Flawed Possession

[RedMattis]

How much would the following limitation on Possession (with Telecontrol, +50%) be worth?

The subject is aware that he or she is being possessed and may temporarily or completely break free from possession. When possessed, and once per day the victim can attempt a contented Will roll vs the possessor's IQ to try to regain control. If either wins by a margin of 1 or less the victim breaks free for 1d+3 seconds, after which the contest will resume again.

The victim can also make one extra attempt to break free (per scene) when the possessor tries to do something they would highly object to (harming their family, etc.).

Depending on the victim's personality they may gradually build up a Will penalty if they are possessed for several days. Abandoning hope, etc.

[AlexanderHowl]

That would probably be Temporary Disadvantage (Split Personality), with the second personality being the personality of the host. If they can only maintain control for a few seconds under rare circumstances though, it would likely be only at the quirk level (-1%).

[Varyon]

First off, we need a Limitation to represent the fact the host is aware and forms memories, rather than forgetting everything you did in their body once you release them. I'd eyeball that at -20%. Them being able to occasionally re-establish control, but only for a very short period of time under certain circumstances, is a fairly minor Limitation, probably -5%. So, all told, I'd call it around -25%.

[Plane]

Do you have access to the Pyramid which expands on Possession rules and uses Mental Control Points? It dealt with the idea of partial possessions pretty well.

[AlexanderHowl]

Originally Posted by Varyon

First off, we need a Limitation to represent the fact the host is aware and forms memories, rather than forgetting everything you did in their body once you release them. I'd eyeball that at -20%. Them being able to occasionally re-establish control, but only for a very short period of time under certain circumstances, is a fairly minor Limitation, probably -5%. So, all told, I'd call it around -25%.

I would put it at -5% total.

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

I would put it at -5% total.

Unless the possession is intended to be semi-permanent - which is not going to be the case when you have a tranced body somewhere else, as is the case for Telecontrol - the target retaining their memories is a pretty big deal. You either have to seriously restrict your activities (because they can use the knowledge they gain watching you against you once you're out of their head) or you need to kill them off when you're done. Killing them off is likely pretty easy (Step One: Go swimming alone; Step Two: Dive underwater; Step Three: Take a deep breath), but needing to do it is a pretty serious limitation.

[AlexanderHowl]

Most people are going to think that they are going crazy, not that they are being possessed. Humans tend to rationalize their behavior and, when faced with such a situation, would probably make up any explanation other than possession. In addition, they might like what they remember, as they might not have had the confidence to act otherwise.

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

Most people are going to think that they are going crazy, not that they are being possessed. Humans tend to rationalize their behavior and, when faced with such a situation, would probably make up any explanation other than possession. In addition, they might like what they remember, as they might not have had the confidence to act otherwise.

The character is suddenly demonstrating competence in skills he has never used (or never used well), using a manner of speech that he usually doesn't, is apparently friendly with people he's never met (and gets up to all manner of dangerous shenanigans with them), and is clearly acting toward some agenda foreign to him (but that a clever victim will be able to get the gist of if the character doesn't limit himself to being extremely careful). All of this, while suffering the alien sensation of having no control over their own eyes, mouth, and body. The character may initially think they are having some bizarre dream/nightmare, but as it progresses without any dreamsigns (and without the character being unable to force himself awake), they're going to realize it isn't (this is going to happen almost immediately if the possessed character is any sort of lucid dreamer). When they are released, it will be easy to confirm at least some parts of the experience happened (particularly the amount of time spent possessed). The fact the experience was preceded by some weirdo grabbing the character's arm, and that one of the first things the character did while in the control of Something was to safely secure the comatose form of said weirdo (and that the character checked up on him several times during the experience) is going to raise some flags that that guy is involved in some way. The possibility of possession or mind control is certainly going to enter the character's thoughts, and while this might be initially dismissed, the fact the evidence actually supports it is going to make it an easy possibility to come back to. If the possessing character jumps bodies during the experience, the character is definitely going to know something is up - he grabs someone, immediately snaps out of whatever he was doing, and then the other person starts acting similarly to the way he did during the experience.

In short, there's just going to be too much to dismiss as a dream or a temporary bout of insanity or whatever. If you limit yourself to possessing random people on the street, this might not harm you too much, but if you want to use it to, say, infiltrate the enemy ranks (making your way up from some low-ranking grunt all the way to a high-ranking officer by progressive body-jumping, gathering info along the way), the fact your victims remember all the odd stuff they did is going to be a potentially fatal flaw.

[Plane]

Originally Posted by RedMattis

The subject is aware that he or she is being possessed and may temporarily or completely break free from possession.

We already have one case where a victim CAN remember stuff going on while possessed, B76 "Mind Swap" keeps them alert inside the body you previously occupied.

If you combined that with the "Spiritual" limitation, then your previous body is merged with the new body, so they should basically witness everything you do.

Originally Posted by RedMattis

When possessed, and once per day the victim can attempt a contented Will roll vs the possessor's IQ to try to regain control. If either wins by a margin of 1 or less the victim breaks free for 1d+3 seconds, after which the contest will resume again.

A good baseline for this might be to simply take the "Maximum Duration" limitation on Possession. The 24-hour version is worth -0% (so there must be some benefit I can't perceive in auto-shutdown abilities... like maybe if you don't want to get trapped indefinitely in a comatose body?) and it means a daily 5 minute period of inability to use possession, after which you can attempt it again with the standard dice contest as usual.

Originally Posted by RedMattis

The victim can also make one extra attempt to break free (per scene) when the possessor tries to do something they would highly object to (harming their family, etc.).

If using Pyramid 3/83, I would treat that like you were motivated to use Extra Effort and basically "Mighty Blows" to get a bonus to your Mental Control Points roll.

Originally Posted by RedMattis

Depending on the victim's personality they may gradually build up a Will penalty if they are possessed for several days. Abandoning hope, etc.

Pyramid 103's Stability Points or Horror 141 "Stress and Derangement" might cover that.