The Mental Aspect gives its wielder the ability to feel and interact with psychic energies. If all emotions and thoughts are just chemical and electrical interactions, then Mentalists just learn to understand, interpret, and interact with those electro-chemical interactions.

Those that choose the "Mental" aspect of Glimmer have the ability to affect, communicate and influence the minds and emotions of others. This includes both humans and animals (wild or domesticated). In addition thereto, they have the ability to create powerful illusions and feel residual emotional imprints left on physical objects.

Note that all abilities targeting a PC can be resisted with a Perception+Alertness check, or a direct Mental vs Mental check; this command will automatically select the higher of the two abilities: mental Enactor vs Target

Ability Guidelines

Note that the abilities below are essentially optional. You're welcome to decide for story or character reasons that your character can't do things listed below, or that they haven't learned how to do them yet and will later. No approval is needed.

Level One

• Electrokinesis: Feel electrical currents, creating a small arc of non-damaging static electricity or the equivalent of static cling. The power of the electrical charge increases with each level. See the Damage Guidelines section below.
• Minor Empathy: Can sense the dominant emotion of another living being, but they cannot transmit their own emotions.
• Crude Illusion: Project a non-moving image to another mind. This is not an illusion; the recipient will know they are receiving an image, and can roll to detect the source of the illusion if they choose to.
• Sense Consciousness: Sense any other conscious beings around them subject to proximity guidelines.

Level Two

• Mentalist-to-Mentalist: Receive and transmit thoughts to and from from other Mentalists (with a minimum of Mental-2), regardless of proximity guidelines, as long as the two have met face-to-face at least once. However, think of this as more like a walkie-talkie: the person sending the thought has to have a walkie-talkie (be a Mentalist) and hold down the button (intentionally transmit), and the receiver has to have their walkie-talkie turned on (be willing to hear). If a target is within the proximity guidelines, they do not have to voluntarily receive, but they can resist (see below for resisting).
• Transmit Emotions: Transmit emotions (even ones they are not currently feeling) to others, subject to proximity guidelines. This emotion will become the target's dominant emotion for up to five minutes, or until the Mentalist's emotion changes or they sever the connection. This can be resisted as noted above.
• Improved Electrokinesis: Electrical attacks are now capable of doing minor damage (flesh wounds). See the Damage Guidelines below.

Level Three

• Control Animals: Using emotions and very limited "commands," Mentalists can control animals.
• Detect Residues: Detect emotional residues on physical objects (e.g., they could feel happiness from a wedding dress or pain from a crashed car). Not all items have any emotional residue to them; it requires either long association with or a strong emotional tie to an item to imprint a residue.

Level Four

• Transmit Thoughts: Transmit thoughts to others (even non-Mentalists) based on proximity guidelines.
• Improved Residues: In addition to detecting emotional residue on objects, Mentalists can now "hear the thoughts" associated with these residues, and potentially replay the events that created them.
• Improved Electrokinesis: Electrical attacks are now capable of doing moderate damage (impaired wounds). See the Damage Guidelines below.

Level Five

• Improved Illusions: Create sensory illusions which will sharpen or dampen a target's awareness, allowing the Mentalist to blend into their surroundings (effectively adds -2 to the target's Alertness). Depending on successes, this illusion will vary from almost completely immersive, as if the person is having a powerful daydream (crushing victory/amazing success); to a blurry, easily overcome distraction (marginal victory/success).
• Residue Ownership: Determine who owns the emotional residue on an object (even if that person/animal doesn't actually own the object), receiving a mental image of the owner on any successful roll; on a good success, they will know the owner's name; on a great success, they will know that person's location (within a 200-yard radius). Note that, if the person that owns the residue is outside Gray Harbor, they will have a wider radius for finding them the farther they go from the city, and should take a -2 penalty to a roll for locating the person. Additionally, they cannot locate the residue's owner if they are dead.

Level Six

• Truth or Lie: Able to determine if a target is telling a truth or a lie about a specific subject.
• Cleanse Residue: Mentalists can cleanse the emotional residue left on objects.
• Improved Electrokinesis: Electrical attacks are now capable of doing catastrophic damage (incapacitated wounds). See the Damage Guidelines below.

Level Seven

• Babelfish: Understand any language, and enhance their own ability to speak any language (none becomes Beginner, Beginner becomes Conversational, Conversational becomes Fluent). Note that this is a passive ability. You don't need to roll for this; it's just "always on."

Level Eight

• False Memories: Implant a false memory into someone else; the person or animal will reliably believe this event happened. The duration of the memory is determined by the success level of the roll (see Memory Guidelines below). Note that duration relates to how long of a memory you can tweak. The target will naturally weave the memory into the events leading up to and after the implanted memory. This does not work on other Mentalists.
• Null Space: Create a dark or null room for up to 24 hours, in which Glimmer does not work and Veil creatures are rendered powerless.

Damage Guidelines

The damage guidelines below are for the use of Electrokinesis outside of combat. Inside combat, the code will automatically take care of damage. Note that you may want to, as an ST/GM, take into account skill level, as while it's technically possible for someone who is Mental 1 and Glimmer 4 to get a Crushing Victory, perhaps that shouldn't necessarily have the exact same effect as someone who's Mental 8 and doing the same thing.

Limitations

Aside from the proximity guidelines, those with the Mental aspect are subjected to additional limitations as to how many individuals they can affect based on skill level.

Memory Guidelines

Proximity Guidelines

Backlash Examples

These suggestions and examples are simply that; suggestions and examples. Always keep in mind that you can tailor the drawbacks to using Glimmer to your character's narrative.

Lower level/less frequent use

• Headaches/nosebleeds
• Auditory effect, eg. ears ringing, hearing voices
• Excessive static cling
• Amplified emotions for a modest duration (eg. 1 hour)

Frequent use/higher level use

• Drain the battery of electronics they touch, or short them out
• See afterimages of illusions they previously cast
• Seizure, blackout, or brief (4-8 hour) 'coma'
• Certainty that they're being followed and pestered
• Inability to disconnect from people they're telepathically linked to
• Confusion about their identity (which thoughts/feelings/memories are their own)