Stupid question time

[Spence]

I am working up some characters for a game I am planning to run. I have the campaign complete and now only have the PC's to finish. I will also be teaching new players, hence my building the PC's.

 

It has been a while since I actively played and it is actually the first time I have used multiform. The game, which is anime inspired, has the PC's being agents of an "organization" that is trying to stop an alien invasion. I'm using HC as the backdrop (sure wish there was a large city map). The aliens are infiltrating by replacing humans and the organization is hunting them down and killing them. Everything is completely covert and secret. Using a "suits" developed from captured alien tech that respond only to rare mental and genetic markers. The PC don't know any of this of course. The suits have three stages. First (or normal) they resemble skintight body suits that can be worn under clothing and provide enhanced physical attributes and a few minor abilities. Transitioning to the second stage (multiform) requires the char to succeed in focusing his will (RSR Ego). With success Stage two is reached, and the "suit" bulks up with hard protective plates, increase physical enhancements. Stage three also requires a roll and get the PC to super status. All of this is pretty easy.

 

The question is I want Stage 2 to be stable. I the PC is in Stage 1 or 2 and gets knocked out, he stays the way he is. If in Stage 3 however, I want him to revert to 2 or 1 based on how injured he is. Reversion is my first thought, but is the cost paid by the base form (stage 1) or the higher form (stage 3) ? And how do I model the reversion to select the form?

 

And finally did any of this make sense???

[Ghost Archer]

Re: Stupid question time

 

I'd say use the 'Reversion' Limitation on page 214 of 5ER. Its also on page 138 of FREd.

[Spence]

Re: Stupid question time

 

I saw reversion, but there is no explanation whether it is applied to the base form or to the secondary form. If it is applied to the base form then he would revert regardless of which form he is in. So the qusetion here would be, is the reversion lim applied to the true form or the secondary forms?

[Ghost Archer]

Re: Stupid question time

 

I saw reversion' date=' but there is no explanation whether it is applied to the base form or to the secondary form. If it is applied to the base form then he would revert regardless of which form he is in. So the qusetion here would be, is the reversion lim applied to the true form or the secondary forms?[/quote']

 

As I read it, the Reversion is applied to the secondary form and is an Advantage if when the secondary form Reverts to a more powerful primary and a Limitation is the secondary form Reverts to a less powerful Primary. If both forms are about the same it isn't either an Advantage OR Limitation.

I gather the third form in your case is the most powerful so Reversion should be a limitation. I don't see any reason you have to revert to the Primary form instead of the secondary form. As a GM, I'd let you let you Revert to whichever of the weaker forms that seemed appropiate.

[Spence]

Re: Stupid question time

 

As I read it, the Reversion is applied to the secondary form and is an Advantage if when the secondary form Reverts to a more powerful primary and a Limitation is the secondary form Reverts to a less powerful Primary. If both forms are about the same it isn't either an Advantage OR Limitation.

I gather the third form in your case is the most powerful so Reversion should be a limitation. I don't see any reason you have to revert to the Primary form instead of the secondary form. As a GM, I'd let you let you Revert to whichever of the weaker forms that seemed appropiate.

 

Thanks,

 

I wanted to make sure my logic made sense. It did sort of, but your comments smoothed out the bumps.

[Dust Raven]

Re: Stupid question time

 

The way you describe it, I wouldn't use Multiform at all. It doesn't really look like anything is actually changing about the character; the only difference is that at Stage Two and Three, more powers are on. I'd suggest buying Stage One normally (with a Focus from the sounds of it). For Stage Two, buy it just like you would for Stage One, but add an RSR: EGO Roll to the primary (most expensive) power, and Link the rest of the Stage Two Power to that one. Make sure that one Power is Persistant. For Stage Three, same again, only when you pick the primary Power, Link it to the key Stage Two Power in addition to the RSR: EGO Roll (so you can't skip Stage Two and just activate a Stage Three Power. Then make sure your key Stage Three Power is NOT persistant, so that it (and everything linked to it) shuts off if the character is Stunned or KOed.

 

That will mean that if in Stage One or Two, the character stays there until he decided to be otherwise. If in Stage Three, he stays there as long as he can continuously will himself to be so. Getting stunned or just relaxing for a moment will mean he immediately reverts to Stage Two. If you want him to occasionally slip into Stage One, you could also put an Accidental Change disad on him defining the conditions and chance of him dropping from Stage Three to Stage 1.

 

Hope this helps,

[Roy_The_Ruthles]

Re: Stupid question time

 

i like the idea of not using Multiform, it seems like a clumsy way to go about this, especially if points arn't the issue

[Spence]

Re: Stupid question time

 

Was away for a bit. Thanks for the input.

 

Yes, multiform is a bit of a clumsy way to do it for a regular hero gamer. But the players are going to be new to the game system. By having the three "forms" I can have a separate character sheet per form. Then the player doesn't have to recalculate attribute shifts, or remember which part of the notations apply. They can simply flip to the needed sheet, apply stn/end/bdy changes and go. After we have played a bit and they get the hang of things I can show them a few examples of doing the same effects in different ways. But all in all I think the players are sharp enough to catch on themselves, in fact they will probably be schooling me before too long

[Dust Raven]

Re: Stupid question time

 

Well, if you are gonna use Multiform, then the unstable nature of level 3 is easy to model with the Disadvantage Accidental Change. Pick the level of damage you want to him have taken to revert to level 2, and make that the condition for the change (use your best judgement on how often that occures, but if it's likely to happen once every session or more it's Very Common) and pick the chance to change. Do the same for the amount of damage needed to revert back to 1st level. Regardless of the damage needed, reverting to level 1 will almost certainly be uncommon, since chances are he'll have reverted to level 2 already.

[Supreme Serpent]

Re: Stupid question time

 

There are no stupid questions, just inefficient builds.

[Supreme Serpent]

Re: Stupid question time

 

By having the three "forms" I can have a separate character sheet per form. Then the player doesn't have to recalculate attribute shifts' date=' or remember which part of the notations apply. They can simply flip to the needed sheet, apply stn/end/bdy changes and go.[/quote']

 

Who says you need Multiform for different sheets? You could just as easily have a "Tony Stark without armor" sheet and an "Iron Man" sheet without using Multiform.

[Dust Raven]

Re: Stupid question time

 

Who says you need Multiform for different sheets? You could just as easily have a "Tony Stark without armor" sheet and an "Iron Man" sheet without using Multiform.

 

That's actually not a bad idea, and is probably better than using Multiform for inexperienced players. None of the character sheets will have some odd "other character sheets" power with a point cost.

[Spence]

Re: Stupid question time

 

That's actually not a bad idea' date=' and is probably better than using Multiform for inexperienced players. None of the character sheets will have some odd "other character sheets" power with a point cost.[/quote']

 

 

Now that you mention it. Nothing says I can't have separate sheets for each "form". It would make things easier for me.

 

 

Thanks all

[Grail Quest]

Dumb Answer Time

 

Okay, this is very wierd (I'm always experimenting with wierd things) but how about reversing the whole thing:

 

(1) The base form is Form _3_. Form 3 has one Multiform (Form 2), which can be activated by an Accidental Change (when very injured).

 

(2) Form 2 also has a Multiform (Form 1), which is also activated by a similar Accidental Change. So, when Form 3 is very injured, you could potentially get a cascade reaction shifting all the way back to Form 1. Simply set the injury condition to be more severe in Form 2 before it triggers a switch to Form 1.

 

(3) Players start in Form 1. Since Form 2 is more powerful than Form 1, Form 1 can take a Psych Limitation or some such to switch to Form 2 with an EGO Roll. Form 2 can have a similar Disadvantage governing a reversion to the true form, Form 3.