Converting Cabal spirits to 4e

Seraphim · 10-30-2015, 03:16 PM

In my spare time, I've been converting Cabal into 4e. Most of the templates provided in Cabal are simple to convert, but I am having trouble with the one for spirits (Cabal pg. 94-97). I start with the Spirit metatrait (Basic pg. 263), with the following changes:

Perception seems simple enough. They have Empathy, Detect (Supernatural beings), and the perk "Can hear own name being spoken anywhere" from Horror (pg. 78).

Movement is mostly covered by the Insubstantiality advantage, but these spirits are able to "ride" in a vehicle at the cost of 1 FP/hour. Is that minor enough to handwave or should it be a modifier on Insubstantiality? Also, how should their ability to instantly transport themselves into the presence of someone who ritually invokes their name be handled? I was thinking about a modified Warp, but this ability implies they can instantly travel across any of the Realms.

Communication seems to me to be that spirits have both Mind Reading, probably limited with the Telecommunication limitation, and Telecommunication (Telesend) advantages.

Dream Travel is one of the first major stops for me. At first, I thought it was something like Jumper (Dream World), but now I'm not so sure. Cabal says on pg. 95 that the spirit can communicate with the person whose dream they have entered (which they can already do via their telecommunication) and, at worst, give that person a Fright Check from a nightmare. I suppose this is best represented as Terror, Active with some Accessibility limitation for being "Only in dreams." Does that sound correct to you?

Possession is mostly the Possession advantage, except that Cabal spirits have a much smaller time limit, which can vary by spending more FP and taking a minus to their Will roll. I'm not sure exactly how to model that.

The Poltergeist Effect would appear to be easiest to model as Telekinesis with Variable and a variable Costs Fatigue limitation.

Probability Alteration is difficult for me because I don't know how to model it without making a complicated grouping of Afflictions (Luck, Unluckiness, etc.). I'm not aware of a system in 4e that lets you modify rolls like this power is written up.

Materialization is mostly covered by the Insubstantial and Invisibility advantages. However, spirits are able to create sounds at varying fatigue costs. I think this implies Cannot Speak (Insubstantial only), but how to represent the ability to spend fatigue to make sounds? They're also able to change their visible forms, which sounds like Morph (Cosmetic) to me.

Last, spirits in Cabal do not have Unaging from the default Spirit metatrait. They have to roll once per month, modified by various circumstances, or lost an HT until they hit 0 and die. Is this sufficiently represented by Short Lifespan 4?

I haven't even started looking at the modifiers for the Spirit Form listed on page 97.

10-30-2015, 03:16 PM	#1
Seraphim Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Ringgold, GA	Converting Cabal spirits to 4e In my spare time, I've been converting Cabal into 4e. Most of the templates provided in Cabal are simple to convert, but I am having trouble with the one for spirits (Cabal pg. 94-97). I start with the Spirit metatrait (Basic pg. 263), with the following changes: Perception seems simple enough. They have Empathy, Detect (Supernatural beings), and the perk "Can hear own name being spoken anywhere" from Horror (pg. 78). Movement is mostly covered by the Insubstantiality advantage, but these spirits are able to "ride" in a vehicle at the cost of 1 FP/hour. Is that minor enough to handwave or should it be a modifier on Insubstantiality? Also, how should their ability to instantly transport themselves into the presence of someone who ritually invokes their name be handled? I was thinking about a modified Warp, but this ability implies they can instantly travel across any of the Realms. Communication seems to me to be that spirits have both Mind Reading, probably limited with the Telecommunication limitation, and Telecommunication (Telesend) advantages. Dream Travel is one of the first major stops for me. At first, I thought it was something like Jumper (Dream World), but now I'm not so sure. Cabal says on pg. 95 that the spirit can communicate with the person whose dream they have entered (which they can already do via their telecommunication) and, at worst, give that person a Fright Check from a nightmare. I suppose this is best represented as Terror, Active with some Accessibility limitation for being "Only in dreams." Does that sound correct to you? Possession is mostly the Possession advantage, except that Cabal spirits have a much smaller time limit, which can vary by spending more FP and taking a minus to their Will roll. I'm not sure exactly how to model that. The Poltergeist Effect would appear to be easiest to model as Telekinesis with Variable and a variable Costs Fatigue limitation. Probability Alteration is difficult for me because I don't know how to model it without making a complicated grouping of Afflictions (Luck, Unluckiness, etc.). I'm not aware of a system in 4e that lets you modify rolls like this power is written up. Materialization is mostly covered by the Insubstantial and Invisibility advantages. However, spirits are able to create sounds at varying fatigue costs. I think this implies Cannot Speak (Insubstantial only), but how to represent the ability to spend fatigue to make sounds? They're also able to change their visible forms, which sounds like Morph (Cosmetic) to me. Last, spirits in Cabal do not have Unaging from the default Spirit metatrait. They have to roll once per month, modified by various circumstances, or lost an HT until they hit 0 and die. Is this sufficiently represented by Short Lifespan 4? I haven't even started looking at the modifiers for the Spirit Form listed on page 97.