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Shielding

The Shielding Skill

Shielding is a new skill available to all characters. It represents trained mental and emotional self-defense (or, for those with Natural Shields, trained control over lowering those defenses).

Roots: Perception and Will (player chooses at character creation or when opening the skill).

  • Perception-rooted Shielding emphasizes awareness — noticing your own cracks, detecting probes, the perceptive discipline of self-examination. This is the contemplative's path: the monk, the therapist, the person who shields by seeing themselves clearly.

  • Will-rooted Shielding emphasizes determination — maintaining shields under pressure, resisting interrogation, the stubborn refusal to be moved. This is the soldier's path: the spy, the officer, the person who shields by holding themselves together.

Both roots produce effective shields. The difference is in character and failure mode: Perception-rooted shielders are harder to find cracks in but may falter under sustained assault. Will-rooted shielders are harder to break through sustained pressure but may have cracks they haven't noticed.

Untrained Defense

Characters without the Shielding skill can still resist telepathic and empathic intrusion using:

  • Their Talent discipline skill (Telepathy, Empathy, or Kinesis) — a Talented individual's self-knowledge from working with their own mind provides some defense. A telepath knows what a probe feels like. An empath knows what foreign emotions feel like. A kinetic knows their own limits and has the body-awareness that comes from controlling physical forces with their mind.

  • Will or Steel — raw mental toughness, the non-Talented default.

Disadvantage for untrained defense: When using a Talent discipline skill or stat as a shielding substitute, the defender rolls at +1 Ob penalty to the contested roll. The Shielding skill represents specific training in the discipline of self-examination and crack-elimination. Using raw Talent or mental toughness as a substitute works, but it's less efficient — you're using a general tool for a specialized job.

Contested Rolls

Bypassing someone's shields is a contested roll: the attacker's Telepathy or Empathy skill versus the defender's Shielding skill (or substitute, with penalty).

Attacker Defender (Trained) Defender (Untrained)
Telepathy Shielding Telepathy (+1 Ob), Empathy (+1 Ob), Kinesis (+1 Ob), Will, or Steel
Empathy Shielding Empathy (+1 Ob), Telepathy (+1 Ob), Kinesis (+1 Ob), Will, or Steel

Margin of success follows the standard conflict resolution:

  • Tie: The attacker senses the shields but cannot find a way through. The defender knows they were probed.
  • Win by 1: Partial read — fragments, emotional impressions, surface reactions. The defender may or may not notice.
  • Win by 2-3: Solid read — specific thoughts or emotional states accessed through the cracks found. The defender is unlikely to notice unless they're specifically watching for it.
  • Win by 4+: Deep read — significant access through a major crack. The attacker learns something the defender is hiding from themselves.

Against Natural Shields (fully raised): No roll. It simply doesn't work. The attacker knows the mind is closed — it reads as a wall with no seams, no texture, no cracks. There is nothing to attempt.

Shielding Others

A telepath can extend shielding to protect other people's minds. This follows the existing rules:

  • Active concentration required — the telepath must maintain the shield
  • Range limitations apply — easier when closer
  • Consent — developing ethics demand explicit consent unless the individual is incapacitated or danger is immediate

Mechanically, the telepath's Shielding skill (or Telepathy at +1 Ob if untrained in Shielding) is used as the defense for the protected person. The telepath takes exhaustion tallies as normal for sustained Talent use.

Passive shielding — "set and forget" protection — is theoretically possible but the technique has not been developed. Such shields fade without maintenance.

The Natural Shields Trait (Mechanical)

Natural Shields is a character trait with the following mechanical effects:

  • Default state: closed. The character's mind is impenetrable to telepathy and empathy without any effort or roll required.
  • Lowering shields requires a Shielding skill test. The obstacle depends on the degree of opening:
    • Ob 3: All-or-nothing — shields come down completely
    • Ob 4: Partial opening — specific channel (telepathic communication only, empathic awareness only)
    • Ob 5: Granular control — open to specific individuals while remaining closed to others
  • Sustained opening requires concentration. If the character is distracted, stressed, or injured, the GM may call for additional Shielding tests to maintain the opening. Failure means the shields snap shut.
  • Talent development: A Talented character with Natural Shields must learn to lower their shields before they can develop their Talent. This is the reverse of normal Talent development and can significantly delay manifestation.