As standard, but it goes against the Willpower + the target’s best skill for keeping their head in chaotic conditions (usually a combat skill).
Inspiration. (T3.) Allows the sorcerer to plant a thought or idea in the mind of a subject. Subject will think he had the idea himself (this requires an Outcome matching his Willpower); or interpret the message as a sending from the sorcerer, as the sorcerer desires. If the character thinks it’s his own thought, there is no guarantee that the subject will consider the idea to be a bright one or be in any way impelled to act out its instructions; this is not mind control.
Communication. (T3.) A basic two-way communication. You can send what you see or imagine instead of speech.
The difficulty of communication-type effects depend on how familiar the sorcerer is with his target. Contagion is either an intimate item owned by the subject, a close friend or family member or a former piece of his body, such as a lock of hair or fingernail. No line of sight is required to communicate.
| Target | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| Family | 5 |
| Friends (or Contagion) | 10 |
| Strangers, enemies | 15 |
| Long-distance (not same county) | 5 |
Message. (T3.) A short message, up to twenty words. The target can send a similar limited answer. There is also a significant time delay. The advantage of this power is that it has half the difficulty of regular communication effects.
A message can also be left in a particular place, and trigger when somebody comes near. See the Warning effect of Divination for examples on how this can work.
Suggestion. (T3.) Allows the sorcerer to impose her will on a subject. The subject must be within earshot of the sorcerer; it is possible to work the spell through a telephone, prerecorded sound or videotape, or other communications methods, but the sorcerer must know who he is to affect when using the effect.
The subject will obey a single instruction, following its spirit as well as its letter. Instructions to which the target objects strongly require an Outcome equal to his Willpower. This is called a resisted success.
In an intense situation, such as combat, the instruction only lasts one shot per point of Outcome. On a resisted success, the target will do nothing, simply loosing the shots. Out of combat, it lasts about ten minutes per point of Outcome. Posthypnotic suggestions (a –2 stunt) can lie dormant and activate at a later time.
Phantasm. (T3.) Allows the sorcerer to send false sensory signals to a subject’s mind. The subject sees, hears, smells, feels or tastes something that isn’t there. The nature of the phantasm is entirely up to the sorcerer. Note that this spell alone does not make the subject particularly disposed to believe what his senses are telling him. For example, a sorcerer conjures up in the mind of a security guard an image of a smiling, felt-covered, purple dinosaur toting a Heckler & Koch MP5. The guard may well assume that he is hallucinating or that his eyes are otherwise deceiving him. Refusal to believe does not make the false sensory input go away, however; even a false image of Barney’s evil twin can be quite distracting in the midst of a gunfight. The phantasm lasts for a number of Sequences equal to the Outcome of the Sorcery check.
Charm. Plants the idea in the target’s mind that the caster is a friend. Difficulty is based on how plausible this is to the target. Duration increases geometrically with Outcome: 0–2 is 1–3 minutes, 3–5 is 1–3 hours, 6–8 is 1–3 days.
Memorization. Used by mystically talented scholars. Commiting a page, song, face, or painting to memory. The difficulty is based on the amount and the speed with which the material must be memorized. A magic point will make it last longer.
Empathy. The first level of Influence permits sensing emotions.
Telepathy, more advanced mind control
Dream Riding. (T3.) This allows the sorcerer to enter the dreams of another character. This only works on sleeping, unconscious, delirious or catatonic characters. Bringing others along costs a Magic point for a number of people equal to your Magic attribute. Unwilling targets require an Outcome equal to their Willpower.
Generally, sorcerers enter the dreams of others in order to get hard-to-find information or to correct psychic problems. It is also possible to manipulate the dreams of others in order to affect their psyches. This can be played out or resolved through simple dice rolls or by using other mystic powers.
The rough way to use this power is to initiate combat. Such a combat works just as combat in the real world; both characters have access to any gear normally used. If either character fails a death test, he is merely rendered unconscious, and suffers an impairment equal to the Outcome of the death test during the next day. If you bring companions along, the sleeper may create phantasmal allies to match their number.
While a character is Dream Riding, her body lies comatose. Long trances can be harmful.
Linguistic comprehension. You can share a person’s language ability in order to communicate with them.
Mind Probe. A deep probe of the character’s mind, reading memories and motivations. In order to use this effect, the target must have been rendered unconscious using Mind Blast or otherwise be totally in the sorcerer’s power. The difficulty is the target’s highest Action Value, and things hidden so deep that they are not available to the character’s conscious mind require an Outcome matching Willpower.
It is possible to alter or delete the target’s memories, motivations and personality, making him your mental thrall. Once the target has been enslaved, the sorcerer can muck around with his body almost as much as he likes. Only story elements can save the poor schmuck. As player characters are not assumed to be into this kind of thing, the rules are somewhat sketchy. (This part may belong in Influence III if I can think of other things to do with it.)
Hide Thoughts. A talented mage can create a false screen of thought in front of their true thought process, making it easy to keep a poker face and fool telepathy.
Memorization. Like in Influence I, but suitable for committing an entire book or saga to memory.
Party Telepathy. This is perhaps the most useful aspect of communication. It lets party members communicate without bulky radios and without risk of eavesdropping (except telepathically, as required by the plot). This link must be established, and the Action Result determines the maximum effectiveness, but requires no concentration once it is up as long as all remain within 10 meters times the Action Result. Assume that what one experiences is always immediately shared with the others.