Best things to possess?

[Aneirin]

Hey there, I was wondering if anyone had thoughts on what was the best thing to cast the summoners possession skill on?

Extra fight, extra armor to make it more survivable, but less will making it more likely to fail spells and vulnerability to banish, bind demon, and protection circle.

Firs tof all, is the possession spell worth it? I think so but probably worth considering:-

Pro's - multiple bufss in one spell. If in a rush this gives armor and fight in one go, meaning someone is less lieky to fail a roll and if they do they are a little more likely to survive it.

Con's - Lack of will, this could be a problem against high value targets. Though without empowering, any will will put odds in your favor. Still, could be bad and if you then possess something else it could just be setting up your monsters for a fall, not sure of the odds of the negative will affecting a roll are though.

Vulnerability to spells - this I suppose is down to play groups. If you have thaumaturgists or other summoners this could work out badly as they can have these spells cast on them and ar emore likely to fail. Otherwise it isn't much of an issue as bind demon would only be taken by summoners...and even then they will likely alreayd have one bound demon and can't have another. Proteciton circle is stationary and can be worked around, and I don't see banishment being too popular, though someone could later develop it as a counter to you. All in all the spell vulnerabilities I don't think are that bad.

A lot of the vulnerabilities (bind demon, mind control) could be counter manded if you have bind demon...though that will mean you can't summon (or you and your apprentice can't summon, you could summon one or have your apprentice summon a demon and you keep bind demon to take control of the possesed creature if you need to)


Dogs - I reckon these are a good choice. They have some will so this offsets the penatly (though they will still be at a slight disadvantage), the armor is not too useful though as they already have low health as such are still likely to be one shotted and the 2 armor at best will help them live another round. But the extra fight alongside the extra move is helpful. Probably not the best given their low health though and liability to die, but being so cheap will wizards want to waste spells that target its will on it, and the speed could be helpful when starting out, like a barbarian light for 50 gold. (less will and health though) Plus if it does die, just cast possession on another dog! (best with multiple dogs?)

Thug - Cheap, and makes them better. Gives them armor and fight making them somewhat likea knight with a bit more move. Well not quite a knight, but now needing high dice rolls to one shot him, will still only likely live two shots though. However they lose will and become very susceptible to spells. Being cheap though it isn't too bad if they are lost...except to a mind control. Depends on what you go against, a good choice. And will need to consider if going to buff it more with other fight spells making it even worse if it gets taken from you.

Thief - Similar to the thug, except it has more speed, but one less damage. So it is more likely to win fights, however won't be doing as much damage. Could try and slap an elemental hammer on it to offset it, if it gets mind controled no biggy as it is a one shot trick. A little better than the thug due to its move and the fight will slightly counter the reduced damage (instead of doing -1 it will be doing +1 due to the fight score being higher)

Any archers (archers through to cross bow men - Not a good choice. Makes more likely to resist being shot at, and the armor makes them more survivable, however you can only possess 1 (2 withthe apprentice) models, and it seems like a waste as the buffs do nothing to the shoot and just makes it more weak to resisted spells, though some of them do have a nice move, you would be sacrifcing their main ability, shooting (as they should only be fighting if they get caught, not if they are charging into people)

Infantry man/ Man at arms - getting a bit more pricey, but now we are turning men into knights. Well, almost. Although again, with less willpower. The additional makes him dangerous in close combat, but he will be susceptible to spells. There are probably better ones you can do it on than this one is better than the other by a smidge but at more cost and given he is more vulnerable to spells probably best to do an infantry men the man at arms. Though neither are the best choice.

Treasure hunter - Good fight that can be made better, and the only thing that is worse than the man at arms is the armor but this will make him better. he also has a better will so doesn't become as vunerable when possessed, and of course, the move. A strong choice.

Knight or templar - Sticking these together as they are similar except for the templar doing more damage. Sticking a possesison on them makes them more survivable with the higher armor, meaning one shots only happen on 26? Making them immune to one shots from most things in the game that aren't souped up.  (not sure about the optional crit rule) However the low move could work against them along with the reduced will, making it a slow moving tank susceptible to being either avoided, or spelled. If the knight or templar is already in combat and nothing is possessed, good, not something to start off with though.

Barbarian - The extra armor will make it just as resilient as a knight or templar, maybe even more so (as it now has high health and good armor) It has a good will so should still have a bonus against resisted spells (though not as good) and it also has a high move and +2 damage. If you want to go all or nothing, the barbarian looks like a good option to possess at the beginning. he has extra health thn the treasure hunter... is the twoe xtra health and oe extra will and +2 damage worth the extra 20 gold...remember the less inch of a move making it damn bloody close between them. A little more surivability and killiness v getting stuck in a little quicker.

Apothecary - Might be good as a surpise if someone gets into combat and you have nothing else possessed. But not the first choice

Probably missed out a couple but I reckon could options are:-

If going cheap, dogs, have a couple so when one dies you can possess another

If going expensive, barbarian or treasure hunter if you need a little extra speed (might be ebst to keep your treausre hunter safe though so he can secure treasures)

And ofcourse, two other options.

Your apprentice (avoid, his will is already low and his fight and armor are poor so not an ideal choice except in dire straits to save his life)

Your mage! (I like this as an option, at least for the first couple of games, as lets your mage kill people himself to get xp, soemthing difficult to do otherwise a sa summoner without going for bone dart, he has a lot of health so the armor will make him more survivable, and he will be left with a respectable fight score, especially if you give him a sword and knife, and can jam some further spells onto him if you have the time such as strength or foresight...but the lower will, will make him a prime target for spells so will have to keep him out of sight, plus your speed isn't brilliant)

[ChaosChild]

A mate of mine hit on the best option, and in his first game. A bear showed up as a wandering monster with the first treasure token I picked up, directly behind his warband on turn one. After it mauled one of his thugs to death his spellcasters turned round and cast Control Animal followed by Possession. One demon-bear running rampant through my warband! Enough to make me rethink my own spell choices.

[Aneirin]

A mate of mine hit on the best option, and in his first game. A bear showed up as a wandering monster with the first treasure token I picked up, directly behind his warband on turn one. After it mauled one of his thugs to death his spellcasters turned round and cast Control Animal followed by Possession. One demon-bear running rampant through my warband! Enough to make me rethink my own spell choices.

Now that is a good option.

Take animal companion from the witch school and cast it before the fight then possess it. The animals higher will due to being a companion will offset the will penalty as well. That is definately one worth considering.
 
That opens up a whole raft of other ideas.

For instance...demonically possessed constructs! High fight, high health and high armor, extra, extra tanky! (slow move though)

Or demonically possessed demons? Can't remember what their wills start off with, but why not stick a demon in another demon for extra killiness. Might be a way to make imps more threatening if you fail to get a minor demon (though this would lead to a lot of focus on the demon, maybe best to split so the mages have a couple of targets)

Demonically possessed zombies do not seem as interesting.

[Darkson71]

The winning lottery ticket.



What do you mean that's not what the question means?

[JamWarrior]

I don't think you can possess demons or 'Control'ed figures as they aren't members of your warband.  Animal companions, zombies and animated constructs should all be fair game though.

[ChaosChild]

Controlled creatures act as soldiers, so it seemed logical that they count as part of your warband for these purposes. Besides, the narrative was just so cool that there was no way I was going to quibble with it even though it cost me pretty dearly in the end.