Is the Whisper’s Compel power meant to refer to “ghosts” not “spirits”? The talk of satisfying the need for life essence, exacting vengeance and the other descriptions make it sound like you mean to say “ghost”.
I ask because referring to compelling a spirit makes me think can I affect compel a soul or a possessed, a hull or even a vampire, because they all have spirits that that could feasibly be summoned and controlled. Sounds too powerful to me, though.
Compel p86
You can Attune to the ghostfield to force a nearby spirit to appear before you and obey a command you give it. You are not supernaturally terrified by a spirit you summon or attempt to compel (though your allies may be).
The GM will tell you if you sense any spirits nearby. If you don’t, you can gather information (maybe Attune, Survey, or Study) to attempt to locate one. By default, a spirit wants to satisfy its need for life essence and to exact vengeance. When you compel it, you can give it a general or specific command, but the more general it is (like “Protect me”) the more the spirit will interpret it according to its own desires. Your control over the spirit lasts until the command is fulfilled, or until a day has passed, whichever comes first.
Spirits and ghosts are not used interchangeably throughout the text, but their link is pretty well described in the Strange Forces chapter (page 209). Can compel work on a hull, a vampire, or even a living soul? To me that sounds like a good question to ask the group!
I’d defer to the section on page 5 about making the game your own when hitting these edge cases. They often exist to allow each group a way to craft the world to their tastes.
Sean makes a good point, ask your players! If you asked me, I’d probably say that Hulls have spark-tech in place to prevent them from being compelled, but if those measures could be overcome with teamwork then you could compel this spirit within. Vampires may have similar arcane wards depending on age and power. I’d say you can’t compel lord scurlock without extraordinary effort and preparation, but a new vampire may be easy to control for a whisper.
Mark Griffin , wife an I were just talking about this and decided that hulls and vampires are immune to Compel unless additional measures are taken. Souls are even harder to rip free, if at all possible (we decided that’s a ritual, not Compel). Said measures are pretty much what you suggested, so that’s awesome.
It might be better to say “ghost” for Compel. The edge cases are cool, but the power isn’t meant to affect Hulls or Vampires by default.
I added it to the corrections form.
I’m curious: how are Hulls generally presented? How common are they intended to be? Are they tireless robotic killing machines, or limited-use servants and Leech familiars, or Golems in the old Jewish mythology sense? Just wondering if there’s a specific intention and purpose to their placement, or if it’s more fodder for potential. 🙂
Etrius MacGuffin , the Hulls playbook is the primary place the rules spell out what Hulls are intended to be. Check it out here: evilhat.com – http://www.evilhat.com/home/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/blades_sheets_v8_Hull.pdf
Etrius MacGuffin Hulls are just as common as you’d like them to be in your game. It’s your Duskwall.
Ok, now I’ve got the idea of the Church of ectatsy and flesh doing a very long term project to create a ritual which will compel all spirits (ghosts, hull, vampires) to leave the city. I doubt this is something a Cult crew would like to see 😄
Michael Hill, don’t forget living souls too. People have spirits too. Unless you really want a hollow city.
Yeah, Justin Wightbred, I was thinking about your Whisper compelling that prizing-winning spirit to possess the locksmith and wondering what your next step would be. Seems Shrike can’t just compel the possessing spirit to get the vault blueprints; so he may have resort to more old-fashioned extortion techniques.
Oliver Granger , that gives me a great idea for either an entire city called the “Hollow City” (filled with, you guessed it, hollows!) or as the nickname of a piece of the Lost District filled with the same, much like the Weepers in the Flooded District of Dunwall)
Ben Liepis, the back story to that city or district would be so intriguing. Also, sounds like a natural resource just ripe for the picking. Reminds me of the video game Inside. That’d be so creepy.
It’s been mentioned before, but The Cradle is begging to be in the Lost District. THAT’S a creepy video game level! (Not that Inside isn’t, I just haven’t played it)
Justin Wightbred, so had I, then I read the rules more carefully, hence the OP. The rules say your control over the “ghost” lasts until the command is fulfilled or until a day has passed. So that could be a neat clock for the score.