How would you write this up?

[nexus]

The character is from the future. She suffers from a peculiar problem due to this fact. That problem is she randomly and uncontrollably changes due to the "Butterfly Effect", that is minor things done presently can change her "past" and thus change her. Anything from her appearance to her powers can change but it's typically minor or even just cosmetic but it can be major. The effect is completely outside of her control, utterly random (a incredibly intelligent being could predict or figure out what caused a particular change of course). The character herself, doesn't notice the changes but everyone around her does (quirk of Time Travel). The effect can possibly be positive but it's a coincidence when it is.

[ghost-angel]

Re: How would you write this up?

 

Cosmetic and incidental changes could easily be handled by an Accidental Change Disadvantage, roll it whenever a minor change is warranted and Change Happens.

 

Major Changes could, and I like the idea, be handled through a Major Transform; Self Only; Uncontrolled.

 

The Self Only Transform is firmly inside "not book legal" land, but I think the Uncontrolled Aspect puts it at enough GM Control to cause that to be a non-issue.

 

If that doesn't suit to taste, a VPP with "Does Not Control When Change Occurs or What Change occurs" is another method of handling things.

 

And the last option: Plot Device.

[PhilFleischmann]

Re: How would you write this up?

 

I'd say even the major changes can be handled by Accidental Change. As long as it's the GM, not the player, that determines what changes, when, and how. An unusual application of this disad to be sure, but I think it fits quite well. Unless you're frequently getting serendipitously useful powers, or boosts in character points, this is a serious Disadvantage - you can't rely on any of your own powers/skills/abilities - so it should never cost you points.

[JmOz]

Re: How would you write this up?

 

As a GM, I would say the minor changes qualify as a DF

 

For the major, well I don't like making major changes with out the players input so I would call them Radiation Accidents

[Tonio]

Re: How would you write this up?

 

As a GM' date=' I would say the minor changes qualify as a DF[/quote']

 

Interesting take on it... I'd think minor changes would be a sort of anti-DF. Distinctive Features, after all, are supposed to make you easy to notice and remember, easy to describe to others. I've always thought of DF as the first thing you'd tell a police sketcher: "He had this awful scar running down the left side of his face" or "He was a big glowing alien!!!". Things that help identify you. These minor changes work the opposite way. One day you're described as blonde and blue eyed, then a coupla hours later your hair is red and you're wearing green contacts.

 

Depending on how fast and noticeable the changes are, they can certainly be a DF: "Her hair was black at some point, then light brown, then it was red before the whole thing was over! Oh, and her clothes kept changing, too... it was WEIRD!"

[JmOz]

Re: How would you write this up?

 

Interesting take on it... I'd think minor changes would be a sort of anti-DF. Distinctive Features, after all, are supposed to make you easy to notice and remember, easy to describe to others. I've always thought of DF as the first thing you'd tell a police sketcher: "He had this awful scar running down the left side of his face" or "He was a big glowing alien!!!". Things that help identify you. These minor changes work the opposite way. One day you're described as blonde and blue eyed, then a coupla hours later your hair is red and you're wearing green contacts.

 

Depending on how fast and noticeable the changes are, they can certainly be a DF: "Her hair was black at some point, then light brown, then it was red before the whole thing was over! Oh, and her clothes kept changing, too... it was WEIRD!"

 

One minute there was this scar on his face, then it was just gone and he had a british accent, I will remember that guy for life

[Alibear]

Re: How would you write this up?

 

Cool idea.

[Tonio]

Re: How would you write this up?

 

One minute there was this scar on his face' date=' then it was just gone and he had a british accent, I will remember that guy for life[/quote']

 

Yup! That's what I figured when I said that depending on how fast. If the changes occur, say, once a day, then chances are that people who saw him today won't recognize him tomorrow, then it'd be like an anti-DF. If they occur fast enough for most people to see them happening (like you're describing), then it'd certainly be a DF. =)

[OddHat]

Re: How would you write this up?

 

I'd give her Distinctive Features, 2d6 (or more) Luck, and 3d6 (or more) Unluck.

 

The Distinctive Features reflect purely cosmetic changes past the SFX level, with frequency and severity depending on how often you expect people to notice and how they'll react.

 

The Luck reflects the rare positive changes to her situation or power set.

 

The Unluck reflects negative changes to her situation or power set.

 

Both Luck and Unluck are used on the principle that changes last only a scene or two. For permanent changes, you could hand wave it and subject her to lots of radiation accidents, or buy her the following:

 

Multiform, No Conscious Control, One Charge that Never Recovers in each and every form. This chained multiform would mean that she has a series of character sheets; you as GM decide when she switches, and she can only go back if and when you feel like it. All of her forms will end up paying about 10 points for the next form in the chain (assuming 350 point forms). XP become a minor problem; you could let them carry over from form to form, or let her sink them into the Multiform so that her next form will be built on more points.

[SSgt Baloo]

Re: How would you write this up?

 

I once ran a character who had a similar DF. His main power was that he was very, very lucky (~10d6), and this was somehow connected to his "quantum state". The way his "luck" worked was that he emitted a "quantum selection field" that chose outcomes from nearby quantum realities (parallel universes) that were beneficial to him.

 

Basically, the moment you looked away from him, his apprearance would change in some inconsequential but noticeable way. This wasn't enough to make him unrecognizeable, so it was simply "noticed, recognizeable". ("Hey, where'd that five-o'clock shadow come from? Weren't you clean-shaven just a second ago?") It was recognizeable in that if someone else wasn't looking away at the same time, he wouldn't notice the "change" as being something new.

[Basil]

Re: How would you write this up?

 

Shapeshift to handle changes that cover her appearance only, Aid with LONG "recovery" time for minor boosts to her stats and powers (or, a VPP only for boosts of that sort).

 

For major changes ---

For permanent changes, you could hand wave it and subject her to lots of radiation accidents, or buy her the following:

 

Multiform, No Conscious Control, One Charge that Never Recovers in each and every form. This chained multiform would mean that she has a series of character sheets; you as GM decide when she switches, and she can only go back if and when you feel like it. All of her forms will end up paying about 10 points for the next form in the chain (assuming 350 point forms). XP become a minor problem; you could let them carry over from form to form, or let her sink them into the Multiform so that her next form will be built on more points.

 

Yeah, Oddhat got it right, IMO.

[Thia Halmades]

Re: How would you write this up?

 

Cosmetic and incidental changes could easily be handled by an Accidental Change Disadvantage, roll it whenever a minor change is warranted and Change Happens.

 

Major Changes could, and I like the idea, be handled through a Major Transform; Self Only; Uncontrolled.

 

The Self Only Transform is firmly inside "not book legal" land, but I think the Uncontrolled Aspect puts it at enough GM Control to cause that to be a non-issue.

 

If that doesn't suit to taste, a VPP with "Does Not Control When Change Occurs or What Change occurs" is another method of handling things.

 

And the last option: Plot Device.

 

I think you mean No Conscious Control, which this is a text book case of. The whole thing is very cool, but most easily simulated (IMHO) as the following:

 

Cosmetic Transform (Xd6, No Conscious Control, Transform occurs when an event alters the future)

 

VPP (Type & style of all powers are pre-determined, i.e., it isn't "really" a VPP, but that's the easiest way to build it to save frustration, and the VPP picks up, "Power Change: No Conscious Control.")

[ghost-angel]

Re: How would you write this up?

 

I think you mean No Conscious Control, which this is a text book case of. The whole thing is very cool, but most easily simulated (IMHO) as the following:

 

Cosmetic Transform (Xd6, No Conscious Control, Transform occurs when an event alters the future)

 

VPP (Type & style of all powers are pre-determined, i.e., it isn't "really" a VPP, but that's the easiest way to build it to save frustration, and the VPP picks up, "Power Change: No Conscious Control.")

 

Yeah... NCC. Talk about an embarrassing blunder.

[Gideon]

Re: How would you write this up?

 

Personally, considering the character has no control (and the player may not either), along with the fact that RAW Accidental Change wears off I would build the character this way:

 

I think Distinctive Features: Noticed and Recognizable, Easily Concealed

 

And here's the strange one:

Physical Limitation: Suffers the Butterfly Effect, Infrequent, Greatly

 

I picked Physical Limitation because you can use it as justification (that is rules legal) for suddenly changing ANYTHING about the character from stats, to powers to disadvantages.

 

I would build the characters powers (regardless of what they are) using a VPP, because that way you need to do less work and less math figuring out what she can or cannot do at any given time.