Possession

When a character reaches 0 Incarnum Points they become Possessed, haunted by evil spirits who try to lure them to their death.

If a character reaches 0 Hit Points while Possessed, they will not be able to resort to a Saving Throw vs. Death, thus their doom with swift simplicity and raising as a Death Knight.

If confronted with a situation that entails Incarnum Point Loss, the character will instead gain an Exhaustion Level. A Possessed character is unable to regain Incarnum Points in any way.

The only way to get rid of Possession is to undergo an adequate Cleansing Ritual such as Interdiction from Evil (a ritual that can be celebrated by any character, yet often needs more officiants, and could pose risks for both those trying to remove the Possession and the Possessed one), or alternately a Lunar Blessing, specialty of the Lunar Cultists.

Portraying a Possessed One

A Possessed character needs the player to display their character’s worse vices, flaws and whatever resides in the darkest edges of their heart, with grim morbidity. Their identity twisted yet faithful to themselves. Bravery turns into recklessness, fear into aggression, mistrust into xenophobia and contempt, justice into thirst for vengeance. A knight bent on vanquishing evil becomes a merciless slaughterer dwelling on absolutes.

These guidelines remind of the Dark Whispers yet taken to extremes and prolonged over time. In a similar way, a merciful DM could reward a player thoroughly portraying their character’s possession with a 1d6 roll result, usable only once per Possession stat, to add as a bonus to any Ability Check, Saving Throw or Attack Roll.

Interdiction From Evil

This ritual requires an hour to complete and a variable number of participants: generally, the more characters who are involved the lesser the risks.

Possessed

• The character cannot recover Incarnum Points
• If reduced to 0 Hit Points (without any Saving Throw vs. Death), they become a Death Knight
• Any time they are supposed to lose further Incarnum Points, they gain an Exhaustion level, instead

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“Come unto us, o moon light,
may thy splendor guide our rite.

Spawn of void, accursed Fiend,
to leave this body, our prayer bids.

Light be still, stand the will,
may life win whatever ill.

Thus, we exile thee through the door
of a dark mirror forevermore.”

The Characters’ Perspective

• The characters bind the Possessed one with a rope, put them on their knees and then they draw a circle of salt around them in the shape of an apotropaic circle.
• The characters place themselves on the circle, then they take turns reciting the first couplet of the Prayer for Interdiction. If the prayer is successful, the ritual continues; if not, the Possessed one and the officiant are trapped in a dark vortex that might drain their very soul, unless another officiant resume the ritual from when it failed.
• When all four couplets are recited successfully, the Possessed one is relieved from their condition, and all of the characters can finally rest.
• If one of the officiants allows themselves to be drawn into the inner darkness of the Possessed one or loses all their Incarnum Points the ritual fails, and the officiant becomes Possessed themselves (this particular kind of Possession arises suddenly, violently, and dramatically and the newly Possessed could try to harm or kill their companions, especially the one undergoing the ritual, or unleash their most vile urges and flaws).
• The ritual requires at least three officiants, three as the Lunar Phases (not counting the New Moon, dark and shadowed, symbolized by the Possessed one placed at the center of the glyph. If the officiants try to back out and the ritual is interrupted before completion, the Possessed one dies instantly and rises as a Death Knight, while the officiants feel their souls torn away and dragged into Enfaerun, incurring themselves in the risk of Possession.

The Players’ Perspective

• The ritual requires at least three participants. As long as three characters abide and stay in the circle, the ritual may carry on. When their turn comes, any officiant may decide to leave the ritual. If the ritual is interrupted because fewer than three officiants remain, the Possessed one will die instantly and become a Death Knight, whereas all the officiants lose 1d6 Incarnum Points and an additional 1d6 for every couplet successfully recited so far.
• The players agree upon an order to recite, which must be followed throughout the ritual. In turn, players roll an Intelligence (Religion) check, DC 10 +1 for every previous attempt (be it successful or failure).
  • Success: The player/character may recite the following couplet (two verses). Once the forth couplet is closed, the ritual succeeds.
  • Failure: The Possessed character gains an Exhaustion Level, the officiant loses 1d4 Incarnum Points for each preceding couplet minus their Charisma modifier. The following character restarts from the failed couplet, not yet correctly recited (DC is increased by 1).
• Once every couplet has been recited correctly and in an orderly fashion, meaning the party got four successful rolls, the ritual ends, and the Possessed character is relieved from their wretched state, regains 1 Incarnum Point and will be able to recover from Exhaustion Levels and Incarnum Point loss in the usual ways.
• In one of the officiants reaches 0 Incarnum Points by failing in reciting their couplet, the ritual fails, and said officiant is in turn Possessed (such Possession often manifests dramatically, violently, and suddenly: the new Possessed one may try to kill the other Possessed one, or turn against their companions, or give in destructively to their fear and anger or other negative impulse).