Refusing Biata mind abilities.

jwconvery

jwconvery

Mentor
Starting a new character, going with biata. I know, mental powers can be refused. I have some questions that aren't rules but more general opinion.

1. Is refusing powers IG or OoG? Like you can refuse a ritual and take a death, but I have always understood it as more of an OoG choice. 'This ritual makes me not want to play my character, off to rez land' not an IG thing of the character resisting. Yes, a grey area and a matter of playstyle. Are mental abilities the same way? Is the character saying 'I am a jedi, your powers mean nothing' or is the player saying 'this is not roleplay I am comfortable with, Joe leave me alone'

2. How would you feel about someone resisting after the fact? Is that cheesy? I feel it is, but I want others opinion. I alter a memory, so some NPC or PC thinks they talked to 4 trolls who attacked him a , not 4 kobolds. No resist IG or OoG. Hours later the same Kobolds come into town to trade, the player then decides he wants revenge and accuses them of attacking him. Cheesy or not cheesy? The player is not confused but actively resisting the RP after the fact. I would find that kinda against the spirit of the rules, but I want popular opinion.

In the above case, I wouldn't fight it, but I would roll my eyes and label the player cheesy. A
minor offense.

Thanks,

Joe
 
ARB pg 74:

A player always has the right to refuse to role-play any of these abilities and can at any time decide to "break off" the contact or be cured....Once more, it is the player who decides whether to accept."

As to your other question, I think if the person playing the Biata goes into these types of situations knowing that the other person can just decide to just not play along, it helps mitigate some of the things you mentioned.

For me, it's written into the rules that they can choose where/where/how their character interacts with mental powers, and I will never hold something like that against another player for following the rules, especially if it's a situation that they are uncomfortable with OOG (for any reason). It's their right to choose and it's not my place to judge their reasons (nor is it really my business to know what their reasons are). As long as all applicable rules are being followed, there's no problem or "cheese" feeling from me.

I think the more important "spirit of the rules" that would apply here is making sure that everyone is safe, happy, and comfortable with what is going on to/around them.
 
Avaran said:
ARB pg 74:

A player always has the right to refuse to role-play any of these abilities and can at any time decide to "break off" the contact or be cured....Once more, it is the player who decides whether to accept."

As to your other question, I think if the person playing the Biata goes into these types of situations knowing that the other person can just decide to just not play along, it helps mitigate some of the things you mentioned.

For me, it's written into the rules that they can choose where/where/how their character interacts with mental powers, and I will never hold something like that against another player for following the rules, especially if it's a situation that they are uncomfortable with OOG (for any reason). It's their right to choose and it's not my place to judge their reasons (nor is it really my business to know what their reasons are). As long as all applicable rules are being followed, there's no problem or "cheese" feeling from me.

I think the more important "spirit of the rules" that would apply here is making sure that everyone is safe, happy, and comfortable with what is going on to/around them.
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Great response Adam :clap: :clap:
 
Joe,

Looking at it this way has always worked for me: In order to maximize your enjoyment, and the enjoyment of folks with whom you plan to RP, focus on using your character's mind abilities with individuals who you know like that sort of RP.

Personally, I've never refused biata mind abilities and I hope I never do. My feelings on it are that players spend oodles of build and slap feathers on their face to have fun, and we're both more likely to have fun if I just roll with it and accept their invite into some mind altering RP, but that's just me. It's only fun if we're both digging it. If someone else isn't into that kind of RP, I wouldn't begrudge them for it.

It's very similar to physical RP. If I know someone well, and know that they are usually cool with it, they would be someone with which I'd consider engaging in physical RP (though you still have to ask), not someone who I don't know well or someone I suspect wouldn't be into it.

Gary
 
I play a Stone Elf, and one of the big things that attracted me to the race was the mind powers. I love that type of RP. It allows for great collaborative stories and I was worried some about other players not being willing to participate, or deciding to reverse the effects on a whim. My experience has been that players who accept the initial mind effect are committed to keeping it for a reasonable amount of time. In practice, the ability for players to mitigate it or turn it off at their own discretion allows them to roleplay a healing process. If you let players know out of game that they can refuse just small parts of it in addition to the whole thing, they will be more likely to roll with what they are interested in, and refuse just the parts they think go too far.

I also think the Biata mind powers, at least at the lower levels, will engender less refusal than the Stone Elf ones. Minor edits to memories for interesting role play is one thing, stripping out entire emotions is quite another. I just got access to Destroy Emotions, I'm still looking for a player interested in taking a ride on the Stone Elf side, but I'll find one eventually.

At least in the chapters I play, players are very cool and willing to work with you. The trick is to make sure the roleplay creates a fun experience for your target as well as for you.

Good luck!
 
jwconvery said:
Are mental abilities the same way? Is the character saying 'I am a jedi, your powers mean nothing' or is the player saying 'this is not roleplay I am comfortable with, Joe leave me alone'
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Adam pretty much got the second part of this, and hit the rules part, but the 'how to deal with refusal IG' is a trickier one. Basically, no, the Character isn't doing something like, "Your tricks don't work on me," but because the Player is, and now you're the one left holding the bag and now have to be able to explain why it didn't work. Here are a few of the lines that I've used, feel free to use any, all, or parts of them (they're almost all somewhat insulting, Biata being generally 'holier than thou' and all, plus my Biata was particularly racist against a few choice races):
  • "Their mind is too simple to make any sense of, they're closer to an animal than a person." (About a Kin.)
  • "It's cluttered so badly in there I'd need to spend weeks cleaning up the mess before I could make any sense of it."
  • "It's all colors, like a child scribbling on a page. I could probably sort through it if it seemed like there were any substance, but it's not worth the time." (About a Gypsy)
  • "I thought they smelled bad on the outside."
 
obcidian_bandit said:
[*]"I thought they smelled bad on the outside."[/list]
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Nice! You gotta say that one with the proper emphasis too! :thumbsup:
 
It might be nice to have a few reasons it didnt work that don't make the target's character look bad. Just saying...

I do get where you are going with it though. It really is just about being creative.
 
Sure, if you wanted to, I just never had to come up with any. People don't refuse that often, so just having one or two on hand will handle it in most situations. You do generally need to make sure that the person who you're mind-powering understands that it's a player choice, not a character choice, though, since not everyone will remember that.
 
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