[Feat] Possession and Exorcist

[Crazy_Weasel]

so, for a while, I have been trying to find a way to create a ghost or other monster that can possess the body of a character, I think this may have done it. In the process, I though of a feat that would be the opposite, how to fight and expel monsters like that.

I would like feedback on how to improve these, so I can submit them to the wiki. I specifically wonder if I should leave exorcist as one feat with multiple levels or break it into a series of feats that are related.

Any critiques are welcome

Possession
Cost: 2
Prerequisites: Influence 5 or Higher

Description
When you control a creature, whether through mind-altering magics or occupying their same space through advanced teleportation technology, You merge with the target, controlling them from within.

Effect
When you take control of a creature within 10 feet of you using the dominated bane, you merge with the creature, occupying the same space. The creature is still subject to all of the effects of the dominated bane, except that you are aware of the actions that the creature is capable of taking. While within the creature, you take half of all damage the target takes and are unable to move due to being bound to the creature. Your possession ends when the target resists your dominated bane.

Exorcist (1-3)
Cost: 2
Prerequisites: Learning, Logic, Creation, or Protection 5

Description
You are well versed in the lore surrounding possession. You are quite perceptive at noticing the signs of a possession and how to combat it. You may be a church-sanctioned exorcist expelling ghosts and demons from the body of a poor child, or an adept computer programmer who can identify and isolate a rogue AI within a robot. Whatever the creature doing the possession, you can fight it more effectively.

Effect

Tier One:
You have advantage 1 on perception checks to track and Identify signs of a possessed creature. In addition, when you attack a creature that is a possessed by another, the possessing creature takes an equal amount of damage to the creature that it is possessing.

Tier Two:
If a creature is being possessed, you may spend an hour with the possessed creature focusing specifically on expelling the possessed creature. The possessed creature has advantage 1 on resist rolls against the dominated bane, and if it has already failed 3 rolls for the day, it may now attempt an additional roll.

Tier Three:
You may now attempt to break the possession as a focus action on your turn. Each round that you focus, the target may make a resist check with advantage 1. You also have advantage 2 on perception rolls to identify possession.

[Great_Moustache]

Tier 1 is basically Sworn Enemy, though you gain the benefit of full damage, HOWEVER, that doesn’t seem thematic. Why would you damage the possessed just to do more damage to the possesser if you were wanting to get them out.

I’d say just use Sworn Enemy instead, and not use this Feat at all, other tiers below.

Tier 2: Why not just a Boon for this? Restoration specifically, or there is the feat Hospitaler too that can cover this with some flavor.

Tier3: Above for Tier 2, except perception rolls just take another tier of Sworn Enemy.

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The possession feat seems interesting. For Lesser Domination of human intelligence won’t do much, but for an animal intelligence I could see that being interesting.

Things that aren’t really covered, what happnes to the body of the possessor? For you you are designing it for ghosts or “other monsters”, that isn’t made clear in the feat, and you can do it whether you have insubstantial or not. So this begs the question, what of the original body? that still needs to be addressed.

[Crazy_Weasel]

Ok, I hadn’t thought of sworn enemy. My thoughts for Exorcist was to give a way for more mental, less extraordinary characters a way to deal with possession for more gothic horror or call of Cthulhu style games, but perhaps there is a better way.

For Lesser Domination of human intelligence won’t do much, but for an animal intelligence I could see that being interesting.

That’s why I required Influence of 5, so that you have to be able to access great domination on something from the get-go. And this will improve as the character can access higher levels of domination.

you can do it whether you have insubstantial or not

Yeah, I wanted to make it seem as if this feat could be used in any genre, so I didn’t specify, plus I was thinking about demons as well, which I suppose would help if I specified, and I do not think that being insubstantial is necessary as long as domination is possible. Do you think I should add insubstantial for the sake of making more logical/balancing sense?

what of the original body? that still needs to be addressed

The original body is left where it was under the effects of the Dominated boon and must follow the commands of the possessing creature. I thought that was clear, but I suppose that was oversight on my part.

[Great_Moustache]

The original body is left where it was under the effects of the Dominated boon and must follow the commands of the possessing creature. I thought that was clear, but I suppose that was oversight on my part.

no no no, the body of the possessor, not the possessed.

So I go and possess the target, what happens to my body?

[Crazy_Weasel]

When you take control of a creature within 10 feet of you using the dominated bane, you merge with the creature, occupying the same space. Th

You meld into the creature. That’s why you take partial damage that it takes. The idea is that you and the creature have become one for a brief time.

[Great_Moustache]

this seems… potentially quite powerful. And to get half damage right away? That’s a better form of shapeshift (shapeshift all damage taken transfers over when you change back).

I’m not sure how well this feat works for balance compared to other things is my concern.

[Crazy_Weasel]

Ok. So now con i fix it? Multiple tiers?

[Great_Moustache]

Well, thematically/narrative it seems hard to justify the “merging” that happens. Your body just disappears and suddenly you are inside of the other body. Especially since this is just done via Influence.

From a mechanical side of things, that’s just straight up powerful to be able to make your body essentially disappear.

Basically, you are getting: Teleport, Insubstantial, and Shapeshift with this 1 feat. Teleport is debatable, but as you can dominate from a distance. Then there is the question of when you are resisted, where does your body suddenly appear.

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This is just me walking through the thought process

If it is working just like Dominate, you use your major action to give commands to the one you have dominated, but then you still have your own Move & Minor actions…

Flavor-wise you are wanting “possession”, but honestly dominate at Major is already possession. Mechanically the thing you are gaining, at least with the present Feat as presented, is the ability to not have your body attacked, or any of your defenses targeted at all, and instead are using the body you possess, so that is like shapeshift, but you are also gaining the ability to jump over to where they are. Shapeshift however limits you to only certain attributes until higher level, and you can’t shapeshift into a creature with higher max attribute than your max attribute.

Potential Ideas

• Making it a “touch” based thing to be able to merge
• Making it so not only do you have to successfully dominate, but your dominate roll has to pass a certain CR to be able to “possess” (so similar to PL ratings for shapeshift), otherwise it is your standard dominate
  • Also making it so you can’t possess a Creature with a higher Max Attribute than your Influence, or the CR is higher to do so?
• Maybe giving a bonus/advantage to being Insubstantial to merging
• Multiple tiers to:
  • Increase the overall cost
  • Create a progress in the ability to “merge”
    • This could be going from full damage (or maybe more than full damage) transferring over to half, etc
• Need to define where the body “reappears” when resisted or forced out
• AT a lower Tier, perhaps your body stays where it is, and maybe you even retain the ability to move
  • This is projecting your mind into the target’s mind to control them, but then that is just the flavor of Dominated anyways, so probably not.

Power Trade-offs to consider too

• Unlike Shapeshift, it can be resisted by the other person
• With straight Dominate you can give a complex command, and then afterwards you have your major action, so if you are taking control, you lose your actions that you could potentially still have while the dominated target does things.
  • You only lose your Major Action when you need to give a new command to the target vs losing all your actions when you possess

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This or just a few initial thoughts. Not all of them might be needed, just things to consider and get the mind thinking.

[Crazy_Weasel]

Making it a “touch” based thing to be able to merge

Fair point. I suppose that would make more sense if the body is to disappear.

Also making it so you can’t possess a Creature with a higher Max Attribute than your Influence, or the CR is higher to do so?

I like this. It may help to keep bosses from being ridiculously easy.

Multiple tiers to:

Increase the overall cost
Create a progress in the ability to “merge”

This could be going from full damage transferring over to half, etc

I’m not quite sure about this, but After I draft the new version we shall see how it works.

Need to define where the body “reappears” when resisted or forced out

Just oversight on my part. I will fix this.

With straight Dominate you can give a complex command, and then afterwards you have your major action, so if you are taking control, you lose your actions that you could potentially still have while the dominated target does things.

You only lose your Major Action when you need to give a new command to the target vs losing all your actions when you possess

Honestly, this is my fault. I misunderstood how it worked and didn’t clarify. My intention here was because you can’t move, I thought that you had to issue a command each round. I will clarify that In the next draft

GIve me a few hours to write a new version and we will see where it goes from there

[Lithimlin]

AT a lower Tier, perhaps your body stays where it is, and maybe you even retain the ability to move

I’d probably give half movement though because Possession would give you more control over your target and since you’re actually inside the other’s mind, you have to concentrate on that as well.

Need to define where the body “reappears” when resisted or forced out

Making it a “touch” based thing to be able to merge

I think if you make it “touch” based, this problem would solve itself as you’d be ejected next to the possessed.

Also making it so you can’t possess a Creature with a higher Max Attribute than your Influence, or the CR is higher to do so?

I’d probably base the CR on the Resolve and Influence the target has. Not sure on the exact calculation though. And as soon as the Influence or Will score is over your own Influence, I’d have the CR increase faster. I wouldn’t make it impossible though as it could potentially create very cool moments.

With straight Dominate you can give a complex command, and then afterwards you have your major action, so if you are taking control, you lose your actions that you could potentially still have while the dominated target does things.

I thought about the Trade-off that you can only give commands on your own turn and they will be executed on the target’s turn. You could try to force the target, however, to do something on your turn which would most likely require a roll with disadvantage or something like that.

[Great_Moustache]

I’d probably base the CR on the Resolve and Influence the target has. Not sure on the exact calculation though. And as soon as the Influence or Will score is over your own Influence, I’d have the CR increase faster. I wouldn’t make it impossible though as it could potentially create very cool moments.

There are great examples of how to do this in the Nullify and Restoration Bane and boon.

[Brycelor]

In a game I’m playing, there’s one character who has the Mimic feat, and uses the Polymorph bane, PL8 or PL9, to change a creature into an object, then uses the Absorb Object boon to absorb the creature, then uses the Shapeshift boon to appear to be that creature. This discussion made me think of that.