Empath Racial Skill

Standard Racial Skills

Empathic Link: Empaths have the ability to feel other people’s emotions, must roll for success. This makes it hard, but not impossible, for other characters to trick, lie to, or manipulate them or any number of other abilities related to emotions. This skill pertains only to emotions, never thoughts which are covered in the skill telepathy. This skill is reduced when an empath is surrounded by multiple characters. When more than one character is in the same vicinity as an empath, an empath must make a roll to concentrate directly upon any individuals direct emotions. Otherwise they read a gambit of swirling emotions. It is up to the GM to decide if the character must re-roll for concentration purposes once the Empath reaches a certain duration of time indicated by the roll.

Emotional Shield: Character’s ability to shield themselves against emotions and help prevent emotional overload. While shield is up surface emotions and thoughts are unreadable unless someone wants to read them with force. Character gains +5 against people reading their emotions and thoughts.

Psychic Navigation: Empaths can sense a person by the emotional wavelength they give off. They can also sense the general location of others, in their immediate vicinity, and feel when they are truly alone in a room. Opponent has disadvantage to infiltration and character gains advantage in mentally locating someone they're familiar within a 1 mile radius.

Mindblock: The empath fortifies her will against psionic influences of all sorts. The difficulties of any direct attacks or attempts to control the empath’s mind, as well as more insidious psychic assaults (mind-reading, illusions, possession, and so forth) are raised, giving opponents disadvantage to Telepathic and Empathic skills cast against character. The effects of this ability are permanent, though character must take an action to achieve this stat. Does not apply to any magics which sway the empath’s emotions or memories.

Social Influence: If character knows exactly what emotion is flowing through someone they can use this knowledge to gain advantage in persuasion, manipulation, deception, etc type rolls. Depends on a successful Empathic Link attempt first.

Limited Telepathy: Empaths can mentally communicate with one creatures within 30 feet and in their line of site with whom they share a language. This is a one way communication unless the other individual is Empathic as well. Must make a successful roll to establish this link unless the other character is an Empath. Another Empath or someone with Telpathy in the vacinity has the opportunity to roll and "hear" this communication.

Disadvantage:

Empathic Overload: When presented with too many emotions or very high emotions, empaths can become overloaded. While in overload they might experience many things, this includes but it not limited to, they lose their ability to distinguish their own emotions from others taking on whatever emotions are surrounding them, confusion, nearly crippling headaches, temporary insanity. In extreme cases these affects could be permanent, but these are very very rare cases (and never without the player's consent).

In cases where emotions are running high a GM might require an empath to roll and see how they are handling emotional strain. Such checks should be kept within reason.

Number of times this may happen in a session is dependent on the character’s racial skill points.

1-50 = max 5 times per session

51-70 = max 3 times per session

71 and 90 = max 2 time per session

91 and above = Character has overcome it completely through sheer willpower