Mental Abilities

Some species in REFUGE can alter the minds of others in specific ways. These abilities are considered “Role-Play Only” and are opt-in for all players. Mental role-play proceeds as an OOG discussion between an initiator and a recipient about what occurs in the recipient’s mind. This conversation should be performed quietly, but it is up to the participating players to ensure that all other nearby players know that this is an OOG conversation.

To begin mental role-play, one character (the initiator) must be touching another character (the recipient) and Focusing, usually either by looking into the recipient’s eyes or by closing their eyes. The recipient may be unconscious or otherwise unable to use Game Abilities, however, the initiator must be able to make physical contact with the recipient, i.e. you cannot initiate mental role-play through a Prison or similar barrier. The initiator must have access to the Mental Role-play ability. The initiating player should state something like “I attempt to enter your mind”, to which the recipient player usually replies with “Accepted” or “Refused”.

Note that the decision to accept or refuse mental role-play is entirely OOG, and so it is the recipient player, not the recipient character who chooses to accept or refuse.

The recipient player may decide at any time during the mental role-play to revoke their consent to the mental role-play. The mental role-play scene must be terminated immediately upon the recipient communicating a revocation of consent to the initiator.

If there are any durable effects on the recipient due to mental role-play after the scene is completed, the recipient may decide unilaterally at any time that these durable effects no longer affect their character.

The fundamental rule of mental role-play is this: no player is ever required to participate in mental role-play or to continue being affected by any result of mental role-play. Any player may opt out at any time from being the recipient of the effects of the abilities below.

Additional rules for mental role-play:

Mental role-play abilities are not Skills and are not purchased directly. Instead, the level of a character and their maximum Mental Power Level determine the abilities they have access to. For example, to use Remove Emotions, a Stone Elf must have a Mental Power Level of 6 and have at least 50 total XP.

Mental role-play abilities are separated into 3 types: General, Emotional Manipulation, and Memory Manipulation. All species with access to the Mental Role-play ability have access to General abilities, Stone Elves get access to Emotional Manipulation, and Avana get access to Memory Manipulation. Cast may have access to any set of Skills, determined by the local Plot Team.

You may not use mental role-play to circumvent any non-mental role-play effect. For example, you may not restore the memory gap created by an Amnesia effect, nor may you use mental role-play to detect, countermand, or otherwise get around the Enslavement effect.

The mental role-play conversation can last as long as the participants desire, from a few seconds to communicate something in secret, to half an hour or more for complicated applications of high-level abilities.

Individual Plot Teams will have different approaches to how mental role-play works with Cast. The availability of Cast for mental role-play will depend on many factors, including story constraints, Cast availability, and Cast player willingness to consent. Speak with your local Plot Team for more specific details on how they incorporate mental role-play into their plots.

Mental role-play abilities can only be used on the recipient, not on the initiator’s mind, unless otherwise noted in the ability description.

Initiators are encouraged to role-play out learning new mental role-play abilities whenever possible, though this is not required.

As described in the relevant species Packets, violating species role-playing restrictions may cause a Plot Team to restrict a player’s access to mental role-play abilities. Failing to properly role-play the negative consequences of mental role-play as an initiator may lead to similar consequences.

Finally, remember that the mental role-play system is here to help enhance stories and role-play. Be creative with the system! A common style of mental role-play scene has the initiating character’s “avatar” exploring the recipient character’s “mindscape”, with the two players describing the actions and reactions of their respective character’s mental projections. But you are not bound by this; feel free to get creative and find whatever style of mental role-play leads to the best stories for you.

Minimum XP needed: 20; Mental Power Level needed: 2 Mind Reading allows a character to go into the mind of the recipient to observe the recipient’s memory of a specific event. This is a one-way exchange of a memory (story) in someone’s head. It takes as long to read the memory as it takes to talk it out between the players involved. The recipient cannot lie about what is seen; however, the recipient might only provide a part of the information, meaning that section of their mind is just too complicated or hard to penetrate. Avani in particular quickly learn not to trust this ability to provide an unbiased and factual record of events. The length and depth of the role-play response is up to the players involved. Note that the initiator cannot communicate directly to the recipient without additional use of the Mind Meld ability (below). An Avana viewing of an event focuses on the memory of what happened, as viewed through the eyes of the recipient. The Avana does not receive the recipient’s emotional response but will react as if they had seen it themselves, or even been there. For example, if you witness horrific scenes of death on a battlefield, your character should react as if they are on that battlefield. Stone Elves focus on the emotions as opposed to memories of the event. The recipient should only provide enough of the facts necessary to convey context for the emotions felt. The Stone Elf experiences the full force of the emotions viewed, as the recipient experienced them. Generally, the stoicism of the Stone Elf allows them to resist reacting to these emotions, but particularly strong or personally resonant emotions may cause instinctive reactions from the Stone Elf.

Minimum XP needed 40; Species XP needed: 4 Mind Meld allows the initiator to communicate thoughts directly to the recipient, allowing for one-way communication without chance of being overheard. If the recipient character also has access to Mind Meld, the two characters may engage in two-way communication.

Minimum XP needed: 60; Species XP needed: 6 Block allows the construction of a barrier inside of a mind to prevent tampering with it. Anyone attempting to perform another mental ability who cannot get past the Block will be unsuccessful. When creating a Block, the initiator must tell the recipient player what Mental Power Level they are using to create the Block, which is at most their current maximum Mental Power Level. This information is OOG but will be needed if the recipient is ever the target of a Remove Block ability. Block may be used by a character on themselves, without requiring a mental role-play scene.

Minimum XP needed: 60; Species XP needed:8 Remove Block allows an initiator to destroy a Block on a mind. To succeed, the user of Remove Block must use this ability at a higher Mental Power Level than the Block was originally placed at. Remove Block may be used by a character on themselves, without requiring a mental role-play scene.

Minimum XP needed: 60; Species XP needed: 10 This ability allows an initiator to detect a Mental Trap in a recipient’s mind prior to setting it off. It does not allow the character to discover the Mental Power Level at which the Mental Trap was placed. Once detected, an initiator may choose to back away and not set the Mental Trap off. Detect Mental Trap may be used by a character on themselves, without requiring a mental role-play scene.

Minimum XP needed 80; Species XP needed: 12 Mental Trap allows the initiator to attach a painful trap to a Block. If another initiator encounters the trapped Block while not using Detect Mental Trap, attempts to Remove Block, or attempts to Remove Mental Trap and fails, the Mental Trap goes off, affecting both the initiator and recipient of the current mental role-play scene. A triggered Mental Trap causes weakness, emotional turmoil, and migraines in anyone affected. These effects will last for a number of hours equal to the difference between the Mental Power Level of the triggering initiator and the Mental Trap, minimum 1 hour. A particularly large Mental Power Level gap may optionally cause the targets to become unconscious for a short period in addition to the usual effects. Once triggered, a Mental Trap automatically resets, ready for the next unfortunate who encounters it. The Mental Power Level of Mental Trap always matches the Mental Power level of the Block to which it is attached. If an initiator is attempting to trap another character’s Block, they must have a Mental Power Level at least as high as the Block was created at. Mental Trap may be used by a character on themselves, without requiring a mental role-play scene.

Minimum XP needed: 100; Species XP needed: 12 Remove Mental Trap allows an initiator to attempt to disarm a Mental Trap they have detected. If Remove Mental Trap is used at a higher Mental Power Level than the target Mental Trap was set at, both the Mental Trap and the Block to which it is attached are destroyed. If the Mental Trap was set with a higher Mental Power Level than the Remove Mental Trap ability is used at, the Mental Trap will be set off as per the Mental Trap ability, and the Mental Trap will reset itself as usual.

Minimum XP needed 1; Species XP needed: 0 Calm allows the initiator to remove acute emotional distress, calming the recipient down. This is a temporary fix and will not remove the underlying causes of the current distress. This ability can only be used on a willing character; if the recipient’s mind is fighting against the initiator, Calm is not powerful enough to overcome that resistance.

Minimum XP needed: 50; Species XP needed: 6 Remove Emotions allows the initiator to remove a single emotion from the mind of the recipient. This may be done to fix the trauma resulting from a specific event, or to simply render the target incapable of feeling a singular emotion. This ability leaves visible scars to anyone else entering the recipient’s mind. Characters without access to this ability may not recognize exactly what was done, but they will be able to tell that something substantial was altered. Restore Emotions allows the healing of the scars left by Remove Emotions, returning the removed emotion to the recipient completely. Using either Remove Emotions or Restore Emotions will cause both the initiator and recipient to suffer from migraine headaches for a few minutes after completion.

Minimum XP needed 120; Species XP needed: 12 Plant False Emotions allows the initiator to create new emotions within the recipient’s mind. These emotions can be as specific or general as desired. For example, the initiator could plant a false fear of spiders or a false sense of allegiance to a person, ideal, or nation. While this ability is very often performed against the will of the recipient character, remember that the recipient player can choose at any time to revoke consent for mental role-play. Repair Emotions allows the removal of any emotions created with Plant False Emotions. The use of either Plant False Emotions or Repair Emotions causes immense pain to both the initiator and recipient, reducing both characters’ current Body Points by half. Additionally, the initiator suffers the effects of a non-Necromantic, incurable Drain for 10 minutes.

Minimum XP needed: 130; Species XP needed: 16 Destroy Emotions allows the initiator to severely reduce or remove all emotional drives from the recipient. A character with destroyed emotions will no longer feel much of anything: not happiness, not sadness, not anger, not fear, not love, nothing. Return Emotions cleanses the recipient’s mind of the effects of Destroy Emotions, allowing them to feel fully again. Using either Destroy Emotions or Return Emotions should take at least half an hour to role-play and will leave both parties emotionally drained (if they are still capable of such a thing). Additionally, both the initiator and recipient suffer a terrible migraine for the next hour.

Minimum XP needed: 160; Species XP needed: 22 Destroy Moral Code allows the initiator to completely eradicate all moral and ethical concepts from the recipient’s mind. This prevents any feelings of guilt or remorse from arising in the recipient’s mind. The recipient will now act in a purely sociopathic way, only considering their own wants and needs. Return Moral Code can be used to reverse the effects of a Destroy Moral Code. Return Moral Code cannot be used to alter a recipient’s original sense of morality, only to restore what was taken. Use of either ability takes at least a half hour, and will leave both parties emotionally drained. It also leaves both characters with severe migraines for at least an hour.

Minimum XP needed: 200; Species XP needed: 30 Restore Balance allows the initiator to fundamentally repair the emotions of the recipient. The reach of this ability is vast; however, emotional afflictions are often rooted in physical ailments or current situations, both of which are beyond the reach of this ability. Since emotional imbalance can take a great many forms, it is up to the initiator and the recipient to role-play it accordingly based on the type and complexity involved. Restore Balance should always be an active collaboration between the two players, even if the initiating character is using it against the recipient character’s will.

Minimum XP needed: 120; Species XP Level needed: 12 This ability allows the initiator to cause a sensation of pain, without inflicting any physical damage. The recipient will react as though they are in tremendous agony, but they will not lose any Body Points and cannot break the connection. All Avani and Stone Elves are Immune to this ability.

Minimum XP needed: 140; Species XP Level needed: 12 Alteration allows the initiator to make small changes to a memory, such as changing the details of a conversation, or altering the identity of one of the parties involved. However, it does not allow the initiator to change the underlying memory into something else entirely. This must be performed within 24 hours of the original incident, or it will automatically fail.

Minimum XP needed: 160; Species XP Level needed: 14 This ability allows the initiator to fix memory problems; for instance, restoring the false or doctored memories created by Alterations or Twists to their original state. The initiator must be of a higher Mental Power Level than the one who inflicted the original Alteration, Twist, etc. The process is not seamless, and leaves behind a scar that is apparent to any Avana or Stone Elf who examines that memory, and may also be apparent to the recipient. After the repair is complete, both the initiating Avana and the recipient will have headaches for several minutes.

Minimum XP needed: 140; Species XP Level needed: 16 The Restore ability allows the initiator to completely rebuild a damaged or altered memory, without leaving any scars or lingering ill effects. However, it is a much more strenuous process than a simple Repair, taking at least five minutes and leaving both parties emotionally and physically drained. For an hour after the Restore is complete, they will suffer from terrible headaches as well as the effects of a Weakness, which cannot be cured by normal means. If restoring an effect caused by a Memory Manipulation ability, the initiator must be of a higher Mental Power Level than the one who created the effect.

Minimum XP needed: 150; Species XP Level needed: 18 Repair Blast allows the Avana initiator to make repairs against the recipient’s will. (This means the character’s will, not the player’s. Remember that a player may always refuse to engage in mental role-play.) The fixing of memory problems is generally done with the cooperation of the recipient because without cooperation, it is impossible to make a smooth Restoration of the memory. Not only will there be a visible scar, but the process will be extremely painful to both parties, both of whom take half of their current Body Points in damage. In addition, the initiator who performed the forced repair will be under the effects of a non-Necromantic, incurable Drain for the next ten minutes. As with other restorative abilities, a higher Mental Power Level than the one who made the original alteration is required.

Minimum XP needed 160; Species XP Level needed: 20 Twist is a more advanced form of Alteration, allowing the complete replacement of a memory with an entirely new one. It can affect up to 30 minutes of memory and must be performed within 24 hours of the original incident, or it will automatically fail.

Minimum XP needed: 170; Species XP Level needed: 22 Advanced Alteration allows Alteration to be used at any time after the target memory was formed.

Minimum XP needed: 180; Species XP Level needed: 24 Advanced Twist allows Twist to be used at any time after the target memory was formed.

Minimum XP needed 190; Species XP Level needed: 26 Freeze allows for the removal and complete replacement of up to a full year of memories, including any that may have been altered by other memory manipulation abilities. This requires the use of an Avanian lodestone, and takes at least half an hour to role-play. After completing the Freeze, both parties will be emotionally drained, will have a terrible headache for at least an hour, and be under the effects of an incurable, non-Necromantic Drain for ten minutes. Due to the scope of this effect, a description of the change must be submitted in writing to the Plot Team and, if possible, the recipient of the ability. If this is not completed within 30 days, the effects of the Freeze will reverse themselves.

Minimum XP needed: 200; Species XP Level needed: 30 Wipe allows the initiator to completely remove a section of memory, leaving nothing at all. Unlike the natural process of forgetting, Wipe is extremely messy and painful, even violent. It must be completed in real time: Wiping five minutes of memory requires five minutes of role-play, and both parties will suffer severe headaches for that same amount of time after the Wipe is completed. Thus, under normal circumstances, it is impossible, or at least extremely impractical, to remove a lifetime of memories. Regardless of the memories removed, this ability does not remove any Game Abilities or learned Skills from the recipient.