Modular Ability with Item of Power

[Blackmako]

Hello,

Some context: A player with a weretiger in our game wanted an item of power. He had two refresh to spend on the item. We did a story that build up to the item which is an amulet from his ancestors. Its visible and can be potentially pulled off (so +2 rebate) He wanted to have the amulet give him access to a new form. The form is the half-man/half-tiger form. Sort of like White Wolf's Crinos but with a tiger.

Can Modular Ability be purchased at a later date/after the fact? If so can it be purchase with an item of power. In some ways it reads like abilities that go into Modular Ability must be purchased beforehand. The player wanted to use 8 pts of his abilities in the pool. If the modular ability is allowable what can he purchase with it? His abilities are speed, strength, recovery. Will he need to stay with speed, strength, and recovery with different degrees (unnatural, supernatural) or can get use the points to take toughness?

If Modular Ability is not feasible after the fact of character creation what would you suggest power wise to capture a third form that is not purely an animal form?

Input would be helpful as I don't want to have an item that breaks game balance. Thank you in advance.

[crusher_bob]

I believe the +1 or +2 bonus is not based on how easy the item (potentially) is to reach, but instead how obviously the item and the power go together.

For example, if I have a glowing sword that can cut through anything, it's seems pretty obvious that the glowing sword and the ability to cut through anything probably go together.  So if you took my sword away, most people would expect me to also loose the cut through anything power.

However, 'just a necklace' doesn't seem to be directly related to being a better shapeshifter.  If you think it should have the +2 bonus, you should think of a way to make the fact that it grants you power more obvious.

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As for modular powers, if he already paid the -2 refresh surcharge once for modular powers, then there's no need to make him pay again for the item of power to enlarge his modular power pool.

So, for example, if his character sheet could look like:

Echoes of the beast -1
5 points of modular abilities -7

item of power
(somehow obvious necklace) +2
3 more points of modular abilities -3

total cost -9

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If you have modular abilities power, any of the (strength, speed, toughness (which includes recovery powers)) powers are supposed to be available to you, plus whatever creature features or other powers the GM will let you get away with.

Probably, your catch for any toughness powers you get via modular abilities should be fixed when you buy modular abilities, so you can't just shape shift to something with a different catch.

[Blackmako]

No worries on the amulet. It's plenty obvious and has all sorts of narrative to make it magic feeling. That and when the character is shifted it is the only piece of clothing/jewelry visible. That is not what I am asking a question about (pricing items).

To be clear the player wants modular ability with the item long after character creation. Can modular ability be purchased at a later date? As well as the other questions I had.

[Cadd]

The way I see it, any power can be purchased at any point providing there is narrative justification (and fulfillment of requirements). I can't see why modular abilities should differ.

[Sanctaphrax]

You can buy any Power whenever. If you're talking about ditching previously taken physical Powers in exchange for form points, I guess it's a bit debatable but I'd definitely allow it.

As for the rebate, I think it has to do with size and obviousness. Not sure a necklace ought to qualify for a +2.

[Blackmako]

Its not too hard to rip an amulet off a character. In his animal forms the amulet is very obvious.

Previously I did not want to bore everyone with why it is VERY obvious. The amulet has an elder rage spirit bound to it and it radiates its malevolence/hate/rage. So others pick up on it emotionally/narratively within 1 zone of him. It makes other people very uncomfortable. Magic sensitive types pick it up right off the bat. When its powers are active it becomes visible to the eye as a magic item. When the rage spirit inside the amulet is trying to persuade the character to follow its murderous agenda a gem flashes and sparkles. The character gets a schizo look of having an inner conversation. When he is changed into his war form the gem flashes and blazes an angry ruby red. It is not a small amulet either. Its about four inches thick with gold like material in the band around the neck. The front piece has gold filigree and a huge ruby in the center of the filigree. At its front it is about seven inches for six inches. It adjust to a large size in his tiger form and war form. It is not a concealable item at all due to the pathos it exudes when he is human and the blazing piece of jewelry when he is a beast. The ONLY piece of jewelry/clothing. Successful maneuvering can lead to said item getting snatched with a contested roll. Just like a sword.  My understanding of the rebate is based on how obvious it is as a source of power and whether or not it is accessible to being taken away. So something that say "Magic sword" is obvious as power and with weapons/fists/guns/magic vulnerable to disarm. An item that is not obvious as a source of power that can be hidden would be no rebate at all. +2 is not just reserved to swords. Even the DFRG resources has examples (like cloaks) of non weapon items at +2. In real life something around your neck can get ripped off or used to chuck you around. Player is aware of the social implications of the item being visible in scenes. Visible items become conversation pieces in scenes.

So back to my original question. If he buys modular ability he can only build a pool with refresh AFTER the purchase of modular ability...correct? (based on Sancta it would be a technical no unless allowed by GM)  Can I as a GM designate that the modular ability only allows one form with powers swapped as a limitation. I am leaning towards this to prevent a player from having a huge utility bag of 8 pts to swap all sorts of way to prevent him outshining the party. Should I prevent the player from stacking points to Mythic level (party is at 13 refresh)?

Should I direct him to another point of beast form to have a third form/set of skills instead?  Does beast form have to be a naturally occurring beast?

[Cadd]

When you buy Modular Abilities you define two things:
How many Refresh worth of powers can be accessed at once?
What is the pool of powers to swap around among?

You can definitely set specific packages to switch between, so there's no "on-the-fly" switching around. (This might motivate a lower surcharge than otherwise, but that's your call)

[Haru]

Its not too hard to rip an amulet off a character. In his animal forms the amulet is very obvious.

Usually, I would say that an amulet would qualify as +1 at best. But you've got a pretty solid explanation for why it could be more, so I won't argue with that.

So back to my original question. If he buys modular ability he can only build a pool with refresh AFTER the purchase of modular ability...correct? (based on Sancta it would be a technical no unless allowed by GM)  Can I as a GM designate that the modular ability only allows one form with powers swapped as a limitation. I am leaning towards this to prevent a player from having a huge utility bag of 8 pts to swap all sorts of way to prevent him outshining the party. Should I prevent the player from stacking points to Mythic level (party is at 13 refresh)?

You basically rebuild the character at a milestone. If the character had something like this:

Beast change [-1]
Echoes of the Beast [-1]
Human Form [+1]
 Claws [-1]
 Inhuman Strength [-2]
 Inhuman Speed [-2]

You would rebuild him like this:

Beast change (Tiger) [-1]
Echoes of the Beast [-1]
Human Form [+1]
 Modular Abilities [-7]
  5 modular points

Tiger Form:
 Claws [-1]
 Inhuman Strength [-2]
 Inhuman Speed [-2]

So right now, we have a character who does exactly the same, except it costs 2 refresh more. When he shifts into a tiger, you take the powers listed under "Tiger Form". But you can also create other sets, if they would make sense for the character. For example, I created a character like this just the other day, who has a raven and a dog form. That's 2 sets of powers I can switch between, but I can't choose powers just like I want. Yet.
He's also got Beast Change twice, because both the dog and the raven have different sets of skills.
And that would go for you, too. If your beast change (tiger) set of skills would be enough for the half transformed form, you could just take those skills for both forms. If the skills in half-shifted form are supposed to be different, you are going to have to take "Beast Change (half tiger)" and define the new set of skills for when you are half transformed.

Should I direct him to another point of beast form to have a third form/set of skills instead?  Does beast form have to be a naturally occurring beast?

See above. Beast form basically just allows you to change your skill list to fit the new form. The type of beast doesn't matter, as long as shifting into it is acceptable to your group.

[Blackmako]

Thank you Haru! I now have a clear idea how to give the player what he is looking for while not creating something game breaking (the ability to do mythic this and mythic that). I do think I need to have the player pay for 1 more beast form as he is using the "third" form with another shuffling of skills. So your spot on. I will clarify with the player next game.

[Haru]

Glad to help. You might also be interested in this. Arcane pointed it out while I was creating my character, and it just as much applies here. It's from the custom power list:

QUASI-MODULAR ABILITIES [-Varies]
Description: You have the ability to alternate between multiple powersets.
Musts: You must "pre-pay" a number of refresh points equal to the total value of each set of powers that this power affects, plus a surcharge of one refresh.
Skills Affected: Varies.
Effects:
Two Powersets. Pick out two sets of powers, each with a total refresh cost one less than the cost of this power. You may use either set of powers, although it takes a full action to go from using one to using the other. The GM decides what is and what isn't a valid choice for inclusion in the powersets provided by this power.
Item Of Power Collection [-0] You own multiple items of power. Design a number of Items Of Power equal to your Resources skill. At any given time, you may use or loan out items with a total refresh cost up to one less than the refresh cost of this power. You do not receive the Item Of Power discount. If you have the Tracing power, then you may summon and dismiss these Items Of Power out of and into thin air. If not, you must treat them as physical objects.

[Cadd]

Yeah, switching between two pre-defined power sets shouldn't cost the full -2 surcharge of Modular Abilities, since it's a lot less flexible. -1 is fair, I think.

[Sanctaphrax]

If you like Modular Abilities and Quasi-Modular Abilities, you'll probably also like Variable Abilities. Quasi-Modular Abilities is basically a special case of it.

[Haru]

If you like Modular Abilities and Quasi-Modular Abilities, you'll probably also like Variable Abilities. Quasi-Modular Abilities is basically a special case of it.

I guess that's this boards version of "Users who liked X also bought Y."