1) Animate Object #1:
When an athasian wraith inhabits an object, does he loose his own hit points when the object got damaged (by attacks for example)?
2) Animate Object #2:
...the duration lasts as long as the wraith concentrates.
1) Animate Object #1:
When an athasian wraith inhabits an object, does he loose his own hit points when the object got damaged (by attacks for example)?
Given that wraiths are incorporeal and "inhabiting" the animated object, any attack against the object that could possibly harm the wraith will deal damage to both the object as well as the wraith - if the animated object is hit then so is the wraith. For weapons, spells and effects that can affect the wraith but suffer from the incorporeal 50% miss chance I'd make the players roll for that.
2) Animate Object #2:
Does this mean that the wraith has to concentrate each round, and thus can only take standard-actions?
That'd be a single move action, yes - concentrate takes up their standard action, not their move action. As far as I'm concerned, this basically means that the wraith can take a standard action with the animated object and then, if they wanted, take their move action to exit the object. Otherwise I wouldn't let them do anything with that action - they're controlling an entire object as if it were their body, in essence, so any actions they're taking should really be done with the body only.
3) Possession:
This is confuses me a bit. IMHO a non-intelligent creature is a creature with no INT-score. Creatures with no INT-score are IMO mindless and therefore this doesn't make any sense. Why would a wraith want a mindless creature to enter a mindscape and maybe even envouter it there? This ability only makes sense to me, if would be useable against creatures with an mind.
Good point - I think that the Possession power is supposed to be "broken up" into two sub-powers, one for an unintelligent creature and one for those with an Int score. As far as mindless creatures are concerned, although the mindscape bit doesn't really matter the rest does - in the PP a wraith possessed a golden scorpion and used it to attack Rikus, which is where the idea for this ability likely originated.
Maybe this is even the wrong "creature" I'm looking for, but hasn't been Sadira been forced into the gray by an athasian wraith? With the possession ability, as far as I understood it, the wraith wouldn't be able to do it. If I'm thinkin about another, please tell what it is and where I can find the stats for it!
Yep, you are correct - they possessed her body and forced her into the Gray where they tried to destroy her (or something like that...I can't completely recall).
As I said above, I think the Possession power should be reworded so that the Mindscape part applies to intelligent creatures. Here's how I'd suggest modifying/rewording the ability to fit with how it is described in the the PP:
Possession (Su): Once per round, an Athasian wraith can attempt merge its body with the body of a corporeal creature. This ability is similar to a magic jar spell (caster level 10th or the wraith’s Hit Dice, whichever is higher), except that it does not require a receptacle. To use this ability, the wraith must move into the target’s space, which does not provoke attacks of opportunity. The target can resist the attack with a successful Will save (DC 19). A creature that successfully saves is immune to that same wraith’s possession for 24 hours, and the wraith is forced out of the target’s space. If the save fails, the wraith vanishes into the target’s body. The wraith cannot use supernatural special attacks while possessing a creature. The save DC is Charisma-based.
When possessing a creature with an intelligence score, rather than controlling the body the wraith instead forces the victim to spiritually enter a mindscape (see Chapter 2: Into the Gray). The wraith can also enter or leave the mindscape as a standard action. When in the mindscape, the victim’s physical body falls lifeless; unlike unintelligent possessed creatures the wraith is unable to control the body as long as the creature's spiritual body is still alive. Defeating the wraith’s spiritual form in the mindscape allows a possessed creature to return to its body. Only those able to travel to the Astral Plane can aid the creature, except that dispelling the possession or using protection from evil or similar spells returns the creature’s spiritual form to its own body. In the mindscape, the wraith becomes corporeal, and if its spiritual copy is killed, the wraith is permanently destroyed. The wraith can also be used as an energy battery as though it were in the Gray. If the creature's spiritual body is destroyed while in the Gray then its physical body can be controlled by the wraith as per the magic jar spell description, and upon ending the possession the creature's body is treated as a corpse killed by a death effect.
@Pennarin: If I don't forget to do this, I'm going to send them an email. I hope I'll find their email-adresses. :embarrass
Bureau of Monsters and Templates
[INDENT]Gabriel Cormier (gab@athas.org)
Nels Anderson (feebles_@hotmail.com)
David Schwartz (davidschwartznz@yahoo.com.au)
Mike Ring (michaelring@comcast.net)[/INDENT]
Thanks for your help Dirk00001. I'm going to use these house rules; they seem very appropiate - or at least they seem to make the athasian wraith as the creature I'd like to be it. I'm going to see how good my group is going to handle it, especially since they have "only" a bard with a rouge as companion, a wizard and a druid...
One would hope that they'd play it smart and try and "reason" with the thing, figuring out what it is that drives it and working from there...but we all know how PCs are when it comes to silly words like "thinking" or phrases like "we don't shoot first and ask questions later, if we survive of course."