Possession FAQ, Answers to your possession questions Options

[Jaid]

[DTFarstar]

That sounds about right, Jaid. I would do something along those lines. And yes, possessed vehicles rock the face, as it were. My houngan in the game I play in has a Scooter that drives him around(he's blind) via possession as well as a plasteel homunculi which when possessed can kick some serious ass. Highest force spirit he's thrown in it so far is 6 but we have need of a distraction so I may summon a Force 12 with edge and use it to keep security busy while we sneak in.

Body - 20
Agil - 11
REaction - 11
Strength - 20

Hardened Armor 24 with 8 normal armor and fist DV = to 19P and it's a guardian spirit so it'll swing with 23 dice. I think that could keep sec forces running around for a little while don't you?

Chris

[DTFarstar]

I had it built with functional fingers and other joints so I may use some of the optional powers to give it heavy weapons and give it a gyroharness or MGL..... mmmm... evil tastes so good.

Chris

[Buster]

Added #15 and 16.

[Buster]

Added #17 and 18.

[raverbane]

From the FAQ
" A spirit could walk around when possessing a vessel built with moving parts (such as a manikin, anthropomorphic golem, or chain) "

So, in 2072, are we gonna see a remake of the 'classic' "Lars and the Real Girl" ?

And does realdoll.com get alot of business from the Caribbean League?

[Narse]

[Fortune]

APDS does not intentionally 'halve' armor of any sort. It grants an AP bonus (or penalty if you prefer) of -4. This bonus works just fine against ItNW, as confirmed in another thread by Frank (and Synner I believe).

[Buster]

[Fortune]

[Narse]

Yeah, I've never had a problem w/ apds 'halving' a F4 spirits ItNW, seemed logical to me. But halving in general!? That would be some seriously unbalanced ammo to use against vehicles (or spirits). Of course you can make the argument that elemental damage w/ its halving of armor is totally awesome (it is) but normally it does have some drawbacks (like being hard to obtain a la Fire, Acid etc. Or only doing stun like Electric damage [useless against vehicles if it weren't for its secondary effects]).

[raverbane]

When a spirit attempts to Possess someone, can the target simply choose not to resist the possession and not Oppose it?

[Buster]

[pbangarth]

I'm interested in this one as well. I have a possession tradition mage, and have assumed that the spirit still needs to overcome the target's resistance even if willing. This sucks for a mage who has high willpower to help with drain, and also wants his handy spirit to possess him. (Yeah, yeah, I know, cry me a river.)

[raverbane]

Can a mage with Channeling vary the degree of control between the spirit and the mage when he is being possessed?

For instance. Can the mage allow the spirit to have all the motor control of his body (ie using the Spirit's ratings and actions in combat and when using physical skills as a 'normal' possession) but keep enough control to maintain a spell that was cast before he was possessed?

[Jaid]

[raverbane]

[Buster]

Well Channeling doesn't affect a spirit from using its powers. The spirit can always use its powers while possessing you whether you have Channelling or not. Channelling is only good for letting you use your powers (i.e. spells, conjuring, adept powers) while possessed and letting you control your own body more easily without having to ask the spirit for every friggin action.

Regarding your question about whether or not you can give the spirit control over your body while you cast spells is an interesting idea that seems logical, but it's not explicit anywhere. It basically turns you into a cyborg with your own body as the drone turned over to an agent. Unless someone finds a page number/errata/FAQ that says one way or the other, it's a GM call.

[Jaid]

the rules are set up such that they allow things. in general, anyplace where they explicitly disallow something is either an exception to something they allow, or a reminder of something they do not allow.

with channeling, either you are in control of your body and the spirit is suppressed (can't take actions) or the spirit is in control of your body, and you can only give it orders. those are the two possibilities that are allowed by the rules. if you wish to allow a combination of both, that's fine, it's your game, and you're entitled to houserule (especially if you feel your houserules make the game more fun!) but it's not how the rules work.

also, i have to disagree with buster: the spirit cannot use it's powers while you are channeling it, unless you expend a service to be allowed to use it yourself. the rules are not especially clear on what you can do with one service while channelled, but as a rule of thumb i personally would allow you to expend a service to use 1 given power for 1 given purpose... that is, if you ask for elemental aura to protect you from a group of gangers who want to beat you senseless, you have elemental aura for the combat with the gangers (and probably until you get out of your radius for controlling spirits, but that's just a houserule). i would likewise allow you to gain something like elemental attack for the entire duration of the combat. it would be limited to the specific purpose though; if a group of lone star officers showed up, you wouldn't be able to elemental attack them unless you expend an additional service to change the parameters of the previous service. (ie, if it would cost you another service to get a spirit to do something, it costs you another service to be able to use the spirit's power to accomplish that same thing).

[Buster]

Jaid, maybe you were misunderstanding what I was saying. I'm not saying you gain free services of all the spirit's powers and skills while it is possessing you, because you don't. Channeling gives you direct control over your body and ability to use your powers (i.e. spells, conjuring, adept). You never gain the spirit's skills and powers (through possession or channeling). The spirit does not lose any powers while possessing or being channeled; and you can still use services to have the spirit use its powers. Channeling has nothing to do with whether or not you can use services to make the spirit use its powers.

[Jaid]

i was disagreeing with the sections in bold.

[CircuitBoyBlue]

I've got some additional questions:

1) Are spirits ambidextrous? If I channel a spirit, and I'm right-handed, and my right hand is part of a partial cyberlimb, can I just put my gun in my other hand to take advantage of my now-huge agility, without penalty?

2) If not, and I need to use the drone hand on that cyberlimb to shoot the gun, does my agility come into it at all, since the drone's aim would still depend on my moving my upper arm, which isn't cyber?

3) Street Magic says I can't take advantage of any cyberware that requires "active control." So the cyberarm can't be manipulated. But I believe the book says my cybereyes still work. What about the smartlink in them? What about the gyro-mount in my cyberwrist? What about my wired reflexes (do they stack with the spirit's initiative, giving me a total of 3 passes)?

4) If I pick up Invoking, how does the extra reach affect possessed vessels? Is my body suddenly going to grow to 150% of its normal size, thereby destroying all my beautiful clothes?

5) When a character is possessed, he's dual-natured. Does that mean he can't astrally project?

This post has been edited by CircuitBoyBlue: Dec 24 2007, 07:15 PM

[FrankTrollman]

3) The cyberarm can't be given matrix instructions, so it won't be able to change color or turn on RFIDs or whatever. However, the cyberarm and the human it is attached to are together a single entity. And the cyberarm can move mechanically in the same way that a spirit that was possessing a separate robot arm could move it around. If you detatched a drone hand from the limb the spirit couldn't send it information though.

4) The extra reach only affects materialized forms, Possession spirits don't get that particular bonus (which doesn't matter much, as reach is pretty underwhelming in SR4).

5> He can't, but that's not why. If the spirit leaves the body, it's not in the body anymore (and therefore not possessing). What you can do, is to astrally project yourself, and then have your spirit possess the body and run off with. If it's your spirit you'll stay in telepathic communication so you shouldn't lose your shoes.

-Frank

[CircuitBoyBlue]

5) That's pretty much what I was asking, if my character can project while possessed, not whether the spirit could project. So you're saying that the character would be projecting (so no stat changes from possession), and the body would be entirely possessed (so no benefit from channelling)?

[Limited Infinity]

Sorry for digging this thread out of the past, but I have a few more questions on possession:

Can a possessed mage continue to sustain spells cast before possession without channeling?

Can an astrally projected mage, with the mages meat possessed, continue to cast and sustain spells on the now dual natured spirit?

Does a possessed mage still have access to foci?

Does an astrally projected mage, with the mages meat possessed still have access to foci?

Dose a possessing spirit have access to a mages foci?

Can a non-possession based tradition learn channeling?

Also some slightly n00b questions.

Can a possession based bound spirit use sustain spell service from the astral plane or dose it need to possess something/someone to sustain a spell?

Do spirits/possessing spirits get a base armor value? For instance vs. indirect combat spells that are not normal weapons, but still calculate armor into dice pools.

A spirit can sustain a spell for a mage. Can a mage likewise sustain a spell for a spirit of man, or dose the spirit not need to devote dice modifiers like the rest of it's sustained powers?