Fusion with Other Characters

[Michael Hopcroft]

One of the principal powers of Gems in Steven Universe is the ability to "fuse" -- combine two distinct beings into a single one. This can vastly increase their power. It is also nearly the greatest intimacy imaginable -- the two or more people involved become a single person for the duration of the effect (which could theoretically last indefinitely -- some Gems are virtually permanently fused and stay that way for thousands of years). It is rare but possible for a gem to fuse with a human, but usually they fuse with other gems.

 

It's pretty obvious that Duplication is a sort of reverse of Fusion -- a single character creating multiple copies of himself, and in some circumstances dividing his consciousness among them. But in the case of Fusion the Gems are merging both their physical forms and their consciousnesses into a single entity. Forcing someone to Fuse with you so you can gain power from them is an extremely bad idea, not just morally but practically -- the consciousnesses don't merge and spent the whole time fighting for control of the new body. In any case, both parties remember everything that happens to the combined entity while they are fused after the fusion is ended.

 

So this raises two questions related to Hero. The first, which has probably been answered before in other circumstances, is what the power and power build would be for a character who is capable of combining forms and consciousness with others. The other is how you can possibly handle it in-game when two or more PCs fuse (which player controls the character? Do they have to agree on every action the fused character takes)?

[Christopher]

The "wild fusion" does not need to be moddeled. It is simply the special effect for creating another character/game element that has properties of both original gems. It is outside what Hero has to simulate.

 

I thought something like this up. A Dragonball fusion like character(s). My idea was:
Single character sheet/character for gameplay purposes. Multiform and Duplication in a a Multipower.

 

The character can use Duplication or Multiform, but not both at the same time. I order to turn one on, the other must be turned off.

Naturally the character still can not exceed caps onthe fused form, but may benefit for the seperated form.

[Michael Hopcroft]

The problem remains of what happens if two or more player-characters can be components of the fused entity. Generally speaking, two players controlling one character rarely ends well. And that's what you get when a fusion goes badly (as usually would happen if a fusion is dubiously consensual).

 

Of course, one could used being a "permafusion" as back story for a character with Duplication -- especially if the two duplicates have completely different abilities. 

[massey]

I'd go with Multiform, usable by others simultaneously. As far as the roleplaying aspects, that's for the players involved to decide.

[Lucius]

Multiform with "requires multiple users."

 

Lucius Alexander

 

Tagline with required palindromedary

[Christopher]

The problem remains of what happens if two or more player-characters can be components of the fused entity. Generally speaking, two players controlling one character rarely ends well. And that's what you get when a fusion goes badly (as usually would happen if a fusion is dubiously consensual).

 

Of course, one could used being a "permafusion" as back story for a character with Duplication -- especially if the two duplicates have completely different abilities. 

You just explained why they can not be part of a Fusion. It would simply not work on a P&P Table, as you reduced the number of characters/actors to play as without also reducing the number of players.

 

There might be a few examples from the

The closest things I can think off are a few Characters from Blizzards "Heroes of the Storm":

Cho'gall is a "twoheaded Ogre", with two players sharing the model. One Player controls movement and physical attacks, the other magical attacks. You can only use both and you can only select them as part of a premade team.

In Hero terms it would be a 2nd Character play by a different character with "Physically bound to another Character" Complication. Of a expensive altered Duplicate.

:

Grandia 2 has a number of bossfights. Now the mechanic of Grandia Interrupts and the Combat bar is not dissimilar to how getting Stunend and SPD works in Hero. So groups are prefered.

As a result they had to place more then one actor as part of the Boss-side to be certain the player would not cheese his way through*. In earlier and minor ones they did the obvious thing and just placed a bunch of weaker mooks with the boss or having 2 bosses.

Not so with the main bosses. Each of those is one model that carries multiple actors. The Tongue for example has: 1 Body, 1 Head and two Mawhands (it had a total of 4 maws; it was basically Guttony incarnate).

Each of them acts independantly of the other on the Games Combat System. Stunning or sleeping one does not affect the others. But the subpeices still move with the main piece (like one of the Cho'Gall combo).

Killing the central piece is viable and will win the fight immedaitely. But it is generally better to kill the smaller subpieces first, as they have less HP and have annoying combat effects (buffing, healing, damage, status effects).

Basically they made a Multiple Headed Hydra as per 6E1, but with each head being totally different from the next.

 

*In fact the final fight where they did not do that, can be cheesed through easily with one power you have in any case. I think that one was made intentionally easy.

 

 

Applying both to hero:

If you want to two player fusions for your Players, the two headed ogre approach from Heroes of the Storm might work. You got two actors that are somewhat tied to one another.

If you have a uneven number of players (or do not know who will show up), provide the core piece. And let each player play one of the sub-pieces of the fused character (a Arm, the Head, the chest, etc.).

In both cases the players still each have a seperate actor to control, with teamwork still helping.

 

If you ask how to organize it so that X players control 1 Actor shared: That is not possible as far as anyone knows. If you do find a way, please let us know.

[Cantriped]

One of the principal powers of Gems in Steven Universe is the ability to "fuse" -- combine two distinct beings into a single one. This can vastly increase their power. It is also nearly the greatest intimacy imaginable -- the two or more people involved become a single person for the duration of the effect (which could theoretically last indefinitely -- some Gems are virtually permanently fused and stay that way for thousands of years). It is rare but possible for a gem to fuse with a human, but usually they fuse with other gems.

 

It's pretty obvious that Duplication is a sort of reverse of Fusion -- a single character creating multiple copies of himself, and in some circumstances dividing his consciousness among them. But in the case of Fusion the Gems are merging both their physical forms and their consciousnesses into a single entity. Forcing someone to Fuse with you so you can gain power from them is an extremely bad idea, not just morally but practically -- the consciousnesses don't merge and spent the whole time fighting for control of the new body. In any case, both parties remember everything that happens to the combined entity while they are fused after the fusion is ended.

 

So this raises two questions related to Hero. The first, which has probably been answered before in other circumstances, is what the power and power build would be for a character who is capable of combining forms and consciousness with others. The other is how you can possibly handle it in-game when two or more PCs fuse (which player controls the character? Do they have to agree on every action the fused character takes)?

Steven Long told me that Ultimate Metamorph has specific rules for this sort of thing (but I don't have that sourcebook so I've been unable to check them).

Barring access to whatever those rules are I second Lucius' suggestion of building this as a Multiform (built on a number of CP equal to the "largest" Gem plus 50 CP), and with the modifiers Extra Time, Requires a Teamwork Roll, and Requires Multiple Users*. This is also how you would build 5 robotic lions forming Voltron.

 

Requires Multiple Users is what allows this power to function as "Reverse Duplication". Normally it would require every user have the exact same version of the power, As GM I would hand-wave this requirement for Gems and instead require that all Gems (and fusions of Gems) buy a Multiform built on 50 more CP than themselves as a campaign ground rule.

For example:

Lets say Ruby and Sapphire are 350 CP sheets and each have a 400 CP Multiform. When they form Garnet, it is a 400 CP sheet with a 450 CP Multiform.

Further, lets say Amethyst and Pearl are also 350 CP sheets and each have 400 CP Multiforms, when they fuse with one another, the result is as powerful as garnet in terms of points, she's just a giant woman. If Amethyst or Pearl fuse with Garnet (who is herself a fusion of Ruby and Sapphire) the result is a 450 CP sheet with a 500 CP Multiform. If they all fuse the result is a 500 CP sheet with a 550 CP Multiform.

In terms of specifics, it is important the note every potential fusion combination receives a unique character sheet, sometimes with entirely different powers than the composite gems (Garnet has electrical powers, while ruby and sapphire have heat and cold powers respectively), and often similar but not identical psychological complications.

 

In terms of Player Educate for Gem fusions I recommend the following guidelines be followed:

Fusions typically have their own personalities, they aren't just two minds in the same body. The less compatible the components of the fusion, the more mutated their body tends to be, and the more disjointed their personalities (see Lapis and Jasper).

A )  NPC+NPC Fusions: Design the fusion ahead of time, but don't worry too much about the specifics of it's actions. They still do what the GM wants them to do in their fused forms, and have whatever complications the GM gave them.

B )  NPC+PC Fusions: Sit down and design the fusion with your player before running the scenario involving such a fusion. Generally the player should control such a fusion, but ensure the player understands and plays to the fusion's psychological complications. If the player tries to force the fusion to do something the NPC wouldn't, have them roll and EGO vs. EGO contest, if the player wins they retain control, if the NPC wins the NPC ends the fusion or you take control of the fusion (as appropriate).

C )  PC+PC Fusions: Watch out for this one, it can be trouble. Have the players sit down and design their fusion together. Make sure the fusion has powers similar to but different from the individual gems, and make sure the fusion has a personality of it's own with at least one unique psychological complication. While fused, the players must agree on all of the fusion's actions, if they disagree have both players roll EGO vs EGO contests to determine which player is dominate that phase. If the players don't play to the fusion's personality, or remain fused for too long (more than an hour) have the fusion roll an EGO vs. EGO contest against them; treat the lower of the player's rolls as a complementary roll to the higher, and give the fusion a +2 bonus to its roll for every step down the time chart past 1 hour that they have been fused. If the fusion wins, you (as GM) take control of the fusion for 6 hours, or until the fusion is poofed. After every 6 hours you've spent controlling the fusion, allow the players another contest against it. If someone they trust tries to get them to separate, immediately give the players another contest against it with a bonus (minimum +2, plus allow the helper to roll a complementary PRE roll Persuasion roll to their EGO rolls)

[JmOz]

When I built Voltron I did this (It might help)

 

BLACK LION was the main character

Black Lion had a MP with two slots

Slot 1: Summon Duplicate 4 Lion Robots (Blue, Red, Green, Yellow).  Some limitations to indicate it was basicaly always on, IIRC +1/4 for differences and +3/4 for 0 end Persistant

Slot 2 Multform: Voltron.  An extra 200-300 points is impresive...

[clnicholsusa]

Suppose the base character is first written as using no more than 75% of the total points needed on the duplication power. If the power is written as Altered Duplicate, 0 END, Persistent then the 'duplicated state' could be considered the standard state of the character.

When the character decides to fuse,  on the duplication power.

At the same time, the base character spends the difference between the duplicate's point total and the higher point total of the 'fused' creation with the -1/4 limitation 'Can not be used while duplicated'.

 

Would there be an issue with this method?

[Christopher]

 

Suppose the base character is first written as using no more than 75% of the total points needed on the duplication power. If the power is written as Altered Duplicate, 0 END, Persistent then the 'duplicated state' could be considered the standard state of the character.

When the character decides to fuse,  on the duplication power.

At the same time, the base character spends the difference between the duplicate's point total and the higher point total of the 'fused' creation with the -1/4 limitation 'Can not be used while duplicated'.

 

Would there be an issue with this method?

 

"Duplicates do not have the Power Duplication

themselves, nor any ability to create other Duplicates, unless they pay for it separately. However,

unless the GM permits otherwise, for ease of use

all Duplicates must “pay for” the cost of the base

character’s Duplication ability. Otherwise, the

Duplicates would end up with more points to

spend on other abilities than the base character

himself has." - 6E1 198

So the duplicates do not get to spend the points you already tied up in Duplication.

[Michael Hopcroft]

Another complication in this particular fictional universe is that any Gem can theoretically fuse with any other Gem. And accidental fusion is possible under the right circumstances (that's how a character like Garnet comes about). The irony is that this incredibly useful power is something most Gems won't do in their own society -- it is heavily frowned upon and many even find it revolting. When Garnet came along, the "Homeworld Gems" in the vicinity were so violently offended that their leader ordered Ruby's immediate execution (and would probably have killed Sapphire too if they hadn't escaped).

 

It is also possible (and even more disgusting to most Homeworld Gems) for a Gem to fuse with a human. Steven (a Gem who is also part human on his father's side -- how that happened is not quite clear) didn't know he could do it until it happened -- he was trying to show his shy pre-girlfriend how to dance (though he didn't really know himself) and before they knew it they were fused. That means that just as any Gem can theoretically fuse with any other Gem, Steven can fuse with both any Gem or any human. It is unclear whether cross-class-of-life-form fusion is something all Gems can do or is a power unique to Steven.

 

This may be one of the very few things in any fictional universe that Hero simply can't model, or at least can't model well. The number of possible forms any Gem can take when combined with other Gems are as infinite as the number of possible Gems in the universe.

[JmOz]

EDM & UBO with side effect?

[Duke Bushido]

I'd go with Multiform, usable by others simultaneously. As far as the roleplaying aspects, that's for the players involved to decide.

Multiform with "requires multiple users."

 

Third!

 

 

For all the possible ways to build the power, this is the most elegant, and "feels" the most correct.

 

There are tons of power write ups for "focus of opportunity" powers. In this case, that focus is a person!

 

Well, not really a focus: as Lucius pointed out: requires multiple users or something like that.

 

But the precedent is there.

[dmjalund]

_

[Duke Bushido]

If you ask how to organize it so that X players control 1 Actor shared: That is not possible as far as anyone knows. If you do find a way, please let us know.

Let me just throw this out there:

 

Whether or not you use Duplication, Multiform, or whatever, act it out thusly:

 

Each player acts on his Dex in his SPD. The two characters, while the Fusion is in effect, required to stay in the same hex / adjacent hex (depending on the rules edition you're using, of course). Honestly, I think multiform would solve SPD / Dex issues, but I don't think it's the only way to go about this.

 

Anyway, if one character moves, the other must move with him. Full move from the "first" character would end the move for them both, obviously.

 

They both get moves; they both get attacks. The fact that they are in fact fused together is, as many people are quick to point out about other power builds, merely the SFX of this Fusion power. I can't speak for every group (I saw someone on this board a few days ago use the term "murder hobos." I laughed so hard my eyes teared up), but most of the players I know would rather quickly find a way to equitably manage movement; they each have their own attack.

 

The only objection I can see is the possibly complaint that "now this giant has two attacks." No; each player has his attack. The fact that two players are stuck together in a giant woman is merely the SFX.

 

 

Just a thought, mind you.