of course, I personally feel that, at least in cinematic settings, highly skilled characters should be able to resist/overcome magic using mundane skills. Acting should work to give mind readers a false reading (just like it tricks mundane interrogators), Camouflage and Stealth should foil Seek (Whatever), Guns should allow you to get past a Missile Shield, and your alien should be able to use Disguise to trick that Determine Species spell. In each case you're probably dealing with a Hard Technique with a sizable penalty*, but it should be doable.

*A general "This Skill Beats Magic" Technique is arguably a Hard Technique at around -11, based on the price of Blessed (Anti-Magic Weapon) with Single Skill -20% applied (price of [12]). Personally, I'd probably set it at -8 instead, but only allow characters to buy it up to -4 (for [5]), like a Targeted Attack.
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Old 06-09-2016, 07:52 AM   #6
starslayer
 
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Default Re: Quick Question: How to secretly resist a spell?

Conversely use more magic;

You can cast false memory on yourself to create false memories before you are scanned.

You can use false aura on yourself to disguise your 'true self'.

but I think the most effective:

Create a triggered spell, via delay, for 'I get mind read//someone tries to identify me' the triggered spell is false memory. They mindread you, you false memory them- they walk away with 'no, he is not the one' and or 'he is human'.

For a more necromatic way to handle this- take someone's soul via soulstone and set that up so that that is what the mind reader touches when they initiate the scan (a cleverly designed ring for hand holding, a circlet for touching the head)- since your a necromancer some body modding if they have a tendancy to tell people to take off all their jewlery before a scan.

The mind reader will read the soulstones memories, which hopefully you have briefed yourself on, also hopefully your victim did not also do a serious crime- or be the wrong gender or age
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Old 06-11-2016, 05:57 AM   #7
CoyoteGestalt
 
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Default Re: Quick Question: How to secretly resist a spell?

Perk: Switchable Disadvantage (Split Personality) might come in handy here.
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Old 06-11-2016, 06:32 AM   #8
malloyd
 
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Default Re: Quick Question: How to secretly resist a spell?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Raekai View Post
If the magically-enhanced police wants to know if I'm a criminal, they may try to use magic to read my mind. In order to look innocent, I should comply and not resist. However, I am not innocent, so, if I let them read my mind, I will be found out.
On the more general issue, if this is possible at all, would the police even bother to use mind reading? They certainly won't *depend* on it. With standard magic, well, Divination isn't even cast on you, let alone resistible by you, so....
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Old 06-11-2016, 08:36 AM   #9
starslayer
 
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Default Re: Quick Question: How to secretly resist a spell?

Quote:
Originally Posted by malloyd View Post
On the more general issue, if this is possible at all, would the police even bother to use mind reading? They certainly won't *depend* on it. With standard magic, well, Divination isn't even cast on you, let alone resistible by you, so....
I've considered this in my own campaigns for why all crime is not 'go to diviner, crime solved instantly' in a fantasty setting, here's what I've come up with;

1. Magic has a heftly penalty to its power source that indicates that it can be blocked by proper measures- thus a planned criminal can wear magic blocking clothes (DN laced silk? something else), and won't show up on a magical probe to the past.

2. Divination does not tell you if you were critically WRONG- so if a given diviner is the aid of the law they will be getting wrong information about 1/216 times even if they have final adjusted skill > 16, 1/216 is great for STARTING an investigation and will definitely streamline a criminal process, but it leaves enough doubt that all but the most corrupt/lazy police states would not rely on it exclusively.

3. Assuming a relatively robust legal system protections are likely in place to prevent law abuse of privacy, so mind reading is not used in a shotgun approach, there must be some burden of proof first.

4. Mages, even if relatively common, even if relatively cheap;
a. Will not all be diviners
b. Will not all be working for local law enforcement
c. Will not be inexpensive compared to a 'stock mage' because of those two considerations
Thus law enforcement will do its best to not need to pay the mage for their services. A large enough county may have a diviner on staff, but then that persons time is going to be limited.
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