Regular or Possession, Which is stronger? Options

[ArabicJesus]

So I can refer my GM to this discussion:


Which is stronger, regular manifesting spirits or possession spirits? Take into account that it can be hard to possess and easy to manifest and what possession allows.


For my particular purposed character: I plan to do possession (Voodoo), and mostly possess teammates, my self, and dead bodies. With some (at least attempted) possession of enemies. Binding is low, and I only had 300 bp to build the character. So he is not that strong overall. My GM seems to think that possession might be too powerful (or at least that's the vibe he gave when I was talking about it), and I think that if I built a regular conjurer, it would be way more powerful than this one. I just wanted other's opinion of which would be more powerful (and hope that possession ends up on bottom so that I have an good argument to play the character, because he's really not that powerful).

[the_dunner]

Which is stronger, regular manifesting spirits or possession spirits? Take into account that it can be hard to possess and easy to manifest and what possession allows.

In playtesting, the goal was to get the two different types of conjuration balanced. Personally, I think they're pretty close. The ability to have a possession spirit take control of an opponent is awfully handy, but it's not overpowering considering the ready availability of the Influence and Confusion spirit powers. The loss of materialization, if there isn't a handy vessel, really does balance things out.

[Backgammon]

I read that as saying "my GM wants to know how to hurt/kill me". Correct?

[Jaid]

yeah, i'd say they're about equal too. sometimes one of them will shine more than the other, but that's not a problem, that's just because they each have their own advantages and those advantages don't occur in the same situation.

just don't get mixed up about inhabitation vs. possession and you should be fine.

[ArabicJesus]

I read that as saying "my GM wants to know how to hurt/kill me". Correct?

No, he just seemed worried that that I might be overpowered. I think he's more concerned with me taking control of the enemies in the first round of combat and using them to fight the others. But mages do that all the time without possession (in fact, that's kind of what my current character does, for which the Voodoo guy is a backup). He doesn't go out of his way to try to kill anyone. His policy is that if you mess up to bad, you might die, but he won't try to kill you on purpose.


And I definitely know the differences between possession and inhabitation. And it makes me sad. Because inhabitation would make for some permanent zombies, to get the same affect with possession I would have to string spirits/watchers.

I can't wait to be possessed by a Guardian spirit and start beating people with my stun staff. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/vegm.gif)

[Cthulhudreams]

Materialization seems better. I mean you can be HHUGGGEE!!@$#!!!!eleventy-one!! with possesion, but that's never been particularly effective. Remember when you are possessed you are dual natured and probabl going to be blocked from doing anything fun.

With materalisation you can project power instantly at large distances, which is effective, and not waste a service on 'possess that guy'

[Muspellsheimr]

They each have their advantages & disadvantages. Possession can be very powerful, allowing you to become nigh-invulnerable to mundane attacks, but eats through services quickly without micromanaging - which is limited in combat (free action per mini-command) until you get channeling.

Personally I still prefer materialization. It cannot make you invulnerable, but it is easier to call up an army on command, & far more versatile.

[JoelHalpern]

From reading and rereading the base book and Street Magic, I would tend to prefer materialization traditions.
However, Task spirits are very useful for getting help with non-combat problems. And as far as I can tell, they are only available to possession traditions.

Joel

[RunnerPaul]

However, Task spirits are very useful for getting help with non-combat problems. And as far as I can tell, they are only available to possession traditions.

I do not believe that to be the case. While it's true that of the traditions published so far, the only ones who have had task spirts happened to be possession traditions, no such restriction is listed in the "Spirits" step of Building A Magical Tradition, or in the description of the Task Spirit itself.

[ArabicJesus]

Ok, because this ties in with the Possession vs. Materialization discussion:

Can a possession spirit possess a materialized spirit?



I cannot find if it says this explicitly, but my guess would be no. But the materialized spirit does have a physical body for the possession spirit to inhabit...