The Agents (The Matrix) / Harbinger (Mass Effect 2) as NPCs

[heavyfuel]

Is there any ability that allows a character to "assume direct control" as either the Agents from the first Matrix or as Harbinger from Mass Effect 2?

In case you haven't watched or played it, these characters very powerful and can appear in place of normal characters, effectively making them unavoidable.

Is there anything similar in pre-epic D&D?

[Pleh]

Is there any ability that allows a character to "assume direct control" as either the Agents from the first Matrix or as Harbinger from Mass Effect 2?

In case you haven't watched or played it, these characters very powerful and can appear in place of normal characters, effectively making them unavoidable.

Is there anything similar in pre-epic D&D?

Dominate Person is a pretty close match.

[heavyfuel]

Unfortunately, it isn't. It doesn't change the abilities of the controlled creatures, which is the entire point of The Agent/Harbinger's ability

[Buddy76]

Fiend of possession (a prestige class in Fiend Folio) might be what you're looking for. You can't possess people across great distances, like the Agents and Harbinger can, but you can definitely make people you possess more powerful. To be more specific, once you reach the 6th and final level of the prc you can possess and gain control of a creature (including all of its feats, spells, etc) and grant it a +4 bonus to one of its ability scores AND use your own spell-like abilities while possessing it.

[The Glyphstone]

The best I can think of is a Benign Transposition spell that teleports the high level Agent in place of the target monster, with a Contingency to swap them back if the agent would be killed. Might be too short range though, and would not work for Harbinger. Thats more of a possession deal, the host is augmented rather than replaced.

[Psyren]

It's effectively a very fast Mind Seed. The Body Leech might be an inspiration.