Build Question: Nanogirl

[Pariah]

Nanogirl is a humanoid alien; she normally stands 10-12 cm (~4") tall. After arriving on Earth, she discovered (read: stole) a device that allows her to grow to normal human size for a time. She can be either small or human-sized, nowhere in between. How would you build this?

 

My thoughts:

 

1) Build her using the Miniscule size template, then buy a limited form of Growth to allow her to get bigger.

 

2) Buy the appropriate levels of Shrinking to 0 END and Persistent and handwave the smaller state as the default.

 

3) Build her as a Multiform, one form for each size.

 

4) Some other brilliant option I haven't thought of yet.

 

Help me out here.

[Grailknight]

It's all about the device. I have an idea but want to know more about it so I can thematically get it right.

[Pariah]

At this point, the device is basically a special effect (i.e., not a Focus). She's been exposed to it often enough that she can trigger the transformation at will.

[steriaca]

Ok. Then if shrinking is her "normal" body, that is special effects also. Buy Shrinking with these things: Presistant (power is already Constant: +1/4), Inherent (it is a natural part of her: +1/4), Reduced Endurance (0 END: +1/2). Since Focus is a special effect, the character doesn't have any limitations reflecting that. It could be Restranable (if held, grabbed, or tied up she has problems turning on/off her powers.

 

If she has other powers which only operate while in her shrunken body, then the other powers can be "Only While Shrunk", probably about -1/4, if worth anything as nothing can stop her for being shrunken at all.

[Tech]

14 hours ago, Pariah said:

Nanogirl is a humanoid alien; she normally stands 10-12 cm (~4") tall. After arriving on Earth, she discovered (read: stole) a device that allows her to grow to normal human size for a time. She can be either small or human-sized, nowhere in between. How would you build this?

 

My thoughts:

 

1) Build her using the Miniscule size template, then buy a limited form of Growth to allow her to get bigger.

 

2) Buy the appropriate levels of Shrinking to 0 END and Persistent and handwave the smaller state as the default.

 

3) Build her as a Multiform, one form for each size.

 

4) Some other brilliant option I haven't thought of yet.

 

Help me out here.

 

For her normal shrunk form, buy her as usual with stats, powers, etc., with a Physical Complication/Disadvantage:  Normal size is 10-12cm (with anything that might go with being that size, such as +4m to KB/+2" to KB).  Since she can turn to normal human size "for a time", I'd go with limited Growth.

 

Alternative: buy her with Physical Complication/Disadvantage. Since her stats don't seem to change when normal human size, you could add Knockback Resistance equal to your Complication, with a Side Effect being that she's normal size (or just make it special effect that she's normal size).

[LoneWolf]

Does her size change when she is knocked out or stunned?  Is there a time limit to how long she can remain in normal human size?  Does she have power in one form that she does not have in the other?  

 

Without knowing these things it is difficult to figure out the best way to build the character.       
 

[Christopher R Taylor]

Quote

Does her size change when she is knocked out or stunned?  Is there a time limit to how long she can remain in normal human size?  Does she have power in one form that she does not have in the other? 

 

This is one of those old school GM things you can do.  Instead of trying to do the perfect build, just work with the GM and assume that small is her default form, so if she's knocked out, that's what she becomes.  You'd need to buy it to 0 END Cost, but other than that, it should work fine.  After all, there's nothing in the rules that assumes that you be one or the other size, it just assumes you pay END For one and not the other.  If you feel you have to have some sort of rules/legal structure, buy "inherent" on her shrinking power and treat that as a way of making it default, like how being normal sized is inherent for a human being.

[Terminax]

The first option, buying her using a template then adding a limited form of Growth with a timed charge lasting however long you want her to stay big is probably the more 6E way of going about it.

 

The second option would be how you'd build it in older versions. Not supposed to do always on and persistent in 6E with the alteration powers anymore but I can't say I haven't chosen to do it exactly this way on occasion even in 6E. 

 

Third version is a good alternate way to build her since you use the right size template for each, a little long winded but works probably as well as the first option.

 

Haven't been a fan how 6E recategorized or altered certain powers and effects (damage shield and size powers chiefly), and when 6E annoys me, I just do it the way I'm used to and I'm more concerned how to tell the story than fussing over mechanics.

 

 

[Tech]

5 hours ago, Terminax said:

Haven't been a fan how 6E recategorized or altered certain powers and effects (damage shield and size powers chiefly), and when 6E annoys me, I just do it the way I'm used to and I'm more concerned how to tell the story than fussing over mechanics.

 

Exactly. The game is there for you to have fun, not to give you headaches.

[Tom Cowan]

have you looked at the Adv players guide? page 79

[Pariah]

On 7/1/2021 at 4:43 PM, Tom Cowan said:

have you looked at the Adv players guide? page 79

 

I dont have this book. A quick summary, perhaps? 

[Tom Cowan]

2 hours ago, Pariah said:

 

I dont have this book. A quick summary, perhaps? 

It is a full page on size and the implications for the use of Growth and Shrinking.

not a lot of fluff so i'm not sure how much I should post

 

As shown in the Small Size Templates and in the Shrinking Power, being smaller than normal doesn’t automatically reduce a character’s STR, CON, PRE, defenses, BODY, STUN, or Running. The negative effects it has, as indicated in the mandatory Physical Complication, are being ⅛ mass, a halving of Reach, and suffering +6m of Knockback (distance only) per halving of height.
Therefore, in most cases, all that a level of Growth needs to do for a small character is double his height, double his Reach, and add -6m of Knockback Resistance. Since that’s all Growth provides, each level should only cost 3 Character Points. Once a small character reaches normal human size this way, if he wants to Grow further he has to buy normal Growth at the costs listed in the table on 6E1 229.

 

[Lord Twig]

Personally I don't like the idea of paying for a power, then paying for another power to cancel that power, so for me buying Growth to cancel her small size would be a non starter.

 

Would just using the Only in Alternate ID limitation by acceptable? Just buy the Shrinking power with 0 END and Persistent. Then you could also use the Accidental Change complication that she shrinks to her "normal" size when knocked out or when her time limit for being larger is up. Presumably she would have to stay small for a certain amount of time before she could get big again.

 

To be clear, the -1/4 for the OIAID should probably be only on characteristics and abilities that are available in your larger form, or if you buy negative characteristics in your smaller form you could apply it to that and would get less points back*, since the larger form is the one that is more difficult to maintain. The Shrinking power wouldn't get the limitation since there would be nothing stopping her from shrinking to her normal four inch size whenever she wanted.

 

*Actually that would be the wrong thing to do. You would get the points for the negative stat then by them back under powers with the OIAID limitation. So if you wanted -10 STR when she is small you would get -20 points back under characteristics, then under Powers get something like Human Size: +20 STR; OIAID -1/4 for 16 points.

[Tom Cowan]

looks like the APG picked

Build her using the Miniscule size template, then buy a limited form of Growth to allow her to get bigger. so 56 points for the +8 DCV and +8 to stealth then 4 levels of 'get back to human size' for 12 points* modified by Adv/limits then 20 points back for the size Complication (F/G)

[Lord Twig]

Just noticed another Modifier that should be added to Nanogirl's Shrinking. Inherent (+¼). This would make her small size her natural state so it could not be drained, dispelled, aided or anything like that. So her full power would be:

Nanosize: Shrinking (.125m tall, 0.25kg mass, -8 PER Rolls to perceive character, +8 DCV, +24m KB); Reduced Endurance (0 END, +½), Persistent (+¼), Inherent (+¼) for 48 points.
 

This seems to me to fit the character concept that her natural size is tiny (4" tall), but without the Always On limitation you could still just turn it off and she could become human sized.

 

I also noticed that, according to the rules, you can no longer have a negative strength. My old brain was remembering Champions 3rd edition when a -20 STR could lift a football and a -10 could lift a shotput. Now you can't lift less than 8kg with 1 STR, which is a little disappointing, but oh well.

[steriaca]

 

14 hours ago, Lord Twig said:

I also noticed that, according to the rules, you can no longer have a negative strength. My old brain was remembering Champions 3rd edition when a -20 STR could lift a football and a -10 could lift a shotput. Now you can't lift less than 8kg with 1 STR, which is a little disappointing, but oh well.

Sounds like a Physical Complication (Can Only Lift X Pounds Or Less) along with 1 STR.

[Hugh Neilson]

Just now, steriaca said:

 

Sounds like a Physical Complication (Can Only Lift X Pounds Or Less) along with 1 STR.

 

Or simple application of common and dramatic sense.  How often will being able to lift a football, rather than an aspirin, be highly game-relevant?

[steriaca]

3 hours ago, Hugh Neilson said:

 

Or simple application of common and dramatic sense.  How often will being able to lift a football, rather than an aspirin, be highly game-relevant?

Depends on the campaign. Prehaps our little person wants to lift a gun. Prehaps our little person wants to fire a gun.

[drunkonduty]

I like a good multiform. Especially if the size difference means a different suite of complications. 

 

Buying some powers OIAID is fine but that would change the value I'd give to complications based around size. 

[Ninja-Bear]

Technically unless her small size limits her in some way or she gains a benefit then even though her default size is “normal” she can declared to be any size. She could be 2ft tall BUT unless otherwise stated out she is by mechanics 2m tall and 100 kg. Something to consider.