This section describes some new spirit powers and expands on the use of the search power (p. 265, SR3). The list of spirit and critter powers also appears on pp. 7–15 of Critters.
Divination
Type: M • Action: Exclusive Complex • Range: Self • Duration: Instant
This power allows a spirit to make a limited guess as to the next actions of entities within its domain, similar to the meta- magical technique of Divining (see Metamagic, p. 69). The spir- it uses its Force for the Divination Test. The number of success- es determines how much information the spirit can reveal. The spirit may answer in up to twice as many words as its Force, but no more. The gamemaster should make the answer as spe- cific or vague as suits the story, allowing the player characters to extrapolate what they think might happen based on the spir- it’s answer.
Possession
Type: M • Action: Complex • Range: LOS • Duration: Sustained This power allows the spirit to possess a living being, sim- ilar to the metamagical technique of Possessing (see Metamagic, p. 69), with the following differences.
The spirit can also inhabit a willing host, but the host must be astrally active (with the exception of loa summoners and serviteurs, who may be possessed through the magical link they have established with the loa). The host invites the spirit to enter, but the spirit decides when it will leave, unless it is exorcised.
A spirit has access to its own knowledge and skills as well as the knowledge and skills of its host. All the host’s physical Attributes are increased by an amount equal to the spirit’s Force. The host’s mental Attributes are replaced by the spirit’s. If the host did not willingly submit to possession, add +2 to all the spirit’s target numbers while possessing that body.
If the victim is killed or knocked unconscious, the spirit is unharmed, but it is driven back into astral form. Banishing the possessing spirit disrupts it rather than killing it. Mana spells and critter powers affect the spirit, while physical spells and powers affect only the host body.
Spirits using possession maintain the use of all of their powers with the following exceptions: corrosive secretions, engulf, materialization.
Search
Type: P • Action: Exclusive Complex • Range: LOS • Duration: Special
The basic search power is described on p. 265 of SR3. The following rules are an expansion to those rules.
To use a spirit’s search power, the summoner must be able to clearly envision the subject of the search. Using the astral con- nection between spirit and summoner, the spirit can read the image from the summoner’s mind. If a command is too vague— for example, “locate every corporate security guard within two blocks”—the spirit may not carry it out completely, if at all. The magician need not know all the guards by sight but must give the spirit something specific: the look of a uniform or a “generic” image of heavily armed plainclothes corp goons.
Nature spirits do not deal well with high tech. A hearth spir- it sent to search an office building for a secret file can probably locate a printed file if the summoner knows the title (and if the spirit has enough interest in humans to handle such concepts),
but it will have trouble with electronic data. It might know how to log onto a workstation (after all, it is the spirit of an office building), but it will not be any great shakes as a decker.
If the object of the search does not lie in the spirit’s domain, a successful search will reveal that fact. An unsuccess- ful search means the spirit cannot determine whether the object is present.
If the target of the search is enclosed within an astral barri- er, add the Force of the barrier to the target number for the spir- it’s Search Test. If the test succeeds, the spirit knows the target is within the barrier but does not know specifically where. Search (Optional Expanded Version)
Type: P • Action: Exclusive Complex • Range: LOS • Duration: Special
This expanded version of the search power creates a very specific resolution system for the search power of a nature spirit. The gamemaster must choose between the basic or expanded system and use whichever is best for the story being played out. A spirit can search an area within its own domain of 10,000 square meters times its Force. Each doubling of the search area adds +2 to the target number.
The spirit makes a Search Test using dice equal to twice its Force. The base Target Number for finding a living being is 4. For non-living objects, use the Object Resistance Table (p. 182, SR3). If the target is concealed or enclosed within a barrier, add the concealer’s Essence or barrier’s Force to the target number. The base time for a search equals 20 minutes times the number of “base areas” being searched. For example, a Force 4 spirit searching 120,000 square meters (3 times its base area), has a base time of 60 minutes (20 x 3). For great spirits, the base time for a search is 10 minutes times the number of base areas. A spirit will spend the full base time searching if the search comes up empty.
Storm
Type: P • Action: Exclusive • Range: LOS • Duration: Sustained A spirit with this power can cause a storm anywhere in its domain, covering a maximum area equal in radius to the spirit’s Force x 100 meters. Storms can be accompanied by howling winds, lightning, rain and twisters, or they may exhibit other devastating phenomena appropriate to the domain, such as tidal waves, earthquakes, avalanches and flash floods. Storm spirits can create a storm regardless of the domain on the ground.
A summoner may call upon a bound spirit using its storm power to make a storm strike. A storm strike is a devastating attack using the raw fury and power of the storm: lightning bolts, hail rocks, falling trees, smashing waves, twisters, tum- bling boulders and so on. Everyone and everything in the area of the storm is subject to damage from a storm strike, unless protected by the guard power of a spirit of equal or greater Force, including the spirit causing the storm. A spirit of the domain in which the targets lie can also guard those targets. For example, a mountain spirit can guard a character in the mountains who is caught in a storm strike attack.
A storm strike takes a Complex Action and can only be made once per Combat Turn. The damage for a storm strike is
(Force)S. Armor offers no protection, but Combat Pool dice can be used to resist this damage. This damage is effective against vehicles but does only (1/2 Force)M.
Each time the summoner calls on the spirit to make a storm strike, he or she must resist Drain as though conjuring the spirit (do not make a second Drain Test for the spirit’s great form, however). Each storm strike counts as a separate service. If an uncontrolled spirit uses the storm power, it must resist (Force)D Stun damage each time it throws a storm strike.
WATCHER SPIRITS
A watcher is a simple spirit that a magician can conjure and give simple tasks to perform. Any magician able to use Conjuring to summon spirits can summon watchers.
Generally, the summoning ritual requires no special equip- ment and can be performed at any time. To summon a watch- er, the magician makes a Conjuring Test against a target num- ber equal to the watcher’s Force. Every success gives the watcher one hour of life span.
Drain for summoning a watcher is always (Force + life span hours)L, and is Stun damage, never Physical damage. The max- imum Force a character can give a watcher is equal to his Magic divided by 2 (round up). The summoner must resist con-
juring Drain by making a Charisma Test (p. 162, SR3). An initi- ate may use Centering to reduce the Drain (see Centering, p. 72). The summoner may also choose to shorten the watcher’s life span to decrease Drain.
A character can maintain a number of watchers at once equal to his Charisma. Watchers do not count against the num- ber of elementals a mage can bind at one time. If necessary, keep separate track of these two totals. Characters can dissolve watchers they have conjured at will, even before its time expires, whether or not the spirit is present.
Watchers can be summoned for longer times by spending Karma, using ritual materials, or combining the two. A magi- cian can conjure a watcher that lasts for weeks, rather than hours, by paying Karma equal to its life span in weeks or expending the same number of units of ritual materials at a cost of 1,000 nuyen per unit. For example, a magician summoning a watcher for 5 weeks can pay 5 Karma, use 5 units of ritual materials, or any combination of the two (for example, 3 units and 2 Karma).
Whether its life span is measured in hours or weeks, a watcher dissolves back into the formless energies of astral space when its time runs out.
With Conjuring 7, Sister Susan summons spirits smartly. She wants a watcher to do an errand for her. Shooting for a maximum Force watcher (Force 3, her Magic Rating of 6 divided by 2), Sister Susan makes a Conjuring (3) Test. She rolls 1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 4, and 6, giving her 4 successes and the watcher a life span of four hours. Sister Susan must now make a Drain Resistance Test against (Force + hours)L or 7L Drain. Having Charisma 4, Susan rolls 4 dice, scoring 2, 2, 3, and 7. Because she rolled only 1 success, Sister Susan takes Light Drain, filling in 1 box on her Stun Condition Monitor. CHARACTERISTICS OF WATCHERS
Watchers exist solely on the astral plane. They can never leave the astral plane, either to materialize in the physical world or to ascend to a metaplane.
Watchers can see and hear the physical plane and can even manifest, becoming visible and audible to living beings in the physical world (p. 173, SR3). Like apparitions, however, they can- not touch material things or affect the physical plane directly.
A watcher’s Attribute Ratings are equal to its Force. Watchers are single-minded and clever, about carrying out their assigned tasks, but everything else tends to go over their little astral heads. Their intelligence can be compared to that of a well- trained, loyal dog. They also take their commands quite literally (never tell a watcher to search every corner of that building … ). Watchers rarely manage to overcome unforeseen difficul- ties. For example, if a watcher sent somewhere finds its path blocked by an astral barrier, it will most likely simply remain there until its time runs out and it dissolves.
Watchers can be banished normally and engaged in astral combat. A watcher is bound tightly to its summoner, and another magician cannot take control of it.
In astral combat, watchers inflict (Force)L Stun damage. They cannot inflict Physical damage and so cannot affect astral forms affected only by Physical damage, such as barriers and foci. WATCHERS AND ASTRAL TRACKING
A watcher can track down any person or place known to its summoner. It cannot find a non-living thing, even if the sum- moner knows the object well. It can, however, find an enchant- ed item if the summoner has assensed the item’s aura.
The gamemaster makes a secret Force Test for the watcher against a target number of 9 minus the summoner’s Intelligence. If the spirit is looking for an initiate, increase the target number by the target’s grade because watchers are confused by the complex patterns of metamagical energy. Do not apply this modifier if the initiate the watcher is looking for is its summoner. The spirit uses its magical power to track down the men- tal image it got from its summoner. Divide the number of suc- cesses the spirit rolled on its Force Test into 2 hours if it is look- ing for a living being, 4 hours for a magical item and 6 hours for a place. If the test is unsuccessful, the spirit will hunt around in confusion until its time runs out.
If the target enters a magical barrier at any time during the search, the watcher will lose the trail at the barrier. If the target projects into a metaplane during this time, the watcher loses the trail because the target is beyond its reach. At this point,
make a Force (4) Test. If the watcher generates any successes, it will try to return to its master to report its failure. Otherwise, it wanders around astral space aimlessly until it dissolves.
If it must, a watcher can track down its own summoner. The target number for this is 6 minus the summoner’s Magic (with a minimum Target Number of 2). Divide the successes into 2 hours to determine how long it takes.
Janos the mage needs to send a fast, quiet message to his friend Katzchen. He knows she’s in town, but not where, so he summons a watcher. He makes his Conjuring Test and summons a Force 3 spirit with a life span of three hours. He orders the spirit to give Katzchen a message, get her reply, and bring it back to Janos, wherever he may be. Mumbling the message over and over, the watcher starts casting around for Katzchen. Rolling 3 dice against a Target Number of 4 (9 minus Janos’ Intelligence 5), the spirit generates 1 success, so it takes 2 hours (for a living person) to find Katzchen. “Ohhhh, I am going to be so laaaate,” it whines, as it finally locks onto her aura-trail. Because Katzchen is only 100 kilometers away, the watch- er takes only a few minutes to reach her. The spirit deliv- ers Janos’ message, gets Katzchen’s answer (taking about 20 minutes), then starts looking for the boss. Janos has Magic 7, so the watcher’s Target Number is 2. The spirit rolls 3 successes, meaning it can find Janos in 120 ÷ 3, or 40 minutes. This means the watcher has been around for 120 + 20 + 40 = 180 minutes. As the watcher bounds back to Janos, it says, “I found her, boss. She says … gleep!” The spirit’s time runs out, and it vanishes. Janos is not pleased.