I assume that possession-based traditions can only conjure Allies with Inhabitation or Possession (and not Materialization), but it's not entirely clear to me. The Street Magic errata does not seem to impose such a limitation, although page 34 of Street Magic seems to: "As such, all spirits conjured by magicians of a possession-based magical tradition replace the Materialization power in the spirits’ statistics with Possession." It could go either way based on which rule you give precedence to. What do you guys think?

Even if that isn't the case, you can achieve the same outcome by making a spirit inhabit like.. a regular rat, which will almost certainly explode and cause the spirits true form to manifest.. making it a materialization spirit.

However, from previous debates on the same topic I gather the intent was that ally spirits of possession mages could have/had materialization, but the actual rules are not quite written that way. not that it matters, thanks to the 'kill a kitten' escape from being possession.

Oh! Please don't answer all at once! I can't possibly read that fast!

EDIT: Ah! A first reply!

Awesome little loophole there! I guess it settles the question. Thanks!

i disagree. having gained the materialisation power, it then replaces it with the possession power, per the rules for posession tradition spirits.

i could counter argue that the 'conjurered' clause only applies at summoning time, rather than subsequently, but it;s pretty bleh. I just run with the authors intent.

I guess even horses thought dead can be possessed and animated. Anyone else has an opinion on the matter?

Nope, it does not. It explicitly described that an Inhabiting Ally can use other forms to manifest if it attains True Form. That would be moot if you were correct.

I guess I'm a bit of a munch when it comes down to it, but I like optimizing and I like having options, and I like tricks that look cool...

I was thinking of using an Ally with Materialization as a sort of "shadow double" of myself when more firepower is needed. (Mystic Adept with a possession tradition.) The shadow double could materialize, kick a guard in the nuts, steal his gun and invite more people to the party after that. Since I can conjure Guardian Spirits, I'd give the Ally a few gun skills through the Skill power. (I'm a bit of a gun bunny, I guess, so my "clones" should be too.)

Ideally, I'd love to have a spirit with BOTH possession and materialization, but I guess I'll have to use two spirits for that.

EDIT: Yes, I'm aware that an Ally with Possession could just possess the guard and wreck havoc that way, but so can normal, non-Ally, spirits. As I said, I like having options. But I also like to play within the rules too, so I'm curious about the Materialization power as explained at the beginning of the thread.