Character Transformations

[Citizen Keen]

How often have you had your characters go through a transformation? Not multiform, but rather, a characters powers are completely transformed, so that they are, combatwise, a completely new character. Same memories, but new powers.

 

Something like Jean Grey to Dark Phoenix to Phoenix. Not Normal Beast into Blue Beast (that's really just aquiring a new Distinctive Features), but something more significant. Do you ever do it?

[JJR]

Re: Character Transformations

 

In 22 years of playing I have only ever seen 4 radiation accidents. None of my characters have ever had one.

[SleepyDrug]

Re: Character Transformations

 

The first campaign i was in, everyone saved a big pile of xp and spent it all at once. We justified it as team practice paying off and the group getting more serious.

[Citizen Keen]

Re: Character Transformations

 

I guess what I'm talking about is... Completely rebuilding your character. What if an alien symbiote bonded with Nighthawk? What if Defender's laten mutant gene triggered and he developed super healing powers and absorbed his armor under his skin, becoming this monstrous brick? Just completely rebuilding a character, you know?

 

(I don't own Champs Universe, so I don't know if Defender or Nighthawk actually have powers or not.)

[TheEmerged]

Re: Character Transformations

 

I know from previous posts on this matter that I'm quite liberal about rewrites, so I've seen it dozens of times.

[Bengal]

Re: Character Transformations

 

You can work a character, and work him, and work him, and rewrite him a hundred times. You won't know what he can actually do until you sit down and play against (hopefully) unexpected threats. At least this is true for less experienced players most of the time, and more experienced players some of the time. So as a GM, I allow a rewrite every couple of runs or so until we're into the campaign for about four months or so, so that my players are happy with the PC's abilities. Most players rewrite zero or one times, and some rewrite a few times. So in this respect, I get slightly different power sets fairly often at the beginning.

 

 

As far as radical changes down the line, I can't think of one at the moment. Usually when someone gets bored they'll devise a new hero for the group and discard the older one, either as a legacy character or someone entirely different.

[Solomon]

Re: Character Transformations

 

I've allowed (encouraged, actually) a complete character rewrite early on in my last campaign as the character wasn't well suited to the campaign. I'm usually very liberal with character rewrites, I see nothing wrong with that.

[AngryBug]

Re: Character Transformations

 

I had a player running Elastic Man (Mr. Fantastic/ Elongated Man) who wanted to run something different, but didn't want to lose the character's memories and history with the group. So, as he had some XP saved, I allowed a complete rewrite.

First, Elastic Man's body began to reject Gillicide, the formula he had to regularly imbibe to maintain his stretching abilities. It was taking larger and larger doses to have an effect, until he overdosed and nearly died. He was no longer physically able to drink Gillicide, and therefore lost all his stretching powers.

He ran for a session or two with no powers, acting as the team's tactician, before (in a long and convoluted series of events which would take too long to recap here) he acquired a highly advanced powered battlesuit, and became known as Centurion.

 

From "Elongated Man" to "Iron Man"- is that "completely transformed" enough for ya?

[st barbara]

Re: Character Transformations

 

"St Barbara" has actually been through at least one major "power upgrade". Which i think stemmed from the time a bunch of villains tried to use her as a living "power battery" to power some infernal machine. From this she got her "Tractor/Pressor" beam and her "EDM" short range teleport. I think that the "Tractor /Pressor" is writen up as "T K. No fine manipulation. Push/pull only". Both of these powrs have proved useful, but she has to be careful with her "EDM" as this can put her in a situation in which she is facing a whole raft of nasties without support.

[winterhawk]

Re: Character Transformations

 

I've done this a number of times. This cool thing is my players come to me and say "I've got all this XP saved, what do you think?". We sit down and mull it over and actually play out the 'radiation accident'. Some examples from the top of my head:

 

I've had a 'Martial Artist' who relied primarily on high DEX and Regeneration actually get trained in Resplendent Dragon Kung Fu by a Chinese Dragon, who also tattooed him with his ideogram, granting him Wire-Fu abilities.

 

I've had a Mystic EBer discover he was the son of Marduuk, the God of Cities and become the embodiment of the City of Chicago. This was done almost six months ago, so I predate The Mystic World on this concept. When it comes out, you'll understand what I mean. I thought of it first DOJ, and I have the character to prove it!

[ghost-angel]

Re: Character Transformations

 

I've had a Mystic EBer discover he was the son of Marduuk' date=' the God of Cities and become the embodiment of the City of Chicago. This was done almost six months ago, so I predate [i']The Mystic World[/i] on this concept. When it comes out, you'll understand what I mean. I thought of it first DOJ, and I have the character to prove it!

 

{derail}

Ever read a book called City Come A Walkin' by John Shirley? one of the main characters is the embodiment of the City of San Fransisco and it lets you know all major cities have physical manifestations....

 

So really, he thought of it first

[and if you haven't read it, do so - awesome book]

{/derail}

[Citizen Keen]

Re: Character Transformations

 

I had a player running Elastic Man (Mr. Fantastic/ Elongated Man) who wanted to run something different, but didn't want to lose the character's memories and history with the group. So, as he had some XP saved, I allowed a complete rewrite.

First, Elastic Man's body began to reject Gillicide, the formula he had to regularly imbibe to maintain his stretching abilities. It was taking larger and larger doses to have an effect, until he overdosed and nearly died. He was no longer physically able to drink Gillicide, and therefore lost all his stretching powers.

He ran for a session or two with no powers, acting as the team's tactician, before (in a long and convoluted series of events which would take too long to recap here) he acquired a highly advanced powered battlesuit, and became known as Centurion.

 

From "Elongated Man" to "Iron Man"- is that "completely transformed" enough for ya?

 

This is exactly what I was looking for! Thanks much, AngryBug! Any more?

[Bengal]

Re: Character Transformations

 

Remember when Optimus Prime got transformed into something else? Maybe it was way back when he got transformed into optimus prime.

 

 

I know it sounds glib to talk about transformers transforming, but they do go through precisely this sort of radiation accident at times, usually brought on by severe physical trauma. I think the little Volks Beetle had one of these too.

[winterhawk]

Re: Character Transformations

 

[and if you haven't read it' date= do so - awesome book]

 

Wow, no I haven't. Thanks for the tip. The player has met his 'brother' from SF. Like to see if mine is close.

[DocMan]

Re: Character Transformations

 

I haven't done this with a Champions character yet. The closest I've come was when I've re-written a character from scratch because the GM came back and said he didn't like the way a particular power was constructed. The characters powers didn't change, just the way they were built.

 

Now, in a Vampire campaign, we had a party that got locked in an impasse of internal conflict. To resolve it, we ret-conned all the characters and re-built them as memebers of different clans. It did some very interesting things to the party dynamics.

 

Doc

[RobCRogers]

Re: Character Transformations

 

This is exactly what I was looking for! Thanks much' date=' AngryBug! Any more?[/quote']

We had a character in our campaign named Wraithe. She was a demon with shadow powers who inhabited the body of a young girl, the daughter of another PC, a Christian-themed hero named Zealot. Zealot, obviously, considered it a major goal to get the demon out of his daughter.

 

At about the same time this was going on, the team's UNTIL liason, a normal super agent type named Catherine Powell, was killed in battle. Eventually, the Wraithe spirit was cast out of the young daughter, ending up (unbeknownst to the players, at least at first) in Catherine Powell's body. Her powers altered a little bit as a result, and it was kind of a major change for the character. Eventually, she could turn back into Catherine Powell, who was more useful in a variety of ways than the original form.

[Rage]

Re: Character Transformations

 

Remember when Optimus Prime got transformed into something else? Maybe it was way back when he got transformed into optimus prime.

 

 

I know it sounds glib to talk about transformers transforming, but they do go through precisely this sort of radiation accident at times, usually brought on by severe physical trauma. I think the little Volks Beetle had one of these too.

IIRC in the old series Optimus was originally something akin to a very small landrover who was shot and taken by the time traveling aerobot's to the work shop of another transformer who rebuilt him to be an "autobot in decepticon clothing" so that was a transformation. Or you could be talking about the time he was turned into a robot crocodile, or about the beast wars series.

 

As for bumblebee becoming Golden Rod, that was more Bumble Bee being given a face plate and increasing his speed.

[Rage]

Re: Character Transformations

 

as for my character radiation accidents I draw back to the super hero world I created when I was three and have used as my own little world ever since (it ofcource evolved and what not through out the ages, no I am not a freak.)

 

Shrapnel: a Time traveler, originally had supermanesque powers, but during a large battle between realities became three seperate people Shrapnel (a super fast flying, teleporting, super strong, tk using, energy blast throwing mishmash.) who was a cross between Captain America and a non lethal Judge dread, Mann (who was almost like batman (in powers, except his utility belt was way crapper than batmans is) but had spidermans sensibilitys, and Ravaged which was a beastial monster with supermans powers, think Man Bat with an alien (from the movie aliens) head. these three got recombined at a later date with Shrapnels powers, Manns ethics and personality, and a glimmer of the beast in the eyes. So he went from Super Man to Cable.

 

then theres Claw:

filled with a super strongnanotech metal he became (what I thought was original) a lesser version of the villain from Terminator 2 crossed with wolverine (martial arts skills, being a weapon X type deal). After having his nanotechnology ripped away from him (by a sentient computer virus) his crippled shell of a body was put into "the red Chamber" a supernaturally powerful natural hollow ruby that is guarded by a feral tribe in the caucaus mountains. Claw was healed and became for a while a flying regenerative brick with healing powers and killing attacks up the wazoo. However during the same reality spanning battle which changed Shrapnel the red chamber was shattered, leaving Claws powers fading fast. Claw gathered some of the shards and had them formerd into gauntlets by a magus called "The Astronomer" (which provided him with a heightend hand to hand attack and slight regenerative powers usable on his self and others). So he went from T2/wolverine to The Hulk/superman to wolverine, sad eh?

 

Then theres rubberman, originally he was a man who was rubber, he could stretch (not under his own power), bounce (not very acuratly) and could not be hurt except by extreme heat (he wasn't vulcanised.) When he was with the Power People he flew the plane and carried a taser gun into battle. Eventually he learnt how to bounce and jump quite high using his natural rubberyness, but he never learnt how to become a stretcher. During the climax of the "Space War" (man when you're a kid you come up with original names) he was captured and put inside a experimental "charge cylander" which literally created physical energy. This improvised death trap worked and later when three other heroes (Shrapnel, Electronis- an EPer who absorbs energy, and The Lynx- Canadian psychic/tking woman with a cat motif) were put in there they looked around they commented on this disgusting black ooze coating the place (not knowing that rubber man had died there) They managed to escape this deathtrap (as Electronis and shrapnel absorbed the energy) and the space station crashed into the indian ocean. 12 months later a new team of the Power People found an amnesiac shapeshifter and let him join, and during a run in with a powerful psychic villain called Sigmund (I told you kids suck at names) Rubbermans memories were returned.

So from man of rubber to metamorph.

[Doug McCrae]

Re: Character Transformations

 

When my PC (The Masked Archer) died in a Golden Age game there was some talk about putting his brain in the body of a robot we'd encountered. I think I'd have called him The Iron Archer if I'd gone for it but I decided to create a new character instead.

[Agemegos]

Re: Character Transformations

 

I had an energy-projecting power-suit character called 'Colonel Carnage' built on (IIRC) 100+150, who accumulated about 25 experience points before I replaced him with a brick-based-on-ECV called 'Black Lotus'. Some time later a GM setting up a very-high-powered short campaign invited me to re-build Carnage on that campaign's build: 250+200. The Army bought Lt-colonel Colby a new battle suit. One with hardened flash defence and doubly-hardened power defence, damage reduction, a force field, and bigger guns.

[zornwil]

Re: Character Transformations

 

We have a player whose character did this. His character had a normal-appearing identity as a handsome man while that character could change, at will, into the horrifying Troll. The Troll (in either guise) was super-intelligent and super-strong/super-constitution, in essence. Long story short, the Troll got increasingly into magic, finding it another form of science, just one mostly misunderstood by people. As he got into it, he got a hold of the Necronomicon. Eventually his life became increasingly corrupted by it and he went into this inter-dimensional nexus to combat the power source of it. His struggle to go after it resulted in his Troll form being lost as his whole body was changed. Upon his return he looked like his regular human self but his mutation had changed into a more mystical, indefinable DNA, and he became Nexus, Master of Dimensions, able to wield powers by summoning and using dimensional energy. His old Troll appearance and strength/constitution was really the result of his undisciplined mental/magic energies mixed with his self-loathing (long story, bad mother), and as he faced his challenges it basically died away.

[lemming]

Re: Character Transformations

 

When my PC (The Masked Archer) died in a Golden Age game there was some talk about putting his brain in the body of a robot we'd encountered. I think I'd have called him The Iron Archer if I'd gone for it but I decided to create a new character instead.

My character Nighthawk had the same problem. One of the team scientists wanted to put the brain in a robot, but decided against it. However, the brain continued to stick around in a jar.

About six months after that, one of the other GMs who hadn't run for awhile ran a game and revealed that the original Nighthawk had been captured and cloned. One of the clones had been killed and had said brain put in jar.

 

Later on I used the brain in a big crossover event because all brains in jars tend to go mad & evil.

 

Can't say the original character changed that much though. Even if he had seven duplicates running around we didn't exactly cooperate.

[death tribble]

Re: Character Transformations

 

The Flame who was my signature character lost his powers so went around in a armour suit firing flames or as a martial artist with a gun. What neither of these forms could do that the original could was fly and the powers were less powerful.

 

Then there was Arachneida, basically Spiderman as a woman, who was mutated into a quasi human spider form as the child of the Lord of Chaos Arak (the spider god). As her powers were chaos based one of the players thought the ideal antidote was to have the Lord of Order (a young kid) touch her. This removed all her power including enhanced stats. So she went back to work and was redone with normal stats, a web gun and a motorbike. And no Danger Sense.

[proditor]

Re: Character Transformations

 

We had a few characters in older games that either went through radiation accidents (A guy who basically went from Angel, to Archangel with the metal nasty wings), Many radiation accidents (A character I played based completely on Kohl Drake from the Canadian comic book "Dragonforce", he started as a buff normal human and then had three "transformations" as he became more and more draconian. Man he was fun...) and complete rewrites where the characters "died" in true comic book form with no body left behind. One was a cyborg who started off like Wonderman, and then got rebuilt as Robocop, eventually getting rebuilt again as something more like Superman. The other was Sabre from the Blood and Dr. McQuark who was on the team as a PC and took one for the team when he got hit with the Worm Wand (IIRC) from the 7 horsemen. He almost died but his actions up until then and in that one act of defiance caused him to be reborn as Courage. He became fear's worst nightmare even as his own marriage fell apart due to his increasing detachment.

 

So yes, any flavor of transformation is fine with me, and when part of the tale, I think it's great!

[Hopscotch]

Re: Character Transformations

 

Yeah, I have had this happen twice in my fifteen years of GMing.

 

The first was a PC names Skitzo. He was a multiformer built on fourth ed rules. He had four forms: His base who was a telekenetic, Maniac-a hoverboarding martial artist, Bruiser-a fancy tea swilling brick, and Prodigy-a ten year old gadgeteer. The Idea was that he was a latent mentalist who was also a sci-fi writer. After a car accident caused brain damage, some of his creations could manifest by taking over his body. All four personalities had a time share as it were. After a while, the player decided that he did not like being a jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none type and wanted to settle on one character who was a powerful as the rest of the party. So he transformed, for good, into Guage, a super gun weilding super agent type. He liked that much better.

 

The other was a water-based PC named Wavefront. We had taken a couple of years off of playing Champions and when I wanted to get restarted the player sayed that he wanted to try something new. We came up with a pretty cool story about him getting captured by our main evil organization called CHESS and being stripped of his powers. After a year or two, and a series of unfortunate events he managed to steal an experimental "Stealth Suit" from annother evil organization. He became Glide, the invisible shootey guy.

 

To be honest, I don't really like this sort of thing, but I do want to keep my players happy. Thus, I would most likely let it happen again if someone wanted.

 

Hopscotch