TEXT:        Channeling
  History
  In  the  early  1900’s  a  large  craze
  swept  the  United  States.  It  was  called
  Spiritualism and everyone wanted a piece of
  it. Stars of the day, such as Arthur Conan
  Doyle,  author  of  Sherlock  Holmes
  subscribed to the practices  of the occult.
  Who better to represent spiritualism? 
  Spiritualists, also know as mediums,
  were individuals who would go into a trance
  and  allow  the  spirits  of  dearly  departed
  people  to  speak  through  them  to  their
  grieving  relatives.  These  trances  usually
  took  place  in  dark,  smoke-filled  rooms
  where the only lights were a few candles.
  The medium did this not only to ease the
  minds of the poor grieving family, but for a
  small, nominal fee. 
  The market for mediums was very
  big and very profitable. After only a few
  months of ‘contacts’ with the other side, the
  medium  could  just  about  retire.
  Unfortunately for the Channeler, the press
  rarely let that happen. And there was always
  someone looking to expose the medium as a
  fraud. Even today, mediums play their trade
  and others try to expose them as frauds. And
  where the spirits contacting the mediums of
  yesteryear were dead family members, more
  often  than  not  today  the  spirit  is  an
  extraterrestrial, trying to spread a message
  of  peace  through  the  medium.  Mediums
  even changed their name. Today they are
  known as channelers. And the market for
  channelers  is  even  bigger  than  it  was  a
  hundred years ago. And there are an even
  larger number of frauds than there was in
  the 1900’s. But the names of some of the
  more famous channelers persist, as do their
  stories  and  exploits.  Some  are  even
  unexplainable by the ‘experts’.
  Requirements
  The  only  requirements  to  be  a
  Channeler is the character must not be an
  anti-psi and must have a CON and WIS of
  13 each. An anti-psi can choose the skill of
  channeling,  but  they  cannot  become
  Channelers themselves.
  The Skill
  There  are  two  versions  of  the
  channeling skill we will present here: the
  skill of channeling and the ability to channel
  a spirit. Both are very different from each
  other. But both have similarities  as well.
  Both gain the skill of Channeling, though
  non-channelers must pay for the skill. The
  Channeling skill allows a character to have
  knowledge of channeling and its history as
  well as the people associated with it such as
  famous  channelers,  spirit  guides,  and
  incidents. The skill also gives a character a
  chance to expose frauds and fakes. While it
  does  not  give  a  character  the  ability  to
  actually channel a spirit, the character will
  know the signs and symptoms of someone
  entering a trance or being taken over by a
  spirit. This does not include possession by a
  spirit  but  someone’s  spirit  guide  taking
  control of him or her. It is considered a
  Bureau skill and should be added to that list.
  Channelers
  Players  who  play  channelers  in
  Bureau 13, Stalking the Night Fantastic are
  not  fakes.  They  have  some  legitimate
  contact with a spirit guide whether it is an
  old west cowboy, a mad Aztec shaman, or
  an alien from the planet Quasar Sushi 454.
  The channeler can talk with or let the spirit
  talk through her. 
  
  The Ability List
  While  this  is  listed  as  a  psionic
  talent,  it  can  also  be  used  as  a  magical
  ability.  There  is  no  reason  why  a  mage
  could not develop it as easily as a psionicist.
  The costs for the individual spells should
  remain the same whether it is used as a
  psionic list or as a magical list. Remember,
  it does not matter where the power comes
  from, just that the channeler does what they
  do.
  MAGIC/PSI TALENT
  Magic/Psi List: Channeling    Time  Cost
  Sense Spirit                                1m      5
  Identify Spirit                             1m      5
  Find Spirit Guide                       3d      50
  Find Specific Spirit                   10m    40
  Speak With Spirit                      2m      10
  Let Spirit Speak                        10m    50
  Manifest Spirit                          30m    65
  Control Spirit                         varies    75
  Banish Spirit                               1h     90
  Repel Spirit                                 5m    50
  Sense  Spirit  allows  the  caster  to
  detect a spirit within a 10’ radius. It will not
  pick up a living person’s spirit, just a dead
  person’s.
  Identify Spirit tells the caster who
  the spirit is they are talking to. It is very
  difficult for a spirit to mask this from a
  channeler (-5 to roll).
  Find Spirit Guide is very similar to
  the Find Familiar spell listed in the magic
  section (B13: STNF pg 87). It is usually
  only cast once. When a channeler casts Find
  Spirit Guide, they are usually bonded to the
  spirit who answers the call. Thus, unless the
  channeler  is  looking  for  a  certain  spirit,
  whenever they attempt to channel, they will
  get their spirit guide.
  Find  Specific  Spirit  lets  the
  channeler seek a spirit they know by name
  and  channel  or  communicate  with  it.
  Sometimes, a malevolent spirit will try to
  take the place of the spirit the channeler
  wanted to summon. 
  Speak With Spirit lets the channeler
  talk to any spirit beside his or her spirit
  guide. Once a spirit guide is established, the
  channeler and the spirit guide can always
  communicate.
  Let Spirit Speak is letting the spirit
  communicate through the channeler without
  giving control of the channeler’s body to the
  spirit.
  Manifest Spirit gives full control of
  the  channeler’s  body  to  the  spirit.  This
  allows the spirit to take advantage of using
  their own skills instead of the channeler’s
  skills. But again, the spirit has full control
  of the body. The channeler  is  essentially
  trapped in their own body. This is a very
  risky maneuver but can be useful. After so
  many days in control, the spirit begins to
  influence and change the body. The body
  begins to look like the spirit’s  old body.
  This spell should only be used by the most
  experienced  channelers  or  in  extreme
  emergencies.
  Control Spirit is a dual fold spell.
  First, it allows a channeler to regain control
  of their body once a spirit has taken it over
  and  refuses  to  relinquish  control.  Even
  though  the  spirit  is  in  control  of  the
  channeler’s  body,  the  channeler  still  has
  their spells and WKP. See Control for more
  on how to win back your body.
  The second way to use this spell is
  the  channeler  actually  takes  a  spirit  into
  their body from another person’s body. See
  Control for more on this one too.
  Banish  Spirit  is  the  channeler’s
  ability to force a spirit out of their body
  
  and/or  off  this  plane  of  existence.  This
  particularly powerful spell is very useful in
  conjunction with Control Spirit. Once the
  channeler has control of the evil spirit, they
  can remove it with this spell.
  Repel  Spirit  creates  a  10’ radius
  circle  around  the  channeler  that  keeps  a
  spirit at bay and away from the channeler
  and  anyone  else  in  the  circle  with  the
  channeler.  It is  very  similar  to a mage’s
  ability to cast a circle of protection (B13:
  STNF pg 90).
  Spirit Guides
  Spirit guides are unique and a GM
  should take time to design a spirit guide for
  the player. The player is not in charge of the
  guide, the GM is. Give the guide their own
  personality; make them stand out from other
  NPC’s. And the spirit guide may have an
  agenda of his or her own. The channeler lets
  the  spirit  actually  take  over  their  body
  sometimes. There’s no reason why the spirit
  may not try to finish what they started in
  life. 
  Example:  Charles  Reilly  wants  to
  channel his spirit guide, Sir Cedric Varinth.
  Sir Varinth is a knight from 11th century
  England.  He  is  very  noble  and  very
  chivalrous.  When he is  in charge of the
  body, he opens doors for ladies, tips his hat,
  and bows to people, calling them “Milord”
  or  “Milady”.  He  loves  to  eat  chocolate
  even though Charles cannot stand to eat it
  and is allergic to it. The most important
  thing to him is honor and he will attempt to
  right any wrong he comes across.
  Control
  Channeling is a tiring process; trying
  to control the spirit even more so. It can
  sometimes end up in a contest of wills, the
  channeler versus the spirit. If the spirit is
  willing to leave the channeler’s body, there
  is no problem. But if the spirit decides he
  likes his new home, the original owner will
  have to fight to get it back. To do this, take
  the channeler’s WIS and CON scores along
  with  their  Control  skill  and  add  them
  together. Then add a d100 roll. Roll a d100
  and add the spirit’s MRE. Highest number
  wins. A channeler can try to evict a spirit a
  number  of  times  equal  to  their  magic
  resistance.
  Example:  Charles  Reilly  has
  channeled  the  spirit  of  a  ruthless  nazi
  officer. The dead general does not want to
  leave.  A contest  of  wills  begins.  Adding
  Charles’ WIS and CON gives a total of 26
  (WIS-12+ CON-14). His Control skill is at
  4. This  gives  him  an  extra  20.Rolling  a
  d100 results in a 47. This gives him a grand
  total of 93 for willpower. Herr General has
  an MRE of 33% and rolls 74 on d100. This
  gives  him  a  grand  total  of  107,  easily
  beating  Charles’ 93.  The  spirit  is  not
  evicted. But Charles has an MRE of 5%.
  This gives him 4 more chances to evict the
  spirit.
  If the Character is unable to evict the
  spirit, he can again try in a week’s time. But
  until then, the spirit is in control of the body
  and can do as he wishes.
  Should the spirit be forced out, it
  will harmlessly disappear, back to the plane
  from which it came. However, if the spirit
  succeeds on another willpower roll, it can
  stay on this plane and try to find another
  host to take over or become a haunt.
  The  skill  of  Control  can  be
  developed as any other skill and should be
  listed as a Bureau skill. It is a way for a
  Channeler to control a spirit without having
  to spend the WKP or WKM to cast the spell.
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Bureau 13/Bureau 13 (d20)/Bureau 13 d20.-.Channeling.pdf