Ladybugs have been at the cutting edge of research into
mentalism and the power of mind over matter. Although such matters remain
highly classified, word has spread that a small number of ladybug operatives
have developed psionic powers that have allowed them to experiment in such
fields as telekinesis, mind control, cellular regeneration, and possibly even
ethereal projection.
Game Notes:
I know that psionics are going to be tied to Mind, both for
using and resisting such powers. I haven’t rolled these out yet to play
testing, but the idea here is that many of these plug-ins to your character
(psionics, mysticism, cybernetics) are going to be perks (another concept I
haven’t rolled out – I’ll get there) that you purchase at a fixed cost, and
which are tied to your attributes. For instance, mind control may be a 1-point
Perk that you tie to Mind and your Psionics Trait. Once per scene, you can
attempt to take control of the Mind of another insect within range (your
Psionics trait rating in centimeters). You roll Mind + Psionics vs. the
target’s Mind Save. If successful, you can get the target to view you as a
friend and ally. With a critical success (a roll of 10+ beyond the target’s
save), you make the target into your mindless puppet for the rest of the scene.
Although you only get to use this once per scene, you can use a Moxy point to
re-use a trait or perk you’ve already used, so you could potentially get to use
this multiple times. You’re going to have to make a considerable investment to
get this ability (the Mind dice, Psionics trait, the mind control perk) but
you’ll have a formidable ability as a result.
Instead of the once per scene option (as above) it might
make more sense (and allow for more resource allocation choices in play) if you
got a number of times per mission to use this, equal to your Psionics trait
rating; with Psionics +3, you get to try to control minds 3 times per mission. In
this case, I might drop the option of using Moxy to refresh this, since you
already have a pool to draw from. If you burn it all up in the first scene,
then you do.
Well, there will be some resource allocation either way you go with it. In the first option the player will be judiciously using Moxy to use the power more than once. However, this adds another thing into the pool that the player has to determine to use his/her precious Moxy on during an encounter.
ReplyDeleteI think that I would lean more toward the second option for a couple of reasons. One is that it gives the player a little more control and options for a combat encounter. Also, it allows a character's powers to grow and become greater with use if they decide to improve the ability after initial creation.