Impulse and Unchained

Impulse describes the otherworldly entity's effect on the Possessed mind and who is more in control at any given moment. Meanwhile, Unchained is the effect when a Vessel is unable to maintain control and the Passenger takes over.

Impulse

Impulse is used to describe how well the Vessel is able to utilise their Passenger's magic, how well they can communicate with the Passenger, or how they keep it under control. However the flavour this is up to the player, but it is meant to be a struggle.

When utilising the Passenger's magic, a Vessel must roll Impulse with their Cinder pool as many times as up to half the number of dice in their Cinder pool, rounded up. Both successes and failed rolls with a Magic Keyword counts towards the limit. After this limit, a Vessel must roll an Exceptional Success on their next Impulse roll or they become Unchained. A critical failure yields complete control to the Passenger, triggering the Unchained effect.

Should you decide to forego the dice in favor of flavor, that is acceptable. Just know that, eventually, after a great deal of magic use, the Passenger will assume control.

Unchained

When a Possessed becomes Unchained, this is when the Passenger has assumed direct control of the Vessel's physical body, shunting the Vessel to the back. It is up to the player if their character is blacked out, semi-conscious, or fully conscious. The Vessel also displays physical characteristics of being Unchained, making this state unmistakable.

In this state, the Passenger can continue to use Magic Keywords, but they still have to roll Impulse. However, it takes a huge physical toll on the body of the Vessel and they will be feeling the consequences of it for some time. Each use of a Magic Keyword when Unchained reduces their Luck by one (1). This is the mechanical representation of the physical toll.

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Cinder is the die pool of mental and magical abilities of a character.