3.5 possession BY PCs without being undead or a fiend?

[Albions_Angel]

Hi all,

Half listening to my partner playing an online D&D game in the next room and one of them, an Aarakocra (5th ed), is flying over a tentacle-filled maw that has been eyeing them with an eyestalk for a while. He is circling lower and lower, trying to see whats going on around it, but they are unaware of its reach. And it sparked my thought train.

So, lets bring it back to 3.5e.

If I want to remote view something, I can scry it, and I can summon spies to go and look at it and report back.

If I want to control something, I can enchant it.

And If I want to do something without risking my own skin, I can astral project.

But can I POSSESS something? Without being undead. Or a demon. Or anything like that. Are there spells or class abilities that would let a standard PC actively jump into the body of another creature, potentially leaving their body vulnerable?

What got me to this was thinking wouldnt it be cool if my partner (who is a druid in her game, the new summoning variant that was recently released) could summon one of her birds and then see through its eyes. Then she could fly as close as she wanted, and at most, risk some minor damage. 5e is very limiting, but it feels like the sort of thing that 3.5e would have.

While I wasnt thinking much about this particular media example (there are plenty of other examples that I much prefer), Bran, and various other worgs in A Song of Ice and Fire is a perfect analogue. Possession and control of the animal, but death of the animal causes distress, if not harm. Granny Weatherwax from Discworld is a better example of what I am going for, with her Borrowing, which would certainly have a mental damage component if the animal died during possession.

If possible, Id like pointing to some options as I now want to build a character around this. Scouting as birds or rats, jumping from horse to riding dog to elephant during a battle as each is killed or nearly killed, while my body is back behind the lines, etc.

Thanks

[Thedez]

Hi all,

Half listening to my partner playing an online D&D game in the next room and one of them, an Aarakocra (5th ed), is flying over a tentacle-filled maw that has been eyeing them with an eyestalk for a while. He is circling lower and lower, trying to see whats going on around it, but they are unaware of its reach. And it sparked my thought train.

So, lets bring it back to 3.5e.

If I want to remote view something, I can scry it, and I can summon spies to go and look at it and report back.

If I want to control something, I can enchant it.

And If I want to do something without risking my own skin, I can astral project.

But can I POSSESS something? Without being undead. Or a demon. Or anything like that. Are there spells or class abilities that would let a standard PC actively jump into the body of another creature, potentially leaving their body vulnerable?

What got me to this was thinking wouldnt it be cool if my partner (who is a druid in her game, the new summoning variant that was recently released) could summon one of her birds and then see through its eyes. Then she could fly as close as she wanted, and at most, risk some minor damage. 5e is very limiting, but it feels like the sort of thing that 3.5e would have.

While I wasnt thinking much about this particular media example (there are plenty of other examples that I much prefer), Bran, and various other worgs in A Song of Ice and Fire is a perfect analogue. Possession and control of the animal, but death of the animal causes distress, if not harm. Granny Weatherwax from Discworld is a better example of what I am going for, with her Borrowing, which would certainly have a mental damage component if the animal died during possession.

If possible, Id like pointing to some options as I now want to build a character around this. Scouting as birds or rats, jumping from horse to riding dog to elephant during a battle as each is killed or nearly killed, while my body is back behind the lines, etc.

Thanks

Well, the spell Soul Jar allows you to put your soul into a remote receptacle temporarily, and then wrest control of another person's body, swapping places with them. It's got some limitations--If you're too far from the soul jar and the spell ends, you save or die. If your body's too far, the soul comes back and you have to wrest control, etc. etc.

[Mr Adventurer]

Magic Jar, not Soul Jar.

Specifically for the Druid there's also Share Husk, which lets you sense through a touched animal's senses, seeing through its eyes and hearing through its ears.

[Troacctid]

It sounds like you want the leap into animal spell from Magic of Eberron.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

If you stretch it a little, the fusion psionic power will pull you both together into one body, with you in control.

You could also be an illithid savant and steal the ghost's malevolence ability (by eating one's brain on the Ethereal Plane, where they are effectively corporeal), or a fiend of possession's ability to possess creatures and objects.

You could be an ethereal doppelganger or greater doppelganger. You take someone's class abilities and memories whenever you take their form. It's not actually possessing them, but you get a very similar effect.

If you're a telepath psion, you could use mind seed to overwrite their mind with your own, but at a lower level.

Thrallherd gives others an overwhelming compulsion to do as you will, without any saving throws or anything. With some surveillance powers and the ability to communicate over a distance (via telepathy or similar), you could have them doing what you want without question.

Dominate and the psionic version thereof, of course. Not actual possession, but in some ways it might as well be.

Control body lets you manually take control of their bodies.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Albions_Angel
…wouldnt it be cool if my partner…could summon one of her birds and then see through its eyes.

…Scouting as birds or rats, jumping from horse to riding dog to elephant during a battle as each is killed or nearly killed, while my body is back behind the lines, etc.

The spell Chain of Eyes does exactly this, allowing you to see through a creature’s eyes and then transfer to another creature it touches. I’ve used this (as a druid) for infiltration and it works superbly. You can’t control the creatures you’re seeing though, so you’re dependent on where they go, but there’s no range limit and it’s 1 hr/level, so it’s handy for all manner of surveillance.

[frogglesmash]

Mind Switch and True Mind Switch (psionic powers) both work like possion with the caveat that it's reciprocal i.e. you inhabit their body and they inhabit yours.

[Thurbane]

Yak Folk (MM2)? Not very PC friendly (5 RHD, LA +2), but maybe you could Shapechange into one or something...

[Jack_Simth]

OK, so... assuming restricting access to spells and such to the "appropriate" level (e.g., can't duplicate Magic Jar until 9th), what's the lowest this can reasonably be done? Let's see... a Wizard could qualify for Assume Supernatural Ability (Savage Species, feat) at 3rd via Alter Self. Lesser (Holy / Infernal) Transformation is Cleric-4, and grants the Outsider type... any domains with Alter Self? Transformation Domain. OK, Cleric-7... any outsiders that can posses folks and have 5 or less HD?

[Eldariel]

OK, so... assuming restricting access to spells and such to the "appropriate" level (e.g., can't duplicate Magic Jar until 9th), what's the lowest this can reasonably be done? Let's see... a Wizard could qualify for Assume Supernatural Ability (Savage Species, feat) at 3rd via Alter Self. Lesser (Holy / Infernal) Transformation is Cleric-4, and grants the Outsider type... any domains with Alter Self? Transformation Domain. OK, Cleric-7... any outsiders that can posses folks and have 5 or less HD?

If you're running Eberron, basically every Outsider has Possession.

[Thurbane]

OK, so... assuming restricting access to spells and such to the "appropriate" level (e.g., can't duplicate Magic Jar until 9th), what's the lowest this can reasonably be done? Let's see... a Wizard could qualify for Assume Supernatural Ability (Savage Species, feat) at 3rd via Alter Self. Lesser (Holy / Infernal) Transformation is Cleric-4, and grants the Outsider type... any domains with Alter Self? Transformation Domain. OK, Cleric-7... any outsiders that can posses folks and have 5 or less HD?

Variation on that theme: Yak Folk are 5 HD large Monstrous Humanoids. If you are a Lupin or other LA +0 medium Monstrous Humanoid, you can assume the form of a Yak Folk using Alter Self...damn - their Body Meld ability is Spell-like, not Supernatural. :smallmad:

Shame there isn't an Assume Spell-Like Ability feat. Steal Spell-Like Ability class feature (Spellthief, Hellbreaker, Ur-Priest etc.) could lift this ability from a Yak Folk: but but the time you have access to that, you probably have better options to possess people.

[Jack_Simth]

Shame there isn't an Assume Spell-Like Ability feat. No, it's not a shame. It's inconvenient for this particular goal, but do you really want a 4th level players having access to Simulacrum (Mirror Memphit has it, and is 4 hd) every day?

[Thurbane]

No, it's not a shame. It's inconvenient for this particular goal, but do you really want a 4th level players having access to Simulacrum (Mirror Memphit has it, and is 4 hd) every day?

Would it really be more abusable than Assume Supernatural Ability? I'm sure if we cherry picked, there's a fairly good chance we'd find an equally broken Su ability...

And to be honest, that's a failing of the creature design. You can get a Mirror Mephit as an improved familiar or summoned by a 2nd level spell (can it use Simulacrum while summoned?).

[Jack_Simth]

Would it really be more abusable than Assume Supernatural Ability? I'm sure if we cherry picked, there's a fairly good chance we'd find an equally broken Su ability...

And to be honest, that's a failing of the creature design. You can get a Mirror Mephit as an improved familiar or summoned by a 2nd level spell (can it use Simulacrum while summoned?).

No, because it would cost xp if it were a spell.

But yes, bad creature design, I will give you that.

[Pyromancer999]

If we're worried about specifically possessing birds, any of Binder 3, Binder 1+ Improved Binding, or Bind Vestige + Practiced Binder is enough to give you Malphas's Bird's Eye Viewing, which lets you control and look through the senses of a raven or a dove you can summon at-will.

[SangoProduction]

Yeah, actually. Spheres of Power j (http://spheresofpower.wikidot.com/wraith)ust released their Wraith class not long ago, who's primary gimmick is "Wah. I possess things!"

[Feantar]

There's anobscure Possess Animal spell, from PGtF (Originally from OA). It's a 3rd level spell that works a bit like magic jar with drawbacks and a much shorter duration. So that's 5th level. It requires the initiate of Malar feat.