jml Posted May 4, 2006 Report Share Posted May 4, 2006 Is it valid to use telepathic mind control to get a bilingual person to translate things for you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alibear Posted May 4, 2006 Report Share Posted May 4, 2006 Re: Mind Control for Translation? Valid but overkill I would imagine. Couldn't you just ask nicely? Can you give a bit more info? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Democracy Posted May 4, 2006 Report Share Posted May 4, 2006 Re: Mind Control for Translation? You can use mind control to make people do things that they have the ability to perform. If you were trying to make a person read a foreign newspaper then it probably wouldn't require more than minimal success to get them to do so. If it was reading out the instructions on how to fire missiles from a nuclear silo and begin a world war then it might take greater success. If the person was not bilingual (and able to read the language in question) then no amount of success would get you a translation. Doc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robyn Posted May 4, 2006 Report Share Posted May 4, 2006 Re: Mind Control for Translation? Is it valid to use telepathic mind control to get a bilingual person to translate things for you? Do you mean, using mind control to make them read something that you can't understand, more mind control to make them reformulate the thoughts in a language you can understand, and then Telepathy to pluck the translations from their mind? I can see this being useful. You're in a bar, eavesdropping on two native Russian speakers; the problem is, that you don't speak Russian. Furthermore, because they are native speakers, they're even thinking in Russian, so you still can't understand them. But you do know that one of them speaks English, so you try to surreptitiously Mind Control him into mentally reformulating the Russian into English (despite the fact that he has no need to), and hopefully score high enough on your +EGO roll that he isn't aware he's doing so (or, at least, doesn't think anything odd of it; doesn't suspect that he's being manipulated by a telepath). Then, you read his mind for it. For a trick like this, would it be necessary to use Telepathy to access thoughts deeper than the surface layer, if using the +EGO roll to conceal the tampering by having the reformulation into English take place at a subconscious level? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dust Raven Posted May 5, 2006 Report Share Posted May 5, 2006 Re: Mind Control for Translation? Is it valid to use telepathic mind control to get a bilingual person to translate things for you? Depends on what you want translated and how. If you are just talking about normal conversation and you happen to know that guy over there speaks your language and the language of the guy you want to understand, it's perfectly valid to Mind Control him to translate for you. Of course, he'll be speaking the translation out loud. Just because the Mind Control commands are transmitted telepathically doesn't mean the translation you want will be. If you wanted to pluck the translation out of someone's head, you could just use Telepathy (which is not language dependant unless the GM says it is or you have a Limitation on it) to read the surface thoughts of the person speaking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prestidigitator Posted May 6, 2006 Report Share Posted May 6, 2006 Re: Mind Control for Translation? I can see this being useful. You're in a bar' date=' eavesdropping on two native Russian speakers; the problem is, that [b']you[/b] don't speak Russian. Furthermore, because they are native speakers, they're even thinking in Russian, so you still can't understand them. But you do know that one of them speaks English, so you try to surreptitiously Mind Control him into mentally reformulating the Russian into English (despite the fact that he has no need to), and hopefully score high enough on your +EGO roll that he isn't aware he's doing so (or, at least, doesn't think anything odd of it; doesn't suspect that he's being manipulated by a telepath). Then, you read his mind for it. For a trick like this, would it be necessary to use Telepathy to access thoughts deeper than the surface layer, if using the +EGO roll to conceal the tampering by having the reformulation into English take place at a subconscious level? Sounds like (the SFX of) the partial buyoff of a Limitation to me, since IIRC Mental Powers normally do not entail a language barrier (except when you have to give Mind Control instructions verbally, of course). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dust Raven Posted May 6, 2006 Report Share Posted May 6, 2006 Re: Mind Control for Translation? Furthermore' date=' because [i']they[/i] are native speakers, they're even thinking in Russian, so you still can't understand them. Actually, Telepathy is not language dependent, so no one "thinks" in any particular language as far as telepathic communication is concerned (in a way, telepathic communication isn't handled through words, but through thoughts, which the human mind translates into words for easy assimilation). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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