Fluff Alternate Form

[Kaleigh Dactomb Nox]

Two questions:

First:

Q37: My character fights in a power suit. If I want them to get out of the suit and walk around outside of fights, does that require an alternate form?
A: No, within reason. The same could be said for many powered-down forms. You can choose to restrict your stats and powers for roleplaying reasons such as your character being in a weakened state, or not actually wanting to have all 10 stat points to start (say you are a weaker character who starts with 5 stat points and gradually trains to reach their full 10 stats. This is okay, but you still have to choose your final base stats when joining). However this is for roleplaying fodder only, and not for a gameplay advantage (for example, saying that your character is smaller in their weaker form, and using that as logic for being able to escape a larger character - this would not be okay).

Is the opposite of this also true? Could I, for example, stay in a normal form most of the time, including during fights, but also change into a ‘powered up’ form basically at will?

To clarify, I want a base form that has the normal base stats, has a normal moveset, follow all the rules for a normal character, etc. But, for purely roleplay reasons, I want to have a second form that I exclusively use certain additional moves and power-ups with. These abilities would all be approved and technically usable by the base form, and the ‘powered up form’ would have no benefits from the form itself. The only difference gameplay wise would be a vastly different appearance and attitude, with some kind of clause that prevents it from being used as a disguise or alter ego.

Is this alright?

Second, assuming the above is ok (I’m pretty confident it is, based on the Q&A), would it be alright to write this as a fluff alternate form? In other words, a 0 cost alternate form with none of the benefits that usually come with an alternate form.

To clarify, no stats would change or increase, there is no change in size and no extra benefit will be gained from any moves that require the alternate move to use (In other words, restricting moves to the alternate form will be fluff only and not actually a disadvantage to balance the move).

This is entirely for ease of understanding of anyone reading my roster. For roleplay reasons, I’d like certain abilities to be restricted to this alternate form and for there to be a distinct difference in appearance and attitude between the two forms. It seems like it would be much simpler to write this change as an alternate form, and then mention in the move description all of the moves that are only used in this form.

This came up because I had planned on taking a tier 1 power-up that drastically changed the appearance of the character. However, I wanted the appearance change to persist after the power up ran its course, and continue to stay in effect until I felt it was appropriate to end it. After several discussions, and the realization that I didn’t necessarily want the transformation tied to a power-up, I came to the conclusion that an alternate form was the easiest way to describe it. I could be wrong, and if there is an easier/free way to accomplish this same effect I am open to suggestions.

[The Humble Sage]

I think where your sticking point is with this is your usage of the term "powered-up" vs. "alternate" when it comes to a fluff power, as well as the limits of what a "fluff" form means.

As I understand things you want to have some moves/abilities that are only accessible in one of your forms, which is an alternate form that is designed for RP-only. There are no problems with this, its 100% fine for you to lock certain moves to certain forms. Its also even possible that one of your forms is going to have access to more of your abilities than another form, making it "more powerful" in a sense, without wanting to have additional stats associated with it. you can't make a "power-up" in the rules sense without spending OM, but I think that's not what your asking about.

Where I think you're going to run into trouble however, is with making such a thing a "fluff" alternate form. Alt-forms are expensive, so I understand the goal behind it, but you will want to think carefully about what a fluff alt-form would mean. You describe this intended change to be drastically different, but if you want this to be a fluff form than it will not actually change anything about the character mechanically. If that's what you want, I suppose that an argument could be made for it being a fluff form, but I would would personally recommend spending the Om to let this change be integral to your character. (another possibile way to get the kind of superficial change you want is via Shapeshifting, though forms other than your main one would be descernable as "false" by people with enhanced senses) Its also worth noting that a fluff alt-form would need to be approved in the same way a stat-effecting alt-form would be.

Ultimately its your choice, but if my explanation isn't good enough, I can try and work through the process in more detail with you.

[Kaleigh Dactomb Nox]

Thank you for the quick response!

I have looked into shapeshifting, and that is not what I'm after. I really don't intend for any changes to have any effect besides roleplay, and it actually goes against the idea for her alt-form to be recognizable as anything other than just herself (So, no false form). I also do understand, more or less, what I mean by fluff and the consequences therein. Specifically, that there are no mechanical changes to the character in the alt-form; This is exactly what I'm after. In fact, I believe as the rules read I am already allowed to do this without actually calling it an alternate form (That was my first question). I called the alt-form a power up, but mechanically I want it to be a straight lateral shift, with no increase in utility or power. The drastic change is purely cosmetic, entirely role play oriented. I'm willing to put any clause neccessary into the transformation to prove this.

If this idea is turned down, then I may get a proper alternate form anyway. However, it's just hard to justify spending 2k OM when I really don't want to change any stats. I'd feel like I would need to push off purchasing it until I get more vital powers and moves first, which would screw with the story for my character quite a bit.

I did expect having to submit this as an actual transformation for approval, but I felt it was more prudent to ask first here than have a discussion in the move approval thread.

Please forgive my poor attempts to explain what I'm trying to do. Having the idea and explaining it well are two different things, and I'm also trying not to spoil my character too much, =P

As I was typing this all up, I came up with something that might help explain: Essentially, I'm trying to play two distinct characters inhabiting the same body. It's a bit more nuanced than that, but that's the jist of it. However, the only difference is in appearance and personality. They fight essentially exactly the same, and while one is supposed to be more powerful, I can easily work that with seperate power ups and moves that I only use with them (These I would purchase normally as if I didn't have an alternate form, and then just stick to only using them with said alternate form).

[The Humble Sage]

Right, so I think that this should be allowable as a fluff alt-form, but it would still require a written move, because the change is not inherent to some function of your character. The example the rules give is a powersuit, it makes no sense that a person could not take off their powersuit. But from your description, this sounds like a different kind of situation, where you have a different personality and appearance that are more extensive than that sort of change. As such we would need the form approved.

The only final bit of caution I would add is to make sure this isn't an attempt to fit multiple characters into one account (which is something people have tried in the past, so that's why I figured I would mention it.) provided there is some form of connection, enough that this is still "one character" than I don't see why that would be a problem.