Control Thoughts, Talk about instant kill spells. Options

[marylayson]

Okay, has anyone else had a problem with Control Thoughts. We tried a sample run, and our mage was wiping people out with a single spell that allowed him to compel them to shoot their friends, and then themselves. He took very little drain 4 stun total for the evening in one bad roll, and they didn't have a chance to resist until after 4 turns. None of them made it that long. Is that spell missing some sort of threshold or qualifications for what you can force people to do? It and Mob Mind are off our group's list, but I'd feel better if the monstrosity that exists is due to some error or lack of thought rather than intention.

[NightRain]

Already a discussion about this in the Control Thoughts vs Control Actions thread

http://forums.dumpshock.com/index.php?showtopic=10156

[hahnsoo]

You have to use a Complex Action to cast the spell. Then you don't give commands until your next Simple Action. Against a single target, it can be powerful, but that can be said for almost all spells used offensively... it's actually less effective than Turn to Goo or even Stun Bolt.

Also, remember that Force limits hits in ALL cases.

[Dogsoup]

While not an elegant solution, we've been banning all "read/control mind"-spells for the 7+ years we've been playing SR; it's sort of a silent agreement between players and GM's.

Personally I view that kind of powers along with weather control: It's an ability somehow unavailable to players but still exist in the world (i.e. plot device).