Telepath RPG: Servants of God



Telepath RPG: Servants of God is the third chapter in the Telepath RPG series from Sinister Design. The story is not a direct sequel to the previous chapters, though it is set in the same world.

Nelis, the shadowling queen, has been defeated, and without her, the Shadowling Empire has crumbled. However, a new menace has arisen in the world of Cera Bella. Known as the "Servants of God", this cult believes that there is only one true god, and he alone has the right to peer into the hearts and minds of mortals. This makes those with "the Gift" -- psychics -- anathema to them. They are persecuted by this cult as "dark ones" who manipulate the minds of others. As a radical fringe group, their beliefs are easy to dismiss -- until they stage a coup and take over the desert city of Ravinale.

Your main character is the son of two senators, Alder and Catherine Duvalier. Your character was thrown in prison shortly after the coup took place. Fortunately, his friend Griffin, along with the People's Resistance of Ravinale, breaks him out. He now has to work together with a ragtag group of resistance fighters to topple the Cult's theocracy and reinstate the old democratic government.

The game tackles a number of theological and philosophical questions about the nature of God and the role of religion in society -- the god the Cult worships being called "Yahwah" is no coincidence. The writing has been critically acclaimed by a number of video game critics, and it sports a fun tactical RPG experience as well. A demo can be downloaded on its home site, Sinister Design, and the full version can be purchased for 25 US dollars.

"Set: I do fight! But I fight to save lives, not take them."
 * Actual Pacifist: Set. He doesn't have any attack skills, because he can't bear to hurt anyone.

"Rahel: [Rajav] couldn't seduce a cat out of a bucket of water."
 * Amplifier Artifact: The orbs, as in the previous game.
 * Back from the Dead: Luca has this ability, though it's explained that there are number of limitations. Firstly, she apparently can't do it without Duvalier, justifying We Cannot Go on Without You. She also needs an intact body and a "soul charge" (whatever those are).
 * Bald of Awesome: Griffin.
 * Bonus Boss:, to an extent. Though he is fought as part of the main storyline, he is incredibly tough and will almost certainly curb stomp your forces. You're encouraged to just run away from him.
 * Arguably Hellion as well, who is significantly tougher than other sidequest bosses.
 * Boss in Mook Clothing: Greater Ghosts. They are completely immune to physical attacks, have a boatload of health, and they use devastating area effect attacks.
 * Loyalist Captains and Avengers are also quite tough. The Captains can deal tremendous damage to large portions of your team, and the Avengers can return the damage you deal to them with Feedback, requiring you to press to offensive to have any hope of defeating them.
 * Casanova Wannabe: Despite Rajav's claims that he is a legendary lover, his attempts to woo Luca are absolutely terrible. It is possible, however, that the time spent in the labyrinth simply caused his skills to become rusty. Very rusty.

"Griffin: First time you've ever killed someone, huh? [...] It gets...easier. But it's never easy. And it never should be."
 * Climax Boss: Fernatus and Malekahin.
 * Competitive Balance:
 * Squishy Wizard: Duvalier, end-game; see Magikarp Power below.
 * Glass Cannon: Rahel, Arman, and Malis. The former just has low health (and can only attack at range), the latter two tend to get attacked a lot, since their playstyle involves going behind enemy lines.
 * Arman, in particular, hits like a truck with Mega Stab, but his lack of flight or resistances makes him a very easy target on the next turn.
 * Mighty Glacier / Stone Wall: Griffin, Rajav, and La'Man. Luca can also have some elements of this, if you're fighting enemies with physical attacks.
 * The Medic: Set, who doesn't even have any attack skills!
 * Spoony Bard: Luca, to a degree, due to her gimmicky abilities, though she can still fulfill a more traditional battle role.
 * Lightning Bruiser: Qudssi, though he doesn't have any skills except a basic melee attack.
 * Jack of All Stats: Naj.
 * Continuity Nod: A number of references are made to the events of the prequel. Many major characters from that game even make appearances.
 * Crutch Character: Qudssi is faster than Griffin by two points, is resistant to mental attacks (a unique trait), and starts with his melee attack at an incredibly high level. He also has no special skills. This makes him a useful alternative to Griffin in the early game, but he falls behind in the endgame, when Griffin starts learning more skills.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Rahel, if you aren't on her good side.
 * Death Is a Slap on The Wrist: Even moreso than in the prequel. Revival now costs easily-accumulated "soul charges" instead of gold.
 * Defrosting Ice Queen: Rahel, if you pick the right options when talking to her.
 * Dialogue Tree: Lots. Most notably, there is an absolutely massive one for your pre-battle parley with the Final Boss, with numerous different outcomes.
 * Disc One Nuke: With high Aptitude and a bit of persistence, it is possible to crack the combination on before the first mission. This gets you 5000 gold and an orb.
 * Elemental Powers: Heat, cold, light, and shadow.
 * Final Boss:
 * Five-Bad Band:
 * Big Bad: Cygnus
 * The Dragon: D'Kah
 * The Evil Genius: Hakim
 * The Brute: Fernatus
 * The Dark Chick: Malekahin
 * Genius Bruiser: Griffin.
 * Idle Rich: Baz.
 * It Gets Easier: Discussed and subverted in the prologue.


 * Karma Meter: Defied by the creator, who says he wants to avoid moralizing the choices in the game.
 * Kick the Dog / Pet the Dog: Ah, dialogue options...
 * The Dog Bites Back: In the epilogue, if to Set, he will.
 * The Lancer: Rahel.
 * Last-Disc Magic: Double Strike, Trueshaft, and Mega Stab for Griffin, Rahel, and Arman, respectively. Arguably the elemental area attack for Duvalier as well.
 * Life Drain / Mana Drain: Luca's Soul Suck is kind of both. It drains the opponent's health, but converts it into PsP when Luca absorbs it. Iblis' Drain attack works in the opposite manner.
 * As in the previous games, the Feedback skill is functionally the former, though the flavor text shows that it works in kind of an opposite manner -- instead of draining life directly, the characters purge negativity and wounds from their bodies, then inflict that same negativity on the enemy.
 * Lost Forever: All of the Optional Party Members, if you piss them off, kill them, or flat-out refuse to let them join. Most notably, Qudssi calls it quits if . He also becomes Lost Forever if you don't recruit him before that point, no matter what you do.
 * Magikarp Power: Duvalier. He has the worst stats in the game, with no intrinsic health or PsP bonuses, and only starts with a basic offensive and defensive skill. He is also likely to have low battle stats, since it's most advantageous to max out Personality and Aptitude at their expense. Once he gets a few orbs and starts learning elemental attacks, however, he easily becomes the strongest and most versatile member of your team. He's still a bit squishy, though.
 * Also, Malis. She starts with nothing but Mind Blast, but once she starts learning more skills, she becomes the most manoverable character in the game, and, unlike Arman, can actually keep herself alive with Feedback. She can't match Arman in terms of pure offensive output, however.
 * Malevolent Masked Man: Cygnus always wears a golden mask that looks like the face of an infant.
 * Multiple Endings:
 * One: This one has a lot of What the Hell, Hero.
 * Two: This is the "standard" ending.
 * Three:
 * Four:
 * My God, What Have I Done?:
 * New Game+
 * Nice Guy: Set.
 * No Cure for Evil: Averted; there are numerous enemies with healing skills.
 * Optional Party Member: Qudssi, Malis, La'Man, Naj, and Rajav.
 * Personality Powers: The Nameless One also asks Duvalier about his personality before selecting an elemental affinity for him. Apparently, pyrokineticists believe in great passion, cryokineticists believe in rationality and detachment, photokineticists believe in analyzing future possibilities, and skiakineticists believe in analyzing past mistakes.
 * This also seems to hold true for the Climax Bosses -- Fernatus is a fiery, passionate executioner, while Malekahin is a scholarly preacher who is focused on correcting his past mistakes.
 * There seems to be a degree of this going on with Luca, as well. Specifically, if, she will learn Light Blast, an offensive skill. However, if , then she learns Transfer 2, a support skill.
 * Posthumous Character: Darime.
 * Plucky Comic Relief: Rajav.
 * Psychic Powers: Explored to an even greater depth than in the prequels.
 * The Resistance / La Résistance
 * Relationship Values: Most characters have these. They can be affected by what you say when talking to them in your headquarters, among other factors.
 * Rousing Speech: Duvalier can make one of these later in the game to gain support for La Résistance. Its success depends on a number of factors.
 * Secret Character: Rajav, to an extent. He can only be recruited by completing the fourth crypt.
 * Sidequest: All over the place. The latter half of the game is largely made up of these.
 * Talking the Monster to Death:
 * Video Game Caring Potential / Video Game Cruelty Potential: All over the place.
 * Video Game Cruelty Punishment: If, Qudssi will desert if you recruited him.
 * On the flipside, though, gets a new attack out of the deal.
 * Videogame Set Piece: Both Iblis and use weird attacks that aren't what one might normally expect. Iblis cannot move, but can drain PsP for health, and has an attack that can hit anyone, anywhere (there are no range restrictions).  can create clones of himself, switch places with those clones, create electrified solid state shields out of thin air, and attack every character on the field at once.
 * Weapon of Choice:
 * Duvalier: "My mind is my weapon."
 * Griffin, Qudssi: Cool Sword
 * Rahel: The Archer
 * Arman: Knife Nut
 * Set: None (he wouldn't hurt a fly, quite literally)
 * Rajav: Blade on a Stick
 * Naj, La'Man: Breath Weapon
 * We Cannot Go on Without You: Justified this time. Luca is purely loyal to Duvalier; if he dies, she just fades away (or something) and can't revive him.
 * What the Hell, Hero?: Happens repeatedly throughout the game if you have Duvalier do things the other characters consider immoral.
 * Wide-Eyed Idealist