Embody

Embody is a ritual introduced in 3e's Hellboy RPG for the Path of Spirit
It was initially described on the top-left page 128 and the results of the ritual are statted on page 160 under "The Iron Maiden" which Hecate inhabits.
It was introduced to 4e in GURPS Thamautology on the bottom-left of page 160 which introduced Energy Accumulating alternatives to fueling it.
==3e to 4e changes==
Initially this had no special casting time specified, meaning it defaulted to 10 minutes. This was changed to 2 hours (120 minutes) making it take twelve times longer to cast.
The default to Path of Spirit was retained but the default penalty was changed from -3 to -5 making the success roll more difficult.
A new restriction "must be present" was added. Previously, this was absent, and might imply one could create a body for a spirit that was not present.
4e also suggests possibly requiring different rituals for different spirits or different body types, while 3e just had one singular ritual.
4e suggests giving a bonus to the "intended spirit" of 1-3, something absent in the 3e version.
In the case of Ilsa Haupstein (HB110) her strong will (IQ15+1) was not able to defeat the stronger will (IQ17) of Hecate. Either via a direct contest or because of Hecate utilizing her skills in the Path of Spirit to cause Ilsa to throw the contest.
==Abilities==
The original parameters were "depend on the spirit and the degree of success". This was changed to "what it's made from and the degree of success".
The 4e guideline is "may temporarily grant any advantages, disadvantages, or attribute modifiers that the GM agrees fit with the materials used".
==Duration==
In 3e or 4e the duration of the body is never overtly discussed. This can lead to confusion as to whether it creates a permanent receptable, or if it is subject to the usual duration guidelines of ritual magic, which is 12 hours unless additional penalties are taken to extend the duration.
Redeye Gareth for example, is said to make his roll by 3 points but not whether he took a -2 penalty for it to last a day, a -4 penalty for it to last a week, a -8 penalty for it to last a month, and so on.
This is an important consideration if for example someone needed to prep a new body to replace an old one that is expiring, especially if boosted stats from a previous body could be used to create an even stronger one.
3e especially could exploit that via sacrifice of themselves which converted burned HP into a bonus on the ritual roll which was not subject to the usual +15 maximum. This is less of an issue in 4e which converted that to a % based bonus.
==Example==
In the 3e example, the Iron Maiden had ST 60 / HT 20 with 150 HP and 250 FP though it's unclear how much of that was materials vs the inherent abilities of the goddess Hecate. The DR of 12 and passive defense of 4 (absent in 4e) was likely meant to reflect the iron materials.
==Negated Advantages==
This is implied in 4e by:
:may also negate traits that the spirit possesses – especially anything specifically related to its immaterial nature.
The most obvious case is the one explicitly mentioned: losing Insubstantiality. The point difference that make would depend on what modifiers applied to that ability. It seems irrelevant though because Insubstantiality and Invisibility are explicitly opted-out of the pricing structure:
:"The net character point value of all gains and losses, apart from Insubstantiality and Invisibility, cannot exceed..."
An example is then provided using Redeye Gareth who has a pseudo-living body created from animal corpses.
==Users==
Originally it had to be someone with Spirit Form advantage in one way or another. In this case it seems to just require having both Insubstantiality and Invisibility and effectively losing these advantages while merging with the body. These are only "usually" gained by Spirit or Astral Entity meta-traits.
==Injury==
Whether or not the possessing spirit could be injured inside the body was left vague in 3e, although Hecate was given only one set of stats.
In 4e there is a clear distinction: "may be injured by attacks that affect immaterial beings, or possibly exorcised"
This clearly implies that the HP of the body is distinctive from that of the spirit.
category:rituals