Possesed Corpse - a Savage Worlds Monster Template

In the last post I described a new Arcane Background - Blood Magic, that allows characters to use demon powers. The part of the deal with the devil is that the demon will take possession of the Blood Mage's corpse after he passed away. This post concentrates on those corpses.

Possessed Corpse is a template that you can add to any character and/or monster in Savage Worlds. After all, any creature can get possessed, even if they did not sign a blood pact with a demon... some were simply in wrong place at the wrong time. Maybe they were a part of ritual demon binding or maybe they died close to a demonic shrine, who knows?

To create a Possessed Corpse  you need to take statistics of your "victim" and add the below template on top of them. Note that the Possesed Corpse will have access to all of the previous owner's Skills, Edged & Hindrances - with the exception of AB: Miracles and anything connected to it.

Possessed Corpse Template

Attributes: Strenght +2 steps, Vigor +1 step, Dexterity -1 step
Skills: Fighting +2 steps, Intimidation +2 steps
Parry +2, Toughness +1
Charisma: -4
Abilities:
• Demonic Claws: Str +D8
• Immunity to poison and disease.
• Infernal Stamina:  +2 bonus to recover from being Shaken.
• Resistant to Normal Weapons: suffer only half-damage from non-magical attacks except for cold iron and/or blessed weapons
• Weakness (Cold Iron/Blessed weapons): take normal damage from pure iron and/or blessed weapons.

The possession of the corpse takes mere moments. Once the creature falls dead its body starts bulging with muscles, grows claws and turns more bestial to resemble the demon that possess it. After a turn, the newly Possessed Corpse rises.

Once the Possessed Corpse is killed, the demon returns to its native realm, possibly plotting revenge on the person who banished it.

***

For some demons, possessing a corpse is the only way in to the mortal realm. They won't be as powerful as if they would manifest in their true form - after all, they are limited by this mortal flesh. This is why they tend possess fresh corpses - those still strong and functioning. Muscles, joints, senses - all at the disposal of the demon who projects its consciousness and takes control of this flesh. No matter what kind of creature the "donor" was, the Possessed Corpse has the intelligence and the personality of the demon who possessed it. Even if it can't communicate it (like a possessed animal for example), it will still have the demon cunning - if limited by animalistic or mortal urges. Rules wise they still use their original Intelligence Die for tests, as those are the limitation of the host body.

Those corpse possessing demons do not have to be bloodthirsty killers. More often than not, they will have a much more sophisticated agenda for the time they gets to spend in the mortal realm. While, some might want to kill the Player Characters, others might want to barter or work with them... maybe even sign a new Blood Pact? The demons in my campaigns are usually cunning puppeteer types - a much more interesting foe than straight up monsters attacking the PCs.