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Old 05-25-2020, 01:56 PM   #1
Prince Charon
 
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Default [Psi Power] Necrokinesis

A psionic variant of the Death power from GURPS Powers p125 (or the Necromantic Spells from Sorcery), possibly also called Necropsi. Depending on how psi works in your campaign, this might be a separate power, or it might be a collection of related abilities from other powers: most Necrokinetic abilities could be limited Psychokinetic abilities, and effects that interfere with Psychokinesis but not other powers would still interfere with them; other Necrokinesis abilities could instead be specialized Astral Projection or ESP abilities (those dealing with ghosts), and would be affected by abilities that interact with those powers.

Here are a couple of examples:

Mobilize Corpse
5 points/level.

Skill: Mobilize Corpse (Will/Hard).

A very basic means of creating an 'undead servant,' by psychically animating dead bodies (mummies and skeletons also count, but the GM determines whether chopped up bits, ashes, or otherwise pulverized remains do). The body can do nothing beyond what you choose, and has no form of mind or senses - it is a marionette, moving only by your will. Using your other skills through a corpse that you control is possible, but difficult, as you get little feedback from it (you have a little proprioception of the body, but even that is rolled at Per-4), and are seeing its actions from outside. Use the Psionic Range Table (Psionic Powers p22) to determine the base penalty, but the GM should assess other penalties for angle and visibility, unless you are also using Clairvoyance or similar to see from the body'd point of view. Note that while you can use this power on bodies not of your species, if you don't know how that creature uses its limbs, you aren't likely to do a good job of it (dead birds don't fly very well when piloted by someone who doesn't have wings).

Statistics: Telekinesis (Based on IQ, +20%; Increased Range, LOS, +70%; Animation, -30%; Corpses Only, -30%; Necrokinesis, -10%; Requires IQ Roll, -10%) [5/level].

Programmed Motion

Default: Mobilize Corpse-7; cannot exceed Mobilize Corpse.

You can set a task for a corpse (e.g walking in a straight line, turning a crank, holding up a log, drawing water from a well and carrying it inside to fill a trough in the house, and then returning to the well to repeat the process), and it will continue taking that action, though without reacting to changes in its environment (like the trough overflowing because you weren't paying attention). The GM may wish to increase the skill penalty for programming more complicated actions.


Corpse Possession
20/25/40/55/70 points for levels 1-5.

Skill: Corpse Possession (IQ/Hard).

You can project your mind out of your body to possess a prepared corpse (crunchwise, a Puppet), moving its limbs and perceiving through the senses that it had while alive, even though the sensory organs are no-longer working, and may be rotted away completely. Having your own body as a Puppet is a Perk, which can be more useful if you have Astral Travel, Near-Death Projection, or a similar ability, and use it to survive bodily death (you do not need Barrier Breaking to possess your own mortal remains, as long as you have that Perk; this also allows you to use your other psychic abilities on the physical plane, as long as you are in a physical body).

The statistics below are based on Telecontrol (Psionic Powers p64); if you have Astral Travel with Barrier Breaking, or if your physical body is dead and you aren't using it as one of your Puppets, that lowers the cost, due to the Telecontrol enhancement being redundant or unneeded.

Statistics: Possession (Telecontrol, +50%; Necrokinesis, -10%; No Memory Access, -10%; Poor Control -8, Cannot adjust, -60%; Puppet Only, -30%; Specialized, Corpses, -30%) [20]. Further levels reduce Poor Control to -4 [25], then -2 [40], then -1 [55], and then drop the Poor Control limitation entirely [70].

Initiative

Default: Corpse Possession-1; cannot exceed Corpse Possession.

You partition off a bit of your mind, or bind a simple thoughtform (see also 'The Tulpa,' GURPS Horror p81) to the target, creating an undead being that will obey your commands, rather than needing to leave your body behind. Though this could be a variant of Compartmentalized Mind, it is mechanically closer to the Ally advantage with Minion (combined with Puppetless, below, it could also be said to have the Summonable enhancement, limited to areas where corpses are already present). Given the high base cost of the Possession advantage, calling the default -1 seems appropriate (depending, of course, on what sort of undead template you prefer to use; the ones in the text box in GURPS Magic p152 should require little modification - I would at least remove Dependency (Mana) from the disadvantage list).

Puppetless

Default: Corpse Possession-3; cannot exceed Corpse Possession.

You can possess corpses that you have not prepared as puppets.


An ability that I considered but have not done a write-up for is Binding using dead bodies (like dead hands reach out of the grave to grab you, and depending on the effect, possibly drag you down into the dirt). Other options include abilities relating to spirits (Astral Projection or the Spirit Communication power from ESP), probably something with ESP involving corpses (sensing the dead, or perhaps Corpse Clairvoyance, where you seem to look out of the eyes of the dead without possessing them), et cetra. I tried to come up with Perks for this power, but I only thought of the 'your body is your Puppet' one in useful detail, and I don't have a name for it.


Feel free to post any psi abilities or techniques that fit this theme, or ideas for how one might use them in a game, or if you have used this (or a similar psi power) in a game, feel free to describe how it went.
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Last edited by Prince Charon; 12-02-2021 at 09:50 PM.
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Old 05-25-2020, 08:47 PM   #2
Christopher R. Rice
 
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Default Re: [Psi Power] Necrokinesis

See Pyramid #3/99: Death and Beyond.
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Old 05-26-2020, 02:46 PM   #3
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Default Re: [Psi Power] Necrokinesis

Quote:
Originally Posted by Christopher R. Rice View Post
Thank you, I'll have to get that, later. I'm not surprised that someone else thought of it before I did, though. Still wondering if it's been used in games, and how it went.
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-- Tacitus

Five Earths, All in a Row. Updated 12/17/2022: Apocrypha: Bridges out of Time, Part I has been posted.
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Old 05-27-2020, 04:16 AM   #4
Christopher R. Rice
 
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Default Re: [Psi Power] Necrokinesis

Quote:
Originally Posted by Prince Charon View Post
Thank you, I'll have to get that, later. I'm not surprised that someone else thought of it before I did, though. Still wondering if it's been used in games, and how it went.
I used it in a short-lived "all psionics" DF campaign. Everything magic was psi and the necromancer had a small horde of psychically controlled zombies. It was pretty cool.
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