Hypnotism
Name
Hypnotism
Skill Attribute & Difficulty
Int - Hard
Defaults
None
Prerequisites
None
Description
This is the skill of inducing a suggestible state in another person through verbal or mechanical means. It requires five seconds and a successful skill roll to use. If you fail on a cooperative subject, you may try again. The second attempt takes five minutes, and the roll is at -5. If this attempt fails, you may not try to hypnotize the subject again that day.
A successful Hypnotism attempt puts the subject to sleep. This counts as an anesthetic for the purpose of Surgery. At the GM’s option, further Hypnotism rolls might help the subject remember something he had forgotten, while Psychology rolls might help them get over mental problems.
A hypnotized individual is extremely suggestible. Roll a Quick Contest of Hypnotism vs. the victim’s Ftd for each suggestion. The subject resists suggestions that threaten their life or their loved ones, or that go strongly against their character, at +5. You may also give “posthypnotic suggestions,” instructing the subject to do something in response to a trigger after the hypnosis ends. The subject’s resistance roll for such suggestions takes place when they encounter the trigger. They resist at +1 to Ftd per week since they were hypnotized.
You cannot use Hypnotism as an attack. You can use it on an unaware or unwilling subject out of combat, but they resist at Ftd+5. If they resist the initial attempt, they are considered uncooperative, and you may not make a second attempt that day. A subject who is unfamiliar with Hypnotism might not know what you attempted, but they suspect something.
In all cases, a hypnotic trance lasts 1d hours unless you end it sooner.
Specializations
None
Modifiers
+2 if you send hypnotic suggestions via Telescommunication, since voices in the head are harder to ignore.
