Random FBH Dev Journal
Was tackling the balancing issues of the concept of Polymorph/Shapeshifting last evening, (working on the Occultist career) and it really stumped me. Polymorphing can become the Swiss Army Knife of skills. It’s immensely versatile, to the point of invalidating other abilities. So it needs restrictions. However, simply locking down what the skill can do (say, by giving a list of what the caster can become) is unsatisfying and doesn’t really jive with the spirit of PbtA. Time-based usage limitations (can only use it once per day) also felt very clunky, and I hate tracking that kind of stuff.
What I was looking for was a way to grant flavorful shapeshifting, where the choice of shape is a deliberate, premeditated decision. I wanted something that had great versatility, but wasn’t unrestrained in usage. Finally, I wanted something that created combos with existing skills. Today it finally hit me:
Transform: Spend a Data Point about a subject to take on the physical properties of that subject (resistances, locomotion, vulnerabilities, etc). You cannot take on a form smaller than an insect or larger than twice your size.
EDIT! New design, after some considerations
Transform: You can take on the shape and physical characteristics (locomotion, size, vulnerabilities, etc) of a subject immediately after making an Assessment of it, or at any time by spending a Data Point about it. The subject cannot more than roughly four times smaller or larger than your natural form (mouse to elephant, roughly). You can return to your normal form at any point.. Transforming into something larger than the available area is a bad idea.
I’m still waffling about the size limit, but picking bacteria or a titanic space whale would make for situations outside the purview of the game. I wish I could come up with a cleaner way of conveying that concept though (totally open to suggestions)
Other than that, I’m actually quite excited about how many of my criteria this hits. It’s a built-in limiting factor because it has a resource. The limitation is flavorful, because it requires research, study and understanding of the subject to assume their form (Assessment as occult research). The resource itself is already part of the game, rather than being tacked on. And it combos well with other skills that interact with Data Points.
A couple of examples off the top of my head:
– A Clandestine Occultist can Interrogate someone and then impersonate them (Doppelganger).
– An Occultist Explorer can immediately take on the form of beasts in any wilderness they visit (Druid).
I’m sure there are more, which is why I’m quite excited about it.
Nice! Although I might limit the lower end to a bird or mouse since you know someone is going to go for a dust mite so they can get inhaled and then expand inside their opponents lungs. 🙂
I like this, but I feel like it might need some way to sort of… grow your Data Points about something for the purposes of like “studying” them. It seems a little silly to just have to make constant Assessment rolls on your pet Space Rat in order to mimic him.
Here’s just an idea that covers my concern: you don’t expend the Data Point to change shape, but do need to expend it to do something extraordinary – similar to the way the Dungeon World Druid expends hold…
Hrm, not too happy with that, but I’m leaving it to consider.
Will confirm Todd Zircher’s instincts. In the first session of my DW game years back, the party druid turned into a fly so they could enter a Deep Elf’s ear canal and then returned to full size.
I can see where Aaron Griffin is coming from, and what I would suggest is: make it ‘expend a Data Point to assume the shape of something you are unfamiliar with’ or something similar. So, you can mimic your pet rat, other PCs, or whoever relatively easily but when you want to start trying weird or out there stuff, you’ll need to Assess.
Oh I like that one better Alfred Rudzki
Does it need a mechanical way to determine familiarity? Or are you basically only “familiar” with your fellow PCs, their crews, and pets and things?
Mechanically determining familiarity sounds absolutely bleh to me. Familiar means familiar. Quiz your players about it, I’d say.
Great feedback! I’m going to use the words “intimately familliar”. Hopefully that will convey the relative rarity of that relationship
Sounds good, although I might favor “deeply” over “intimately”? To me, intimately familiar is one thing when talking about emotional relationships, but takes on a new meaning when discussing morphing your body to match theirs.
Fair point, I’ll try out a few superlatives and see which one sticks.
Also: I just thought of an unintended (but kinda hilarious) interaction. Occult Starfarer with calibrations… can transform into a small vehicle. Like a bike or car.
And I’m ok with that.
More like Morty https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lRAO-OuSfw
Upon further consideration, using Data Points as a resource might not work. Since you only naturally get a single Data Point on a 10+ Assessment, abilities that use these Data Points would be ‘dead’ for a large portion of the game unless you had another skill that granted easy Data Points.
I’m kinda kicking myself for shutting off that avenue by not granting a Data Point on a 7-9 and two Data Points on a 10+.
I still like the idea of using Assessment as a ritual to take on that shape. So here’s the new design:
Transform: You can take on the shape and physical characteristics (locomotion, size, vulnerabilities, etc) of a subject immediately after making an Assessment of it, or at any time by spending a Data Point about it. The subject cannot more than roughly four times smaller or larger than your natural form (mouse to elephant, roughly). You can return to your normal form at any point. Transforming into something larger than the available area is a bad idea.
I updated the main topic.