Urban Fantasy: On Spirits

Introduction

This is the first (maybe?) post in what may very well end up a very, very long series of posts where various matters or random tables related to the 'Urban Fantasy' genre are discussed and posted. Think of it, of sorts, as some poor man's World of Darkness. Or, maybe, a less pretentious World of Darkness. There is a lot of good in the World of Darkness (both versions of it) but it is impossibly smug, pretentious and not to mention horribly dated in its '90 counter-culture punk-turned-milquetoast-modern-day-middle-aged-hipsters. There is also a dash of Kult and GURPS Cabal in there thrown in for good measure as well as a dash of Exalted and Godbound for good measure.

System Of Choice

Currently what I'm using for Urban Fantasy is a modded version of Stars Without Numbers, with access to high technology items removed (unless its statline is refluffed as something magical, maybe) and the addition of the Heroic Rules, namely the type of OSR-compatible rules used for Godbound and Scarlet Heroes.

Key Inspirations

As mentioned above, a lot of the material here is based on pre-existing work. Not so much as a direct copy but more of an amalgamation and adaptation of these ideas. They form the basic inspiration and served to inform the game mechanics on how spirits function.

• Exalted: Games of Divinity
• GURPS Cabal
• Stars Without Numbers: Codex of the Black Sun
• World of Darkness: Book of Spirits

These all contain, in some form, explanations and ideas on what a Spirit is and how it might interact with its setting and what function it serves.

Bird Cage by Lana Ansey

On Spirits

So what is a Spirit, anyway? This can be quite difficult to explain as it is difficult to properly define them without stepping on the toes of theology, animism, metaphysics and para-psychology. However for the purpose of my own game I will outline them as such:

• Spirits embody certain things. Most Spirits represent something. They aren't that thing but they act as a vessel for said purpose on some level. A spirit of trees generally care for the well being of other trees but destroying it wouldn't destroy all trees instantly. Ghosts are similar in concept as they embody the echo of a deceased person, although some argue they are that person and not just some self-contained psychic leftover.
• Spirits are immaterial and have no coherent form in our world. While they might be able to assume a fully physical form in other realities (more on that someday, maybe) in our reality that is three-dimensional and corporeal. They have no flesh and blood, merely energy, intent and nature which exist on a level both beyond and below material existence. They are ideas and concept first rather than a living, physical creature.
• Spirits must materialize. In order to influence the material world, most spirits must expend spiritual energy to temporarily materialize fully into our three-dimensional reality. Most spirits remain partially incorporeal even in this state, only having a physical form when advantageous to them. A few powerful spirits, however, can create a near-perfect or perfect facsimile of a physical form.
• Spirits have innate weaknesses. Most, if not all Spirits posses a form of built-in ‘weakness’ derived from their nature. Mages, psychic and mediums can usually sense them even when invisible and weaker spirits can be repelled through certain magical or even mundane means. In addition most, if not all spirits, have some innate limitation ‘coded’ in their nature.

Unformed and Formed Spirits

Spirits exist in the world in two major categories, Unformed and Formed. Unformed Spirits are all-encompassing but don't really exist. They are faceless, desire-less cosmic forces. These are the kind of Spirits usually referred to when someone enact some complex ritual which call upon supernatural forces. Think of them as the 'natural laws' of Spirits in a way. These spirits have no direct power, no face, no form and no existence. In fact, in a way one can say they don't exist but could. All Spirits which are statted as an NPC/monster are, by nature, Formed Spirits. Formed Spirits exist and are individuals.

If, according to Animist beliefs, everything has a Spirit then why is it your coffee mug can't be manifested as a Spirit if it theoretically has one? Well, its simple: there is no metaphysical or historical meaning of any true importance to your coffee mug.While its theoretical spirit could be influence by a spell and made into an animated mug in practice it would never become one by itself, not unless this was, maybe, a mug of great significance to history. And that ain't happening.

No one understand the how or why of Spirit Formation. Some places or objects may develop a Spirit eventually for some reason but that is hardly universal. Yes, ancient places may form a Spirit but an even more ancient place might not. There are various factors related to all manner of magical mumbo-jumbo that few, if any people understand. As a GM this mean that a place or object only has a Spirit if that's useful or relevant to an adventure.

Bound and Unbound Spirits

Beyond the classification of Formed and Unformed, Spirits are further subdivided into Bound and Unbound. A Bound Spirit is one which is connected to a physical object or place and risk dissolution should that thing be destroyed. Unbound Spirits, meanwhile, exist as free-floating 'living ideas'. These creatures are free to go where they please but in practice have an innate desire and need to cluster to places and/or events which are relevant to their nature.

Ghosts

Then there are Ghosts. Not everyone who dies become a Ghost, as it requires a suitably traumatic death or some unfinished purpose. The exact potency of ghosts vary, some are shapeless poltergeist only able to exist as near-unformed echoes who rattle teapot and break chairs. Others are fully-formed and retain part of their memories and personalities, even if they are twisted by their death and alteration into a ghost. Ghosts, by default are Bound Spirits.

Some ghosts unfortunately transcend beyond being mere echoes of their former selves, even growing in power to the point of being more and more like a 'true' Spirit. This too is a misunderstood process and some speculate that 'Spirits of Human Concepts' are created by the merging and metamorphosis of ghosts into true spirits. Other ghosts become so twisted by their death that they become more and more like rabid, almost demonic creatures only intent on destroying others. The latter are usually Unbound and any Ghost which gain the power to become Unbound is a dangerous one.

A disturbing (but fortunately rare) phenomena is that of a still-living person creating a ghost through uncontrolled, unexplained psychic powers. This can happen to people in a coma but even more disturbingly it can happen to a perfectly awake person. These people have untapped mental and spiritual powers they don't understand and constantly 'leak' this energy into the spiritual realm around them. These entities can sometime be benign or even useful but most lose control of them and they become a form of evil, haunting spirit.

Statting Spirits

Spirits come in a variety of shape, size, nature and potency but generally their raw potency (namely, their HD, AC and other traits) are fairly easy to guess based on their level of power.

GENERIC SPIRIT, ICONS AND EIDOLONS
Spirit Type	HD	AC	Atk	Dmg	Move	ML	Effort	Materialize	Nemesis?
Least Spirit	1-4	10	+½ HD	1d4	10m	8	2-3	E or D	Never
Lesser Spirit	1-4	12	+½ HD	1d6	10m	9	2-3	E or D	Never
Common Spirit	4-6	14	+½ HD	1d6	10m	9	3-4	C	Maybe
Potent Spirit	6-8	16	+HD	1d8	10m	9	5	C or B	Maybe
Mighty Spirit	8-10	18	+HD	1d10	10m	10	6	C or Higher	Maybe
GHOSTS
Unaware Ghost	1	10	+½ HD	1d4	10m	7	1	C or Higher	Never
Ghost	1-2	10	+HD	1d6	20m	8	1-2	C or Higher	Maybe
Greater Ghost	2-4	12	+HD	1d8	30m	9	2	C or Higher	Maybe

Materialization

Different Spirits have different abilities when it come to how easily and how well they can materialize. This is measured by their Materialize stat, which indicate just what a spirit can do when it Materialize. A Spirit which isn't Materialized just vanish back into the spirit realm and while some spells may be able to indicate its presence the Spirit is utterly powerless to affect the 'real world'. Not only that but in many cases it can't really sense what is going on there beyond the vague indication of wether or not someone is present.

• Rank E: The Spirit is barely able to Materialize. It must Commit Effort On Turn to be to appear as a hazy or glowing form which doesn't look remotely natural. Its damage is capped at 1d4 and any time it take damage from a being with more HD than it, it must make a Saving Throw or vanish into the Spirit Realm or some other dimension for 24 hours. Finally, the Spirit must Commit Effort On Turn to manipulate the environment in ways other than brute force (such as attacking). Most Spirits aren't this ephemeral.
• Rank D: The Spirit can Materialize by Comitting Effort for the Scene. It will appear as a hazy or glowing form which doesn't look natural. The Spirit must Commit Effort On Turn to be able to manipulate the environment in ways other than brute force (such as attacking).
• Rank C: The Spirit can Materialize by Comitting Effort for the Scene. It will appear as a hazy or glowing form which doesn't look natural. but is far more solid-looking than the previous ranks. While it remain an incorporeal being, it can choose to manipulate the environment as any solid life form.
• Rank B: The Spirit can Materialize Comitting Effort for the Scene. At this level of power over its materialize form, it can choose to appear as if fully solid. However, any being with an equal or higher number of HD gets a Saving Throw to notice its false material shell.
• Rank A: The Spirit can Materialize Comitting Effort for the Scene. At this level of power over its materialize form, it can choose to appear as if fully solid and only betray this when it choose to phase through objects.
• Forced Materialization: A Spirit can force itself to Materialize to rank C even if it lack the ability normally. In order to do so it must Commit Effort for the day or willingly sacrifice half of its HD (and thus attack bonus, too) for as long as it remain in this forced state. After such an event, the Spirit is 'burned out' for a number of days equal to the number of rounds spent in this forced Materialization.

More powerful Spirits are so potent that they can simply choose to manifest at will, with no need to expend any Effort. However such Spirits are extremely rare. Most active Ghosts (which is to say, Ghosts which are able to harm someone directly) have at least a Rank of C in Materialize as their formerly-human existence makes it easier for them to appear.

Abilities of Spirits

Each Spirit posses Effort and this is used for more than mere materialization. Spirits have the ability to manipulate themselves and their surroundings in ways mortals can't, even if it may require expending quite a bit of energy. Other abilities, however, are merely 'cosmetic' or 'fluff':

• Reshape Form: Some Spirits can reshape themselves at will. This generally has no effect on their stats and may include growing hair of leaves for a wood Spirit or a ghost twisting its form into something terrifying by growing useless, stumpy ectoplasmic claws. More powerful Spirits can reshape themselves to boost their combat abilities but this is beyond this kind of power.
• Ghostly Visions and Sounds: Some Spirits (especially Ghosts) can create weird effects in their environments which are but mere illusions. Ghosts can cause lights to flicker, blood to drip from walls or create ghostly images. These all fade away and none of it is physical beyond maybe the initial touch. In the example of blood, the person touching it can feel it is blood and even taste it but the moment they leave the area the blood cease to exist because it never really did.

More potent and unique Spirit abilities will be explored in other posts as I flesh out various types of Spirits.