Using Mind Block: Are there any difficulties?

[kdtipa]

I am running a campaign where mind reading is possible, and one of the characters took some traits around being paranoid about having her mind read. So obviously she invested in Mind Block and a higher than normal Will score. I'm totally fine with this, but I'm not entirely sure I understand or like the rules for the skill.

I'm sitting here at my desk at work imagining trying to write code while also keeping different mathematical equations in my mind so that a mind reader wouldn't know what I was actually thinking about. I'm basically trying to imagine keeping up the Mind Block while doing other things. And I think it would be difficult to keep up a Mind Block while also doing other things. So I would assume that the skill requires the concentrate maneuver in those stressful situations where you have to roll every round. This would preclude other actions like attacking or running or driving or whatever.

But while computer programming seems like it might be impossible to do at the same time as mind block, I could imagine it being possible to sort of zone out thinking about nonsense stuff (Mind Block) while I was shooting... just... probably at a penalty.

I guess I'm asking if there are Rules As Written (RAW) that apply to using Mind Block while doing other things, or if people have ways they've handled this.

[johndallman]

We had a thread about this not long ago. Supers has a couple of techniques for Mind Block, to make it less obvious.

[kdtipa]

Originally Posted by johndallman

We had a thread about this not long ago. Supers has a couple of techniques for Mind Block, to make it less obvious.

I read some of that thread, but it didn't seem to be about the rules around using the Mind Block at the same time as doing other things like fighting. Seems to discuss the merits of the skill.

[weby]

Originally Posted by kdtipa

I read some of that thread, but it didn't seem to be about the rules around using the Mind Block at the same time as doing other things like fighting. Seems to discuss the merits of the skill.

By RAW there are no drawbacks.

On thing is that if you do stressful things then the mind shield is more likely to fail as said in the skill description. It has no effect on other skill uses.

[dfinlay]

One thing to note is that GURPS tends to assume adventuring conditions for skill use. As such, I would probably want to consider something like shooting and running in combat to be a baseline, probably penalize something very cerebral and give bonuses for training-style situations where you are comfortable and unstressed in a non-distracting setting. There's even a canonical +2 if you do nothing in the skill description, which would be your concentrate maneuver case. This implies doing something is assumed.

The second thing to note is that switching the roll from once per minute to once per second is a huge penalty. Your chances of successfully maintaining a mind block for 1 minute go very dramatically down. There's no need for another penalty on top of this.

Finally, note that Task Difficulty Modifiers is a general rule that (almost) always applies everywhere in GURPS. If you think Case A (Mind Blocking to protect a tactical plan while explaining it to your subordinates) is way harder than usual, slap a TDM on it. This isn't even a house rule. It's perfectly RAW. That said, in your case of Mind Blocking while coding, so long as what you want to protect isn't the coding itself, this shouldn't be that hard as you can use the coding itself as your mundane mental process that you're concentrating on.

[kdtipa]

Okay... so I see the logic that tells you that it does NOT by default require a concentration maneuver, and you get a +2 if you do use a concentrate maneuver, but it still feels like there's a penalty missing. Like maybe "Easy" skills done at the same time are at no penalty, "Average" are at -2, "Hard" gets -4, and "Very Hard" gets -6 or maybe even -8.

[whswhs]

Alternatively: If you have Mind Block skill, you can activate the mind block, and have it cycling through your mind, while you do something else entirely, as if you were whistling, or tapping your fingers, or doodling, or pacing, while you worked at a task. The "skill" is having gone over the sequence so much that it can work completely automatically.

If you're going off of default, maybe you have the usual -2 for doing two tasks at once, because you actually have to think about keeping up the mind block.

[dfinlay]

Originally Posted by kdtipa

Okay... so I see the logic that tells you that it does NOT by default require a concentration maneuver, and you get a +2 if you do use a concentrate maneuver, but it still feels like there's a penalty missing. Like maybe "Easy" skills done at the same time are at no penalty, "Average" are at -2, "Hard" gets -4, and "Very Hard" gets -6 or maybe even -8.

There appears to be a penalty missing, but it's actually in the rules and that is GM judged task modifiers. It is far too hard (impossible) for GURPS to proscribe what a reasonable penalty for each combination of tasks and each situation is. Any really prescriptive system like the one proposed above is going to not work very well, because even under the same skill (Computer Operations, say), there is booting up the computer/waiting for it to defrag and there is manually tweaking BIOS configurations in order to bypass a security feature. These are different levels of complexity. If the GM feels that a task is too difficult to do while Mind Blocking, add a Task Difficulty Modifier penalty. It's that simple and it's RAW.

That said, Mind Block is already somewhat under-powered to get high (once you have 4 points in it, it's [4] per level to raise and does so much less than Will, which is one [1] point more to raise), so I would definitely err on the side of making Mind Block better, not worse. By getting a decent Mind Block skill, someone is already investing a reasonable amount of points in "being the guy who counters the specific build of reading minds", which in most settings is fairly niche and having there be enough penalties that that one time where it comes up that someone tries to read his mind when he has vital information that he can't let them get, he's likely to fail, will not feel very fun. (This is of course, less of an issue if this is a scenario that will happen most sessions).

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by weby

On thing is that if you do stressful things then the mind shield is more likely to fail as said in the skill description.

Over time the failure of the Mind Block isn't "likely" so much as it is inevitable. You're not going to roll 16- forever. You're not very likely to roll it even 60 minutes out of stressful situations or 60 seconds in. Even with the best odds it'll be about 1 out of 4 that the failure is critical too.

Unless you keep up the block all the time as SOP you'd be using it when you thought someone was trying to read your mind and that might automatically be a stressful situation.

Mind Block might work as a primary defense if you used one of the (rather arcane) Techniques from Supers. Yeah, Camouflaged Mind Block from Supers p.38. If you kept it up all the time and a telepath scanned your mind briefly and lsot the Quick Contest he wouldn't know you were using Mind Block.

Of course, this is Batman level stuff. It's probably how he keeps random telepaths from finding out that Bruce Wayne isn't more than he seems. Of course, Batman also has a maxed out will with Special Exercises to raise it over normal levels and Mental Strength on top of that so you're getting into the advanced stuff.

For a non-Batman character the best that can be said for Mind Block is that it adds another level of defense after Will and after you got it to 16 you might not bother with more Mind Block.