Possession FAQ, Answers to your possession questions Options

[Buster]

Possession FAQ
This page is regularly updated, so it is not necessary to read the whole thread. If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to post them here, I will update this page.

1) If a mage possesses himself with one of his spirits, can he cast spells or conjure spirits?
A: No, unless the mage possesses the Channeling metamagic ability, the spirit's special attributes override the mage's and the mage loses the ability to wield magic including casting spells, conjuring spirits, and enchanting items. (Street Magic p. 102 sidebar 2nd paragraph)

2) If a mage with the Channeling metamagic ability possesses himself with one of his spirits, can he wield magic?
A: Yes, the mage's special attributes override the spirit's special attributes and the mage can cast spells, conjure spirits, enchant objects, etc. (Otherwise, there is no point for Channeling.) The mage uses his own Magic attribute (not the spirit's).

3) If a mage possesses himself with one of his spirits, can he still control the spirit?
A: Yes, the mage retains complete control over the spirit. He can mentally command the spirit to walk somewhere, pick up something, say something, and so on without expending a service. He can also command the spirit to expend Services as usual. If the mage is possessed by someone else's spirit, he obviously would not be able to control the other mage's spirit without the use of Banishing.

4) Can a mage with the Channeling metamagic ability control a spirit possessing him that is owned by someone else?
No (well, maybe). By the RAW, the channeler only has to allow himself to be willingly possessed, no one has to give the channeler explicit control of the spirit. By this interpretation, in a sense, a Channeler can turn the tables on possessing spirits and can become a tarbaby for hapless spirits. (Street Magic p54). However, it also says that Channeling is used by magicians to "enhance their control over spirits", so it seems that in the spirit of the rules (no pun intended), it would seem the answer would actually be "No" unless the channeler was given control of the spirit (as a remote service) or if the channeler succeeded in Banishing and re-Summoning the spirit.

5) Can people notice the spirit in the mage?
A: Yes. Unless the mage (or the spirit) possesses the Masking metamagic ability (or Aura Masking spirit power), the spirit can be spotted with Astral Perception using the Assensing rules. Furthermore, unless the spirit has the Realistic Form power or is under the effect of a Mask/Physical-Mask illusion spell, a powerful spirit could be noticeable to mundanes using the shamanic mask rules. (Street Magic p. 102 sidebar 1st paragraph. See SR4 p. 168 for shamanic mask rules). Possible manifestations of this phenomena include (but are not limited to) glowing eyes, ectoplasmic wisps radiating from the body, otherworldly voice, and alien spectral facial features. Furthermore, unless the mage has acquired the Channeling metamagic ability, people who know the mage would notice that the hybrid being behaves significantly differently than the mage including a different gait, speech pattern, and possibly a different voice if the spirit was powerful enough.

5 b) What does the possessed character look like?
A: There's nothing in the rules about what a possessed character looks like or if there are any ways to modify that spotting role. P.102 says "Occasionally a possessing spirit’s nature manifests through the vessel in an effect similar to a shamanic mask (p. 168, SR4). Success not only notices the possessing/inhabiting spirit, but also delivers some clues as to what the spirit “really looks like." P. 95 has a little more detail and says "To notice a spirit possessing/inhabiting a vessel, an observer must make a Perception Test and beat a threshold of 6 – the spirit’s Force." If they are using their powers, they may be a little easier to spot: "At the gamemaster’s discretion, the use of the spirit’s powers may create an effect like a shamanic mask, adding a +2 dice pool modifier to the Perception Test." Spotters just get 6 minus spirit's force to spot the spirit in the person even if the possessed character is 10 miles down the street, hiding behind a curtain, wearing a trenchcoat sunglasses and hat, and standing deep in shadow. I've always taken the "traditional" approach and figured a possessed character could have an otherworldly voice ("THERE IS NO DANA, ONLY ZHUUL"), spectral eyes (Spawn), or (at higher force) more exotic effects like ectoplasmic wisps of shadow, writhing skin, and such. So by that paradigm, the possessed character gets perception mods to his concealment roll such as distance, shadow, heavy clothing, etc. Therefore the possessing character could conceal his nature (depending on what the GM says the "special effects" are of the possession) with a Physical Mask spell or even a mundane disguise. For example, an electronic speech synthesizer on the throat would conceal an otherworldly voice but wouldn't do anything to disguise transparent glowing skin.

6) Is the mage/spirit hybrid dual natured?
Yes, which means the mage/spirit hybrid is simultaneously astrally-perceiving and normally-perceiving all the time without the -2 penalty. (SR4 Errata v.1.5 p. 3). If the mage (or spirit) has the Masking metamagic ability, the mage can hide the fact that the being is dual natured.

7) Can a spirit that is possessing someone without Channeling use their Adept abilities?
No because the spirit's Magic attribute overrides the host's Magic attribute and the Adept loses all his adept abilities while possessed. (the example in Street Magic shows a Technomancer losing all his abilities while possessed).

8_) Does a Mystic Adept that is possessed and has Channeling keep access to his Adept abilities?
A: Yes because with Channeling, the Mystic Adept's Magic attribute overrides the spirit's Magic attribute and therefore can cast spells, conjure spirits, and use his adept abilities.

9) Can a person possessed by a spirit with a high force (and therefore a high essence) get a bunch more cyberware installed, using up that additional essence?
A: Nothing in the RAW prevents this. But the spirit might not like being stuck in the same body for the rest of the host's life and if the spirit was ever forced out or disrupted, the host would die instantly. *** Hopefully errata will eliminate this issue by changing the phrase "use the spirit's special attributes" to "use the lower of the host's or the spirit's special attributes". ***

10) Immunity to Normal Weapons:
10 a) Does Immunity to Normal Weapons stack with normal armor?
A: Yes (with clarifications). The extra damage resistance protection provided by Immunity to Normal Weapons stacks with the extra damage resistance from body armor just like the extra damage resistance from Hardened Armor critter power, dermal armor, cyberlimb armor, Mystic Armor adept power, etc. At no time do armors reduce incoming power, but they always give you extra damage resistance dice. However, only the "hardened armor" provided by Immunity to Normal Weapons bounces weapons, so you'd need to keep track of which armor is which (SR4 p. 288).