Psychic Empathy

Like Telepathy, this is the put together version of Empathy intended for Dark Metal, because the book is much more vague on this power and suggests a few different ways to apply it (dividing it into sensing, control, etc.), for here it would be used this way: In its simplest form, Psychic Empathy is the ability to read the emotions, sensations and feelings of another person. In application, it is used in the same manner as its counter - Telepathy. ( A roll of Perception + Empathy. The difficulty typically equals the subject's Willpower, and Mind Shields make it more difficult to sense or manipulate emotions, offering defenses standard to any mental manipulation. A victim can spend a point of Willpower to resist basic empathic compulsions.) * Feeling: At this level, the Empath can sense the strongest feeling of the subject, or strongest instinctive urge going on, or read the most common emotional trend in a 'room' of many people. For example, walking into a party the Empath is going to know without looking if the party is going well or not, or if it is a somber affair or casual to do. Likewise, if directed at a specific subject the Empath will know the target is hungry, or is worried. Also, at this level, the Empath can send out a faint ping of *simple* emotion, like a tap of joy, a jab of caution, or the like. It if takes more than one word to describe the emotion being sent out, it's too complex for this level of the power. ** Mood: At this level, the Empath can sense the mood of the subject, more than just a one word signifier. If the above example subject is hungry, but also sad, with this level the Empath will clue into that. If the subject is scared and angry, the Empath knows there is more going on than just a case of nerves. At this level the Empath can project a complex single emotion - Rage at Men, Desire for Cake, Fear of Machines. The impulse only lasts a moment but can have interesting results, or put across a meaning when speaking with someone who does not share a language in common with you. *** Passion: At this level, the Empath can read the complex emotional factors going on with the subject, not just those immediately felt but those that have been an important influence recently or mild influence over a period of time. The Empath might pick up on an obsession for McDonalds food, lingering bittersweet feelings for a love lost; linger anger from a meeting earlier that day with an employer, or a lifetime's subconscious frustration held in the heart of an English teacher whose students graduate without being literate. The ability to read a room grows stronger at this level as well, the empathy can not only read the room but sense the direction of emotional flow as well, and so if one person is the source of the mood the Empath picks them out immediately, even without other signifiers. An example might be, while a speaker is on stage giving a seminar, the fact that Brad Pitt is in the audience is the actual source of the titillation of the people present. Finally, at this level the empathy can send *false sensory* information to the subject of a simple nature such as maggots crawling in cup of yogurt, the sound of a lover calling out another's name in passion, the smell of rotting food. Keep in mind that this sensory information is just a flash, like a frame of subliminal advertising hidden within a movie reel. **** Demeanor: At this level the Empath can read the Demeanor of the subject plain as day - the Empath knows exactly what mask the subject is putting to the world and that it is a mask (or in the rare case where Nature and Demeanor are the same, that it seems it may not *be* a mask at all). At first glance this may not seem so impressive, but considering the key it gives to understand the subject and use their own mask to guide them around, it can be a potent ability. In addition to this powerful tool of insight, the Empath can sense the 'mood' level of information in a crowd or group within a space like a conference room and the 'feeling' level of information for a much larger crowd like at a baseball game. Caution, this much input, most of it conflicting, can easily drive the empathy straight to the Thorizine drip, just because you can do something does not mean it's wise to do so. At this level the Empath can project longer and more complex sensory illusions, completely fanciful or editing what the eyes should see. Keep in mind that only one sense is fooled - a long feeling of something crawling across the skin, or the empath can send snap shots as above but to all senses - the image flash, the smell, the sound all at once. At this level, the Empath could also be able to pick out the subjects specific Psychological and even Mental Flaws. ***** Nature: At this level the Empath can penetrate the deepest emotional layers of the subject, realizing truths about them and their emotional connections that they may not even know themselves. First of all, the Empath can determine the True Nature of the subject, even if they spend laborious effort to keep this a secret or are unaware of same consciously. The Empath can read the nature and strength of emotional contacts between the subject and others present, even if they are unknown between both parties - such as an ally who loves the subject and vice-versa but neither of them has faced this truth. The Empath can pick out social flaw as well as the previous types mentioned if it makes sense - 'He carries a sense of a person hated by his parents', 'She has an problem with authority of the sort carried by criminals, probably has a record'. Such insights are left to the Storyteller's discretion, but as emotions shape events, events likewise shape emotions and they leave fingerprints for the truly sensitive to read. At this level the ability to read a crowd increases as well, pinpointing not just the dynamic anchor of a social setting but the other secondary influences that might otherwise be noticed. An example might be a love triangle between three people in a crowd of twenty becomes apparent because of the flow of emotion between them. At this level the Empath can send sensory illusions of duration and multiple sensory input, completely disassociating the subject's senses from what is actually occurring. Also, at this level the Empath can implant emotional memories triggered by sensory memory; mutate the subject's emotional state (turning Love to Hate for example but not Love to apathy), or create Pavlovian triggers in the subject or forge unrelated emotional states to specific subjects to create obsession or revulsion for same.