[UA] Demons & Dipsomancers (longish)

[Greg Stolze]

>A LOT of questions concerning demons coming up!
>
>Is it possible to converse with demons without any formula spells to
>control >them with?

Yep.

>It is possible to summon them to your head "and start talking",
>according to the core book on page 147, but what then, if you don't know
>how to >control them?

Casting a contact spell is like inviting a homicidal maniac into your house
for a little chat.  Casting a contact spell and then a control spell is
like inviting a homicidal maniac into your house, but he's got on a
straitjacket and leg irons and one of them Hannibal Lechter facemasks.
Neither is the safest idea in the world, but the former is really just
BEGGING for trouble.

>Dipsomancers can threaten them by various means, but still this
>doesn't mean that they can control them, does it?

They can't DIRECTLY control them, but threats are a credible means of
control.  If you're a demon and you've come back through the Veil at
tremendous personal risk to obey your obsession, and there's this guy who
says "Look, I can destroy your soul OR you can work with me and then you'll
have a chance to get your ya-yas out" -- well, what are you going to do?
Try and take him over anyhow?  Or go along to get along?  There's nothing
directly preventing you from trying to kick his soul, but if you fail it's
probably going to go very hard for you.  If someone summons you without a
threat, why WOULDN'T you immediately try to take over?  If you fail,
there's no severe penalty.

> How do they keep the demons
>off control in the first place, before they can make any threats?

Most likely it's a question of (1) making the threat REAL QUICK before the
demon gets a chance to adapt or (2) fighting off the demon's first attack,
then making the threat before he can regroup and try again or (3) summoning
him and immediately Soul Sipping a little, so that the demon knows you're
serious, and is less likely to try and take over.

> Can they make
>up a random spell to control them?

GM's call.  I'm inclined to either say "no, because they would have made it
a formula if it was possible" or "yes, but it's really really expensive."

>And does an OACOWA with a summoning roll
>grant control, regardless of the school of magick?


Erm, what does the book say?  If it doesn't say one way or t'other, I'd let
it be GM's call.

>And at what point can the demon try possession, other than when the adept
>makes >an attempt to make requests of it?

Any time it hasn't been defeated and compelled, I should think.

>And what's the whole point in controlling
>the demons? The Book sez on pg.147:
>
>"If you don't have control over the demon, it will almost certainly
>attempt to >retain possession of your body for as long as possible---and
>it can potentially >annihilate your soul and take your body over
>permanently."
>
>And still, if you DO have control over the demon---in other words, succeed
>in >the control spell---every time you make a request, you have to check
>AGAIN what >happens, and whether or not the demon gets control.

Yeah, but demons can do really, really cool stuff.  They can teach you a
school of magick.  They can spy invisibly on your enemies.  And, if you're
good enough, they can possess your enemies, like the damnation rounds TNI
uses.  The idea of having an ally -- even an unstable and unpredictable
ally -- controlling one's worst enemy is an awfully tempting prize.

>Okay, this IS a Greg Stolze game, and messing around with demons is no
>walk in >the park, but what's the big deal with the demon control?

Actually, John wrote those rules.

>When the adept tells the demon to bugger off, is it a request, and thus a
>>possibility for the dead one to possess the disturber?

Oooh... again, I'd say GM's call.

>Do the demons have special privileges concerning the astral space, being
>>permanent residents and all, since they can listen to conversations in
>the >astral, and the boozehounds and other astral trippers cannot?

They're not from the astral plane, they're from... elsewhere.  But yeah,
they're better at using it than living people.

>Nothing to do with demons, but since dipsomancers break the rules of
>reality >big time, can they "make Vinnie's car invisible"? I can't think
>of any good >reason why not, and if I got it right, flying would be in
>their random magick >repertoire also (barring the GM's insane mind,
>declaring "the spells last a >certain amount of time, due to GM
>discretion". Did I hear one of my players >asking me "Do you have a
>hardon?" while I was reading through the random magick >reminder box?).

He could do it as a form of random magick but, yeah, it would be extremely
unreliable and really, really expensive charge-wise.  I'd also be tempted
to have a few unexpected side effects -- maybe the standard unnatural
phenomena, maybe something simple like "It's invisible to everyone but
drunk people."

>>And finally, when summoning up a specific dead soul, who the adept
>>assumes is >a demon, really ISN'T and has in fact happily passed on to
>>the greener >pastures, what happens if the adept succeeds (maybe gets an
>>OACOWA) in this >kind of an attempt? It simply fails, or does another
>>demon appear? In other >words, can you summon ANYONE dead to your head?

You get a demon pretending to be the person you wanted.  If a soul is
really gone baby gone (like most go) it's not coming back.  It's like
trying to get the flour back out once the cookie's been baked.

-G.

If the reinstatement of capital punishment was clearly doing nothing to
reduce the number of murders in those states permitting it, it certainly
appeared to be cutting down on the number of confessions.
        -Dr. Douglas Ubelaker

www.waylay.com
www.thehungersite.com



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