Possession

[Trebuchet]

How do you build a non-corporeal being which occupies human bodies; and then can jump from that body to another one nearby?

[Doc Democracy]

Re: Possession

 

When looking at the Jericho problem I gave the the character a transform and duplication. The transform made the target a duplicate of the character and the duplication was bought such that the character and the target were variant duplicates (the character in powers and the target in disads - so when the duplicates were combined the combination was the target power wise and the character personality wise.

 

This was limited - if the duplicate was only 300 points and the target 500 points then the SFX are that the control is not perfect and the possessor only has a limited control of the powers (and thus 200 points less powerful).

 

A head twist at first but makes sense mechanics wise.

 

Doc

[jtelson]

Re: Possession

 

Desolid for the non Corporeal part, Maybe Invisibility for the time you're 'in' the target.

 

Possession can be Mind Control, Transform or perhaps some sort of k/o effect (cont Ego Attack) w/ TK.

 

May want Acting usable as an attack.

[jtelson]

Re: Possession

 

Hmmm, maybe EDM UAA, Shapeshift and a Variable Pool (Moves Target Away, changes self to be target)

[Utech]

Re: Possession

 

How do you build a non-corporeal being which occupies human bodies; and then can jump from that body to another one nearby?

 

Can the non-corporeal being be damaged in any way? (in or out of a body)

Can the non-corporeal being be driven out of a body?

What happens to the non-corporeal being when a body it occupies dies?

Is it possible for a body to resist being occupied? How?

[Trebuchet]

Re: Possession

 

Can the non-corporeal being be damaged in any way? (in or out of a body)

Not sure yet. I'm still putting the scenario together in my head.

 

Can the non-corporeal being be driven out of a body?

Again, maybe. Probably.

 

What happens to the non-corporeal being when a body it occupies dies?

It can move to another unoccupied body nearby (within range).

 

Is it possible for a body to resist being occupied? How?

Yes. Mental Defense; and possibly with an EGO roll.

 

The build will determine the answers to most of these questions.

[Utech]

Re: Possession

 

If the non-corporeal body cannot be damaged in any way, then I don't think it can be built. It's more like sfx for a plot device.

 

Is this intended to be a PC?

[Trebuchet]

Re: Possession

 

If the non-corporeal body cannot be damaged in any way, then I don't think it can be built. It's more like sfx for a plot device.

 

Is this intended to be a PC?

Dear God, no. It's for a race of extradimensional bad guys. I suppose that the non-corporeal body might be damaged by the right Affects Desolid sfx.

 

The plot device approach might be the simplest to put it together. All I need to figure is how to stop or counter it; knowing full well my players will figure out another way I didn't anticipate.

[jtelson]

Re: Possession

 

Do they have access to the memories of the possessed?

[Moebius]

Re: Possession

 

I have built something like this twice, in two different ways, though both similar. The first way was easiest, and that was to simply make the body an Obvious Accessible Focus. From a Referees point it is relatively easy. That one I gave the villain the requirement that the body had to be recently dead for it to be usable as a focus, as that made it highly unlikely to ever be able to affect a PC. People who were unaware would just attack the focus. If they met the special effect of the Desolid then it would automaticly damage the underlying villain.

 

The second way was done where I used a summon to acquire the acquiescence of the host bodies, then used mind control, with the villain just riding along with and occupying the same space.

[Trebuchet]

Re: Possession

 

Do they have access to the memories of the possessed?

No. They're not intended specifically as infiltrators although they might try it; they're supposed to be a combat threat (and challenge) because they can occupy the bodies of persons heroes won't want to risk hurting such as civilians (or teammates).

[Trebuchet]

Re: Possession

 

The second way was done where I used a summon to acquire the acquiescence of the host bodies' date=' then used mind control, with the villain just riding along with and occupying the same space.[/quote']That sounds more along the lines of what I'm looking for. Could you elaborate on that a bit or maybe post the build?

 

PS: Welcome to Hero!

[Rapier]

Re: Possession

 

50 pt Custom Power: Possession, RSR: PS: Possession; Full Turn; Requires OCV Attack Roll; Must Touch Skin; etc.

 

Skill vs Skill to Possess and make additional rolls with every 2 successes (eg make the roll by 12 and breakout rolls are 6 steps down the time chart) down the time chart.

 

For the most part, this should be a plot device. I would hesitate to actually have this usable by a PC. It has the vast potential to really fubar your game.

 

If this is a villain just dump about 50 points into his power and call it a day. If he needs to possess the president, he does. If it's a PC you are looking at the PC needing to dump a buttload of points into a whole host different powers. It is greatly simplified by creating a New Custom Power that does what you want and determine how it works.

[Trebuchet]

Re: Possession

 

I wouldn't use this for a PC except in a very Iron Age game (and our MidGuard campaign is Silver Age) either. But it works fine as something for supervillains or supernatural evil critters.

[Moebius]

Re: Possession

 

That sounds more along the lines of what I'm looking for. Could you elaborate on that a bit or maybe post the build?

 

PS: Welcome to Hero!

5Q+5Q

 

Use Summon, arrives under own power, and some level of amicable. The point level indicates who is susceptible to the “Mind Control.” Some NPCs the PCs care about can be pretty low points. Summon does not usually allow the user to pick specific people. The Snatcher goes around Desolid probably invisible as well, though if I were to make that I would probably make it just versus normal vision and normal hearing, to give those PCs who spent the odd point for unusual senses have a chance to know what is up. Just more insidious that way it seems to me.

 

Next I give the Snatcher mind link, and for as long as the summon remains in service, it will not hang up from its end. The task(s) can take a short time to a long one. This is usually the primary determining factor on how long the “Mind Control” lasts.

 

Alternately, you could use a non-amicable Summon and/or use the Mind Control fade rolls to see how long it takes for the control to be lost. The Possession like effect can be done entirely with Mind Control possibly followed up with a Mind Link. Though this requires a lot of points from the GMs “point bucket.” This second route allows for even PCs to temporarily be the target of the effect.

 

There is some good dramatic potential for a PC mentalist to fight for control of the victim.

 

In combat attacks that match the vulnerable special effect of the Desolid probably hit the Snatcher; while attacks that don't probably hit the NPC victim occupying the same space. Though you could have the ones matching the Desolid hitting both the victim and the Snatcher.

[Sean Waters]

Re: Possession

 

If the beings are extradimensional then perhaps remain in another dimension they have transdimensional senses and transdimensional mental transform.

 

The transform changes a target brain to a copy of their own mind pattern. It is limited so that they can only do one at a time and they also take a mind link to their puppet and suffer a feedback effect from mental powers - anything that affects the puppet (mentally) affects them.

 

You can expel one (heal the transform) with (say) an EMP (or whatever), and when you do a disadvantage means that they physically manifest for a turn as they are still linked to this dimension (they can be seen from this plane and hurt from here). They are also forced to manifest if the puppet body is killed.

 

After that turn they fade again from out perception and can 'possess' someone else.

 

This sort of construct could be horribly powerful, but for a villain probably does what you want, appropriately seasoned to taste

[Utech]

Re: Possession

 

I really don't think there's any point writing up these non-corporeal bad guys using a HERO template. They lack many Characteristics and many Skills, Powers, etc. wouldn't apply to them.

 

You might do better to write them up more as you'd write up a virus. At first blush this doesn't seem right since they don't seem infectious. But they certainly could be. Whenever these bad guys reproduce, they have the ability to "infect" a new host. When they voluntarily leave one host to infect another, you could say that the host they left has been "cured".

 

So what you really need to do is write up three things:

1. What is the mechanism by which you determine their ability to infect a new host?
   
2. What happens to an infected host?
   
3. How can a host be cured?
   

 

1: Infection

Several mechanics would do well here. You might base this on:

 

• Transform. Note: Partially Transformed hosts could be very interesting.
  
• Skill vs Skill contest. Perhaps based on EGO.
  
• Mind Control. Note: Breakout rolls would provide a mechanism for self-healing.
  

You'll have to also write up something about when an infection is likely to occur. The bad guys could be motivated by logic that any human would understand or . . . something else. For example: They prefer infecting the young or infirm; they prefer infecting supers; they prefer infecting bald men who wear glasses; etc.

 

2: Symptoms

Write this up any way you like. You may want all symptoms to express themselves immediately, or have them appear over time. For example, erratic behavior might progress into possession.

 

3: Cure

Again, you can write this up any way you like. There may be multiple ways to cure the infection. Examples: Cause grave damage (or death) to the host; talk the virus into leaving one body and entering another; make the infected eat brie; etc.

[schir1964]

Re: Possession

 

I'm going to borrow Doc Democracies concept, but implement it differently.

 

Obviously, Desolidification is necessary for occupying the same space and grants the obvious invulnerabilities with the one SFX exception plus whatever limitations are required as necessary.

 

But instead of Duplication, perhaps a Multiform - Usable As Attack would fit better since you are basically forcing the personality over another's body.

 

Just A Thought

 

- Christopher Mullins

[Doc Democracy]

Re: Possession

 

I'm going to borrow Doc Democracies concept, but implement it differently.

 

Obviously, Desolidification is necessary for occupying the same space and grants the obvious invulnerabilities with the one SFX exception plus whatever limitations are required as necessary.

 

See, I was using duplication to do the bolded thing.

 

With desolid you still have two entities occupying the same space. With duplication, the idea is that you transform an opponent to your duplicate and then use the duplication to combine into one entity with the physical characteristics of the opponent and the mental characteristics of the character....

 

 

Doc