Spirits and the Material World (SB)

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A spirit may be considered to be in the spirit world if it isn't interacting with mortals or material objects. From this detached vantage point it may communicate with other spirits within 10 yards on the material or spirit worlds, may receive sacrifice, respond to shamans' rituals of contact, and may watch the mortals of the material world.
If the spirit wishes to affect the Prime Material Plane, however, it must move to the material world. To move from one to the other takes one full round, during which the spirit may not attack but may use any spells or powers that it has. Think of it as an aircraft descending in altitude (toward the mortal world) or climbing (to the spirit realm). Here they may remain as invisible and passive spirits (but with the potential for immediate action), may manifest themselves physically (allowing them to engage mortals in combat or conversation) or may attempt to possess a person or object. Any spirit possessing a target must remain on the material world; to retreat to the spirit world it must lose its hold on the target.
==Possessing Creatures==
Spirits can possess the bodies of mortals in one of two ways. In order to attempt either the spirit must be on the material plane and within fifteen feet of the target.
1. Any spirit with more than 1 Hit Die may attempt to take control of a mortal's body, so long as the number of Hit Dice that it has are double the victim's. (Keep in mind that humans, demihumans, and many humanoids are actually one hitdie creatures regardless of level.) The victim may resist the possession if he rolls a successful save vs. paralyzation, in which case the spirit may not attempt to possess him or her again for a full turn.
The spirit gains control of the person's body only. It cannot access his or her memories or thoughts. The victim, meanwhile, remains aware of the actions committed by his or her body, but is powerless to resist.
The possession may be ended only by an appropriate spell, such as casting out, an exorcism, the victim's use of the medium nonweapon proficiency, or by the spirit voluntarily leaving the body.
Note that this power may also be used to possess animals, but not extra-planar creatures.
Note that if the spirit leaves the mortal for even a moment—to answer a Shaman's Call, for example, then the mortal is freed of its control.
2. Some less powerful spirits may "ride" the possessed person's body, not actually entering into it but attaching themselves to the mortal. (Spirits who do this are typically 1-Hit-Die spirits. The examples of this kind of spirit given later in this chapter are the emotion spirits, detailed below.)
This allows the spirit to affect the person's emotions. Some spirits may also communicate telepathically with a person whom they have possessed in this way.
As the spirit does not actually enter the person or creature, no saving throw is allowed. As above, the spirit may continue to attach itself to the person until it voluntarily lets go or is magically dislodged.
==Possessing Objects==
Spirits may also choose to possess inanimate objects. The object receives no save to resist the possession.
Spirits with less than three Hit Dice may only affect the object in minor ways, such as causing it to fall from a hook or shelf, or cause any similar and apparently coincidental effect.
More powerful spirits may animate the object, causing it to move as if it had a Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, and movement rate equal to the spirit's Intelligence Attribute. Such objects may hover or fly, and might include anything from a chair or bed to a sword or spear. (DMs can undoubtedly think of innumerable ways in which nasty spirits could use these powers to terrorize or murder mortals who had angered them.)
==Other Powers==
Most spirits have powers other than the ability to possess mortal creatures to affect the material world in certain ways. The most commonly observed power, however, is the ability of spirits to grant spells to those who believe in their existence.
==Spirits as Patrons==
In Chapters 1 through 3, it was explained how the spirits grant spells to the shamans by acting as their patrons. Patron spirits are always 1 Hit Die or more, as no spirit may sponsor a spell of a higher level than its Hit Dice total. (An 8-Hit-Die spirit may grant spells of any level, while a 2-Hit-Die spirit may only sponsor second-level spells.)
Further, not all spirits can sponsor the same kind of spells. Examples of what spells each spirit might sponsor are explained in the MC entries at the end of this book.