Spirit Form (Spirits)

A depreciated 100 point Classic advantage in Classic: Spirits and Hellboy Sourcebook and Roleplaying Game, based on Ghost from Classic: Voodoo, and sharing the name of Spirit Form (Voodoo) In 4e, GURPS Powers 151 has a meta-trait called this but it isn't the same.

Classic version

While there wasn't a meta-trait list of components that made up this 100 point advantage, it was stated what advantages were redundant with it; Those that are part of the Spirit (meta-trait) [261] are in bold:

• Awareness [35] - Detect (All supernatural phenomena and beings, Auras) [50] in 4e
• Doesn't Breathe [20] - Doesn't Breathe (Oxygen absorption, -25%) [15] in 4e
• Doesn't Eat or Drink [10]
• Doesn't Sleep [20]
• Immunity to Disease [10] and Immunity to Poison [15] - part of Immunity to Metabolic Hazards [30]
• Insubstantiality [80] - Insubstantiality (Affect Substantial, +100%; Usually On, -40%) [128]
• Invisibility [40] - Invisibility (Substantial Only, -10%; Usually On, +5%) [38]
• Invisibility to Machines [20] - Invisibility (Affects Machines, +50%) Enhancement [+20]
• Secret Communication - Telecommunication (Racial -20%)
• Unaging [15]

It is stated that classic Spirit Form does not support Pressure Support or Vacuum Support. Detect (All supernatural phenomena and beings, Auras) [50] (Awareness [35]), Invisibility to Machines [20], and Secret Communication are not part of the 4e Spirit (meta-trait).

Lifespan Mechanic

While Spirit Form technically had Unaging it did allow spirits/ghost to weaken and fade that worked similar to way aging works but with WIll and HT as the only relevent stats. It consisted of a Will roll with 14 an autometic fail adjusted by:

• Has a compelling reason to stay on material plane: +2
• Stays within 50 yards of a suitable place of power for the whole month: +2
• Worshipped or paid respect (remembered by friends or family members for ghosts): +1 to +5
• If bonuses add up to +3 or +4, Will rolls to maintain HT fail only on a roll higher than modified Will or a 17 or 18, whichever is lower.
• If bonuses add up to +5 or more, no Will roll is needed that month

Details

Information regarding disadvantages provided.

• Classic Astral Entity: incompatible

Page 56 of Spirits have Earth and Water elementals who have Spirit Form plus the following:

• Injury Tolerance (No Blood, Brain, Neck, or Vitals)

Page 38 re Injury Tolerance

Spirits in their natural, immaterial form automatically have all forms of this advantage

So earth/water elementals have the advantage so it applies to their material form as well. In 4e terms, this would be like buying the trait with Insubstantial Only limitation, and then anyone who also has it while materialized would buy off that limitation. Would be easier using Alternate Form, especially if using Spirit Invulnerability

Conversion

Things that had the advantage that appear in 4e

These three examples aren't much help as other than Magery they don't have any similarities and the only similarities between Angels and Demons is due to one being based on the other.

• Angel
• Demon
• Djinn

In 4e it is approximated via more expensive metatraits.

Jerander in the 2008 "Spirit Form template (Classic to 4e conversion)" thread on the Steve Jackson Games forums])

There are amendments which could be made to bring it closer.

Controlling probability

this is done via Visualization

Teleporting

• Warp, instead of -55% from "Anchored, personal place of occult power, -25% and Special Portal, ritual invocation, -30%" consider the -60% "Special Portal, Only to summoner, -20%; Trigger, Only when summoned, -40%)" from page 78 of GURPS Horror instead

Visibility

• Invisibility should have Selective Area per GURPS Powers 106, page 35 of Spirits says "The spirit can choose to make itself visible to some people and not others, or only to cameras and not to living beings (or vice versa), if it wishes."
• a spirit's native form should be a racial template with Always-On insubstantiality and Always-On invisibility. Using Shapeshifting, an Alternate Form should be designed which buys off the Always-On limitations.
• Invisibility should have an "only while insubstantial limitation", it is not possible for spirits to turn invisible while substantial!
  • "Invisibility (Only When Insubstantial)" appears on page 40 of GURPS Supers, for comparison
• Not Mute should use either/or limitations. There is no added FP cost to speak while substantial. Sound and visual effects are included
• FP cost for turning substantial should be scaled with attributes. This can be done by limiting Alternate Form directly (all or nothing) or by buying attributes with the either/or limitations of "only in altered form" or "requires FP" or "only while possessing"

Possession

• Since all variations in Classic say "can only be attempted once per day on any given person" and there is no "you may never attempt to possess that subject again – he is “immune” to you." on a resistance, this can be accomplished with the following modifiers:
  • either/or limitation: Limited use 1/day -40% (0.4) times Accessibility: One Person Only -80% (.8) = 0.32 = -32%
  • Decreased Immunity 1 +50% ("Immune for one day")
  • net cost: +18%
• remove Chronic, Spirits had nothing about puppets! You always had to roll a contest, even against the willing.
  • use Ghostly Possession Modifiers from Horror to get a bonus against people you've possessed before or who are willing (no guarantees!)
• Possession should have Substantial Only so ghosts can't possess each other
  • taking "Affects Substantial" as an enhancement wouldn't hurt either, although this appears to be implied as part of the Spiritual limitation
• Possession should be shifted from IQ to Will using Based on (Different Attribute), Own Roll

Possession should be made increasingly Hard to Use the longer you plan to use it for, and cost a large sum of FP up-front. It is a gamble. This can be accomplished using the Temporary Enhancements rules to boost duration, and Trading Fatigue for Skill.

• enhance with "Takes Less Time". This cannot eliminate the 1 concentrate maneuver to start a possession, but instead since Temporary Enhancements adds ANOTHER concentrate maneuver, this halves it back to normal.
• enhance with 1 level of Costs Fatigue -5%

the way to deal with the duration problem is by making a Link +10% Affliction with Malediction and Melee-Attack. Apply the FP cost to the Affliction.

Based on Affliction range cannot exceed Warp range, apply a "Possession duration cannot exceed Affliction duration" limitation. Then increase the duration of affliction as needed using Temporary Enhancements and extra fatigue points.

http://forums.sjgames.com/showpost.php?p=1618445&postcount=9 has a potentially better approach, using self-Affliction to endow an ongoing advantage at a singular setup cost.