Metamorphosis Alpha Understanding PC Abilities Mental Resistance

 

In the previous post I discussed the rule book’s layout and started looking at the differences between Metamorphosis Alpha, Dungeons & Dragons and Gamma World abilities. This post takes a deeper look at Metamorphosis Alpha’s Abilities and how they affect game play. Mental Resistance is the second Ability given for Metamorphosis Alpha Player Characters. I will cover Radiation Resistance and Constitution together in a future post. 

Mental Resistance

This is the player character’s ability to withstand an attack on his or her mind by mental energy. This ability is strengthened by use. 

“The rationale behind this is that the mind, after surviving an attack, forms new: barriers to that type of attack. These barriers are always up without thought or, special effort on the part of the player. Therefore, for every 5 aggressive mental attacks which a being survives and resists successfully, his or her mental resistance factor increases by one (until he or she reaches the 18 figure).”

“Every mutation that has more than 1 mental power must have at least a mental resistance of 12.”

“When rolling for simultaneous attacks, if both attackers make the roll needed both of the attacks negate each other. Physical action prohibits a being from making a mental attack.”

“Mental activity by one being is not interrupted by a mental attack from another being. That is, defense against the attack may be made while continuing the activity. A successful mental attack will have effect depending upon its type (mental blast, illusion generation, etc.), not necessarily interrupting the original activity.”

“The power of the being attacking is equal to his original mental resistance, before it was adjusted for defects or experience.”

“A number is the score which must be beaten on a roll of 3 six-sided dice, “*” means that the attack is successful without a roll. “--” means that there is no attack possible in that situation. Any being or mutation that does not have a stated mental resistance factor has a 3 for the purposes of this game. This chart is used for any type of mental attack.”

Flash forward to Gamma World and we can see what has remained the same and what changes have been made.

Gamma World 

MENTAL STRENGTH

  Like Metamorphosis Alpha the attribute deals with the character’s ability to control, both offensively and defensively, psionic energies. For beings possessing no mental mutations, such as Pure Strain Humans, the mental strength rating is used simply for defence during mental attacks. For characters or creatures with mental mutations, this rating is used for both offence and defence. Also, unlike other basic attribute ratings, mental strength increases with use. 

  After initiative has been determined, the attacker announces his intentions to the referee and states the type of attack. Then the referee cross-indexes the attacker’s mental strength against the defender’s mental strength and determines the dice roll needed for the attack to be successful.

A 20-sided die is rolled in Gamma World unlike the 3d6 in Metamorphosis Alpha. If the number rolled is equal to or larger than the number indicated on the matrix, the mental attack is successful and the results of the attack are immediately applied.

“The mental defense (the mental strength of the defender) is always present. This defense is independent of all actions by the individual, such as making a physical attack or sleeping. It is also present even when making a mental attack. The only restriction on mental attacks is that they must be made separate from physical attacks. One may not make both a mental and a physical attack in the same melee round. Damage sustained as the result of a mental attack is figured in the same manner as in physical combat.” This is basically the same rule as we see In Metamorphosis Alpha.

“It is important to remember that each mental power is different from all others, and selection of such a power for combat purposes should be made very carefully. Some powers are indiscriminate, affecting all within range, some have limited duration, and so forth. Also, some mental mutations will entirely negate the effects of other mental mutations.” This warning is missing from Metamorphosis Alpha.

“Successful use of mental powers in a combat situation also works towards increasing a being’s mental strength in the following manner: for every five successful mental attacks (those which cause damage), the attacker’s mental strength increases by one point. The same increase works in a like manner for defense: for every five successful mental defenses (those attacks which do not cause damage) the defender’s mental strength increases by one point. The rationale behind these increases is that as the being’s mental capacities grow more proficient in offensive and/or defensive operation, the mind develops new channels for projecting its powers.” Here we see the increase in a being’s mental strength is still linked to the number 5 but now applies to both successful defense and attacks. In addition no reference is made to using only the raw unmodified mental strength score for the attacker. Thus in Gamma World the mental strength improvements are not strictly for defense. 

Like Metamorphosis Alpha the mental strength of the attacker is cross indexed with the mental strength of the defender. The result is the number the attacker must equal or exceed on the roll of a 20-sided die in order to score a successful mental attack. A comparison of the two matrixes do show similarities and differences mainly caused by the change from using 3d6 dice to the d20 die. The matrixes appear different because of layout however mathematically they are very similar. 

  Now D&D did not have a similar ability score for psionics but instead had separate and completely different rules found in Eldritch Wizardry which would be a whole other article just to explain. 

 Finally this brings us to the problem of the Intelligence Ability that appears to be missing in Metamorphosis Alpha but is present in D&D and Gamma World. When I went through the positive mental mutations in Metamorphosis Alpha Heightened Intelligence modifies Mental Resistance by increasing it by 4 up to the maximum of 18, improves the mutant’s chances to figure out ancient ship technology and a necessity for plant or animal mutants to be able communicate or act logically. This means in Metamorphosis Alpha Mental Resistance doubles as Intelligence. Whereas in Gamma World Intelligence was split from Mental Strength to create two separate abilities. Based also on Heightened Intelligence I would also argue D&D’s two abilities of Wisdom and Intelligence are probably rolled into Mental Resistance.