Possesion Tradition and Spirit Powers, Do Possesed Mages ans Shamans get all the Spirit Powers? Options

[Nexushound]

Oi Chummers,

I was hoping to get a definite yes or no answer on this one, lol I know this is Dumpshock so I am not holding my breath or anything, and have looked at as many posts on the subject as I could find. So maybe you all can help me out.

"Does a possesed mage who is currently possesed by a Spirit of Air gain the ability of flight?"

[McAllister]

Yes, but he can't use it. It would be like giving a fish the skill Running; has the skill, hasn't got the equipment. Air spirit possession does not, IIRC, give a human the equipment to fly.

[Falconer]

The answer is NO. The possessing spirit has whatever the means of movement of the possessed form is. If it possesses a walrus, it has a nice swim speed, and has limited ground mobility, and no flight ability.

Materialized spirits are special in that each has it's own movement mode (most of them are limited to a form of levitation (as they're not subject to gravity), while air spirits have a strong controlled flight ability). Possession ties the spirit to the physical body... so the possessed target can fly ONLY if it can fly normally. (EG: shapechange into a bird, cast levitate on itself...etc.). Materialized spirits have stats of their own, possessing ones only enhance the ability scores of the one they possess.


And the answer to McAllister's is also no. He doesn't have the skill, the spirit has the skill, the mage does not have access to the spirits skills or powers. They share a body, but the skills used, are the ones of the form currently controlling the body. The flight skill only comes into play in the same manner as the running or acrobatics skill... it's used to execute tricky maneuvers or to 'sprint'. It will require a service to surrender control of the body to the spirit and tell it what to do. (possession mages should have monstrous budgets for binding materials)


This is why possession is a bad idea for anyone who haven't taken the time to read and understand the magical rules. There's a lot of subtle changes with lots of complications.

[Rad]

Huh, by that interpretation, non-channeled possessing spirits would retain the ability to fly--the host doesn't have access to the spirit's skills, but the spirit is the one controlling the body, and uses it's own skills, not the host's.

Which would further mean that you could use services to say "fly me/us around" to a possessing spirit you were channeling.

At our table, we've always had spirit possessed people be able to fly, whether channeled or not, but by RAW I think Falconer would be right about the "no flight skill = no flight" bit.

[Dragnar]

The "fly"-skill has nothing to do with being able to fly. It just measures how good you are at flying (if you can do so at all). People without the "run"-skill can still run, remember?
Materialized spirits can "fly" (it's actually more like hovering), because the rules give them three-dimensional movement. And ALL materialized spirits can fly, even those without the "fly"-skill. They're just slower (much like a person without the "run"-skill runs slower).
Possessing spirits don't have that luxury. They only have those modes of transportation the host body has. Non-flying body = non-flying possessed body.

[Falconer]

No Rad,

The flight 'SKILL' is exactly that. It's a skill, the same as the 'running' skill. It's merely a skill which reflects how good you are at trick flying using natural flight. There is no 'flight' power.

If the player character has 'pilot aircraft' it does him no good if he isn't in an aircraft (or flying one remotely). The same goes for an air spirit possessing a meat body... his flight skill does him no good for piloting the meat body he's attached himself to if it can't fly.