Mind Control Question

[Humabout]

Originally Posted by Parabola

Will (IQ + Will)

Will =/= Will + IQ. Will is, by default, equal to IQ unless bought up or down from IQ with character points.

It would seem that, in most situations against another player or significant NPC, the Mind Controller is going to have way less than a 50-50 chance of having any effect.

The average person has both IQ and Will at 10, so it is exactly a 50-50 chance assuming average people.

In my experience, players like to have resistance to things like mind control and it's far cheaper than buying IQ.

That's because buying up IQ for 20 points increases the effective skill level of about 180 skills, not counting the 800 magic spells potentially available, not to mention increasing Perception and Will, plus giving better resistant to mental stun and a variety of other mental effects. So of course, Resistant to Mind Control is cheaper.

Plus you've got the rule of 20 though people can still buy Mind Shield.

The rule of 20 is for Spells, iirc. IDHMBWM. But the general idea is that there's still a chance to defend. If you really want to ignore Mind Shield, buy Cosmic for your Mind Control.

I was wondering if this is fairly accurate or are there a lot of qualifiers and boosts to mind control that I don't know about?

Anything that lowers IQ or Will helps the mind controller break through resistance. If the GM allows Skills for Everyone from Powers, you can also buy up your skill with Mind Control as a Hard IQ-based skill. Lastly, see Possessions Under Control from Alternate Gurps IV for a more detailed treatment of Possession and a way to apply the rules to mind reading and mind control. In the lattermost, a common trick is to apply irritating or incapacitating conditions to the subject via mental control points. Of course, you can always use afflictions or magic for that, too.