Objection is an example of an Ability in Mysteries of the Yokai that lets you use a different ability in a way other than normal.. It lets you use one particular “social” or “talky” skill to protect your character from a range of similar skills. Named in homage to a particular video game lawyer you may know, Objection is a good way to represent any kind of character that uses their signature skill to defeat any kind of enemy ploy.

For example, take the mastermind character, the puppet master who always has a plan hidden within a plan within a backup plan within a ploy. That character may not be particularly good at using Performance to entertain a crowd, but their experience with trickery would easily allow them to spot when someone was trying to do it to them. In the same way, a character with a strong empathy for all sentient creatures would probably never be able to use the Deception or Manipulation skills to trick anyone, but they could sense the falseness in the feelings of someone using those skills on them.

 

Objection is set up to allow you to make Defend actions and opposed checks against these abilities without having to spend a lot of Potential buying all of those skills purely for defensive purposes. It doesn’t let you make actions with those abilities; you just get to use your chosen skill as the modifier when someone uses them on you.

 

Mysteries of the Yokai encourages players and GMs to theme their abilities however they want using the rules printed. For example, if you were making the mastermind character previously mentioned, you probably wouldn’t actually be objecting to things (far too flashy for most masterminds), but you could name the ability something like “Total Control” and base your ability in Manipulation when you buy the ability. During a session of play, if your character was attacked by the herald of a powerful Samurai lord, using Etiquette to damage the party, you could make your opposed roll with Manipulation. In this case, you wouldn’t be opposing the laws the herald was using against you; instead you would be finding a ‘loophole’ in the law through your manipulation of its wording.

 

A GM could even modify the ability further, using a different set of abilities. Let’s take an example where a Game Master is using a modified campaign setting where Psionic powers are common and diverse. The GM may create a “Telekinetic Block” that allowed the character to use their Zeal or Resolve modifier against Weapons and Ki Attack abilities.