Here There Be Monsters

Exorcism

Father Max is an example Exorcist.

One of the most sinister and feared sorts of foe in the Here There Be Monsters setting are Possessors, people or entities that are able to mentally take over the minds and bodies of others. The classic, and most terrifying, example is Possessor Daemons, but some Psychics, Mystics, and Supernatural entities have similar abilities.

Possession isn't as common as Honda Civics or pennies, but the combination of its potency and insidiousness ensures that it is taken very seriously by Hunters. There are a handful of ways to get rid of a Possessor, but the most common and well known means is the process known as Exorcism.

ATTEMPTING AN EXORCISM

Exorcisms are an extended and opposed Ego vs Ego contest between a character attempting an exorcism and the Possessor they are targetting, with the margin of success of each roll being totalled on behalf of the current aggressor. It takes ten (10) total levels of success to exorcise a Possessor.

Any character can attempt an Exorcism, targetting a person they know or strongly believe to be possessed within Line of Sight (or via Mental Contact). However, the repurcussions of a failed Exorcism attempt are severe, and an amateur should only attempt it in extreme circumstances. Most Possessors have very strong wills, and it can be very dangerous to engage them directly.

A character attempting an Exorcism can take no other actions and is at 1/2 DCV for the duration of the attempt, concentrating intensely. The normal rules for the Concentration Limitation apply in regards to disruption of the character's concentration due to damage or unsettled situations.

It takes a full Turn to initiate an Exorcism. Once a character has successfully initiated an Exorcism they make contested Ego rolls against their Possessor target on each of their own Phases, as a Full Phase Action.

On their own Phases, the Possessor defending against the Exorcism can either take their normal actions or instead fight back against the Possessor, initiating their own opposed Ego roll against the character attempting to exorcise them as a Full Phase action that reduces them to 1/2 DCV. Possessors accumulate their own tally of successes for contested Ego rolls that they initiate, and if they acheive ten (10) total levels of success before the character attempting to Exorcise them does then the Exorcism fails and the would-be Exorcist suffers serious repurcussions (detailed later).

For any given contested Ego roll involved in an Exorcism if the current aggressor fails their roll then the degree of their failure reduces their own tally of successes and also adds to their opponent's tally of successes.

POSSESSORS LEVEL OF MIND CONTROL

The Possessor gains a bonus to their rolls to resist being exorcised equal to the level of Mind Control they have acheived against their host divided by 20; thus a Possessor that has acheived a Mind Control Effect Roll of 60 gains a +3 bonus to their rolls to resist being exorcised when they are defending, but not when they themselves are initiating Ego rolls against the character attempting to exorcise them.

FAILURE

Should the margins of success go against the character attempting an Exorcism and the Possessor gain ten (10) total levels of success, the character attempting the Exorcism immediately suffers the effect of a 3d6 Drain vs Ego with a Fade Rate of 1 Year against which no defenses apply. Furthermore, the Possessor may at their option move from their current host and Possess the character that failed to exorcise them, unless the Possessor's abilities are defined in such a way as to prevent it.

Example: Michael Blaise attempts to Exorcise a Possessor Daemon from a young girl. Michael has an Ego roll of 13- and +2 Overall Levels for a total of 15-. The Possessor Daemon has an Ego roll of 12- and has acheived a Mind Control effect of 60, thus gaining a +3 bonus when defending against Exorcisms. On his first Phase after initiating the Exorcism Michael rolls a 17, while the target rolls a 12. As Michael failed, the margin of failure counts against him, giving the target 2 levels of success against him and setting his own tally of success to -2.

On its next Phase the Possessor Daemon opts to engage Michael in an opposed roll; this time around the Possessor Daemon doesn't get to apply its Mind Control bonus as it is the aggressor in this resolution; thus its Ego roll of 12- is used. Amazingly Michael's bad luck continues and he rolls a 15, while the Possessor Daemon rolls a 4! Michael barely succeeded with a margin of zero, while the Possessor Daemon succeeded by 8; the difference of 8 levels of success is added to the Possessor Possessor's tally for a total of 10 levels of success.

Michael immediately suffers 3d6 Drain vs. Ego with a Fade Rate of 1 year, and the Possessor Daemon can opt to make Michael it's new host, if it wants to.

DISENGAGING

Either the character attempting the Exorcism or the target of the Exorcism can attempt to disengage from the Exorcism as a Full Phase Action requiring an opposed Ego roll with a -5 penalty.

DISRUPTION

If the character that is attempting the Exorcism has their concentration rattled the Exorcism doesn't stop. Instead, the character loses their next Phase reestablishing their concentration, and their current tally of levels of success is reduced by 1.

Example: Even though he's not particularly talented at it, Big T is attempting an Exorcism. Though he starts out well and accumulates three levels of success against the Daemon he is attempting to drive out, Big T is struck hard in retaliation and loses his concentration. Big T spends his next Phase recovering his concentration, and his tally of successes drops to two levels.

SKILL LEVELS

Any character can buy bonuses to their Ego roll, as normal, which they can apply to their Ego rolls when attempting an Exorcism. All Ego, All Skill and Overall Levels also apply.

+1 with Ego roll; Real Cost: 2 points

+1 with all Ego rolls; Real Cost: 4 points

+1 with all Non-Combat Skills; Real Cost: 10 points

+1 with Overall; Real Cost: 12 points

BELIEVERS

Characters that have unlocked their Believer Pool can buy bonuses directly with all Exorcism related rolls in their Believer Pool.

+1 with Exorcism; Real Cost: 1 points

Believers can also use Knowledge Skills relevant to their own Faith as complementary Skills to their Exorcism rolls.

CIRCUMSTANTIAL BONUSES

The GM can grant any bonuses they see fit to the Exorcism rolls of either a character attempting an Exorcism or a Possessor resisting an Exorcism, or both, as the GM sees fit and circumstances dictate.

EXORCISM RELATED TALENTS

Any character can take one or more of the following Talents related to Exorcism.

Cost	Ability

2	Exorcism Escape: a character with this ability does not suffer the standard -5 penalty when attempting to disengage from an Exorcism that they themselves initiated. Instead they only suffer a -1 penalty.

2	Exorcism Equilibrium: normally when a character fails an Ego roll when they are the aggressor the margin of failure reduces their tally of successes, and if their concentration is disrupted they lose a success level; the success level tally can go into negatives due to such penalties. However a character with this ability never falls below zero (0) levels of success for any reason.

3	Rapid Exorcism: a character with this ability can initiate an Exorcism as a Full Phase Action rather than as a 1 Turn Action.

5	Tactical Exorcism: a character with this ability does not suffer the standard 1/2 DCV penalty when attempting an Exorcism.

1+	Exorcist Tenacity: a character with this ability is harder to beat in a contest of wills. Each point spent on this ability raises the threshold of success an opponent must reach to win the contest of wills in an Exorcism.
	Example: Father Max has Exorcist Tenacity: 5, which cost him 5 points. Normally an opposing Possessor would need ten (10) successes to beat a would-be Exorcist, but they need 15 successes to beat Father Max.

1 - 7	Exorcism Fade: a character with this ability recovers from a failed Exorcism more quickly than other characters; for them the Fade rate of the Drain vs Ego is reduced by one level on the Time Chart for each point spent, but not faster than 20 Minutes.
	1 Season: 1 point 1 Month: 2 points 1 Week: 3 points 1 Day: 4 points 6 Hours: 5 points 1 Hour: 6 points 20 Minutes: 7 points

3	Possession Immunity: a character with this ability cannot be Possessed; they are immune to any use of the Possession Power against them. They are still able to be affected by Mind Control directly; their immunity only protects against abilities bought using the Possession Power described in the Advanced Players Guide (APG; 6e).