View source for Telepath RPG: Servants of God

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''[[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 "[[Title Drop|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" -- [[Psychic Powers|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 "[[God|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, [http://www.sinisterdesign.net Sinister Design,] and the full version can be purchased for 25 US dollars.

{{tropelist}}
* [[Actual Pacifist]]: Set. He doesn't have any attack skills, because he can't bear to hurt anyone.
{{quote|'''Set:''' I do fight! But I fight to save lives, not take them.}}
* [[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<ref>This is because Duvalier is the only one who can "mold" the soul charge to actually "fit" the recipient; Luca can provide the energy, but she can't revive a mind she doesn't know</ref>, 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]]: {{spoiler|D'Kah}}, to an extent. Though he ''is'' fought as part of the main storyline, he is ''incredibly'' tough and will almost certainly [[Curb Stomp Battle|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.
{{quote|'''Rahel:''' [Rajav] couldn't seduce a cat out of a bucket of water.}}
* [[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, [[Relationship Values|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 {{spoiler|the Order of the Black Rose's safe}} ''before the first mission''. This gets you 5000 gold and an orb.
* [[Elemental Powers]]: [[Playing with Fire|Heat]], [[An Ice Person|cold]], [[Light'Em Up|light]], and [[Casting a Shadow|shadow]].
* [[Final Boss]]: {{spoiler|Cygnus.}}
* [[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.
{{quote|'''Griffin:''' First time you've ever killed someone, huh? [...] It gets...easier. But it's never easy. And it never should be.}}
* [[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 {{spoiler|you gloated about how you like killing}} to Set, he will {{spoiler|start a committee to get Duvalier removed from the judges' bench}}.
* [[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. [[Bonus Boss|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 Member|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 {{spoiler|you tell Luca to kill the innocent civilians at the end of mission four}}. 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 Wizard|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 Men|Malevolent Masked Man]]: Cygnus always wears a golden mask that looks like the face of an infant.
* [[Multiple Endings]]:
** One: {{spoiler|Agree to surrender at the Al'Dukkan armoury, and join the ranks of the Cult.}} [[Bad Ending|This one]] has a lot of [[What the Hell, Hero?|What the Hell, Hero]].
** Two: {{spoiler|Beat Cygnus to a bloody pulp and arrest him.}} This is the "standard" ending.
** Three: {{spoiler|Trump Cygnus in a theological debate and force him to surrender.}}
** Four: {{spoiler|Let Cygnus run away.}}
* [[My God, What Have I Done?]]: {{spoiler|Duvalier can have one of these after mission four, if he took the violent route and discovers that Luca's personality has been irreversibly altered.}}
* [[New Game+]]{{context}}
* [[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, [[Playing with Fire|pyrokineticists]] believe in great passion, [[An Ice Person|cryokineticists]] believe in rationality and detachment, [[Light'Em Up|photokineticists]] believe in analyzing future possibilities, and [[Casting a Shadow|skiakineticists]] believe in analyzing past mistakes.
** This also seems to hold true for the [[Climax Boss|Climax Bosses]] -- [[Playing with Fire|Fernatus]] is a fiery, passionate executioner, while [[Casting a Shadow|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 {{spoiler|Duvalier convinces her that she really is an angel of wrath in mission four}}, she will learn Light Blast, an offensive skill. However, if {{spoiler|Duvalier keeps her grounded during that scene and she retains her more passive personality}}, 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]]{{context}}<!-- the least one could do is say who The Resistance is, and explaining why would be better yet -->
* [[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]]: {{spoiler|You can do this to the ''[[Final Boss]]''. Albeit not literally, and you do need a very high Personality score.}}
* [[Video Game Caring Potential]] / [[Video Game Cruelty Potential]]: All over the place.
* [[Video Game Cruelty Punishment]]: If {{spoiler|you tell Luca to murder a bunch of innocent civilians in mission four}}, Qudssi will desert if you recruited him.
** [[Inverted Trope|On the flipside, though]], {{spoiler|Luca}} gets a new attack out of the deal.
* [[Videogame Set Piece]]: Both Iblis and {{spoiler|Cygnus}} 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). {{spoiler|Cygnus}} 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: "[[Psychic Powers|My mind is my weapon.]]"<ref>Though it is possible for him to become a [[Knife Nut]] if he joins the Order of the Black Rose.</ref>
** 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]]{{context}}<!-- the least one could do is say who the wide-eyed idealist is, and explaining why would be better yet -->

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[[Category:Strategy RPG]]
[[Category:Western RPG]]
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