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Mental control abilities are used to assert your will over others. When using one of these abilities, there are two rolls involved, a will power roll and an awareness roll.
The will power roll is to determine the success of the attempt. The mentalist will roll two dice and add their will power. The target will do the same. If the mentalist beats the target (a tie does not count), then access is gained and the result of the ability is carried out. It is important to note how much the mentalist beat their target by, as this difference is used as a bonus in the awareness roll. Likewise, if the mentalist fails, the difference between rolls is used as a bonus in the target's awareness roll.
The awareness roll is used to see if the target realizes what is happening. Both the mentalist and the target roll their awareness, along with any bonuses from the will power roll. If the mentalist wins, then the target has no idea that his mind has been invaded. If the target wins, then he will distinctly feel the presence of the mentalist's mind, as well as know if the mentalist beat him in the will power roll.
Also, if the mentalist chooses, he may use any free points he has to give him a bonus on his will power roll. Each point used give a +1 bonus on the will power roll.
In the case of a non-player character mentalist using one of these abilities on a player, the referee should probably know ahead of time what the character's will power and awareness values are. This way the referee can roll for each side and only let the character know what happens if they succeed in their awareness roll.
Read Emotion - if the mentalist succeeds, he will be able to feel the same emotions as the target. If the mentalist beats the target by five, then he can determine if the emotion is directed at something specific, such as hatred of a certain person. The permanent version of this power allows the mentalist to gauge the general mood of a large populations.
Alter Emotion - the mentalist can invoke a certain emotion and force it on the target. If the mentalist beats the target by five, then they can direct the emotion on a certain item, such as a person, place, or even idea. If the mentalist beats the target by ten, then they can cause such emotional turmoil as to cause a stress point.
Read Thought - if the mentalist succeeds, he will be able to 'hear' or 'see' what the target is currently thinking. The effects last only for a few moments (ie: one combat round).
Alter Thought - this power is one of the most versitile. With it, the mentalist can make the target think whatever the mentalist wants (These are not the droids you're looking for). With each successful attack the mentalist can implant a simple thought or command. There is a fair bit of variability involved with the success of this power. A lot depends on the type of thought implanted. If the thought is extrememly against the targets normal state of mind, then it is much less likely that it will succeed despite the success of the will power roll. For example, a thought like "You want to take your NST 429 out, point it at your own head and pull the trigger" is much less likely to succeed than "You want to take your NST 429 out and throw it across the room". The rule of thumb is that the referee can optionally add a difficulty bonus to the target's will power roll, say +20 for the suicide example above. It is still possible, but extrememly difficult.
Read Memory - when using this ability the mentalist can immerse themselves in the target's memory. Once they are in their memory, they are able to almost rewind and fast forward through the targets memory like a playback machine. The quality of the images seen will depend on how sharp they are contained within the target, as well as the intelligence and species of the target. An Anurian is going to have crystal clear images, while a Vimren probably won't remember too much beyond it's last meal. Any memories the target can conjur up will be easy for the mentalist to see, while memories that are not easiliy accessible by the target will be more difficult to find. Each combat round, the mentalist must maintain his control by the same will power awareness rolls with a +5 bonus on the will power roll, but he doesn't have to expend any points to maintain control.
Alter Memory - with this power the mentalist can implant a memory into the target. Most often the implanted memory doesn't have to be that detailed, as the target's brain will fill in a lot of the gaps. But in the case of a mathematician, or an Anurian, the only way to fool them into believing the memory is genuine is to be a mathematician yourself and implant an extrememly detailed memory. Each successful use of this power can implant about a minute of memory. If later on, another mentalist reads the implanted memory, they will not be able to tell the difference between that and a genuine memory. It is possible to combine the read memory and alter memory powers, allowing you to read the memory from one person and transfer it over to the other.
Possess - a successful use of this power will allow you to implant your consciousness into another being. You have complete control over them and see, hear, feel, etc everything that they experience. While you are controlling the other person, your own body and mind are in a meditative trance. The target is unconscious throughout the time that the mentalist is using their body.
Hitchhike - similar to possess as you implant your consciousness into another being. However, you do not control them at all, you just experience everything they do without holding any influence over them. They are not usually aware that you are there.
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Physical control powers allow the mentalist to control the target's body without influencing the mind at all. Each successful attempt allows the mentalist to exert the control for one combat round.
These powers use the same will power and awareness rolls as the mental control powers. The only exception is that if the attempt succeeds, no awareness roll is needed as the result will be quite apparent to the target.
Spasm - this is simply picking a group of muscles on the target and make them contract multiple times as violently as possible. This power can have many uses. Focusing on a target's leg would force an agility roll. On an arm would mess up a shart shooter's aim. On the head would make it quite difficult for the target to speak (as well as look quite odd).
Limb - this allows a mentalist to completely control one section of the target's body, be it an arm, a leg, neck, etc. To the mentalist, it is as if the limb belongs to them and they can do whatever they want with it. Any combat bonuses the mentalist has will be effective with what the controlled limb does. For example, say a mentalist has a stage of weapon specialist, with plus two to hit, and he mentally controls someone's arm. If he uses that arm to pull out a pistol and shoot at someone else, he will still get the plus two to hit for the attack. Hand to hand attacks can be quite devestating, especially if the mentalist uses the limb to attack the target's own body. A target will not be able to use duck for the attack and will have to parry it.
Body - the ultimate in physical control. The mentalist will completely take control of the target's body for one round. During that round, they can do anything with the body, including attacking someone, standing prone so that others can attack them, or jumping off a cliff (if one is handy). As with the limb version of physical control, the mentalist has the same hand to hand and bonuses when using a controlled body.
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Biological powers can be used by the mentalist on themselves or on another person (no droids, obviously).
Bonus to Movement - when used, the mentalist or target gets a bonus of +1 on all movement rolls. The effects are cumulative, so if the mentalist expends twice the points, they get +2, three times the points, +3, etc. The permanent version of this ability will be in effect continueously without any conscious effort from the mentalist, unless it is targetted at someone else, in which case the mentalist must devote one die per turn to keep it active.
Bonus to Physical Attribute - each use of this power increases one physical statistic (strength, speed, or agility) by one. With the no limits varient, the mentalist can increase the statistic beyond the normal limits of the race. As with the movement bonus, the effects are cumulative, and the permanent power requires no effort by the mentalist unless the target of the power is someone else.
Chameleon - this power allows the mentalist to turn into a little green lizard. Perhaps we should rename this power to camoflague, and give it a bit larger bonus to hide and sneak... Not sure how the persuade works as if you were to make yourself look like someone else, then wouldn't that be shape shift? Would your colouring actually change? Maybe it make's your body somewhat transparent, allowing the light to go through you?
Healing / Harming - the mentalist can instantaneously cause or repair damage. Physical contact must be made to use this power on another person. Multiples of the points used can increase the damage or healing. If points are devoted to a permanent power, the power must be either healing or harming, not both. The permanent ability can be used only once per round.
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Manifestation powers involve direct manipulation of the environment around the mentalist.
Telekinesis - allows the mentalist to exert a force with their mind. This abilty is extrememly useful in hand to hand combat, giving +1 to your hand to hand ability for every 100 N of telekinesis used. Also, telekinesis can replace a tool kit, giving the user +1D to tamper.
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