Overview
Cursed & Possessed Threats
AX.GHW.13.04
This category covers two related but mechanically distinct phenomena: possession (a foreign entity occupying a living human body) and cursed individuals (a human whose behavior, biology, or fate has been altered by an external supernatural compulsion). Both involve a human host in distress. Both require the characters to make a choice the other threat categories do not demand: is lethal force appropriate here?
Possessed individuals are victims. The threat is the entity inside them, not the person. Killing the host body to stop the entity is a failure state; it destroys an innocent person and, depending on the entity, may not even stop the threat (some possessing entities simply find a new host). The correct approach is exorcism: identifying and expelling the entity by the appropriate means while keeping the host alive.
Cursed individuals are more ambiguous. Some are victims of external hexes they never consented to. Others made bargains they now regret. A few actively pursued dark power and are paying the price. The distinction matters for how characters engage, a hexed civilian needs help; a Necromancer who built their own power base through shadow compacts is responsible for their situation.
In both cases, the human element creates Veil complications that pure-threat categories do not: the host/victim has a social existence, a family, records. Their disappearance, injury, or death will be noticed and investigated by ordinary people. Characters cannot simply clean up a possessed individual the way they can dispose of a Hellhound.
Possession Mechanics
Possession is a two-layer problem: the host body's physical capabilities plus the possessing entity's supernatural abilities operating through it.
Host Stats: Possessed individuals use their own Body, Speed, and Wit as a base. The possessing entity adds its own supernatural talents and abilities on top. A possessed firefighter is more dangerous than a possessed librarian, the host's physical capabilities matter.
Entity Resistance: Exorcism attempts target the entity, not the host. The entity's Wit (or equivalent) governs resistance to banishment. A powerful entity in a weak-bodied host is still a powerful entity.
Host Condition: When an exorcism succeeds, the host survives, but they may be injured, traumatized, or have gaps in memory covering the possession period. GMs should track host health separately from combat health where possible.
Exorcism Methods (by tradition):
- Sacred Fire (Wit + Sacred Fire vs entity's Wit + Resolve): Direct covenant authority; most effective against Shadow entities and their possessed hosts. May harm host at Threshold 4+.
- Mediumship (Wit + Mediumship vs entity's Wit + Resonance): Reaches the Liminal layer where the entity's attachment point exists; most effective against spirit and ghost possessors. Does not harm host.
- Ritual Exorcism (Wit + Lore vs Threshold 3, takes 10 minutes minimum): Research-based approach using documented methods. Works against most entity types if the correct ritual is used. Requires preparation time, not a combat tool.
- True Name (entity must be named): If the possessing entity's true name is known, command to depart succeeds automatically on a Wit + Resolve vs Threshold 2 roll. Researching true names takes time and resources.
Curse Mechanics
Curses are persistent supernatural conditions attached to a person. They are not removable by killing, a cursed person who dies takes their curse with them into undeath or disperses it to whoever was closest at the moment of death.
Curse Removal requires identifying the curse's type and source, then applying the correct counter. General approaches:
- Warding ritual (Wit + Lore vs the curse's originating Threshold): Counter-work that breaks the curse's hold
- Source destruction: Destroying the object, entity, or agreement that created the curse often removes it, but not always (some curses persist after the source is gone)
- Willing sacrifice: Some curses transfer to a new voluntary host; a character may choose to take a curse to free the original victim
- Negotiation: Curses created through shadow compacts can sometimes be renegotiated by a Hollow Pact practitioner or by bringing a new offer to the Hollow entity
Variant Rules
The Innocent Host Protocol
Optional Campaign Rule: When characters know a possessed individual is innocent, killing the host body is not permitted as a tactical solution. Any scene involving a possessed civilian or operative must resolve through exorcism or incapacitation, lethal force is only permitted if the host would die anyway from entity-caused damage or if an exorcism attempt fails catastrophically. This rule creates significant tactical pressure and is recommended for groups comfortable with moral complexity.
Curse Escalation
Optional: Curses that are not addressed within a specific time frame worsen. A Standard Cursed Individual becomes a Hexed Warrior-equivalent if their curse is allowed to progress through three scenes without intervention. This creates urgency without forcing immediate combat, the investigation timeline matters.
The Necromancer's Network
Optional: The Necromancer is not isolated. They have established a network of Cursed Individuals (unwilling), Bound contractors (willing), and at least one Witch who serves the patron indirectly. Encounters with any of these entities earlier in the campaign are clues pointing toward the Necromancer. Running this variant, the threat category is not a collection of separate entries but a layered organization.
Plot Hooks
The Partner: A BUA Special Agent's longtime partner has been acting strangely for two weeks, missed appointments, wrong reactions to known information, subtle behavioral incongruities. The partner is possessed (Possessing Operative). The complication: the entity inside the partner is gathering BUA operational intelligence for an unknown third party, and it has nearly completed its collection. The characters have to confirm the possession, plan an exorcism, and do it before the entity transmits what it has, without alerting the partner (who will flee if it suspects detection) or the BUA chain of command (who would classify the partner as a threat and apply Vanguard protocols).
The Bargain's Terms: A young woman approaches the characters for help. She made a deal three years ago, wealth and success in exchange for something she didn't fully understand. The Bound mechanic is in full activation; she's being directed to facilitate something that will harm people, and she can't refuse without triggering her compact's penalty clauses. A Hollow Pact practitioner is needed. The complication: the Shadow entity who holds her compact is not a Crossroads Shadow (who operates independently), it's a Greater Shadow Entity intermediary, meaning the compact is more sophisticated than standard and the negotiation will require leverage the characters don't currently have.
The Inheritance: An elderly man in a small town has died and left his house to a distant relative, one of the characters, or someone they know. The house has been in the family for 150 years. The relative arrives to find the property is full of hexed objects, sealed rooms, and a Witch's workshop that has been active for generations. The previous owner was a Witch who spent his life maintaining a curse that kept something contained beneath the property. Now that he's dead and the containment hexes are degrading, whatever is in the basement is beginning to get loose, and the characters need to understand the old man's system before it fully fails.
The Reclamation: A Necromancer has been operating out of a decommissioned industrial site on the edge of a city for six months. The characters have been building toward confronting them. When they finally move, they find the Necromancer gone, deliberately cleared out, leaving the undead retinue active and a message. The message contains an offer: the Necromancer knows something about a threat the characters are not aware of, something their compact source has told them is coming. They will trade information for protection from whoever is hunting them. The characters have to decide whether to accept the meeting, and trust a Necromancer, before what's coming arrives.
Exorcism and Removal Quick Reference
| Threat | Exorcism/Removal Method | Primary Tradition | Threshold | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Possessed Civilian | Entity expulsion | Sacred Fire / Mediumship / Ritual | 2–3 | True name reduces by 2 |
| Possessed Operative | Entity expulsion (combat: +1 Threshold) | Sacred Fire / Mediumship | 3–4 | Resilient Entity trait |
| Cursed Individual | Identify source, apply counter | Varies by source | 3 (type-matched) | Tradition match reduces by 1 |
| Hexed Warrior | Incapacitate first, then remove | Varies | 4–5 | Must be immobilized |
| The Bound | Compact renegotiation | Hollow Pact | 3 | Full dissolution = campaign arc |
| Witch | Negotiation / imprisonment / death | N/A | N/A | Cannot be exorcised |
| Necromancer | Retinue + sponsorship + disposition | Hollow Pact (sponsorship) | 4 | Campaign finale; patron involvement |