Mental Abilities: Can they be used on the dead?

[Traceroo]

1. Use on the dead - P. 74 of the ARB says that Mental Abilities can be used on a character who is unconscious. Can they be used on a character who is dead, and within the 5 minutes to receive a Life spell?

2. Recovering memories of being undead - The same page says that Mental Abilities cannot be used to conquer an Amensia, or get around any other Alliance rule. On p. 113 of the ARB, in the description for the spell Create Undead, it reads, "If during the five minute Death Countdown you are 'killed' as an undead and then given a Life spell, you will reawaken alive but with no knowledge of your time spent as an undead." -- Can Mental Abilities be used to recover memories of the time spent while undead?

Thank you,
Trace

 

[Draven]

1. No, dead is a separate state/effect than unconscious. So, mechanically, I'd say no. Yes, someone is rendered incapable of movement, virtually equivalent to the state that is Unconscious, but it's still separate effects.

2. No. Mental powers are purely flavorful RP abilities, and cannot be used to provide mechanical workarounds to things that would otherwise deny you knowledge. They should not be interpreted as a way, for example, to "remember that necromancer who raised me to be his minion." In essence, Mental Powers can be used to repair memory problems, but in the spirit of the rule, undeath doesn't cause you to forget something; it's more that your shell of a body is being driven around and your mind isn't around to record a thing. Nothing to repair.