Ending possession

[RittenRemedy]

One of my players' backstories has to deal with a demon that possessed someone close to him. At some point, he's going to confront it, and I think the obvious thing for it to do would be try to possess him. What can they do if I succeed? I have no interest of taking over his character long term. I'd much rather him cause some trouble but manage to fight it off, but after working for it of course. Looking at the stats for a ghost, this doesn't seem to be an option as their cleric can't cast 5th level spells yet.


Possession (Recharge 6). One humanoid that the ghost can see within 5 feet of it must succeed on a DC 13 Charisma saving throw or be possessed by the ghost; the ghost then disappears, and the target is incapacitated and loses control of its body. The ghost now controls the body but doesn't deprive the target of awareness. The ghost can't be targeted by any attack, spell, or other effect, except ones that turn undead, and it retains its alignment, Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma, and immunity to being charmed and frightened. It otherwise uses the possessed target's statistics, but doesn't gain access to the target's knowledge, class features, or proficiencies.

The possession lasts until the body drops to 0 hit points, the ghost ends it as a bonus action, or the ghost is turned or forced out by an effect like the dispel evil and good spell. When the possession ends, the ghost reappears in an unoccupied space within 5 feet of the body. The target is immune to this ghost's Possession for 24 hours after succeeding on the saving throw or after the possession ends.

Any ideas? Are there rules from more horror-style games that I could adapt?

[MrStabby]

I presume the 5th level spell in question is dispell evil and good?

If it were me - I would time it so that 5th level spells were just round the corner.


There is a pretty cool feeling when your class abilities work. To do what they should and actually solve the problem at hand and give some cool spotlight time. And your cleric would get to play and being an archetypal cleric.

[MaxWilson]

The possession lasts until the body drops to 0 hit points...

Any ideas? Are there rules from more horror-style games that I could adapt?

They can beat the body unconscious with nonlethal damage, then heal the victim with Cure Wounds or whatever after the ghost is gone.

Turn Undead also works if the ghost fails its save.

[Angelalex242]

Pro Evil I believe does something to stop it in the first place.

[Lunali]

Possession is one of those abilities that doesn't match the CR of the monster. On the upside, (for the players) the possessed doesn't get all their nifty class abilities and proficiencies, meaning the ghost will likely be very ineffective in their body. On the downside, a lot of groups will need to resort to the "beat them unconscious" method to end the possession.

Of note is CoS's DM notes for a ghost: If a character gets possessed, the ghost will run them to a 1000 ft cliff and jump off.

[Ettina]

I presume the 5th level spell in question is dispell evil and good?

If it were me - I would time it so that 5th level spells were just round the corner.


There is a pretty cool feeling when your class abilities work. To do what they should and actually solve the problem at hand and give some cool spotlight time. And your cleric would get to play and being an archetypal cleric.

I second the suggestion to time this final confrontation so the cleric gets 5th level spells right around the right time.

You don't necessarily even need to be meta about it. Have the PCs in-character know that a strong enough cleric can end possession, and their cleric isn't at that point yet but can get there eventually. And make sure they have a good opportunity to go deal with the possession at that time - eg have them hit lvl 5 right after finishing a quest when they're going to be looking to start a new quest.

[da newt]

A demon is not a ghost - if it suites your narrative better, you can homebrew anything to break the possession. If it's a minor demon maybe lesser restoration is enough or the PC gets to retry the save every morning at dawn (like succubus' charm effect) ...

[Unoriginal]

One of my players' backstories has to deal with a demon that possessed someone close to him. At some point, he's going to confront it, and I think the obvious thing for it to do would be try to possess him. What can they do if I succeed? I have no interest of taking over his character long term. I'd much rather him cause some trouble but manage to fight it off, but after working for it of course. Looking at the stats for a ghost, this doesn't seem to be an option as their cleric can't cast 5th level spells yet.

[...]

The possession lasts until the body drops to 0 hit points, the ghost ends it as a bonus action, or the ghost is turned or forced out by an effect like the dispel evil and good spell. When the possession ends, the ghost reappears in an unoccupied space within 5 feet of the body. The target is immune to this ghost's Possession for 24 hours after succeeding on the saving throw or after the possession ends.[/INDENT]

Any ideas? Are there rules from more horror-style games that I could adapt?

You could have a "battle in the center of the mind", with the Demon and PC having a duel in an mindspace where it's the PC who has access to Lair actions themed after the character, and the winner has control of the body?

Otherwise, as MaxWilson said, you can put the body to 0 HPs without killing the person.

[Catullus64]

Protection From Evil & Good prevents a target from being possessed. It has a 10 minute duration, and is Concentration.

I would use the spell as a ticking clock. The tense and aspect of the language in the spell leaves it open that it disrupts a possession that is ongoing when the spell is cast: "the target... can't be possessed by (creature types)."

In this scenario, for a powerful demon, I would re-interpret the spell to have it suppress any effects of the possession for its duration, with the possession's effects resuming when the spell does. That way, spell slots are a ticking clock; you have that long to find something (a ritual, talisman, magic shrine, whatever you decide to seed) that can break the possession properly. Run outside those time limits, or lose concentration on the spell, and you have to deal with the person possessed.

For the purpose of playing the possessed person, leave the player in control of their character, and simply tell them that the demon plays upon all of their darkest, most animalistic impulses while suppressing all that is noble. Leave it up to them to decide what that means.

[kingcheesepants]

Is there some reason the players wouldn't cast protection from evil and good on themselves before going up against a demon? That seems like the logical thing to do.