[Basic] Skill of the week: Mental Strength and Mind Block

[Mailanka]

Originally Posted by simply Nathan

I think if you're going to be facing a lot of mind control/Will resisted spells, 4 points for +2 to resist the lot of them regardless of power source is worthwhile, and another 4 for a total of +3 is worth considering.

4 points for +2 is definitely worth it, as far as most of my players are concerned (2 points for +1 certainly). I've rarely found players who were willing to spend more than that, though. Such a setting usually uses Will for more things too, and they go ahead and pay that extra 1 point for all those various uses (fear checks, meditation, power-blow, intimidation, etc)

[Railstar]

Any characters of mine who took it did so mostly for flavour - their backgrounds simply did not justify a Will as high as I wanted their psychic defences to be. Will 13-14 is "exceptional", the kind that stands out even among adventurers, and some of my characters are just not that determined or unshakeable in their convictions... My Onyx Path necromancer took up dark magic because of caving into pressure; it was the easy way out and she abandoned her principles when the going got tough. If she was truly someone of exceptional willpower she never would have become in league with demons in the first place.

She still needed anti-possession defence and to be able to withstand trouble from other mages, so Mental Strength it was. Generally, however, I found that being one of the archetypes with access to Mental Strength acted as a neon sign saying "resistant to mind control, try someone else" and it got psychic enemies to concentrate on someone else. Which was still a win from my character's perspective.

Mind Block was a little too specific to be worth the investment; it only works against mind reading that you're aware of at the time, and the mind readers most worth worrying about tend to do so quietly and without the target's knowledge. Generally speaking, attempts to read minds in a blatant and obvious fashion against an unwilling target can more typically be countered with such skills as Knife or Brawling.

On top of that, if I was a telepath and received useless poetry or multiplication tables in response to my mind-reading attempt, I would know I was being Mind Blocked. In the example listed under the skill of sneaking up on a hated enemy, the fact that the mind-reader has sensed someone nearby is using Mind Block should be enough to put them on high alert.

I would recommend there be a Technique for Mind Block that could induce a Fright Check on the mind reader, just by picking suitably vile surface thoughts to present.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Railstar

On top of that, if I was a telepath and received useless poetry or multiplication tables in response to my mind-reading attempt, I would know I was being Mind Blocked. In the example listed under the skill of sneaking up on a hated enemy, the fact that the mind-reader has sensed someone nearby is using Mind Block should be enough to put them on high alert.

This is why GURPS Supers provided multiple techniques based on Mind Block with penalties to make it less evident that you were hiding your thoughts.

Of course, if you read my mind, there's a moderately good chance you would find my recalling a poem; I like to recite favorite poems to myself for pleasure.

Suppose you skeeve? Or go cheap-jack?
Or fake the boards? Or fig a nag?

[CoyoteGestalt]

I often throw a single point into Mind Block on characters that have Mind Shield, various Resistances, etc, for situations where they know their defense has failed and need an emergency backup. (Even if it's just to annoy/slow down a mental attacker long enough for another PC to do something about it.)

I think the only character I've ever bought it very high for, though, was an Byronic/Ozymandias-esque mentalist "gentleman adventurer" where I had a big point budget and was more interested in spending points for flavor than effectiveness. (He was essentially a comic relief character who was mostly intended to become useful occasionally by knowing a little bit of everything and covering the gaps between the more powerful characters' specialized skillsets. Never did get around to playing him, though, so not sure how that would have worked out in practice.)

[Railstar]

Originally Posted by whswhs

This is why GURPS Supers provided multiple techniques based on Mind Block with penalties to make it less evident that you were hiding your thoughts.

Of course, if you read my mind, there's a moderately good chance you would find my recalling a poem; I like to recite favorite poems to myself for pleasure.

Suppose you skeeve? Or go cheap-jack?
Or fake the boards? Or fig a nag?

That might make a good Standard Operating Procedure, and I think it would be funny to troll telepaths by making them think they've been caught.

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by Railstar

That might make a good Standard Operating Procedure, and I think it would be funny to troll telepaths by making them think they've been caught.

I'd call that a No Nuisance Rolls perk myself. "I always have mind block up" would require Mind Block at 16+ - so if there are penalties it might go down.

[Mithlas]

Originally Posted by Railstar

Any characters of mine who took it [Mental Strength] did so mostly for flavour.

Mind Block was a little too specific to be worth the investment; it only works against mind reading that you're aware of at the time

I would recommend there be a Technique for Mind Block that could induce a Fright Check on the mind reader, just by picking suitably vile surface thoughts to present.

Psionic Powers has the perk "Gaze into the Abyss" which calls for a Fright Check the first time a TP tries to read your thoughts or emotions. It's only the first time, but it's something. A technique would seem better to me, but then it would ask for another mechanical roll instead of an interesting in-game effect like "you feel spiders crawling on your skin". Granted, that could be too game/character-specific.