As standard, but it has no effect on those with more Essence than you. Usually Manipulation+Occult. The usual difficulty is the subject's Wits.
Inspiration. (T3.) Allows the sorcerer to plant a thought or idea in the mind of a subject. Subject will think he had the idea himself (this requires a number of net successes equal to the target's Wits); or interpret the message as a sending from the sorcerer, as the sorcerer desires. If the character thinks it's his own thought, there is no guarantee that the subject will consider the idea to be a bright one or be in any way impelled to act out its instructions; this is not mind control. Difficulty 1.
Communication. (T3.) A basic two-way communication. You can send what you see or imagine instead of speech.
The difficulty of communication-type effects depend on how familiar the sorcerer is with his target. Contagion is either an intimate item owned by the subject, a close friend or family member or a former piece of his body, such as a lock of hair, fingernail, or in this party an ear. No line of sight is required to communicate.
| Target | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| Family / Named Party members | 1 |
| Friends (or Contagion) | 2 |
| Strangers, enemies | 5 |
| Long-distance (not same county) | +1 |
Message. (T3.) A short message, up to twenty words. The target can send a similar limited answer. There is also a significant time delay, about equal to that of a bird flying back and forth between them. The advantage of this power is that it has a difficulty two less than regular communication effects.
A message can also be left in a particular place, and trigger when somebody comes near. See the Warning effect of Divination for examples on how this can work.
Suggestion. (T3.) Allows the sorcerer to impose her will on a subject. The subject must be within earshot of the sorcerer; it is possible to work the spell through a telephone, prerecorded sound or videotape, or other communications methods, but the sorcerer must know who he is to affect when using the effect. Note that this will severely disturb 2060 thaumatologists.
The subject will obey a single instruction, following its spirit as well as its letter. The target may spend Willpower points to remove successes.
In an intense situation, such as combat, the instruction only lasts one turn per success. On a resisted success, the target will do nothing, simply loosing the shots. Out of combat, it lasts about ten minutes per success. Posthypnotic suggestions (difficulty +2) can lie dormant and activate at a later time.
Phantasm. (T3.) Allows the sorcerer to send false sensory signals to a subject's mind. The subject sees, hears, smells, feels or tastes something that isn't there. The nature of the phantasm is entirely up to the sorcerer. Note that this spell alone does not make the subject particularly disposed to believe what his senses are telling him. For example, a sorcerer conjures up in the mind of a security guard an image of a smiling, felt-covered, purple dinosaur toting a Heckler & Koch MP5. The guard may well assume that he is hallucinating or that his eyes are otherwise deceiving him. Refusal to believe does not make the false sensory input go away, however; even a false image of Barney's evil twin can be quite distracting in the midst of a gunfight. The phantasm lasts for a turn per net success.
Charm. Plants the idea in the target's mind that the caster is a friend. Difficulty is based on how plausible this is to the target. Duration increases geometrically with successes: 0-2 is 1-3 minutes, 3-5 is 1-3 hours, 6-8 is 1-3 days.
Confusion. As the Blast.
Memorization. This should be a
Lore charm. Used by mystically talented scholars. Commiting a
page, song, face, or painting to memory. The difficulty is based on
the amount and the speed with which the material must be memorized. A
willpower point will make it last longer.
Empathy. The first level of Influence permits sensing emotions. Difficulty is the target's Manipulation.
Telepathy, more advanced mind control. The language barrier isn't a problem for magic using Influence II.
Dream Riding. (T3.) This allows the sorcerer to enter the dreams of another character. This only works on sleeping, unconscious, delirious or catatonic characters. Bringing others along costs a willpower point for a number of people equal to your Essence attribute, or an entire Named Party. Unwilling targets require an number of net successes equal to their Wits.
Generally, sorcerers enter the dreams of others in order to get hard-to-find information or to correct psychi problems. It is also possible to manipulate the dreams of others in order to affect their psyches. This can be played out or resolved through simple dice rolls or by using other mystic powers.
The rough way to use this power is to initiate combat. Such a combat works just as combat in the real world; both characters have access to any gear normally used. If either character dies, he is merely rendered unconscious, and suffers a wound penalty equal to the number of excess health levels he lost during the next day. If you bring companions along, the sleeper may create phantasmal allies to match their number: clones or allied concepts and Names, as he pleases.
While a character is Dream Riding, her body lies comatose. Long trances can be harmful.
Mind Probe. A deep probe of the character's mind, reading memories and motivations. In order to use this effect, the target must have been rendered unconscious using Mind Blast or otherwise be totally in the sorcerer's power. The difficulty is the target's Willpower, and things hidden so deep that they are not available to the character's conscious mind require extra successes equal to the target's Essence.
It is possible to alter or delete the target's memories, motivations and personality, making him your mental thrall. Once the target has been enslaved, the sorcerer can muck around with his body almost as much as he likes. Only story elements can save the poor schmuck. As player characters are not assumed to be into this kind of thing, the rules are somewhat sketchy. (This part may belong in Influence III if I can think of other things to do with it.)
Hide Thoughts. A talented mage can create a false screen of thought in front of their true thought process, making it easy to keep a poker face and fool telepathy. Difficulty 1, each two successes raise the difficulty of incoming mental effects by one.
Memorization. Like in Influence I, but suitable for committing an entire book or saga to memory.
Party Telepathy. This is perhaps the most useful aspect of communication. It lets party members communicate without bulky radios and without risk of eavesdropping (except telepathically, as required by the plot). This link must be established, and the number of successes determine the maximum effectiveness, but this requires no concentration once it is up as long as all remain within 10 yards times the number of successes. Assume that what one experiences is always immediately shared with the others.
Hide Thoughts
Mind Editing
Severe Mindprobe