Possession for Ghost Characters

[indy523]

Hi

 

I am trying to redo a  character I did using the old Horror rules in 6e.  This was a character that was a Spirit from the Clockwork dimension who possessed Automatons called Gadget.

 

Spirit characters had only DEX, INT, EGO, PRE, OCV/DCV, OMCV/DMVC and REC.  With no bodies they had no Stun/Bod Str or Con or related stats.  Every power had to be bought no end and all powers including senses such as sight had to be bought Affects Real World +2A.  Using Shift Spirit this character could move in and out of robot bodies built for him.

 

 

 

Any rate the new APG has Possession and Desolid Projection but this is way too expensive and clunky.

 

Desolidification is No End +1/2A, Persisitant +1/2A, Inherent +1/4A, Always on-1/4L which is 40 * (1+1.25) = 90 / (1+.25) =72 points

 

Possession from APG is Affects Real World +2A, No End +1/2A or 210 points.  It s 180 if you assume the spirit pays for the cost but then you have the weird explanation as to how disembodied spirits tire.4

 

Either way this leaves 282 points just for these powers plus despite making the spirt desolid it according to the rules still has a body outside to worry about.

 

Is there a way to do this, I guess heap on the limitations but still ???

 

Does Possession require Affects Real World?

 

Any rate your ideas would be appreciated

[InfiniteKarma]

Is this character built to possess his "preferred" bodies most of the time, or to be ghostly most of the time, and possess any body he feels like? If he floats around, nearly invulnerable, and possesses any body he wants to, the power is costed appropriately.

 

As a useful character, it might be better mechanics-wise to build his "Robot body plus possessing spirit" forms as a series of multiforms, and then a multiform for his permanently desolid state. Instead of trying to build the possession powers, him switching forms is how he game-mechanically does that. Then he can build a useful character when he's being a ghost, without all of the "affects real world" stop sign powers.

[Lucius]

Spirit characters had only DEX, INT, EGO, PRE, OCV/DCV, OMCV/DMVC and REC.  With no bodies they had no Stun/Bod Str or Con or related stats.  Every power had to be bought no end and all powers including senses such as sight had to be bought Affects Real World +2A.  Using Shift Spirit this character could move in and out of robot bodies built for him.

Build it as an AI. Then it has DEX, INT, EGO, OCV/DCV, OMCV/DMCV, and SPD.

 

By default it has no body, and thus no BODy, nor STR etc.

 

If the only objects it can possess are "robot bodies built for it" then just buy an Automaton with a Regeneration and Resurrection power. (Moving from one body to the next is effectively "Resurrection")

 

If it can move into someone's car or cell phone or antique wind up toy, things get more complex.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

Clockwork palindromedary

[indy523]

Karma

 

The idea was a character that never really died.  The spirit was limited to machines.  The only real world powers were affecting machines mind control or shifting spirit into a host.  Per game terms the only sense he had was aether sense that allowed him to see both kinetic and potential energy (clock work style).  In true steam punk style he was plasma energy in a vacuum tube that was plugged into the steam system of the automaton that allowed him to bond with it but most machines with computers he could link with.  I experimented with three ways of doing it.  The spirit body can du little except to escape however a voodoo priest with a soul eating spell could do him in,  Most of the time though he lives in his robot bodies.

 

Lucius I may have to build as an AI with possession machines only.  Set it up the automatons as computers with no ego and the mental defense has a lim Not on those who know the passcode.  Allowing him to slide in.  How is recovery done for a computer that has intellect drained.  I would think for that you need that skill,  Problem is to go to real world you have to have the +2A somewhere.

 

Still even with the old rules he was a 500 point character to do right I e have all I envisioned he could do.  Good for villain .that always comes back but nit PC,  Oh well......

[Cantriped]

AIs don't usually have suites of Powers unto themselves or exist independently. Instead they are typically intended to be purchased as a Follower associated with something else (such as an Automaton, Base, Object or Vehicle) at purchase, and granted control over some of the associated thing's abilities. I would be especially hesitant to allow the AI rules to be used to create some sort of intangible, indestructible "spirit" creature. It should be built as a Character, and pay the appropriate price for its abilities (including Desolidification and Resurrective Regeneration as appropriate). Absolute Effects (such as "Cannot Be Killed/Destroyed" aren't really supported by Hero's Core Principles.

 

If he only has one unusual sense, you can save a lot of points selling off his base Senses. But I would have to double-check the possession rules to determine how that interacted with the senses of the possessed being. Of course, in this case there is also the issue that Automatons are flat out Immune to Mental Attacks (including Possession).

 

I think the Multiform idea suggested above it probably the closest, and easiest legal representation for the character described.

[Netzilla]

I'd also go the Multiform route with the base form being the robotic body he most often uses.  His second form would be the disembodied spirit which I might build with a suite of Cyberkinesis powers to represent his ability to possess/control other machinery (see Champions Powers if you have access to it).

[DasBroot]

I've done something similar to this (a ghost that could possess corpses) and I also went the multiform route - with Limited Power: Requires a Corpse on the 'ghost' form's multiform. Something like 'requires appropriate object' in this case.

 

It was weird building the base ghost form with more body and stun than the possessed form but it was needed so that when the possessed corpse was destroyed the possessing spirit wasn't knocked out/killed too (since damage follows you between forms).

 

Different types of objects to possess could just be different multiform you purchase with experience - a 'possessed car' multiform has different powers than a possessed rifle which is different than a possessed clockwork suit of armor... etc.

 

In a 400 point game this effectively lowers your  cost from the 262 to 80 + 5 per doubling of number of forms and would be a prime candidate for lowering the cost further with limited/conditional power, extra time, costs end or even time limit.

[indy523]

Cantriped

 

Uner the old spirit rules a spirit had no senses that affected the real world.  He had sight, hearing etc. but no ability to see normal people or places unless he bought it trans-dimensional.  For this particular character I created a sense that allowed him to Sense potential and kinetic energy only, targeting, tracking, discriminatory and trans-dimensional so that the sprit could locate the complex clockwork automatons.  That was what I meant.

 

Sorry for the confusion!

 

PS spirit characters were not indestructible.  Any drain that lowered either Intellect or Ego to zero killed or rather destroyed them.  And the spirit could always be attacked by those that could see them.

 

As a villain the hook for the party was that pummeling gadget to pieces only slowed him down.  Eventually they had to figure out how to take him down for good!

[indy523]

DasBroot

 

That is definitely a plan and it works except in concept.  Spirits have no body.  But those rules are not 6e.

 

So closest in 6e to a spirit is the 72 point inherent always on Desolid.

 

Thinking about possession I think I might house rule it this way for games with ghosts.  Possession does not attack the body in the real world but the soul in the spirit world.  Essentially wrestling it to take over so no +2 ARW advantage.

 

However, while most possessed spirits are trapped if the victim involved is a monk, cleric or sorcerer trained in the magical arts of spiritualism then the victim could have spirit senses bought dimensionally and drains and mental powers bought affect spirit world +1/4A which they could use in the spirit world even if wrested from their bodies as a nasty surprise.

 

I tbink this makes it playable and balanced. 

[Lucius]

How is recovery done for a computer that has intellect drained.

That depends on how the Drain Power was built. By default, Drained INT or EGO (or anything else) returns at the rate of five Active Points per Turn. If the Drain Power has the Delayed Return Rate Advantage, it could be much slower, say five points per year.

 

You could have a Complication (Disadvantage) that the spirit is destroyed if INT or EGO drops to zero.

  

So closest in 6e to a spirit is the 72 point inherent always on Desolid.

Actually, the closest thing to a spirit in sixth edition is an AI.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

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