Bound Spirit

[Orlanth]

On page 250 it states that a control spell supersedes the innate control held over a spirit bound into an item. Does this mean that if an opposing caster that is not restricted from using the item can command the spirit with the control spell?

As an added thought on page 258 it states that a targets MP needs to be reduced to zero in spirit combat for the spell to work. If you are trying to control a spirit, what can it do with no MP?

[PhilHibbs]

8 minutes ago, Orlanth said:

On page 250 it states that a control spell supersedes the innate control held over a spirit bound into an item. Does this mean that if an opposing caster that is not restricted from using the item can command the spirit with the control spell?

As an added thought on page 258 it states that a targets MP needs to be reduced to zero in spirit combat for the spell to work. If you are trying to control a spirit, what can it do with no MP?

It always used to be that a spirit in a bound item can be automatically controlled with a spell without reducing its MPs.

[Orlanth]

It still says that, so I guess you are saying that any spirit in any binding object can be controlled automatically by any unrestricted caster with control (spirit). That is pretty scary.

[Joerg]

Usually that object needs to be seen or touched. So if you keep your spirit-holding crystal in a bag, the enemy caster might detect it, or even perceive its presence with Soul Sight, but would not be able to target it directly (any more than Soul Sight would allow to target a Disrupt through a sufficiently thin wooden door or similar).

If someone with the Control (Entity) spell gets their sight on the item, they may take it over without going through the usual spirit combat sequence because the holding item takes care of that.

And yes, a shaman could discorporate, approach your item, cast Visibility, then the appropriate Control spell. You don't connect a computer without any firewall, password or anti-virus software to a site known to infect machines, do you?

 

In praxis, the danger is moderate. The caster needs to know and see the binding item and the correct type of Control (Entity) spell, and active Second Sight or similar to target the entity. Identifying the item could be done through a Detect (Entity) spell.

Now if you are specialized in hunting down Malia cultists, the combo "Detect Disease Spirit" and "Control Disease Spirit" might be good to have. Still, even while the Detect might show you which of the leather bags on the belt of that disease master contains a crystal with a held spirit, your "Second Sight" won't be able to target it through the material. You might get lucky if you have darksense and the sorcerous Pierce the Veil, assuming that darksense can be used just like vision to target sorcery, as darksense may penetrate leather. (Yes, those trolls will see that you are naked underneath your clothes...)

 

Elementals are risky - there are only five types, and using them is hardly covert, so there is a good likelihood that your opponent may have that spell in his arsenal if he prepared for the encounter, so you better had that entity in an access-protected binding enchantment. Spirits held in animals have fused with that animal for the duration of its (or the caster's) life. (Until the confirmed, irrevocable death of the caster, I would rule - a Rune Lord returning from Death through Divine Intervention should retain his allied spirits.)

Spirits held in crystals are a liability, but as the holder of the item, you get the power to give a "Control (Entity)" command for free. I wonder whether a melee round spent instructing the spirit to ignore all commands but your own would counter any such control attempts for the next two minutes. Would this prevent any enemy caster from controlling the entity?

 

 

 

The spirit spell "Control (Entity)" is as impractical for combat use as ever. It is a finishing move for spirit combat to imprison a spirit in a binding, which is the only action any entity with zero MP can perform. And, to add insult to harm, if you are able to discorporate in order to initiate spirit combat, chances are that you are a shaman who has a fetch able to capture such spirits without requiring any control spell.

This leaves the spell only one sensible use - to instruct a bound entity to do the caster's will for the next two minutes. This allows you to release a spirit, let it act on your command for nine melee rounds and then bind it back in the tenth (taking all of your actions for that re-binding).

There is no practical use for Control <animal> as the animal in question will be unconscious from having zero MP,  unless you use Extension. (If a creature regains an MP within the 2 minutes the Control spell lasts, you wouldn't have been able to beat it down to zero anyway...)