Would you use a skill check here, or no?

[ShawnDriscoll]

Ok. Let's say there is an NPC the player characters have met, and are spending time with. The NPC is under control psionically by a third party. The referee knows this of course, but the players don't. And let's say that the player characters suspect later that the NPC is not acting normal in some way. How would they determine that the NPC is, in fact, under some kind of mind control? Is it role-played out? Is it a skill check of some kind that needs to be rolled for, and if so, do the players find out exactly what's going on with the NPC, or are there missing pieces to the puzzle still?

 

[Reynard]

If the scenario expect the players to possibly realize there's something wrong then clue challenges are in order. Some can be RP with the ref describing events that aide the players' realization. Skill checks should be available to catch certain clues too. These clues should point to but not shout out the answer. They make the final assessment based on what they discover. Not discovering the answer can or should be a way to mislead and trap players as part of the scenario.

 

[Rick]

Yeah, should be a mix of rp and rolls, really. Ideally, the NPC might have a (slim) chance of dropping clues without the controller being aware (opposed characteristic check?) as well as the players making rolls to spot behaviour that seems out of character; but it should be up to the players to piece all of that together. It can take a lot of work by a GM to do it right.

 

[phavoc]

From the players perspective I think it would be based upon intelligence rolls due to their observation of the NPC. Though if they haven't had prior experience with the NPC I would make it highly unlikely that they would have enough experience with the NPC to know he was acting 'wrong'.

Odd behavior by the individual, like say he is trying to fight the mind control does allow the referee to drop hints to the players without being overtly blatant about it. I guess it depends on how much of your plot line requires the players to spot and perhaps try to interrupt the psionic control.

If any of the players have experience with psionics (latent skills, past experience with mind controlled people) I would definitely give them a bonus to their observation rolls.

 

[Epicenter]

I would allow some sort of skill check if:

1) The players are very familiar with the other person. It would need to be someone who the players are pretty intimately familiar and have known for a long time: A long-time coworker who they talk to a lot who sits at the next desk, a lover, or something like that.

2) The players have been trained to recognize the signs of psionic influence. I don't know what these would be, but in a universe with psionics, I'm sure such signs exist and there are organizations that have turned recognition of the signs into an science that can be taught and trained for.

Otherwise, I think it's a little too metagame fishing.