TELEPATHY

Imagine the prospects of a young woman who manages to successfully navigate the male-dominated world of business, or a fresh-faced young non-binary who is just old enough to legally enter the casinos but can bluff and call at the poker table like a veteran. Being able to read the thoughts of others, even their very surface thoughts, can have huge benefits the rest of humanity can only dream of. But careful, too much of a good thing can easily be noticed by those who don't appreciate having their thoughts violated.

Telepathy, also known as the sixth sense, is literally the ability to read the minds of others. This special talent allows the Telepath to vicariously pick up normally-undetectable transmissions of information from one person's mind to their own without using any of the normal five senses, physical interactions or cues. 

Many parapsychologists who have studied Telepathy for decades have theorized that Telepathy is an enhanced form of both intuition and empathy. Put on a scale of 1-10, where the average human is a 3 on intuition and empathy, even an untrained Telepath would rate a 20+. Of all the numinas, Telepathy has been the most studied, and the most tested of the psychic abilities.

Reading Thoughts or a Sorting a Bag of Cats
Thought transmissions can be a challenge to interpret. Oftentimes there are many underlying thoughts that speed through the average person's mind like a eight-lane highway filled with fast-moving vehicles of all types. The Telepath can usually pick up fleeting thoughts, much like a person standing on the shoulder of the highway can only pick out cursory details of color and model/make of a car, but no information on who's driving, how many passengers, where they're going or where they came from, etc.

While this flow of information can be confusing, trained Telepaths can pick out certain threads and focus on these thoughts. At higher levels, they can influence those thoughts to gain more information or even insert small details into memories that were never there to begin with.

NOTE: All Telepathy powers can be resisted by a Target, modified by Willpower. While the Target does not realize a Telepath is attempting to read or influence their thoughts (unless the Telepath Botches his/her/their roll), their minds have a reflexive, subconscious instinct to block a Telepath's powers.

NUMINA: TELEPATHY

◉◎◎◎◎: Telepathy 1 - Empathy (Mental Skill)

• Base Roll: 60
• Energy Cost: 1
• Damage: 0
• Mods: Occult, Intuition
• Resist: Willpower
• Permanent Affects: 
  • +5 Mental Attack
  • +5 Initiative

Description: 
The Psychic can feel basic emotions and moods of a single Target. These are always related to the immediate situation and reflect the Target's current emotional state they are experiencing at that moment. Sitting at a poker table, the Telepath can easily tell if another player is feeling confident or unsure. Or while speaking with a grieving widow whose husband was just killed, the Telepath will know if the grief is genuine or if there is another stronger emotion instead.

System:
The Player spends 1 point of Energy and successfully rolls. If the Target fails to resist, the Telepathic Character can now read the surface emotions of any one Target. In roleplay, the Player of the Target will send a private IM (Instant Message) to the Player of the Telepath divulging exactly how he/she/they is feeling at that moment. These feelings can be a single, more powerful emotion, or a combination of emotions, such as happy, sad, scared, terrified, confused, nervous, guilty, angry, etc. These are all related to the Target's emotional state and do not convey any thoughts or explanation.

NOTE: Targets of a telepath's abilities will not be aware that their emotions are being read, except if the Telepath rolls a Botch (a natural 1-10). If a Botch is rolled, the Target will have a very uncomfortable reaction to the Telepath, though they will not know exactly why. But for some reason, they have a vague feeling of being violated.

◉◉◎◎◎: Telepathy 2 - Surface (Mental Skill)

• Base Roll: 70
• Energy Cost: 3
• Damage: 0
• Mods: Occult, Intuition
• Resist: Willpower
• Permanent Affects: 
  • +5 Mental Skill
  • +5 Initiative

Description: 
The Telepath can read the surface thoughts of a specific target. These are the uninhibited thoughts that are currently running through their mind at that very moment. The Telepath can pick up these thoughts fairly easy, but they are only the surface thoughts. Most of the time these will be directly related to the immediate events at hand, but can also include unrelated thoughts. 

For Example: A man is attentively sitting at a corporate board meeting. He appears very intent on the conversation, but when a Telepath ventures into his mind he discovers he is really just thinking about what he's going to have for dinner that night. Or, wondering what the handsome young intern looks like as he steps out naked from his morning shower at the gym. Oh my!

NOTES: 

• Targets of a telepath's abilities will not be aware that their surface thoughts are being listened to, except if the Telepath rolls a Botch (a natural 1-10). If a Botch is rolled, the Target will have a very uncomfortable reaction to the Telepath, though they will not know exactly why. But for some reason, they have a vague feeling of being violated. If the Target is a supernatural Character (such as a Vampire or Garou), a Botched roll will quickly inform them that the Telepath is definitely something more than human.
• No Telepathy skills can be used in combat.

◉◉◉◎◎: Telepathy 3 - Memories (Mental Skill)

• Base Roll: 80
• Energy Cost: 9
• Damage: 0
• Mods: Occult, Intuition
• Resist: Willpower
• Permanent Affects: 
  • +5 Mental Attack
  • +5 Initiative

Description: 
The Telepath at this level can delve deeper into the minds of others, perusing through recent memories as if paging through a grocery store gossip magazine. These thoughts are from the very recent past, or plans that were recently considered, solidified in their minds as things they will be doing, or those thoughts about what they would like to do in the very near future if given the opportunity.

Not only will the Psychic be able to gain access to these memories, he/she/they will also be able to slightly alter a memory in a small but significant way if they so choose.

System:
The Player spends 9 points of Energy and makes a successful roll. If the Target fails his/her/their roll to resist, the Player's Telepathic Character can now read three of the Target's memories. Memories are more like picture stories than sentences. But memories of future plans are in sentences since there is nothing really to visualize as a memory.

The first memory will be one of the past, no more than a week old. The second memory will be of the very recent past, no more than 24 hours old. The last memory will be about what the Target plans to do in the very near future. 

For Example: A Target's memories (in order) might be:

1. Week-old or less - Memory #1: "You see me go into an old apartment building and knock on the door of Apartment 132. A Mexican guy answers the door. I give him money. He gives me some drugs. The man says to come back next week if I want some good weed." 
2. 24-hour or more recent Memory #2: "You see me standing in line at the bank. It's my lunch hour and I'm in a hurry. A guy walks into me with a shuffling push, like he's drunk or on drugs or something. He has long black hair, brown eyes and a mustache. I get a good look at his face as I tell him to watch where he's going. I look down and I see he has a gun in his waistband of his jeans. He covers it up with his jacket as he walks into the bank manager's office. I don't give a fuck. I'm here to pay bills so fuck the bank. If he robs the place, that's a good excuse for me not going back to work today with the trauma. I grin at the thought. The guy doesn't rob the back though. Pussy."
3. Memory of Near Future Plans #3: You see me at my desk in the office. I hack into my boss's email and start reading about all the shit he's been doing. I plan on doing this every opportunity I have when I know that no one is watching. I wonder what juicy little tidbit I'll read about tomorrow. Wonder if he's still banging that cute intern."

Altering A Memory:
Once the Telepath has read a memory, he/she/they can roll a second time to alter one of them. The Player must again spend 9 points of energy and make a successful roll. If the Target fails to resist, then the Telepath may alter slightly, one of the memories. 

For Example: The Telepath seeks to alter Memory #2 (see above). The memory is the same as the Target recalls, but with the alteration of the man's appearance. Instead of black hair and a mustache, he's bald and has blue eyes. Or, he's not carrying a gun, he's carrying a cellphone clipped to the belt of his pants. To alter more than one aspect of any memory, the Player needs to successfully roll again, and the Target must not have resisted.

◉◉◉◉◎: Telepathy 4 - Read Mind (Mental Attack)

• Base Roll: 90
• Energy Cost: 14
• Damage: 18
• Mods: Occult, Intuition
• Resist: Willpower
• Permanent Affects: 
  • +5 Mental Skill

Description:
This skill is much more in depth and invasive than any of the previous Telepathy abilities and does do physical damage to the Target. At this level, the Telepath can do several things. 

1) Telepathic Seeing: The first is to simply be able to enter a Target's mind and simply see through their eyes. The telepath can do this for the duration of the scene or can end the ability at any time. A telepath can only remote see through another's eyes, one target at a time.

2) Deep Read: Another part of this ability is to go more invasively into a Target's mind and read any level of memory or deeper level thoughts regarding a specific subject. The Target will remember everything they can regarding a specific memory or thought subject. (For example, "Recall every thought you had regarding the merger between the corporations of Vyrodyne and Pentax. OR, recall every memory you have of the strange man across the street from your house who only leaves his home at night.)

3) Seize Control: The Telepath can psychically take over another player and seize control of his/her/their body. This is not a true possession and is temporary (only three turns) before the Target is again in control of themselves. While the Telepath is in control, the Target will be forced way back into the mind. While still conscious they will feel as if they are watching their body from a distance, as if they were simply an observer. They will not have any control over what they say or do. At the beginning of the fourth turn, the Target will regain control, but be hesitant or confused about what had transpired.

4) Implant Thoughts or Memories: Instead of reading a genuine thought or memory, the Telepath can now place false thoughts or memories into the mind of the Target. The Target will integrate these memories or thoughts as if they were their own.

For Example: A young man barely turned 21 has found himself in a high-stakes poker game in Atlantic City. The bet was raised to $10,000. Two players folded, leaving just the two other men in the game. The Telepath reads Player #1 (who raised the bet),and knows he has just two pair, aces over tens. 

Focusing on Player #2, the Telepath reading his thoughts knows that he is unsure if the other player is bluffing or not. He also knows that the man holds, and he has a straight. That beats the Telepath's hand. The Telepath implants a thought in Player #2's mind that his hand can't beat Player #1s. If he calls the bet, he will lose. This is enough of a jarring thought for Player #2 and he folds, confident he has dodged a bullet. The telepath calls the bet, putting in $10,000. Player #1 lays down his hand, it's a straight in diamonds and spades. The Telepath lays down his three of a kind and wins the pot. Easy peasy. Player #2 leaves the table in anger and disgust. 

System:
The player spends 14 points of Energy and makes a successful roll. If the Target has failed to resist, then the Player's Telepathic Player may do one of the following actions. 

These actions are highly invasive, inflicting 10 Health Points of damage:

1) Telepathic Seeing: The Telepath may select one Target and view exactly what the Target sees, as he sees it from his point of view. The Telepath cannot make the Target look at anything specific and simply sees what he sees. After which, the Target will be left with a severe headache.

2) Deep Read: The Telepath can do a subject-specific deep reading of any one Target's memories or thoughts. This is a rather painful experience, leaving the target subject physically and mentally exhausted.

3) Seize Control: The Telepath can take over the actions of the Target Player for three full turns. The Player of the Telepath will send a private IM to the Player of the Target (or the Storyteller if it is an NPC), and give specific directions on what Target will say and exactly how the Target will act for the next three full turns. While not painful, the subject will feel very disassociated and nauseous. For the duration of the scene.

4) Implant Thoughts or Memories: The Telepath will send an IM (or say it in roleplay) to the Target with the exact thought or memory the Telepath wishes the Target to have. This memory or thought will be indistinguishable from a genuine memory or thought and believed without question as if it were their own. The Target will feel rather emotionally drained in the loss of the HP, but otherwise not adversely affected.

NOTE: The Player can only do one of these options at a time. If the Player wishes to do multiple actions, then the Player will need to expend more energy and make a successful roll that the Target fails to resist.

◉◉◉◉◉: Telepathy 5 - Hidden Thoughts (Mental Attack)

• Base Roll: 100
• Energy Cost: 18
• Damage: 24 (3-Turn Cooldown)
• Mods: Occult, Intuition
• Resist: Willpower
• Permanent Affects: 
  • +5 Mental Skill

Description:
This is the most powerful and personally invasive of the Telepathic abilities, and it is not without its risks. With this skill, the Telepath can root out the deepest, most secret of thoughts or memories that the Target has. This thought or memory will be one the Target may never wish to admit, or one that he/she/they has been forbidden to speak about, even if it was supernaturally induced never to tell or to forget. 

The Telepath may also instead choose to possess the body of any Target for the duration of a scene. While an incredibly powerful skill, any damage done to the Target while the Subject possess him is suffered equally by the Telepath. If the Target is killed, the Telepath will also be killed. The Target will have no memory of the possession, nor what was done or said during that time. The Telepath will retain his/her/their own mental abilities and can use their Telepathic Talents while in the body of the Target. But all physical skills will be those of the Target's body.

System:
The Player spends 18 points of Energy and makes a successful roll. If the Target fails to resist, the Target will suffer 15 HP of damage due to the violent nature of his body's takeover. 

The Player's Telepathic Character can do one of the following:

1. Compel the Target to reveal his/her/their deepest secret or most vital memory. This can be subject-directed by the Telepath, or simply asking the Target what their deepest secret of memory is. The Telepath can even ask the Target to reveal memories that have been supernaturally tampered with. The Target will only know they remembered a secret they were never supposed to tell, or a memory which may have been unpleasant. If the memory was a hidden one, it will remain hidden to the Target, even though it will be fully revealed to the Telepath. This will not restore any memories.
   OR
2. Possess the body of a Target (whether NPC or PC). All actions and dialogue will be given to the Target in an Instant Message (IM), and the Target Player will be required to do and say what the Telepathic Character directs. This will last for the duration of the scene, or until the Telepath ends the connection. When the connection is terminated, the Target will have no memory of what transpired.

BOTCH! (rolling a natural 1-10): The Psychic has lost all control of how much energy they are exerting on the Target. 

• NPC Human Target: their head explodes and the NPC  (Non Player Character) Target is killed immediately. Blood and brain matter is splattered everywhere. CLICK HERE
• Human PC (Player Character): The Target has a seizure and is in a coma until medical help can be administered. 
• NPC or PC Non Human Target: (Vampire, Garou, or other Supernatural Being) he/she/they knows exactly who just tried to attack them. While painful, they suffer no damage

NOTE: This ability has a 3-Turn Cooldown, meaning that the Psychic can only use this ability after three turns have passed since they last used it.