Telepaths
Overview:
I don’t trust telepaths. Never have, never will. - Michael Garibaldi Introduction to the Mindscape
It is likely that telepaths have existed for millennia but it is only within the past two decades that many races have begun to both keep records of their growing numbers and officially use them within military and governmental capacities. They are, however, still rare individuals whose talent is to be cherished and never squandered. Only one
in every thousand Humans, for example, has any telepathic potential and most of those are extremely weak and may be completely unaware of their gift.
Nearly every race except the Narn contains a small telepath population, most of whom guard this precious resource jealously. It is said the Narn once had telepaths on their homeworld before they were all wiped out a thousand years ago by an unknown force, thus effectively removing all possibility for the telepathic gene to breed strong and true. The Narn are acutely aware of this terrible disadvantage they face when they confront enemy powers who do have telepaths, but so far all attempts by them to merge the telepathic genes of other races into their own have failed.
To be a telepath means to be special among your own kind. With practice, a telepath can literally read the mind of another to discover their innermost thoughts and secrets. He will constantly hear a background ‘noise’ whenever near other beings as their thoughts are continually broadcast and merge together, meaning a telepath will rarely know true silence. Many learn rhymes or engage in shallow meditation to keep these voices at bay and to stop them accidentally picking up on stray thoughts broadcast by non-telepathic individuals (or mundanes as they are sometimes known). Telepaths will block out stray thoughts as a matter of course, though strong emotions from others can sometimes slip through no matter how practised the telepath is. Some races, such as the Minbari, openly welcome telepaths among their own race as such individuals can do much to serve society as a whole. Others, however, retain a deep suspicion of all telepaths who do, after all, make the ideal blackmailers – a single stray thought can be instantly picked up by a telepath and with it, your deepest secret. Nowhere is this paranoia more evident than among the Humans, who have always valued privacy in their cultures, something a telepath can utterly destroy. All Human telepaths, therefore, are required to join the Psi Corps, an institution designed to train telepaths to maximise their own potential and yet safeguard the privacy of the mundanes. Human telepaths have few choices and yet are encouraged to still believe
their talent is a valuable gift that sets them far apart from the rest of Humanity.
Psionic Abilities:
Psi-Rating:
Telepathic potential is measured on the Psi-Scale by most of the Younger Races. Mundanes do not have a P-Rating [N/A], though some individuals possess a rating of P0 and are 'force sensitives'. P1 is the minimum level of detectable telepathic ability; most commercial telepaths range between P4 and P8.
Telepaths above P8 are very rare; the highest rated Human telepaths top out at P12 and they are almost always recruited into the elite order of the Psi Cops to police other Human telepaths. Strong telepaths are equally rare among the other Younger Races(PC races).
Using Telepathic Abilities:
Only characters with a P-Rating of 1 or higher (gained through Psionic Entity feat) may use the powers outlined in this section. A character’s P-Rating determines how much telepathic power the telepath possesses and therefore what levels of telepathic ability they can use.
Each telepathic ability has a Power entry. If a character’s PRating is equal to or greater than the Power of the ability, then the telepath can use that ability freely and without becoming swiftly tired,however they still must consume chakra to use telepathic abilities.
Mental Effort:
If a character’s P-Rating is lower than the Power of the ability, then the telepath cannot attempt the power without significant mental effort. This mental effort is represented by the telepath choosing to suffer nonlethal damage in order to boost his P-Rating, purely for the purposes of activating the ability. This is carried out in the following manner:
1. The telepath rolls a number of Eight-sided dice (d8s) equal to the
amount they would like to temporarily boost their P-Rating by. No more
than six dice may be rolled.
2. The total of this roll is the amount of nonlethal damage suffered by
the telepath. As long as this damage does not render the telepath unconscious, they have temporarily boosted their P-Rating sufficient
to use the telepathic ability.
A telepath with Discipline Focus in the ability’s parent Discipline
rolls six-sided dice (d6s) rather than d8s.
A telepath can instead choose to suffer one point of lethal damage
for each nonlethal die that would be rolled.
Example:
Talia Winters is hired as a commercial telepath to scan a businessman.
The surface scan ability is used in such transactions. The Power required to use this ability is 7; Talia is a P5 with the Discipline Focus (Scanning) class feature. By taking 2d6 nonlethal damage, she boosts her P-Rating to 7 for the purposes of using the ability. She then makes a Telepathy check against DC 16 to scan the target’s mind for signs of deceit or falsehood.
The Telepathy Skill:
If a character’s P-Rating measures his raw telepathic power, the Telepathy skill measures his finesse and ability to control his telepathic abilities. Telepathic ability are often be activated even if the character fails a Telepathy skill check but the character might not be able to retrieve the thoughts or memories he is searching for or might even cause dangerous side effects.
Few telepaths are skilled at gaining access to and delving within alien minds.
The thought processes of other races can be extremely cold and disturbing, making the use of telepathic abilities far more difficult.Any Telepathy check made to use an ability against a subject of a different race-group will suffer a penalty.
• within your sub-group: -1
• within your group: -2 • within 2 groups: -4.
• within 4 groups: -6 • within 6 groups: -8.
• within 8 groups: -10 • within 10 groups: -12.
Telepathy feat Adaptive mind can reduce this penalty by up to 4 maximum.
Blood type override
- if both user and target share a special blood type, then group does not matter, Fae-blood, celestial blood, Demon blood, etc.
Maintaining Abilities:
When using telepathic abilities that can be maintained (any with Yes listed next to their Concentration entry), a telepath need only make one Telepathy check in order for it to succeed.
The ability will automatically continue to function every round thereafter that the telepath maintains concentration, though any resisting subject is permitted to make a new Will save each and every round. A character may instantly cancel any ability he is currently using as a free action.
Concentration:
To use a telepathic ability, a telepath must usually concentrate. All abilities can be disrupted if a distraction occurs while the telepath is trying to manifest the ability. Some abilities, such as a continual deep scan that requires extended concentration can be disrupted while the telepath is using them. These abilities will have Yes listed next to their Concentration entry. A disruption in concentration is usually due to an attack, an environmental change or another telepath using an ability on him. The more distracting the interruption and the more powerful the ability being attempted is, the higher the DC of the Concentration check using the Telepathy Skill.
Any Concentration check made to avoid distractions when attempting to use a telepathic ability has its DC increased by the Power of the ability being attempted.
Saving Throws:
Any living creature that is subjected to a telepathic ability, be they telepath themselves or mundane, may make a Will saving throw to resist its effects.
A subject may always choose to forego its Will save and automatically allow the telepathic ability to take effect.
The Will save against any telepathic ability is made at a DC equal to: 5 + the telepath’s P-Rating + the 1/2 character’s level + the telepath’s Charisma modifier
If the Will save is successful, the telepath suffers one point of nonlethal damage and the ability fails to affect the target. If the Will save is a failure, the ability works upon the target. Mundanes will soon come to realise that defending against telepathic abilities is extraordinarily difficult and only the most resilient of individuals are likely to succeed. It is this ease of use in their talent that has led many telepaths to become arrogant and superior when confronting mundanes. It has also led to their persecution in the histories of many races.
Psionic Learning:
A telepath can attempt to learn any ability in any Discipline, as long as they can achieve that ability’s Power with their PRating [See Mental effort], All telepaths start with Message and Surface Scan, and 2 of their choice of a similar P-rating as message and surface scan. characters gain a new Psionic Power for every 3 Psionic levels they possess.(lv3,6,9,12,15,18,etc)
Example:
Talia Winters is considering using the action block ability. However, the ability’s requisite Power is 14. Her P-Rating is only 5, and even if she rolled six dice to temporarily increase her P-Rating, this would only raise her P-Rating to 11 – not enough to use the ability. In effect, Talia is limited to using abilities with a Power of 11 or less.
Psionic range groups:
Each ability has a maximum range listed in its descriptionwhich will often force a telepath to move close to his subject in order to successfully use his talent.
Self: These abilities may only be used upon the telepath using them.
Touch:These abilities require a telepath to actually touch the subject in order to function. Some telepaths, especially Humans belonging to the Psi Corps, wear gloves to avoid accidental contact with mundanes. Wearing gloves when using a touch range ability inflicts a –2 penalty on the Telepathy check to use the ability. Note that touching a subject requires prolonged contact – simply brushing against or hitting them will not work.
Close: An ability requiring close range means that the telepath must be within a few feet of the target – within roughly arm’s length. These abilities generally require that there is no obstruction between the telepath and the target. Even other people can block the telepathic ability. The maximum range for a close range ability is 10 feet. Actually touching a subject can ease the difficulty of using close range abilities. If the telepath actually touches his subject when using a close range ability, he is granted a +2 circumstance bonus to his Telepathy check (this bonus is reduced to +1 if the telepath is wearing gloves).
Medium: Medium range abilities can only be used when the telepath can see the target clearly. The maximum range for a medium range ability is 100 feet. Actually touching a subject can ease the difficulty of using medium range abilities. If the telepath actually touches his subject when using a medium range ability, he is granted a +4 circumstance bonus to his Telepathy check (this bonus is reduced to +2 if the telepath is wearing gloves).
Long: Long range abilities have no maximum range; as long as the telepath has line of sight, he can use the ability. Actually touching a subject can ease the difficulty of using long range abilities. If the telepath actually touches his subject when using a long range ability, he is granted a +6 circumstance bonus to his Telepathy check (this bonus is reduced to +3 if the telepath is wearing gloves).
It should be noted that exceptionally powerful telepaths can greatly increase the range of their abilities, to the extent where those that normally require touch or line of sight may be used with neither (as close, medium or long ranged abilities). Where this is possible, the ability will have several P-Ratings and their respective ranges detailed.
Telepathy and hyperspace:
It is a secret kept from mundanes, but telepaths traveling through hyperspace will find the range of their telepathic abilities increases to staggering levels. No one is quite sure why telepathic abilities increase so much when in hyperspace but then, there is much about that strange realm that the Younger Races do not understand. The normal ranges of abilities are increased when a telepath is in hyperspace.
Normal Range Hyperspace Range
Touch No change
Close x5 normal
Medium x10 normal
Long True Line of Sight
Line of sight abilities in hyperspace have no practical range limitations – if the telepath can physically see his subject, he will be able to use his ability on it.
Action type:
Most telepathic abilities have ‘Standard’ listed as their action. In order to use the ability, the telepath can either use a move or attack action. Some abilities require a full round or free action to use. If the ability is maintained over a number of rounds,
this action will need to be spent every round in order to maintain the effects
Using Multiple Telepathic Abilities Simultaneously
Most telepaths will only ever use one telepathic ability at a time. Telepathy is incredibly demanding and it is very hard to concentrate on two abilities at the same time. However, as long the two abilities can be maintained within a telepath’s action allowance, a telepath may attempt to use two abilities simultaneously, or even two instances of the same ability. However, attempting to initiate a telepathic ability while retaining control of another increases the DC of the second Telepathy check by +4. Also, Concentration checks to maintain either ability have their DC increased by +4.
Multiple Subjects:
Some telepathic abilities may be used on multiple subjects simultaneously, though this is extremely difficult and only the most skilled of telepaths may even attempt it. Every additional subject of an ability beyond the first inflicts a cumulative –2 penalty to the Telepathy check required to use it successfully and increases the Required Power of the ability by 1. If the Telepathy check fails, none of the subjects will be affected by the ability.
Variations:
Some telepathic abilities can be used in a multitude of ways; these variations are listed after the most common version. Most involve modifications to the Telepathy check DC.
Telepathic Damage:
Telepathic damage, whether it be dealt by a vicious deep scan or suffered by exerting mental effort, ignores all Damage Reduction that does not specifically protect against telepathic damage. This is true of both lethal and nonlethal telepathic damage
Line of Sight:
Most telepaths need to work on a line of sight to their subject in order to successfully use their abilities. Such abilities require not only for a telepath to be able to actually see the subject but also discern features so that they can readily make a telepathic connection.