Possessed ally (3.5)

[Lathund]

So my buddies and I got ourselves in a bit of a situation. Our ubercharger (Half-Ogre Fighter/Barbarian) was possessed by a ghost (Malevolence ability). What can we do to get the ghost to abandon his host again?

Our party consists of a Cleric/Radiant Servant, a Warlock, a Bard who has been at the receiving end of a Baleful Polymorph and me, a Beguiler/Shadowcraft Mage. We're all at ECL 11. The best tactic we currently have is to take the possessed Half-Ogre to negative HP and thus render him useless to the ghost that's possessing him. Maybe the ghost then will come out, maybe it stays inside and we can prepare a number of Exorcism spells the next morning (provided our DM lets us do that; we don't normally use the book that spell is from).

Are there any other ways or tactics? I mean, we could simply slay our ally and resurrect him lateron, but losing a level kinda sucks.

[Necroticplague]

Instead of knocking him into the negatives (a risky proposition), why not just use nonlethal damage? Just knock him out, then keep him down for the hour it takes for the cleric to prepare something to get the ghost out. Alternatively, see if Turn Undead would work.

[Darrin]

Protection from evil will suppress the possession for 1 minute/CL.

Hmm. Maybe get him to snort a gallon of ghostwall shellac (Dungeonscape)?

[Zaq]

Hmm. Maybe get him to snort a gallon of ghostwall shellac (Dungeonscape)?

I'd be worried that doing that would trap the ghost inside him, making it unable to leave even if it wanted to!

[Ephemeral_Being]

Go check Ghostwalk. It has rules for possession.

If you don't have that book, give me a couple hours to get out of class and I'll go flip through my copy. I'd put decent money on a solution being in there.

[Lathund]

Nonlethal damage sounds like a good option, although I'm not sure if we manage to deal it. The possessed creature is our only melee character. I have some Whelm spells, but those are all Will Negates and the ghost has a great will save. Are there maybe any interesting nonlethal damage spells in Evocation/Conjuration I could emulate using my Shadowcraft Mage shenanigans?

Protection from evil isn't going to work, sadly. It can prevent possession, but not fix it. Otherwise a good suggestion.

I had never flipped through Ghostwalk, but I just took a glance and came across a rather disappointing sidebar, which was titled 'A ghost is not a ghost'. Apparently, Ghostwalk doesn't describe Monster Manual ghosts, and we are dealing with one of those.

Ghostwall shellac was also new to me, but I'm afraid that I have to go with Zaq on this one.

Sorry for shotting down most of your ideas... I'd love to hear other ones though.

[Bronk]

The Fiend Folio has some rules for fixing possession under the 'Fiend of Possession' class... It boils down to casting 'dismissal' or 'banishment', either of which your cleric should be able to swing.

[Lathund]

FF isn't normally one of our allowed books, but I'll take it up with him.

[RolandDeschain]

It's pretty darned expensive, and the odds of getting your hands on a jug any time soon are slim to zero, but Domain Draught (Exorcism) might work *shrugs*

[Bronk]

Hmm, OTOH, if it's a ghost, it's probably using its 'malevolence' power, which says it acts as 'magic jar', which can be dispelled, and your cleric could use a 'dispel magic' even more easily than the other spells, plus it's core.

[daremetoidareyo]

You got a bard. Roll a knowledge check, yo, he'll help ya out.

[Crake]

Hmm, OTOH, if it's a ghost, it's probably using its 'malevolence' power, which says it acts as 'magic jar', which can be dispelled, and your cleric could use a 'dispel magic' even more easily than the other spells, plus it's core.

Except as a supernatural ability it cannot be dispelled.

There's the exorcism spell which is used specifically for situations like this.

This, kids, is why everyone should have a source of permanent protection from evil.

[goto124]

Why did the DM snatched control of the character from the player anyway?

[Venico]

Why did the DM snatched control of the character from the player anyway?

I'd assume because that's a tactic that ghosts use...It isn't the DM doing it.

[Werephilosopher]

I had never flipped through Ghostwalk, but I just took a glance and came across a rather disappointing sidebar, which was titled 'A ghost is not a ghost'. Apparently, Ghostwalk doesn't describe Monster Manual ghosts, and we are dealing with one of those.

Dispel possession, from Ghostwalk, still works on regular ghosts. Unlike exorcism, it doesn't allow a save and doesn't require a use of turn undead.

[Forrestfire]

Impotent Possessor and Imprison Possessor, from the Book of Vile Darkness, are also pretty great. Together they'll lock the ghost in his head, unable to do anything.

[Lathund]

Domain Draught: indeed unlikely. We're in the middle of a dungeon crawl.

Impotent Possessor/Imprison Possessor: exactly what we need, but sadly we have no one to cast the spells. Although we *are* searching for the BoVD. Dispel Possession is a good one though. It's also from a book we don't normally use, but it's more potent than the Exorcism spell.

And in response to the question as to why the DM lets the ghost possess one of us: well, first of all, he kinda assumed even the BSF would succeed on the necessary will save. Secondly, I think he wants to teach us the value of defenses. The Baleful Polymorph I mentioned earlier was actually meant for me, the DM told. However, I was wrapped in defenses, so the NPC figured someone else was a better target. For the possession, the fighter was the only obvious choice. Thirdly, the DM ruled that the ghost only possesses the body, thus can't use any of the host's feats. Which makes him significantly less of a threat: I might well be able to solo him, keeping him occupied until he runs out of spells.

[Bronk]

Except as a supernatural ability it cannot be dispelled.

There's the exorcism spell which is used specifically for situations like this.


Hmm, normally supernatural abilities do work that way, but magic jar might add some extra exceptions to that.

Where is the exorcism spell found? I can only find a homebrew one in DnDwiki.

Dispel Evil might also work. The problem I'm having with some of these core spells is that most of them say they send the creatures back to their home plane, but the ghost entry says that both the material and ethereal planes are 'home' to them, so a ghost might not be sent anywhere unless you're on a different plane...

Not terribly helpful, but there's also the Sacred Exorcist's first level exorcism power...

[Zaq]

Maybe you could trick/force him into drinking a flask of holy water? It's not RAW, but that would have to be pretty unpleasant for a possessing ghost.

[Lathund]

Where is the exorcism spell found? I can only find a homebrew one in DnDwiki.

Fiendish Codex I: Hordes of the Abyss

[Segev]

Cast Protection From Evil on him. Even if it can't post-hoc prevent the possession, it can prevent him from being controlled by the possessing entity.

[Bronk]

Fiendish Codex I: Hordes of the Abyss

Thanks! It's been a while since I did more than spot check those books.

First level cleric spell, but only works on fiends, not ghosts.

[Lathund]

First level cleric spell, but only works on fiends, not ghosts.

Erk, you're right. One less option on the list...


Cast Protection From Evil on him. Even if it can't post-hoc prevent the possession, it can prevent him from being controlled by the possessing entity.

That makes sense, but I'm not sure our DM follows the same logic. Definitely worth a shot though.

[Segev]

That makes sense, but I'm not sure our DM follows the same logic. Definitely worth a shot though.

The spell itself says it blocks compulsion effects and possessions. So...good luck!

[PlatinumVixen]

Main thing to be concerned about with Protection From Evil is that it's not a permanent solution . It basically just gives you a short period of time to come up with a better plan. If nothing else I recommend removing his weapon and tying him up, judging from a similar situation my party dealt with. (I'm not totally familiar with the monster in question though, so no idea how viable that is after it wears off).

[Lathund]

Okay, last night we finished the fight. We had a debate about Protection from Evil and didn't really manage to agree on the matter. The DM implied he would allow creative solutions though and said he was willing to let spells like Dispel Evil exorcise the Ghost. But since the Cleric had neither PfE nor Dispel Evil prepared for the day, this was mostly a theoretical exercise.

He did allow another creative solution though: he allowed the cleric to use Turn Undead to exorcise. That news was met with mixed feelings: not only do ghosts have turn resistance +4 (placing it above the Cleric's level), but due to various negative effects, the Cleric had a -10 to turn checks as well as 4 Cha damage. But thankfully, turning undead is the one thing our Cleric is built for. So even despite all that, the Cleric needed only a natural 14 to succeed. It took him three attempts, but then the ghost was evicted from its host. Several rounds later, it was slain.

[Bronk]

Cool! I'm glad it worked out.

[Karl Aegis]

Talking to the ghost and getting it to rest in peace is a more permanent solution. Killing it doesn't really do a whole lot to a ghost. It'll be back and you'll have to do the whole thing over again.

[atemu1234]

Hmm. Maybe get him to snort a gallon of ghostwall shellac (Dungeonscape)?

This would be fun to watch.

[Lathund]

Talking to the ghost and getting it to rest in peace is a more permanent solution. Killing it doesn't really do a whole lot to a ghost. It'll be back and you'll have to do the whole thing over again.

It wanted to be released from its dungeon and we didn't think that would be a very good idea (Cleric of Shar with a knack for Necromancy, trapped inside a temple of Mystra). Moreover, all we needed was a book that was somewhere in that same tomb. Ghost was killed, we got the book, then some clerics of Mystra were starting to cleanse, purify and consacrate the tomb. So I'm fairly sure the ghost will be less of a threat now anyway, but the most important thing for us is that we got the book we need. We don't particularly care if it comes back.