creating a daemon host

[Amehb 2]

One of my players in first ed was recently transformed into a daemon host and while we can muddle along with warp touched and other stuff was surprised to see there were no rules for creating a daemon host in this edition. Ideas or answers or advice?

[Gridash 353]

I'm guessing we'll be seeing this in an ordo malleus supplement.

 

I'd say either use the possession rules from 1st edition or use the possession rules from the Tome of Decay. I'd personally go for the latter. The player still gets to control himself, but will lose himself to the daemon over time, but not before having some daemonic attributes/powers that he can use. 

Edited December 15, 2014 by Gridash

[ThenDoctor 862]

I'm guessing we'll be seeing this in an ordo malleus supplement.

 

This, are the rules from Daemonhunter (or Radical's Handbook I always get them mixed up) applicable?

[cps 686]

I'm guessing we'll be seeing this in an ordo malleus supplement.

 

This, are the rules from Daemonhunter (or Radical's Handbook I always get them mixed up) applicable?

Radical's Handbook, proving itself to be the best supplement once again, has rules for making a Daemonhost. Daemon Hunter has a player background package called Host-Bound for if you want to play someone being prepared to host a daemon.

If you can get RH on the cheap it's definitely worth getting.

[ThenDoctor 862]

Even if it's not cheap it's pretty worth it.

[cyclocius 77]

 RH is a terrific splat, everyone ought to own it, it has rules for creating a Daemonhost but the numbers may be a bit lacking and you'll want new traits/talents but you can easily sort that out yourselves.

 

 The reason DH1 originally had Daemonhosts was because of the huge influence Eisenhorn had on the system, at least from a narrative perspective. Cherubael was a pretty simple villain all things said and done, he appeared fairly predictably, would call Gregor something mean, infer involvement in the plot enough to nudge it in the right direction and infer some more that they were intertwined. Any villain can do that, but a Daemonhost is a pretty simple and effective way of doing it. Making a villain that's personal, cruel and powerful. Simple stuff, chuck it in the corebook and every GM can create that special BBEG for their PCs to vanquish triumphantly. 

 

 DH2 is a bit more grown up comparatively, more muted in many regards narratively, I'm sure we'll see rules for Daemonhosts in either a Malleus splat or a catch-all Radicals Handbook 2.0. I'm good with either.

[Amehb 2]

So looking like use old rules that don't quite match up hmmm this will make continuing into new ed edition annoying and difficult

Also the daemonhost is a player not an NPC

Edited December 16, 2014 by Amehb

[ThenDoctor 862]

So looking like use old rules that don't quite match up hmmm this will make continuing into new ed edition annoying and difficult

Also the daemonhost is a player not an NPC

 

Wait...what? Well then you're hitting a whole new set of issues. I don't think I'd ever let a player get ahold of a daemonhost. Maybe if they got the demon exorcised sure, that'd be some pretty great rp material. But letting a player play a demonhost is like letting them play vampires in WHFRP (insanity).

 

However just because the rules are old doesn't mean they're bad or inaplicable. Most of the talents are applicable in both systems, there's really only a snag in Psychic powers, but you could let them use the old system and just say it's how the warp interacts with demonhosts or something if you don't want to deal with it that much.

[cps 686]

So RH has two rules - one set for the GM to design daemonhost NPCs or for players to go through the rituals of making one themselves, and another set of rules for an elite advance where the character becomes a daemonhost. The latter is explicitly a countdown to character death condition but offers a bunch of rules and talents for being a horrific daemonhost character. (There's also rules for being exorcized which are pretty cool)

Do neither of these help?

[Amehb 2]

I didn't let them play a daemonhost, one of the players was being possessed by a demon, and some smartarse bound it inside the PC.

He more than slightly regrets it now.

But to get back on topic, I thought it was a shame they took the daemonhost stuff out of the new book.

Edited December 17, 2014 by Amehb

[Olifant 51]

As other have said, RH has some neat stuff. But I ran into the same surprise. I loved the four or five pages in 1st edition dedicated to making a daemon host which could possibly kill the whole party. I've talked to people over forums and in other gaming groups about this: its almost unanimously hated.

 

I understand why too. Your character turns into a monster, and you try to kill your party or just lose it to the GMs control. It can kill the whole party if rolled well, or it can destroy a campaign. Funny enough, the main reasons why people hate it, are exactly why I loved it so.

 

I've already told my players that if they roll 99-100 on Peril of the warp, they are not "burped" into the warp and removed. Instead, I'll pull out my DH 1 corebook, and have them roll out the Deamon host. 

[InquisitorAlexel 244]

I had a player in a campaign being a thrice bound daemon host. It went very well... but the psychic system was based on black crusade (I had make all the psychic powers of DH1 into DH2 format, if I can tell it that way). It even created very tensed moments in the game.