Posessors/Parasites, Stamina and Damage

[Trevis Martin]

Hey Ron,  

I've perused a bunch of past threads but I can't seem to find an answer to my question.

 If someone attempts to damage a possessor or parasite demon does the hit to stamina happen to the host also?  Or is the demon protected from stamina damage until it doesn't have a host at all (i.e. the host takes all damage until dead?) I am talking specifically about physical attacks here.

The second answer seems implied but I'm unsure.

Second, in a combat/complex conflict situation do I understand correctly that those that act use whatever score is relevant to their action for the whole roll.  i.e. if a demon is using a power like confuse it would roll its power instead of its stamina for that round.

thanks

Trevis

[Ron Edwards]

Hi Trevis,

Physical attacks pre-suppose the ability of the attacker to perceive the target. In the case of Possessor or Parasite demons, the question to ask is ...

Can the attacker actually perceive the demon? Knowledge that it's there isn't enough. A Parasite which replaces an external body part, or a Possessor defined as a veiny bulging addition to the side of the host's head ... these sorts of demons can be attacked directly. (Telltales are a good guide here)

An appropriate Perception ability (i.e. the demon ability, not "perception" in the basic sense), possibly augmented by a Lore roll, would help as well, for less-obvious demons.

But if the Possessor or Parasite is not actually perceived by the attacker, then he or she cannot target it with a physical attack. Punish, on the other hand, is another story - especially if the attacker has spotted the demon using Lore, via its Telltale. (This is SOP for Demon Cops, by the way.)

Best,
Ron

[Henri]

Stupid question:  What is SOP?

[Bob McNamee]

Standard Operating Proceedure (S.O.P.)