SPIRIT VESSEL [–1] (PSYCHIC ABILITIES)
Description: Through training, natural inclination, or ritualistic treatment of your body, you've come to be an optimal vessel for a supernatural entity to inhabit, capable of inviting them in (or firmly showing them the door) as the mood takes you.
Musts: You must have some Aspect referencing your ability to act as a host, which is replaced by a more specific one whenever you actually serve as a vessel, detailing your current “passenger”. Generally, characters with this power have some other ability to interact with spirits, whether through the Ghost Speaker power or Thaumaturgy, but this is not a requirement.
Skills Affected: Any skills appropriate to whatever you are hosting.
Effects:
Medium. While in physical contact with an insubstantial creature, or one who could become insubstantial, you may attempt to become a vessel for their consciousness as a free action. The creature feels a slight tug on its form, and (if it is willing) will be drawn into your body, where you can telepathically communicate (this includes sharing memories, etc, and largely ignores normal time constraints on conversations). They may also speak through you, with your permission, and are protected from thresholds and running water as though they were possessing you (see Our World, page 35). You may only act as a vessel to a single creature at once in this manner. The creature may leave whenever it pleases, and you may forcibly eject it by taking one point of mental stress (though it gains the sticky aspect Been Inside Your Head for the remainder of the scene, which will aid it in any further mental assault). A creature that is aware you possess this power (through assessment of your related aspect or previous experience) may make contact itself (ignoring any usual limits of perception), though you must still willingly invite them into your form for this power to take effect.
Distant Medium [-1]. You may attempt to become a vessel for creatures up to one zone away, drawing them in without the need to touch them.
Willing Steed [-1]. You benefit from the effects of the Demonic Co-Pilot power (page 175), but instead of it applying only when you are shapeshifted, it applies only when you are acting as a vessel for an insubstantial creature, granting you +1 to all rolls that are in line with the nature or agenda of your spiritual passenger in exchange for the usual mental stresses. You may ignore the effects of this power by convincing your passenger to back off and let you work, or by suffering one point of mental stress to suppress it for that exchange. Note that consequences incurred from suppressing a passenger will not be in line with the passenger’s agenda, as is the norm with Demonic Co-Pilot; forcing a vessel into a mental wrestling match is more likely to result in brain damage than a pliable host.
Horse Power [-Varies]. The Willing Steed upgrade is a prerequisite for this one. You benefit from the effects of the Mimic Abilities power (page 176), but rather than acquiring your powers by defeating and diminishing (or outright killing) an opponent, you get them “on loan”, from your passenger. In essence, for as long as you have a passenger that is willing to offer aid, you may assign your mimic points to powers or stunts it possesses. At the end of any scene in which these abilities were used, you must roll Discipline against the total refresh cost of the used abilities, as if you were being attacked, with the results described in Demonic Co-Pilot. Your passenger cannot avoid this; even if they are not attempting to twist your mind, mental contamination will still occur. Since your powers rely on the continued co-operation and presence of a suitable passenger, the refresh that you must allocate to this power is reduced by two; in other words, you can acquire two “free” points of abilities from your passenger, in addition to any purchased with mimic points. You must still assign at least one point of refresh to this upgrade.
Reverse Possession [-3]. You no longer need a creature’s permission to become (or continue being) a vessel for it. If a valid target refuses your offer of possession, you may roll Discipline as a psychic attack against them, inflicting stress and consequences until they concede and become your passenger, or are broken and forced into you as a result of being taken out. If a passenger attempts to leave your body without your permission (or you simply decide to torment them) you may roll Discipline against their Conviction, with a success preventing them from taking any action and inflicting a single point of mental stress; this is effectively a mental grapple.
Spirit Eater [-1]. The Horse Power and Reverse Possession upgrades are prerequisites for this one. If you use the mental grapple provided by Reverse Possession to take out a passenger, you may utterly destroy them, and thereby indefinitely retain any of the powers they could have granted you through Horse Power, just as described in Mimic Powers. Alternatively, you may permanently acquire those powers at the normal refresh cost, as part of a sheet-rewrite, as consuming the spirit works deep changes on your body and soul.
Legion [-1, -2 or -3]. You may have more than passenger at once; the one-point version of this power allows a maximum of three passengers, while the two-point version allows up to seven passengers, and the three-point version allows an unlimited number of distinct passengers. This does not increase the bonuses provided by Willing Steed or Horse Power, but does increase their breadth.
Specific Vessel [+1]. You can only serve as a vessel for one specific kind of creature (i.e. demons, spirits, ghosts, loa, angels, Outsiders, etc), a restriction which should flavour the mandatory aspect listed in “Musts” accordingly. Note that this upgrade cannot provide more refresh than the overall cost of the Spirit Vessel power.
