Sorcery: Possession Spells

Sorcery: Possession Spells

Most of the possession spells belong to the college of Communication & Empathy. Soul Rider lets the caster to tap into the subject's senses. Control Person takes over the subject, but leaves him aware. Possession moves the caster's consciousness into another body, suppressing the victim's personality. Permanent Possession lasts indefinitely. Exchange Bodies swaps the caster's and the victim's minds. Dispel Possession can be used to counteract any aforementioned spells.

    

Control Person

Keywords: Resisted (Will).

Full Cost: 40 points.

Casting Roll: IQ.

Range: Touch.

Duration: 1 minute.

The caster can use all the victim’s senses and control all the victim’s physical actions (the caster has no access to the subject’s memories, skills, spells, etc.). The subject retains his memory and wits and is aware of what is happening – though not of the caster’s identity. The subject must be a sapient creature.

To control a creature, the caster must concentrate for one second and physically touch him. The victim resists at +5 if he is in combat with the caster or otherwise wary of him.

If the caster loses or ties, he is mentally stunned for 1d seconds. In addition, he may never attempt to control that subject again – he is “immune” to him. If the caster wins, he takes over his victim’s body.

The caster remotely controls his victim as if he were a puppet, leaving the caster’s original body in a trance. He may choose to return to his body at any time, and must do so if his host falls unconscious or dies (but not if he sleeps). As a result, he does not die if is host dies.

The caster gains his new host’s ST, DX, and HT (and secondary characteristics calculated from these scores), as well as his physical advantages and disadvantages. He keeps his own IQ, Perception, and Will, and all of his mental traits. The caster’s social traits may apply, depending on the laws and values of his society. The caster’s IQ-, Perception-, and Will-based skills are unchanged. Other skills remain at the same relative skill level.

Statistics: Possession (Accessibility, Only on sapient creature, -10%; Maximum Duration, 1 minute, -65%; No Memory Access, -10%; Sorcery, -15%; Subject remains aware, -10%; Telecontrol, +50%) [40].

Dispel Possession

Keywords: Resisted (Will or spell).

Full Cost: 18 points.

Casting Roll: Will.

Range: Unlimited.

Duration: Instantaneous.

Attempts to reverse the effects of any Soul Rider, Control, Possession spell (or any similar spells or ability). Treat the resistance roll as for Dispel Magic (see GURPS Thaumatology: Sorcery, p. 21).

Statistics: Neutralize Magic (Accessibility, Must target subject, not caster, -10%; Interruption, -50%; One Power, Possession, -50%; Precise, +20%; Ranged, +40%; Sorcery, -15%) [18].

Exchange Bodies

Keywords: Resisted (Will).

Full Cost: 85 points.

Casting Roll: IQ.

Range: Touch.

Duration: Instantaneous.

The caster can move his consciousness from body to body. In theory, he could live forever this way, moving from dying bodies to healthy ones. However, he cannot survive outside a living host. Should his current body die, he will die! Thus, he must keep his current host alive.

To possess a creature, the caster must concentrate for one second and physically touch him. The victim resists at +5 if he is in combat with the caster or otherwise wary of him.

If the caster loses or ties, he is mentally stunned for 1d seconds. In addition, he may never attempt to possess that subject again – he is “immune” to him. If the caster wins, he takes over his victim’s body, and his host’s mind moves into the caster’s previous body – in effect, the caster and the victim “trade places.” The caster can remain swapped indefinitely, though the GM may charge him character points if he decides to retain an “upgraded” body – see Mind Transfer (p. B296) for more.

The caster gains his new host’s ST, DX, and HT (and secondary characteristics calculated from these scores), as well as his physical advantages and disadvantages. He keeps his own IQ, Perception, and Will, and all of his mental traits. The caster’s social traits may apply, depending on the laws and values of his society. The caster’s IQ-, Perception-, and Will-based skills are unchanged. Other skills remain at the same relative skill level.

The caster has no access to the victim’s memories.

Statistics: Possession (Mind Swap, +10%; No Memory Access, -10%; Sorcery, -15%) [85].

Permanent Possession

Keywords: Resisted (Will).

Full Cost: 95 points.

Casting Roll: IQ.

Range: Touch.

Duration: Instantaneous.

The caster can move his consciousness from body to body. In theory, he could live forever this way, moving from dying bodies to healthy ones. However, he cannot survive outside a living host. Should his current body die, he will die! Thus, he must keep his current host alive.

To possess a creature, the caster must concentrate for one second and physically touch him. The victim resists at +5 if he is in combat with the caster or otherwise wary of him.

If the caster loses or ties, he is mentally stunned for 1d seconds. In addition, he may never attempt to possess that subject again – he is “immune” to him. If the caster wins, he takes over his victim’s body, completely suppressing his personality. His previous host regains control of his body (if sentient) after 1d seconds of mental stun, and “comes to” with no memory of the possession.

The caster gains his new host’s ST, DX, and HT (and secondary characteristics calculated from these scores), as well as his physical advantages and disadvantages. He keeps his own IQ, Perception, and Will, and all of his mental traits. The caster’s social traits may apply, depending on the laws and values of his society. The caster’s IQ-, Perception-, and Will-based skills are unchanged. Other skills remain at the same relative skill level.

The caster can freely access the memories of a sentient host at any time. To recall a specific fact from the subject’s memories requires a straight IQ roll, at no penalty for the time since takeover.

Statistics: Possession (Full Memory Access, +10%; Sorcery, -15%) [95].

Possession

Keywords: Resisted (Will).

Full Cost: 30 points.

Casting Roll: IQ.

Range: Touch.

Duration: 1 minute.

The caster moves his consciousness to another body. Should his current body die, he will die! Thus, he must keep his current host alive.

To possess a creature, the caster must concentrate for one second and physically touch him. The victim resists at +5 if he is in combat with the caster or otherwise wary of him.

If the caster loses or ties, he is mentally stunned for 1d seconds. In addition, he may never attempt to possess that subject again – he is “immune” to him. If the caster wins, he takes over his victim’s body, completely suppressing his personality. His previous host regains control of his body (if sentient) after 1d seconds of mental stun, and “comes to” with no memory of the possession.

The caster gains his new host’s ST, DX, and HT (and secondary characteristics calculated from these scores), as well as his physical advantages and disadvantages. He keeps his own IQ, Perception, and Will, and all of his mental traits. The caster’s social traits may apply, depending on the laws and values of his society. The caster’s IQ-, Perception-, and Will-based skills are unchanged. Other skills remain at the same relative skill level.

The caster can freely access the memories of a sentient host at any time. To recall a specific fact from the subject’s memories requires a straight IQ roll, at no penalty for the time since takeover.

Statistics: Possession (Full Memory Access, +10%; Maximum Duration, 1 minute, -65%; Sorcery, -15%) [30].

Soul Rider

Keywords: Resisted (Will).

Full Cost: 20 points.

Casting Roll: IQ.

Range: Unlimited.

Duration: Indefinite.

The caster can tap into his subject’s senses. This lets him experience everything the subject experiences. If he is tortured, knocked out, or killed, the GM may require a Will roll to avoid stunning – or perhaps even a Fright Check! The caster must be able to see or touch the subject to tap into his senses. Modify the casting roll for range penalties to the subject (see p. B550).

The caster can maintain this spell for as long as he wishes without further concentration. If he switches to another person, he must stop tapping into his current subject’s senses and roll a Quick Contest with the new subject.

If he loses, he may try again, at a cumulative -2 per repeated attempt on that subject in the past hour. Should he critically fail, he cannot tap into that person’s senses again for 24 hours.

Statistics: Mind Reading (Sensory Only, -20%; Sorcery, -15%) [20].