Mind Powers (FiD)

Starfox's Blades in the Dark fan page

Mind delves into Sapience and intelligence. It is the power most associated with normal folk such as humans and alternate humans such as elves, orcs, social aliens, and other Sapient creatures and even intelligent objects like control devices all the way up to Sapient AI.

Anthropomorphic man is the epitome of mind, a civilized being, part of a society, sapient and cultured if not necessarily human. It represents the end product of evolution and, by extension, ultimate intellect. It can exist independently of life, in machines and undead.

Mind attacks are mental bolts and blades that can only hurt Sapient creatures.

Mind Power Effects

Action	Basic No minimum 4 Stress	Advanced Minimum 2 Dice 5 Stress	Master Minimum 4 Dice 6 Stress	Apex Minimum 6 Dice 7 Stress
Attune	Mind Monitor Detect Sapience and use of Mind powers.	Mindforge Dispel Mind. Summon a spirit instructor.	Summon Hero Summon heroes from alternate realities.	Parallel Plane A portal to an alternate reality.
Command	Mental Mandate Comprehensible command to Sapients.	Telepathy Communicate with sapiengents at range.	Mental Monarchy Command Sapient creatures as a superior.	Thought Thrall Permanently bind sapient creatures.
Consort	Pretend Persona Assume and project a role.	Assume Aspect Assume the form of a humanoid.	Gift of Guise Assume Aspect a willing creature.	Gift of Gab Increase intelligence.
Finesse	Psychic Saddle Ride any intelligent mount or vehicle.	Neural Needle Fine and potent melee psychic attack.	Neural Nudge Short precise suggestions.	Cloud Consciousness Reduce targets to reactive state.
Hunt	Trace Thought Focus on and track a specific thought.	Mental Marksman Fine and potent ranged metal attack.	Astral Avatar Physically emerge out of astral space.	Cognitive Cascade Fine and potent psychic grenade.
Prowl	Crowd Camouflage Hide in crowds.	Astral Ascent Detach astral body to scout.	Astral Adventure Crew Crowd Camouflage and Astral Ascent.	Astral Gateway Send crew's astral bodies anywhere.
Skirmish	Mindfulness Block Harm from Mind.	Mind Melee Fine and potent mental melee attack.	Mind Mantle Negate scale in melee.	Mind Mastery Mind melee against all.
Study	Identify Intellect Identify sapience and Mind powers.	Analyze Intellect Analyze sapience and Mind powers.	Mind Meld Crew can enter astral space within a mind.	Universal Understanding Wide area Analyze Intellect.
Survey	Thought Trace Sense manifestations of the mind power.	Astral Assembly Send astral body to an ally.	Astral Audience Send astral body to a creature or location.	Psychic Panorama Perceive from many sapients at once.
Sway	Intellectual Intuition Understand sapient creatures.	Intelligent Interpreter Crew can communicate with sapience.	Eloquent Enchantment Suggestions to sapients.	Cognitive Conversion Permanently change sapient minds.
Tinker	Automation Create simple automaton.	Create Cognition Imbue intelligence in an object.	Install Intellect Imbue sapience in an object.	Mass Mind Mass Create Cognition.
Wreck	Disrupt Device Mess with intelligence in items.	Sabotage System Disable networked things.	Silent Sabotage Silent System Sabotage.	Terminate Tech Area Sabotage System.

Expanded Mind Powers

An important distinction for Mind powers is the difference between between reactive, intelligent, and sapient creatures.

Reactive creatures operate primarily on basic survival instincts, such as insects or simple herbivores. They respond automatically to environmental stimuli but do not demonstrate learning, complex problem-solving, or higher reasoning. Simple automatons and mechanical functions, including basic machines, also fall into this category. These beings lack the complexity to be affected by Mind powers.

Intelligent creatures can solve problems, adapt to stimuli, and learn from experience, but lack the ability to fully participate in diverse societies. While some may communicate, this is often limited to their own kind. They can follow instructions but need guidance in complex social environments. Wolves, for instance, thrive within packs but struggle in mixed societies. Most monsters and wild animals are intelligent but not sapient. Even a highly intelligent dragon may be confused by the variety of cultures and ideas among sapient beings.

Sapience is the defining trait of civilized beings like humans. Sapient beings possess the ability to engage with creatures of different species and cultures, applying abstract thought, empathy, and social reasoning. These beings are capable of self-awareness and reflection, often making them more resistant to Mind powers, as their advanced sense of self gives them a greater ability to protect their thoughts and emotions. Any power that can affect sapients can also affect intelligent creatures.

Attune

Connect with the mental realm and harness psychic energies for powerful manifestations. The position usually starts controlled, with the usual consequence that you cannot try again. If the setting is chaotic or violet, your position worsens.

Mind Monitor Detect Sapience and the use of Mind powers.

This can detect intelligence and sapience where you don't expect it, but is also useful to detect the use and effects of Mind powers.

Limited effect suffices against a creature you can clearly see. You need greater effect against against a creature that is hidden (standard effect) or behind a wall (great effect).

Mindforge Dispel Mind. Summon a spirit instructor.

You can end the operation of a mind ability. You can summon a ephemeral echo skilled in a particular action. These are not spirits or even creatures, their advice gives +1d on their chosen action and that is all they ever do.

Dispelling is often used as a setup action to help another character in a situation when the opposition is using mind powers. Opposed success effect creates an opening that makes the supported action potent. Full effect improves the position of the supported action. Critical success improves both position and effect.

When used directly, the effect is usually standard, which causes an ongoing effect to crash. Against an opponent that uses power to fly or even breathe you can have a better effect. Poor targeting increases the needed effect.

The spirits summoned here don't themselves act, they inspire others to act more intelligently, which provides an extra die for one roll, in addition to normal assistance. You cannot both use this and assistance on the same roll.

Summon Hero Summon heroes from alternate realities. Summon heroes from alternate realities.

You can summon folk from other planes, which is usually alternate realities. This is often used to summon heroes in times of crisis, which is the beginning of many campaigns. Unlike many other summon powers, this is usually cast blindly, hoping your mental image of who you need to be sufficient. Highly unpredictable, and rarely useful to player characters as such a summon would compete for the limelight. It does well as the backstory of a character that otherwise wouldn't fit the setting.

Parallel Plane A portal to an alternate reality. Create a portal to an alternate reality.

You can create a portal that allows travel to and from another reality for a limited time. The first time you gate to a certain place the position is at least risky and becomes desperate if there is any kind of disturbance.

Mind has no plane of origin. There is the astral plane (see Prowl Mind), but that is not a full plane, it is only a mental projection of our world. Instead Mind links to alternate realities, which are similar to our world and a mix of all types of matter and power and which hold sapient creatures.

Command

Impose your will upon the minds of Sapient creatures.

Mental Mandate Comprehensible command to Sapients.

This is useful for intimidating and commanding foreign or alien sapient creatures. Combined with Sway: Communicate, it allows two-way communication.

Telepathy Communicate with sapients at range.

Telepathically communicate with sapients over any range, and a line-of-sight even to stranger. You can communicate with the most powerful sapient in a vehicle or installation as long as you can see the exterior. The communication is simple and direct, suitable for the Command skill. Either party can end the communication at any time.

Mental Monarchy Command Sapient creatures as a superior.

Targets will see you as an officer, professional superior, alpha, or other leader type outranking them. This is essentially a fine attempt at communication, increasing your outcome compared to a normal attempt at Command. This does not remove existing loyalties, which can lead to conflicts. Understanding the social order of your targets helps avoid conflict with their established loyalties. Ordering city guards to ignore a disturbance is harder (needs more outcome) than telling them to deal with it and move on, because their task is to protect the city.

Position depends on the creatures' actual relationship to you—ordering a creature that sees itself as your superior is a desperate position. A controlled position comes from a creature that agrees you are superior, usually just making retrying harder. A risky position is typical against a creature that sees itself as your equal and not your enemy, possibly leading to heat, misunderstood orders, or small rebellions.

Thought Thrall Permanently bind sapient creatures.

This won’t work unless you are already in a position of power. This is similar to Authority but permanent. Strong emotions can break your control, but otherwise, it lasts until dispelled.

Consort

Adopt new roles and forms, or bestow them upon others.

Pretend Persona Assume and project a role.

You can assume an identity and reflect it in your actions, such as a healer, noble, merchant, etc. This changes the impression you give, without changing your appearance. The power explains away a lack of a disguise—you are acting the role so naturally that people will just assume you are on leave rather than an imposter. You can use this on your crow as an Advanced ability.

Assume Aspect Assume the form of a humanoid.

You take the form of a sapient creature, but not an intelligent creature. This includes humans and whatever else is sapient in your world. This is an actual physical transformation.

• Limited outcome allows transformation into yourself like you would have been, had you grown up as the creature whose form you assume. Those familiar with you will recognize you.
• Standard outcome can make you a generic creature, very hard to recognize as yourself.
• Great outcome allows you to assume the shape and some of the personality of a specific creature you have studied.

Gift of Guise Assume Aspect of a willing creature.

You can shapechange a willing or helpless creature as Assume Aspect. The duration depends of the outcome.

• Limited outcome is very temporary.
• Standard outcome lasts for the duration of a score.
• Great outcome lasts a long time and potentially become permanent, depending on the the story.

If you also want to make the target unrecognizable, that requires additional outcome, see Assume Aspect.

This is sometimes used as a kind of poetic justice, transforming the target as a punishment, a curse that is very hard to break.

Gift of Gab Increase intelligence.

This creates intelligence and the ability to communicate in a creature that lack it.

• Limited Effect can turn an intelligent creature sapient. 4 tick long term project to make it permanent.
• Standard effect can make a reactive creature intelligent. 6 tick long term project to make it permanent.
• Great effect can make a reactive creature sapient. 8 tick long term project to make it permanent.

Creating permanent intelligence is a long term project, but even short term intelligence can allow you to discuss and learn from the temporarily awakened, who will retain simple memories from before their awakening.

Finesse

Utilize refined psychic control and mobility in both the physical and astral planes.

Psychic Saddle Ride any intelligent mount or vehicle.

If there is a friendly intelligent (but not sapient) mount or vehicle, you can ride it as if it was domesticated and you had the keys. This works on a creature of animal intelligence and gives it the training required to act as a mount. It works on smart vehicles as log as it is not sapient.

Neural Needle Fine and potent melee psychic attack.

You focus your mental power into a fine and potent close-range attack, similar in effect to a fine potent psychic dueling sword or pistol.

In a fight, using this does not take any more time, activating your attack power is equivalent to drawing a weapon, no more, no less. Inflicts psychic damage, which is fine against sapient creatures but weak against reactive creatures and useless against things that lack any kind of mind.

Neural Nudge Short, precise suggestions.

You can do fine manipulation of the mind, allowing you to send small and exact suggestions to sapient creatures. You send a very short and precise order, often only affecting a small part of the target's body. Can make a sapient push a button or trigger, open or close a door, lose Ballance of themselves or a vehicle they drive and similar small and immediate actions. Great effect can make the target change what it is doing, limited effect makes them do safe, inconsequential things. This takes almost no time and can be used as a set-up for yourself or quickly between other actions.

Cloud Consciousness Reduce targets to reactive state.

Targets appropriate to scale at your tier (p 221) are disoriented and find it hard to make decisions, their minds reduced to a reactive state. If an appropriate action is obvious, such as if they are being attacked, targets will recover quickly, but otherwise will blunder about for a time before returning to normal.

• Limited Outcome: A few seconds.
• Standard Outcome: About a minute.
• Great Outcome: Remainder of score.

Hunt

Track and attack targets using focused mental energy.

Trace Thought Focus on and track a specific thought.

You can focus on a particular thought and vaguely sense and track creatures that share this thought. This works best (needs limited effect) of creatures that are very focused on a difficult task, such as someone driving in an unfamiliar location or a tracker in pursuit of a quarry. A target that is whimsical, asleep, or in a varied social setting requires great effect. The age of the tracks and the number of other minds that left similar traces acts as a higher tier, reducing your effect.

Mental Marksman Fine and potent ranged mental attack.

You can use your power to attack, similar in effect to a fine and potent rifle doing mental damage. Using an attack power is much the same as shooting a weapon, no more, no less. Mental Marksman inflicts psychic damage, which is fine against sapient creatures but weak against reactive creatures and useless against things that lack any kind of mind.

Astral Avatar Physically emerge out of astral space.

You and your crew can physically manifest your astral bodies. You must first manifest your astral body (using Prowl: Astral Ascent or Astral Adventure) and then travel to the desired location. You then step back into the physical world and create a temporary body to use, made out of ethereal materials. This body functions like your normal body and carries clothes and a light load. It is visually distinctive by being monochrome and a little lighter than your physical body. Any harm this body takes also applies to your physical body. If you project another astral body, this temporal body and all gear fades away.

Cognitive Cascade Fine and potent psychic grenade.

Mental Marksman with scale. You can use your power to attack similar to a fine and potent grenade. This allows you to fight many creatures in the same area very effectively, but there is a risk of collateral damage.

Prowl

Use your psychic abilities to hide, scout, and transport yourself and others.

Crowd Camouflage Hide in crowds.

You can hide in a crowd of sentients even if you look or act different by mentally matching the people around you.

Astral Ascent Detach astral body to scout.

You can both see, hear, and speak through your astral projection. Your astral body is immaterial, transparent, and can hover at walking speed. Moving your astral body far is like recalling memories, it can be instant or slow depending on your memory of the destination. An astral body is hard to see, but glows slightly in darkness and appears as a greyish outline in bright light. Any attack scatters it and sends your consciousness back to your body. While you project your astral body, your physical body is like an automaton; it can be led but initiates no actions

Astral Adventure Crew Crowd Camouflage and Astral Ascent.

You can include allies when using the basic and advanced Prowl Mind powers. Each ally uses their own Prowl action.

Astral Gateway Send crew's astral bodies anywhere.

You send your and allies' astral bodies to other planes, into someone's dream, and other mystic locations not of this world.

Entering others' dreams or psyche can affect them in subtle way, planting ideas, reinforcing fears, or helping to heal mental issues. It is also possible to find consensual dreamlands, places that manifest the hopes, fears, and desires of groups of people. In such a place you can change the mood of an entire group. These are usually long-term projects.

Unlike Attune Mind: Parallel Plane, this delves into worlds of thought rather than matter. An expedition into such an astral realm can be a score in its own right.

Skirmish

Engage in psychic combat, protecting and attacking with mental force.

Mindfulness Block harm from Mind.

Roll Skirmish when subject to Harm from Mind or Illusion powers and similar mental attacks. This is your inherent resistance, it does not require any activity on your part. Reduce the level of harm inflicted based on the level of success. 1-3: Nothing. 4-5: Reduce level of harm by one. 6: Reduce level of harm by two. Crit: Negate all harm and recover 1 stress.

Mind Melee Fine and potent mental melee attack.

You can use the power as a close-range mental attack, similar in effect to a fine and potent melee weapon or pistol. All Mind attacks do psychic damage, which is fine against sapient creatures but weak against reactive creatures and useless against things that lack any kind of mind.

Mind Mantle Negate scale in melee.

Your power creates distractions that prevents a sapient enemy from benefiting from numbers and otherwise works as a fine potent weapon. This overcomes scale but attacks only a single opponent.

Mind Mastery Mind melee against all.

Your power strikes out in all directions, attacking all enemies in a wide area. This overcomes and attacks multiple opponents.

Study

Delve into the nature of intelligence and Mind powers to uncover deeper knowledge.

Study digs into the details of intelligence, sapience, and Mind powers.

• Limited effects usually suffices against something you touch which does not resist you.
• Standard effect works against someone you could reach, but which resists you.
• Great effect can reach out a long way, as long as you have some way to zero in on your target. This is usually vision, but can be other things depending on your playbook and the theme of the game.

Alien minds new to you are harder to analyze.

Identify Intellect Identify sapience and Mind powers.

This basic ability lets you see if something has intelligence or sapience. If you are familiar with its type, such as "human", you can identify it as such.

Analyze Intellect Analyze sapience and Mind powers.

A more thorough analysis, including what Mind powers and similar abilities, including the relevant rules. You also learn basic motivations are and what these motivations is directed at.

Mind Meld Crew can enter astral space within a mind.

You enter the mind of a creature to read its thoughts and memories. This works much like Prowl Mind: Astral Ascent, but you enter directly into a creatures mind. This allows you to read thoughts, memories, and motivations, giving a picture of the target's personality. You read memories based on association, which makes the information you find somewhat random. You can probe to learn the target's relations and objectives towards something specific. Finding more obscure memories and attitudes is random and time consuming.

Digging around in a creature's mind can awaken painful and dangerous memories that manifest as situations, creatures, and even traps. Dream logic applies, so you can suddenly find yourself shunted into a dangerous encounter.

Universal Understanding Wide area Analyze Intellect.

Analyze Intellect on every mind in a wide area.

Survey

Explore the astral and mental realms, perceiving distant thoughts and manifestations.

The effect required depends on the targets concealment.

• Limited effect suffices for targets in clear line of sight.
• Standard effect can penetrate concealment, sense those hiding behind corners, or far to points you can only barely see.
• Great effect can look around behind walls and into hard cover.

Thought Trace Sense manifestations of Mind powers.

Sense manifestations of minds or Mind powers at a distance. You can recognize minds you are familiar with and sense if something is familiar or alien, but that is about it. You can opt to ignore known minds to find what you do not know.

Astral Assembly Send astral body to an ally.

Choose an intelligent creature you are familiar with; you can send your astral body to their location. See prowl: Astral Ascent. As long as you remain still, you are invisible, tough particularly perceptive targets might still sense a presence.

Astral Audience Send astral body to a creature or location.

Choose a location or creature. You send your astral body to that location. This works like Astral Assembly, but with an open destination, you need very little information on a place or creature to go there.

Psychic Panorama Perceive from many sapients at once.

You perceive from all sapients at once over a wide area.

Enhances your senses impossibly, the sum of what each individual across the scene perceives. Creates a comprehensive mental image of the area, revealing numerous details simultaneously. It's challenging for targets to hide unless they are aware of how to conceal themselves.

Sway

Influence intelligent creatures with your psychic suggestions and manipulations.

Sway Mind is subtle and useful for persuading people and other intelligences. Sway powers use soft, persuasive arguments rather than the dictates of the command action.

• Limited effect works if it follows the target's existing impulses.
• Standard effect can convince a target with no particular stake in the matter.
• Great effect will convince a reluctant target, but not a passionate one.
• Effect in excess of what's needed allows you to affect targets matching the scale of your tier (p 221), as long as they are in a group.

Intellectual Intuition Understand sapient creatures.

You can understand sapient creatures even if normally couldn't, and gauge their motivations. This does not allow you to be understood by those whose intentions you read. Used together with Command: Mental Mandate, this allows full communication.

Intelligent Interpreter Crew can communicate with sapience.

You and allies can communicate with sapient creatures. This allows the full range of the Sway action, overcoming barriers of culture and language.

Eloquent Enchantment Suggestions to sapients.

You implant suggestions in the minds of sapient creatures, which will be triggered under conditions you set. This power is subtle until it triggers.

Essentially this is an attempt to Sway with two advantages. The target will not remember that you swayed them, and if you succeed, you can give them instructions that will activate later, in a situation you specify. Common suggestions include stealing something, attacking someone, or ignoring an event. Besides the normal challenges of Sway powers, untriggered suggestions fade over time depending on your effect.

• Limited outcome A minute or so..
• Normal outcome lasts for the duration of the score.
• Great outcome can last past the end of the score, as makes sense in the story.

Cognitive Conversion Permanently change sapient minds.

You change the personality and motivations a sapient. This power is permanent, but blatant. The target remembers their past but regards it as unimportant compared to their new motivations.

This changes the target on a deep level, changing their loyalties and priorities. Exceptional creatures and exceptional circumstances can break this change, depending more on plot and role-playing than die rolls.

Tinker

Infuse intelligence into objects, creating autonomous machines and constructs.

Mind tinkering is about automation and intelligence in objects. This benefits greatly when combined with other powers to make devices for this intelligence to control.

The effect determines how long it will last.

• Limited Outcome will only be good for a single scene.
• Standard Outcome lasts until the end of the score.
• Controlling many or devices requires an additional degree of outcome.

The position depends on how quiet your workplace is and how much time you have to work with. Permanent effects require long-term projects.

Automation Create a reactive mind.

You imbue a simple mind into objects. This allows machines to do a sequence of actions with the push of a single button or single trigger. This is often used for traps, but also for simple things like vending machines and penny arcades. It can also set up controls to run a complex vehicle or machine. This allows complex clockwork devices without the time that mundane clockwork requires.

Create Cognition Imbue intelligence in an object.

You can imbue limited intelligence in an object, allowing it to sense and react a situation nearby. You can do much more complex traps and machines that interpret and react to events. This is about the same intelligence that a desktop computer with some sensors attached. In addition to controlling whatever mechanism it is attached to, it can send a mental alarm to person(s) attuned to the machine.

Install Intellect Imbue sapience in an object.

You can imbue intelligence able to hold conversations and solve problems intelligently. This has the intelligence of an intelligent animal and can hold simple conversations and run complex devices such as a gun or vehicle. Is able to improvise and figure out new things after a time, but complex social interactions are beyond its ability. It can follow security protocols, but is otherwise trusting and fairly naive.

Combined with Consort: Gift of Gab you can make sapient items. Begin with Install Intellect to create an intelligent item and then use Gift of Gab to make it sapient. This counts as uplifitng a reactive mind because of the problems of understanding intelligent items. Another way to make sapient items is to have an intelligent spirit possess an intelligent item.

Mass Mind Mass Create Cognition.

This is similar to Create Cognition, but you can mass produce intelligent objects, even a set of different objects. This allows the simultaneous creation of a small army of intelligent machines. You can also install a mind to run a large installation like a factory or ship.

Wreck

Sabotage and disrupt intelligent systems and technology with mental force.

Wreck Mind works differently from most other wrecking powers. The effect needed depends on the complexity of the device to be wrecked, with more complex devices being easier to break. A very busy and dangerous setting adds to your effect, while a still and polished setting reduces effect.

• Limited Outcome: A cutting-edge device.
• Standard Outcome: A complex device normal for the setting.
• Great Outcome: A simple device like a gun, bow, or door.
• Impossible: A device with no moving parts, like a sword or hammer, cannot be jinxed.
• Security can increase the required outcome by one step.

The position depends on the situation. A quiet workspace is controlled, the general hustle of adventure risky, dealing with a fight, massive crowds, or dangerous construction is desperate

Disrupt Device Mess with intelligence in items.

You mess with intelligence in items, that is their ability to react to the environment. Noisy and leaves the damaged object in place. This destroys control functions, leaving the item whole but malfunctioning. Guns are duds, triggers make the shot miss, traps misfire or refuse to activate, alarms ring randomly. Devices can be repaired, but are usually out for the score.

Sabotage System Disable networked systems.

Similar to Disrupt Device but on a larger scale. You can reach through a network to sabotage a central device such as a guard station or computer server. Introduce new and interesting flaws in larger systems, like ships and buildings.

Silent Sabotage Silent System Sabotage.

Similar to Sabotage System, but destroyed are disabled silently. They seem to continue to work when they in fact do not and respond maliciously to repairs. Its like the system intelligently resists repairs and introduces new flaws when old ones have been corrected. Such a system can function properly until a moment of stress. A constant battle between Tinker and Wreck!

Terminate Tech Area Sabotage System.

Similar to Sabotage System, but over a large area. This can negate control devices over a city block or entire port or fort, forcing everyone to rely on manual handling of objects.