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Our second character this week - worth quite a few points,
but more of a "background" character - is a
behind-the-scenes telepath inspired by a recent thread on
GURPSnet...
John Priestly Armstrong; telepathic string-pulling
capitalist
(c) copyright 2000 andi jones
Total Points: 313 Points
Age 52; 5'11"; 165 pounds; a tall and lanky man - handsome,
with piercing green eyes and greying black hair - in an
expensive, finely-tailored suit.
ST 10 [-] - thrust 1d-2, swing 1d
DX 10 [-] - basic speed 5.5, move 5, dodge
5
IQ 16 [80]
HT 12 [20]
WL 16 [-]
ADVANTAGES: Appearance (Attractive) [5]; Charisma +3
[15]; Multimillionaire x2 [50]; Reputation
+2 (as charismatic banker, to middle and upper classes)
[5]; Status 5* [10]; Telepathy (Power 10;
Instantaneous, +20%; No Signature, +20%) [70];
Wealth (Filthy Rich) [50].
*three levels free from Wealth and
Multimillionaire
DISADVANTAGES: Light Sleeper [-5]; Obsession (Find
the "psionic underground") [-5]; Secret
(Telepathically Manipulating Corporations and Governments)
[-30].
QUIRKS: Needs a stiff drink at the end of a busy day;
Extremely patient; Needs to get away for a one-week vacation
of total solitude about once a year; Devoted wine
connoisseur. [-4]
SKILLS: Accounting-13 [.5]; Administration-16
[2]; Area Knowledge (District of Columbia)-15
[.5]; Bard-17* [.5]; Computer
Operation/TL7-15 [.5]; Diplomacy-17 [6];
Driving/TL7 (Automobile)-9 [1]; Economics-18
[8]; Fishing-15 [.5]; Law (Corporate)-12/18
[.5]; Politics-12** [0]; Psychology-10***
[0]; Savoir-Faire-18# [0]; Writing-14
[.5].
*includes +3 from Charisma
**default from Diplomacy
***default from IQ
#free from Status
LANGUAGES: English (native)-16 [0].
PSIDE-EFFECTS: Gets head-aches after a day of Emotion
Sensing and/or Suggestion. [-1]
PSI SKILLS: Aspect-13 [.5]; Emotion Sense-15 (at -4
without 30 seconds contact, -50%) [1]; Mind
Shield-22 (at -6 unless WL roll is made at start of day,
-15%) [14]; Suggest-24 (at -10 without several
minutes of conversation, -50%) [10]; Telereceive-18
(Reads "active surface thoughts" only, -25%) [6];
Telesend-14 (Costs Fatigue, 4 per use, -20%; Eye Contact
Only, -20%; Takes Extra Time, 1 second, -10%)
[1].
EQUIPMENT
John Priestly Armstrong's equipment is the same as for any
successful businessman: a briefcase full of reports and
papers, a cell-phone, an electronic organiser with wireless
internet connection, and other such conveniences. Personal
effects like wristwatch, tie-clip and cufflinks will reflect
his wealth - finely made, expensive materials - but are
likely to be subtle and refined, and never tacky or
gaudy.
BIOGRAPHY
Born in the late 1940s - in the boom after the end of the
war - John Priestly Armstrong grew up in rural Ohio; his
father (who had been a communications officer in the Pacific
theatre) worked as a vice president at the local bank, and
his mother was a school-teacher. Young John was bright and
inquisitive, and his parents encouraged his gifts. He
excelled in school, and it was obvious to everyone that he
would go far, in whatever he chose to do. What wasn't
obvious to everyone was that John was different - very
different. In his last couple years of high school -
starting when he was about sixteen - John realised that he
could sense other people's feelings and thoughts. At first,
it was just little snippets here and there, but it steadily
grew as he aged.
From high school, John went to the University of Ohio, where
he studied economics and business law, having the right
combination of talent for numbers, and an ever-growing gift
for people. By now, his emerging psionic talents had
developed to the point that he could consistently read
people's feelings, provided he had time to shake hands, and
make a minute of small talk. Somehow, in the body language
of the eyes and mouth, and the tilt of the head, he could
read in-depth feelings and emotional states. And he also
found that - over the course of several minutes of
one-on-one conversation, if he had the chance to use some of
his natural charm - he could actually inject thoughts into
other people's heads. Not so they'd hear them as speech, but
so that they would believe that they were their own
feelings, and act on them accordingly.
While he was still at university, John didn't use his powers
of suggestion more than a couple times; it took him a while
to get used to the sensation, and also to get used to the
moral issues he was wrestling with.
Upon graduation in the early 1970s, John Armstrong went into
banking, initally in Philadelphia, and ultimately in
Washington DC (where he did a lot of international
business). And that's where and when it all fell together...
John began making business contacts, and realised how simple
it was to use his gifts to turn almost any business
negotiation to his advantage. By reading the feelings of
others, he learned what kind of approach would make them
most receptive. And once someone was inclined to like him,
or trust him, they were most susceptible to his telepathic
suggestions. And over time, he mastered his methods... His
skills in negotiation and diplomacy matured, and his
telepathic abilities grew in kind. His business
opportunities increased dramatically, and wealth began to
accumulate.
Now, he's been at it for more than twenty-five years, and he
is truly a formidable talent. He is famous internationally,
known for being wealthy, influential and connected. His
psionic talents - though not understood, nor formally
trained - have advanced to powerful levels. John Priestly
Armstrong is one of the most powerful men in the world, and
only one thing has eluded him - he wants to know more about
others of his own kind, other telepaths, other psionics. He
has been looking for others, but not too hard; he doesn't
know how others might think, but he suspects his "tactics"
might not be appreciated. So he's approaching the subject
with a mix of curiosity and caution...
ENCOUNTERED
John Priestly Armstrong is a charming man, always greeting
with a smile and an outstretched hand. He has a natural
talent for it; he comes across as amiable and genuine.
Through conversation, he reads a person's emotions, and gets
a feel for their personality. He uses this to connect with
them in conversation, but he doesn't do so in any that
suggests he's reading minds, since it's mostly an empathic
connection.
So to the casual observer, Armstrong appears as a strong and
out-going man, friendly and casual and well-skilled in the
art of conversation. In reality, he's a bit more complicated
than that. Despite his use of telepathic trickery at the
negotiating table, he avoids it in his private dealings. He
has several close friends, and he never manipulates them,
and even tries to avoid the passive use of his empathic
senses when with them. Somehow, he is able to make a firm
distinction between off-limits personal friends and valid
"victims", and usually he has no problem keeping the
distinctions separate. The exception seems to be with women;
his psionic gifts make intimate relations at once too easy,
and and at the same time too hard to keep genuine. This,
too, is a subject he approaches with a mix of curiosity and
caution...
HIS PSIONICS
Despite being a powerful telepath, John Armstrong's lack for
formal talent has made his power less efficient than they
might be. His Telesend skill is under-developed; he must
look a person in the eye, and spend considerable effort to
transmit his thoughts. He never uses this skill, since his
psionic talents are his greatest asset, and also his
greatest secret. His Telereceive skill is also not fully
developed; it is powerful for purposes of breaking through
the mind-shields of other people, but no matter how well he
rolls, he never gets very deep. All successful Telereceive
attempts yield him only "active surface thoughts only", the
result for a success of 0-2 as per p.P25. His two most
mature skills are Emotion Sense and Suggest, but even these
do not work efficient or easily. His Telepathy is
instantaneous, so he doesn't have to actively concentrate as
per the Concentrate Manoeuver. But, these skills developed
in the context of inter-personal relationships, and work
much more reliably with close contact. His Emotion Sense can
be done at a glance, but is more accurate if it is preceded
by about a half-minute of personal interaction - even a
friendly hand-shake, or small-talk, even just eye-contact
and some flirting will do, enough to give him something to
home in on. Likewise, his Suggest can also be done quickly,
but this is limited to simple sensation. Any suggestion that
will involve complexity in the form of subjects, objects and
qualifiers (see p.P25) needs extra time; usually, this
requires several minutes of conversation one-on-one with the
target, which might require a Diplomacy roll.
As for the effects of the Suggest skill, the mechanics are
left to the GM. Telepathic suggestion is not mind control in
that the psionic cannot make someone do something, he can
only make them feel something, or believe a certain thing.
How the target reacts depends on their character. It is
unlikely a callous person could be made to care of the
plight of a stranger; in this case, there may be no game
effect at all. But if the target had an overwhelming sense
of duty to help others, the suggestion of the plight of a
stranger could result in a Vow being taken by the affected
character. Ultimately, the mechanics are not important, only
the subtle way by which the telepathic suggestion changes
the way its victim behaves.
CANONICALITY
With the exception of some creative enhancements to model
quirky, untrained telepathy, John Priestly Armstrong more or
less adheres to standard GURPS rules.
WHAT IF?/ADVENTURE SEEDS
John Priestly Armstrong was designed for a campaign in which
psionics exist, but are not explicitly known to the general
public. But even in a setting in which psionics are a known
quantity, Armstrong's telepathy should remain anonymous.
This is accomplished presently by the "No Signature"
enhancement on his Telepathy power, and by a high level in
the Mind Shield skill. If the GM thinks this is
insufficient, other measures can be taken.
Armstrong's role in the campaign is left intentionally
vague. Since he is meant to be a subtle and
behind-the-scenes operator, his activities will need to be
carefully coordinated by the GM. Some possibilities are
described below.
Psionic Philanthropy: John Priestly Armstrong is, at heart,
a good man, and wants to use his wealth to improve the lives
of his fellow citizens. But in the cases in which wealth is
not enough, he has begun using his telepathic suggestions to
pick up the slack. Perhaps he uses his powers to convince
the leaders of big corporations to adopt policies which are
friendlier to the environment, or to their employees.
Perhaps he works closely with federal legislators in a
mundane capacity, and uses the contact as an opportunity to
telepathically persuade them to adopt (and, eventually,
legislate) the attitudes he considers important. In a role
like this, Armstrong reflects the belief that the ends
justify the means. But not every psionic is going to feel
that way, and conflict can still arise if the PCs (or
important NPCs) decide his actions are unacceptable even if
his motives appear to be intrinsically just.
World Domination: More of a villain like the kind normally
found in comic books, this John Armstrong is a Machiavellian
monster. This is potentially his most complex role, as his
manipulations must be finely-tuned, and delicately handled.
He has to make suggestions to the right senators, heads of
state, banking leaders, subcommittee chairs, high-ranking
military men and many others. With repeated suggestions,
Armstrong might have some men completely in his pocket,
others he might have to direct more casually. He won't be
obvious, and he'll always be careful. In his public role as
capitalist-philanhtropist, he's ubiquitous, known to have
"the ear" of many powerful men - little does the world know,
he has more than their ears. The PCs could work into it in a
number of ways, maybe a squad of psionics trained by the
government, or independent telepaths trying to police their
own. But from any angle, John Priestly Armstrong is a tough
nut to crack; you never know who he's gotten to, or who's
really thinking for themselves...
Simple Greed: It's always possible that Armstrong is no more
imaginative than using his incredible powers to make money.
In his capacity as a investor, financier and public speaker,
he is always encountering money-making opportunities; it
would be trivial to use his powers to facilitate wealth. He
could malign his competitors, convince others to raise
capital, coordinate tax deals with the community, etc.. In
this campaign, Armstrong is little more than a thief, but
he's a sneaky one. And getting fleeced might be all the PCs
need to decide his actions must be stopped.
Seeking Illumination: In an environment of high weirdness
and esoteric wisdom, a man like John Priestly Armstrong
might use his position of wealth and psionic influence to
try to gain some kind of unnatural insight. Ordinarily, this
kind of behaviour might not seem too untowards, beyond the
questionable practise of mind control. But what if Armstrong
strays into territory that he is not equipped to navigate,
finding secrets on the astral plane (or elsewhere) that Man
is Not Meant to Know?
- written & formatted by andi jones
(andi@angelwerks.com)
- thanks to erik holmes for planting the idea in my head
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