Psychic Hypnosis
Many hypnotists promise results. Some even produce them. Psychics with hypnotic powers dwarf the abilities of the best carnival hucksters. Though their abilities lack the speed of a vampire's mental commands or the effects of the Mind Sphere, hypnotic psychics achieve many of the same results, with enough time and effort.
Roll: Manipulation + Expression / Hypnosis
- ● Trance State -- The hypnotist can place a willing subject into a hypnotic trance. While in the trance, the subject's memories become clearer. He may also exhibit greater control of his physiology. Though the hypnotist cannot command the subject, the person in the trance automatically becomes relaxed and restful. He may (at the Storyteller's discretion) regain one point of Willpower for every two successes the hypnotist achieves. The psychic may, if she chooses, hypnotize herself. Roll against difficulty 6 in either case. Placing the subject in a trance takes five turns. The subject will come out of the trance if shaken or disturbed.
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- ●● Sideshow Suggestion -- After placing the subject in a deep trance (which takes the usual five turns), the hypnotist may command the subject to perform actions while in the trance state, each command taking a round. In the trance state, the subject will perform any action he would not be opposed to doing. Additionally, the entranced subject has far greater control of his autonomic responses. A hypnotized person could walk on hot coals, require less oxygen to breathe or even ignore wound penalties. The hypnotist could also cause the subject to forget previous actions that happened in the trance state. Roll difficulty 6 for simple commands, difficulty 7 for embarrassing commands and to forget actions that happen while hypnotized, difficulty 8 for controlling pain response. The subject will not come out of the trance until the hypnotist commands.
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- ●●● Delayed Action -- The subject of the hypnotist's powers now performs actions commanded once the trance has been broken. The psychic implants any command or improved memory recall from the lower levels of hypnosis, but this time, it is programmed to happen at a certain time. The commands are implanted as with Sideshow Suggestion, but the difficulty is raised by one. Every success on the roll gives the hypnotist one command to implant. Each extra condition requires a success as well. It takes five turns to hypnotize the object, plus one turn per command to program them. The hypnotist can make one of the commands to be to instantly fall into a trance at a later time.
- Example: The Amazing Steve hypnotizes Denise, a member of the audience. He rolls three successes on his attempt to hypnotize Denise. He then orders her that, when someone says the word "rabbit" she will jump on one foot (the first success), say the word "duck" (the second one) and then fall back into a trance (the third one). He could also have told her to jump on one foot when someone says "rabbit" (the initial success) and then when someone says the word "carrot" (a second condition, requiring a success) to spin in the place (the third success).
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- ●●●● Fast Trance -- At this stage, the hypnotist has become so adept at inducing trances, that he, by a powerful act of will, may do so with a glance. This costs one Willpower, and the player must make the normal roll at a difficulty of the subject's Willpower. If the effect succeeds, the subject is entranced for one round per success. While the target is in a trance, the hypnotist can then use any of the other lesser hypnotic powers on the subject.
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- ●●●●● Manchurian Candidate -- With this ability, the psychic can preform major amounts of brainwashing on the target. With this level of deep programming, the subject will do anything the hypnotist commands, even to the point of death. The target must be placed in a trance, which takes 10 minutes (And may not be done with a fast trance). After that, the hypnotist spends an hour per command implanted programming the subject. Spend two Willpower and roll Manipulation + Leadership (Difficulty 7 for that are simply against the target's morals, Difficulty 9 for commands that lead to the subject's death). As in the Delayed Action power, the number of commands and the number or of conditions attached to them depend on the number of successes.
