Speak to the Dead

[Shaft]

I have a PC in my game who can Speak with the Dead. What is the best way to build this power?

 

One suggestion was Telepathy, with a limitation Only with Dead People, but my thinking is that the only thing a dead person would "think" is "uuuuuugh....."

 

Any ideas?

[Derek Hiemforth]

Re: Speak to the Dead

 

I'd bypass the cause (speak with dead) and go straight to the effect (gaining information, presumably). What does the character hope to gain by speaking with the dead? Build that, and just call the resulting SFX "speaking with dead."

[CrosshairCollie]

Re: Speak to the Dead

 

If you have an 'afterlife dimension', then you could use Mind Scan and Telepathy, both with Transdimensional.

 

If not, Clairsentience with Retrocognition would probably do the trick.

[Alibear]

Re: Speak to the Dead

 

I designed a character who could see and interact with dead people while most others could not. She basically bought the ghosts as a massive group of contacts.

[Kenn]

Re: Speak to the Dead

 

Assuming that Derek's correct that the goal is gaining information, than the desired power is probably Clairsentience with the "postcognition" adder, and probably with "extra Time" and "Incantations" (okay it sounds like real conversation, but with someone who "isn't there").

 

As far as "what a dead person might say"... the power is really "Speaking with the spirits of those who've died" which pre-supposses a) people have spirits and that they hang around Earth for a while after 'death'. If spirits tend to go elsewhere... there might be an activation roll on the power. Adjustable, probably, over the passage of time. JUST died... no roll. Died here ten years ago.... 3 or less.

 

If you don't think people have spirits/souls what have you or believe souls depart immediately for Judgement or have some other speific view that as a GM is your to enforce, you should disallow the power.

[GamePhil]

Re: Speak to the Dead

 

Several ways of doing this, including the ones already presented. Typically, I'd use the Clairsentience with the Limitations only to experience what the dead person did. Some extra time, since the dead are only describing it to you rather than showing you, is also appropriate. That works fine for the most common use of the ability: gathering information the dead person knows, and it does not require there to be a well-defined spirit realm for the game setting. It may assume there is one, but the GM doesn't have to do anything with it beyond this.

 

The rest of these are very literal suggestions, rather than strictly reasoning from effect. That is to say, they are powers that put you in contact with the Dead rather than using that as the special effect for something else.

 

Telepathy/Mind Scan to find the dead spirit and talk to it is a good suggestion, but it's a tad expensive. The Contacts are also good, though I'd use a Group Spirit Contact rather than a group of individual ones unless you had to make the connections one at a time.

 

If you bring back the spirit of the dead to talk to it, you might use Summon, Specific Creature, Any Ghost, with Focus: Dead Body and whatever level of Friendly or Hostile you want. Then actually just role-play through talking to it or use skills to get it to open up.

 

If there is a defined spirit realm for the game, simply using the Dimensional and Transmit adders on the Hearing group (or Normal Hearing) can allow you to speak to a lingering spirit, and if ghosts are defined as remaining with their bodies for a time, there you go. If you can only do that near the spirit's body, use it as a Focus.

 

Or to get really weird, use a Spirit Transform to give the corpse a temporary soul for a little while.

 

Hmm, I'm fresh out, and several of those weren't mine. I must be tired. Good luck.

[GamePhil]

Re: Speak to the Dead

 

If you don't think people have spirits/souls what have you or believe souls depart immediately for Judgement or have some other speific view that as a GM is your to enforce' date=' you should disallow the power.[/quote']

 

Not necessarily. Talking to the dead doesn't have to mean talking to the spirit, it could literally be talking to the corpse if the character has the ability to give it a semblence of life for a short time. Just because the electricity is no longer flowing doesn't mean that the chemicals and so on break down immediately (actually, I believe it's pretty quick, but this is presumably a comic book or fantasy game of some sort, so close enough).

 

Of course, that gives more of an eeeew factor.

[Kenn]

Re: Speak to the Dead

 

At which point, the converstaions would probably be mostly of the "What happened to me? Why can't I feel my (insert body part)? I want to see (reference to significant other or family member)."

 

Anyone else see the "Torchwood" episodes "Everything Changes" and "They Keep Killing Suzie"?

 

Other ways to build talking to the dead:

 

Psychological Limitation: firm believer in the Catholic faith

Psychological Limitation: regularly prays to saints as well as God.

[GamePhil]

Re: Speak to the Dead

 

Well, yes, you may have to get through some gruesome explanations. If you're not good at it yourself, or even if you are, consider buying some good Persuasion.

 

Now, now, we were asked for a Power.

 

I didn't quote, but I think you know which parts of that I was referring to.

[Sean Waters]

Re: Speak to the Dead

 

I talk to dead people.

 

They don't, you know, talk back.

 

That would be creepy.

 

I think the right way to do this has probably already been suggested, but which one of those suggestions it is will depend entirely on how you want the power to work.

 

Clairsentience is a pretty sure thing: you can see what the target saw. (Note though that just because you can see what a target saw it doesn't mean you can home in on the information you need - this sort of perception could literally take YEARS to get to where you want to be)

 

Summoning can be a bit more difficult but you can get more - opinion, for instance, and the dead might well cooperate, making your job a lot easier.

 

Transdimensional telepathy is an interesting idea, but you'd have to be able to get the spirit into LOS.

 

You could even, if the GM allowed it, take a superskill: KS: What The Dead Know (requires a focus - bit of the corpse).

 

You really have to decide what sort of information you want to be able to obtain and how, mechanically, you want to do it, and how the GM wants it to play out.

[Shaft]

Re: Speak to the Dead

 

There are many good ideas here. Thanks to all.

 

I think I'll lean towards extra-dimensional telepathy with ongoing incantations, with the special effect being that the incanations are a conversation. The level of success that the telepathy gives reflects how much info is volunteered by the spirit.