Those affected by Mentalism do not retain agency, and act as commanded by the character using Mentalism against them. Those controlled know they are being controlled, and remember being controlled afterwards.
Effect: Mentalism is usually used outside of combat as part of actions related to social interaction, but can be used in combat situations to take control of one or more opponents.
Successful use of this Ability places a Mentalism Complication upon each person affected. Victims of Mentalism can attempt to beat the Complication on themselves when compelled to take an action that is strongly against their personality or moral code.
It is very common for the Area Affect SFX or something similar to be applied to Mentalism in order to control more than one target at a time. When this is done, at lower die ratings all of the controlled targets must execute the same basic action. At Mentalism: d10 and up all of the controlled targets can take individual actions.
Using Mentalism requires maintenance; each panel a character uses Mentalism they can only move a zone and maintain their control. They cannot take some other action without releasing their control. Reactions can be made as usual.
Psyche is almost always useful for defending against Mentalism, as is Willpower and Fortitude.
Common SFX: It is very common to take the Area Affect SFX or something similar to allow more than one target to be controlled at a time.
Some characters take the Hidden SFX to prevent their victims from realizing that they are being or have been mentally controlled.
Mentalism usually requires maintenance, however the Effortless SFX can be applied to remove this restriction. This is very powerful; a GM may require some Limit to also be taken to prevent Effortless Mentalism from being unfairly dominant.
Common Limits: Mentalism requires constant concentration, if a character is stressed out or knocked unconscious their effect ends; this doesn't justify taking a Limit such as Activated on it.
Mentalism normally works against sentient creatures, but this can be altered to a narrower or less useful group by taking a Limit such as Command Animals or Male Domination.