You bear the Thunian “T” chromosome for mind magic. For you, the thoughts and feelings of the people around you are open books. You occupy a special place in Thunian culture, simultaneously essential to the smooth operation of politics and trade, but also distrusted for the subtlety of your influence.
Tier 1: Silent Sendings (1+ intellect point) You can speak telepathically with others who are in short range. Communication is two-way, but the other party must be willing and able to communicate. You don’t have to see the target, but you must know that she is within range. You can have more than one active contact at once, but you must establish contact with each target individually. Each contact lasts up to ten minutes. If you apply a level of Effort to increase the duration rather than affect the difficulty, the contact lasts until you sleep. Action to establish contact.
Class Privilege: Any Thunian who knows you wield magic will treat you with a certain minimum of respect. Social consequences that befall you will not be as severe as they could be; praise that comes your way will be amplified. However, in order to benefit from this effect, you must not be seen to be actively undermining the social order. All actions using the Community skill are one difficulty level easier. If you are a Mavin, you receive a further +2 on the roll. Attempts to persuade, intimidate, or influence people who are below you on the social hierarchy are one difficulty level easier.
Tier 2: Urge Projection (2 intellect points). You strengthen the primal needs of one target within short range, filling their thoughts with powerful, chaotic urges. The mental chaos does 3 points of intellect damage which ignores armor.
Mental Healing (2 intellect points). In addition to being able to harm, you can also help. You can soothe the stressed mind within short range, returning 1d6+1 points to their intellect pool. Each attempt is a difficulty 2 intellect task. Each time you attempt to assist the same creature, the task difficulty increases by one step. The difficulty returns to 2 after the creature rests for ten hours. Action.
Tier 3: Truth Telling (3+ intellect points) You touch upon the surface thoughts of up to three targets within short range (make an intellect check against each) even if they do not want you to. You must be able to see each target. Once you have made contact, you can tell whether they speak intentional falsehoods for up to ten minutes. In addition, you can tell if they are concealing an emotion, such as shame, guilt, anger or sadness. For each 2 additional intellect points you spend, you can affect an additional target. Action to initiate.
Tier 4: Telepathic Sending (4+ intellect points) You can send a telepathic message to anyone with whom you have shared a telepathic link. This message can be up to a minute in length, or a single word plus a fragment of sensation (a single image, a sound, a smell, etc.). The range of this power is 1000 miles, large enough to reach anywhere in Thunia. For an extra 2 intellect points the recipient can respond with their own message or fragment of sensation.
Tier 5: Mindcrafting (6 intellect points) You are able to infuse an otherwise un-sentient creature or object with a mind of its own. It does not imbue inanimate objects with the ability to move on their own, though they can sense the presence of other minds within immediate range. You may place a mind within an animal, plant, or a specially-prepared crystal. It is telepathic, capable of speaking with anyone who is in contact with it. Mind mages commonly use these subsidiary minds as watchers and servants. When the mind is created, you must make a difficulty 2 intellect check. If the check fails, then the mind is flawed in some way, such as being hostile to you, dangerously obsessive, or vulnerable to insanity. The difficulty of this check increases by one for each existing mind you have created. A mind may be reabsorbed by the mage, effectively destroying it, but if the mind was flawed then you take 2d6 intellect damage.
Tier 6: Telepathic Gestalt (0+ intellect points). You can contact up to ten creatures with whom you have had telepathic contact in the past, no matter where they are. All targets must be willing and able to communicate. No roll is required. All creatures in the gestalt are linked and can communicate with each other, and hear the communications of all other members. The gestalt lasts until you choose to end it. The gestalt allows for several mages working together to integrate their powers perfectly. By sharing their thoughts, members of the gestalt share any expenditure of intellect points, allowing any member to take intellect damage for another, or spend effort on their behalf. Each caster is still limited by their own effort and edge scores, and their own magical knowledge.