Spirit Loa Rules
Spirit Loa is a rare ability that rates between one to five dots like most traits.
● You sometimes hear disembodied voices and get unexplained flashes of insight or luck.
●● "I see dead people..."
●●● You are fully comfortable channeling your power...usually
●●●● You are probably more comfortable dealing with dead people than living people.
●●●●● You are world famous, at least among dead people.
Specialties: warrior spirits, ancient lore, family spirits, ghostly senses
Spirit Loas, also known as spirit horses can open themselves up to possession and borrow the skills of the spirit “rider”. The spirit in question is usually a ghost from the material plane, or one of the honored dead from the Aetherial Plane. This usually invites a friendly spirit with similar goals, and the spirit and Loa usually work in tandem, but a botch always brings an unwanted rider that will fully possess the Loa temporarily.
Even if the rider does not initiate a hostile possession, a Loa can easily manifest new verbal accents and mannerisms from their spirit riders. Spirit Loas can also manifest cravings and urges as their spirit riders yearn to enjoy food and other simple pleasures of the living. This is solely a role playing condition, the Spirit Loa is normally not forced to act on their urges.
Most Spirit Loas are born that way and begin manifesting the rudiments of their powers as children. In theory, Spirit Loas can pop up anywhere, but most Spirit Loas show up in cultures that practice filial piety and ancestor worship. A lot of Loas have a near-brush with death early in life which triggers their nascent powers.
It is possible that a Spirit Loa that only has one or two dots of the Spirit Loa ability is not even aware that she is a Spirit Loa, attributing her occasional ability boosts to sudden inspiration or dumb luck.
A rare few individuals develop Spirit Loas later in life through training and studying. This is especially common for someone who is studying necromancy, divination, or theology of the afterlife.
Ghosts are attracted to Spirit Loas and may drop by just to chat. Spirit Loas with high dot ratings often have more dead friends than living friends. There is a kernel of truth to the stereotype that Spirit Loas are asocial loners with poor hygiene who crazily whisper to their invisible friends in the corner.
In societies that commonly value ancestor worship, about one in a hundred individuals is a Spirit Loa. Among societies that do not normally put much thought to their honored dead, Spirit Loas make up approximately one in five hundred individuals.
Most Spirit Loas are non-spell casters, but it is possible to be a mage or theurgist to also be a Spirit Loa, it’s just very rare.
Spirit Loas are more vulnerable to hostile possession from ghosts than average people. Attempts to possess Loas are at -1 difficulty, -2 difficulty if the Loa has four or more dots of the Spirit Loa ability. On the plus side, a Loa is always aware the second a spirit attempts possession on them and never suffers memory from a possession.
Loas can roll Perception + Spirit Loa (difficulty 7) reflexively to detect ghosts in their immediate proximity. There does not have to be ghosts nearby to use their ability, Spirit Loas can in theory channel spirit riders from hundreds of mile away.
Spirit Loas can call upon the spirits once per day normally. If they want to use their ability additional ties, they have to spend a temporary Willpower to do so.
Loa rolls Wits + Spirit Loa (difficulty 7) to call on a spirit as a free action or Perception + Spirit Loa (difficulty 6) to call on a spirit after meditating for at least ten minutes.
Every success grants the character an extra dot of mundane ability for an entire scene, the maximum temporary rating of an ability is still 5. If the player wishes, she can split her bonuses up between multiple abilities if they are related such as Dodge and Melee.
If the Loa is seeking cerebral ability boosts, it’s possible the information gleaned is leaning towards the spirit rider’s personal biases, especially if the player is channel bonus dots in History or Politics.
The difficulty depends on how likely it is friendly spirits are metaphysically tied to the area.
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