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ksbsnowowl
2013-03-04, 12:25 PM
Fiendish Codex 1 has rules on possession by fiends.

When possessing a host, a fiend can take on one of six different roles.

A fiend possessing a creature can take any one of six roles with respect to its victim: ally, controller, enemy, mutterer, rider, or transformer. The fiend can switch from one role to another as a free action.Note that a possessing fiend does not have access to any of its normal abilities (SLA's, etc).

When acting as a controller, the host has to make a save to resist. If he fails, the fiend gains control for a certain amount of time (it gets longer each time he succeeds), and while controlling the host, it gains access to all the host's feats, skills, and spellcasting.

Another role it can take is as a Transformer, whereby the fiend alters the host's body over the course of four or more days into the fiend itself. I'll try to be brief in my quotes, but you need to see much of it in order to answer the question:


Transformer: This demon wants to use its host to gain a foothold on the material plane. It utilizes its considerable power to transform all or part of any creature it possesses into its own demonic shape. This process usually takes considerable time and effort on the part of the demon, ...

A transformer demon can only attempt one change per day, and that change can never encompass more than one-quarter of the host's body. [Rules of saving throws to resist, and saving throws to be able to tell others about the change, or be forced to hide it.]

Complete transformation takes at least four days. Once a victim has been completely transformed, the demon has essentially taken the host's place. At that point, the demon has access to all the powers and abilities it normally possesses. [The host is trapped and functions as a "rider" in the demon's body,] and can neither communicate nor exercise any power.

[Killing a transformer demon kills the host. Rules on banishment and exorcism.]Also note that it earlier states that killing the host's body does nothing to the fiend except placing the fiend's incorporeal form back on the Ethereal plane.

When a possessing fiend begins transforming someone, must he "maintain" the transformation role for the transformations to stay in place? Can he spend a minute one day transforming the host, then abandon that to go back to Control, and the transformations would stay? Or would they end and revert back to the host's normal form?

Basically, in order to transform fully into the demon's form, does it abandon all other roles of possession?

When the transformation is complete (after four days), what is the transformed fiend's hit point total? Normal for the fiend? Or that of the host?

MesiDoomstalker
2013-03-04, 12:53 PM
At least 4 days. Which means it could take more. After the victim has failed its saving throw for transformation, the part of its body that was transformed is transformed. Swapping roles shouldn't affect that.

ksbsnowowl
2013-03-04, 05:07 PM
Swapping roles shouldn't affect that.

What about once the transformation is complete? Could the fiend go back to Controller momentarily to cast a spell the host has prepared? If so, does the body maintain its transformed state? If it does, you can basically add spellcasting onto a fiend for a mere +2 bump in CR (which is what is called out for a fiend that is capable of possession).

MesiDoomstalker
2013-03-04, 07:22 PM
What about once the transformation is complete? Could the fiend go back to Controller momentarily to cast a spell the host has prepared? If so, does the body maintain its transformed state? If it does, you can basically add spellcasting onto a fiend for a mere +2 bump in CR (which is what is called out for a fiend that is capable of possession).

Transformation is complete, your no longer possessing, your back to your full-fledged fiend self. Once transformation is done, it is no longer the hosts body. Their consciousness is shoved into some storage file in your fiendish brain, and becomes a forgotten memory.