Szilard/FavorsOfLuna

Shapeshifting: The Favors of Luna

Alternatively, see Szilard/MoreThoughtsOnLunars

An introduction will eventually go here.

Right now, you get design notes.

The idea of this project is to make Lunar Shapechanging into a subsystem more analogous to Sidereal Astrology than a set of charms. Unlike Sidereal Astrology, though, Shapeshifting ought to be something that is easy to understand with quick and simple mechanics.

Let's make the analogous bits clear:

The Tell -- Paradox

Beastman Form -- Resplendent Destinies

I see no need to map shapeshifty bits onto Attributes. That seems superfluous.

There will be three new stats:

Totem: How strong your tie is to your totem animal

The Tell: Related to Totem, this is the bleed-over from your Totem animal into your other forms. It is mostly bad stuff, but someone with a high Tell is likely getting more power out of their Totem than someone with a low Tell.

Heart's Blood: (not the background) How fluid your form is and how able you are to shapechange into animals other than your Totem and add them to your library. Vaguely opposed to the Totem insofar as a higher Totem keeps a character closer to their non-human true forms. The Heart's Blood background is renamed "Heart's Blood Library."

These stats will max out at the higher of 5 or Essence. 1 Other goals:

• Have actual rules for what happens when a Lunar becomes a Chimera.
• Justify a reduction in experience point cost for Lunar Charms
• Allow for Lunar shapeshifting to be expandable in power as Essence and experience increases

Things I still need to do:

• Intro text
• Animal Totem form stats
• High Essence stuffs
• Anything else?

Simplify.

The Tell: The Mark of Luna =

The base difficulty for detecting the Tell in one of the Lunar's true forms is 5 (on a reflexive Perception + Awareness roll once per meeting/day).

The base difficulty for detecting the Tell in a shapechanged Lunar is 5 for those who know the Tell they are looking for, and 7 for those who are merely suspicious.

• One autosuccess on attempts by others to spot the Tell in the Lunar's true forms. One extra die on attempts by others to spot the Tell when the Lunar is shapeshifted. Subtract one experience point from the cost of setting a new True Form.

•• Two autosuccesses on attempts by others to spot the Tell in the Lunar's true forms. Two extra dice on attempts by others to spot the Tell when the Lunar is shapeshifted. Subtract two experience points from the cost of setting a new True Form.

••• Three autosuccesses on attempts by others to spot the Tell in the Lunar's true forms. Three extra dice on attempts by others to spot the Tell when the Lunar is shapeshifted. Subtract three experience points from the cost of setting a new True Form. Heart's Blood bought after character creation costs an additional experience point per dot. Attempts by others to see through a the Lunar's disguises are at +1 dice.

•••• Four autosuccesses on attempts by others to spot the Tell in the Lunar's true forms. Four extra dice on attempts by others to spot the Tell when the Lunar is shapeshifted. Subtract four experience points from the cost of setting a new True Form. Heart's Blood bought after character creation costs two additional experience points per dot. Attempts by others to see through a the Lunar's disguises are at +2 dice.

••••• Five autosuccesses on attempts by others to spot the Tell in the Lunar's true forms. Five extra dice on attempts by others to spot the Tell when the Lunar is shapeshifted. Subtract five experience points from the cost of setting a new True Form. Heart's Blood bought after character creation costs three additional experience points per dot. Attempts by others to see through a the Lunar's disguises are at +3 dice.

Each point of Tell taken in character creation provides two extra bonus points. A player may never voluntarily raise a character's Tell higher than her Totem rating.

Social Effects of the Tell

• When Tell is revealed, it increases the Lunar's difficulty of normal social interactions with normal mortals, specifically excluding Wyld barbarians and beastmen, by an amount equal to the Lunar's Tell rating. This penalty is only in effect in the initial scene in which the Tell is revealed to any given mortal.
• The Tell rating adds to intimidation pools with all mortals when the Lunar's Tell is revealed. This is only in effect in the initial scene in which the Tell is revealed to any given individual.

Gaining Tell

If you buy additional Totem with experience or a Shapeshifting Charm with a Totem requirement that is greater than your current Tell, roll Totem vs. a difficulty = Tell. If successful, add one to Tell (up to a maximum of Totem). In addition, you may gain a point of Tell when developing a True Form

Totem: The Gift of Luna =

• A character can have a single true form other than Lunar's human form: this is the form of the Lunar's totem animal. The Lunar may shift to this form or shift from this form to his human form at the cost of one mote as a simple, instant action that counts as the character's Charm use for the turn.

•• A character at this level of Totem may develop a beastman form. The Lunar may shift to this form or shift from this form to his human form at the cost of five motes as a simple, instant action that counts as the character's Charm use for the turn. This is also the minimum to have a small or large animal as a Totem.

••• This is the minimum to have a very small or very large animal as a Totem. Shifting from one true form to another true form is a reflexive action that counts as the character's Charm use for the turn.

•••• All shifting to a true form is a reflexive action that counts as the character's Charm use for the turn. A character may spend one Effect Point on an improved animal totem True Form.

••••• All shifting to a true form is a reflexive action. This does not count as the character's Charm use for the turn. A character may spend two Effect Points on an improved animal totem True Form.

Totem size categories:

• Normal: cat to elk
• Small: mouse to cat
• Large: elk to tyrant lizard
• Very Small: ant to mouse
• Very Large: tyrant lizard to whale

Developing a new True Form is an arduous process, not undertaken lightly. In order to begin the process, the Lunar must not have any committed Essence and must deattune to all non-Lunar manses. In addition, the Lunar must not have added an animal to her Heart's Blood library within the last Lunar cycle.

Each True Form is constructed with a number of Effect Points. These Effect Points are equal to a character's Totem + Tell plus the number of successes on an Essence roll.

If the character fails the Essence roll, she has a number of Effect Points equal to her Totem + Tell, and when her Caste Phase next begins, she gains a permanent point of Tell.

If the character botches the Essence roll, she does not succeed in setting her True Form and must wait a full Lunar cycle before trying again. She also gains a permanent point of Tell when her Caste phase next begins.

Modifiers:

• If the character is in a Lunar-aspected Manse or Desmesne to which she is attuned, add the level of the Manse or Desmesne to the Lunar's Essence die pool.
• If the Lunar is a Chimera, they may add their Tell together for the purposes of calculating their total available Effect Points.
• ritual, prayer, sacrifice, etc. (details forthcoming)
• If the Lunar undergoes this process in the Wyld, add one die to the Essence die pool.
• If the process does not both begin and end in the Lunar's Caste phase of the lunar cycle, the difficulty of the Essence roll increases by two.

Each Effect Point may be used to purchase:

• Two dots of Strength
• Two dots of Stamina
• One dot of Strength and one dot of Stamina
• One dot of Dexterity
• One Gift

(note: still debating opening up non-physical attributes - my inclination is to say that Changing Moons and No Moons purchase their Caste Attributes at 1 effect point per dot.)

A character may not spend more Effect Points on Gifts than she has levels of Totem.

Notes on improved animal totem true forms (rough):

• these replace a character's normal animal totem true forms
• Effect Point costs are the same as for the Beastman Form, but the starting point is different (totem animal's normal stats - may include Gifts - should these gifts need to be paid for before they are used as prerequisites?)

A character need not spend all of their Effect Points when setting a True Form

Fixing a beastman form as a true form requires xp = (2 x (levels of Totem + # of Effect Points spent)) - levels of Tell

Fixing a totem animal form as a true form requires xp = levels of Totem + # of Effect Points spent - levels of Tell

Heart's Blood: The Dominion of Luna

• cat to elk sized animals only. The Lunar may change form as a simple action by spending 5 motes of Essence. This action takes an entire turn and counts against charm use in that turn.

•• The Lunar may change form as a simple action of instant duration by spending 4 motes of Essence. This does not count against charm use in that turn.

••• The Lunar may change form as a simple action of instant duration by spending 3 motes of Essence. This does not count against charm use in that turn.

•••• The Lunar may change form once per turn as a reflexive action of instant duration by spending 3 motes of Essence. This does not count against charm use in that turn.

••••• The Lunar may change form as a reflexive action of instant duration by spending 3 motes of Essence. This does not count against charm use in that turn.

Each dot above the first gives one of the following size ranges:

• Small: mouse to cat
• Very Small: ant to mouse (prereq: small)
• Large: elk to tyrant lizard
• Very Large: tyrant lizard to whale (prereq: large)

When encountering a new animal, drink its heart's blood and roll Per + Heart's Blood to add it to your library. Difficulty 1 Difficulty Modifiers:

• Have a similar animal in library: -1
• Animal is human: +1
• Animal is in small or large category: +1
• Animal is in very small or very large category: +2
• Animal has no heart to speak of (such as an insect): +3
• Animal is a member of a wyld-touched species that breeds true: +10

Animals that are unique creatures, have been altered by sorcery or the Wyld, or are not a member of a species that is capable of breeding true cannot be added to a Lunar's library.

Heart's Blood is, in some ways, opposed to Totem in that expanding the range of other animals a Lunar can take the form of briefly weakens their link to their Totem. Adding a creature to your library subtracts 1 from your Totem until the moon next rises. This effect is cumulative.

Character Creation and Experience Point Changes

Every character gains one level in each of Totem and Heart's Blood at character creation. In addition, each character may take an additional level of either Heart's Blood or a level each of Tell and Totem. So, before spending Bonus Points, a starting Lunar will have either: Tell: 0, Totem: 1, Heart's Blood: 2 or Tell: 1, Totem: 2, Heart's Blood: 1.

Lunars begin with eight charms at character creation, four of which must be in Caste attributes.

Character Creation

Bonus Points: I need to increase the total number of Bonus Points, I think. How much will this mess things up? Do I need some limits (X number must be spent on Charms and/or Favors)?

Tell: gain two BP/level taken (may not be raised above Totem at character creation)

Totem: 8

Heart's Blood: 6

All characters begin with a normal Totem Animal form.

Characters with at least two points in Totem may also start play with a Beastman form. These forms have a number of Effect Points equal to the character's Totem, with additional Effect Points costing one Bonus Point each. The number of Effect Points at character creation cannot be greater than Totem + Tell.

Experience

Tell: cannot be gained with experience. See gaining Tell, above.

Totem: current rating x 5

Heart's Blood: current rating x 4

New Charm: 12 (10 if in a Caste Attribute)

Training Times

Increase Totem: current rating in lunar cycles

Increase Heart's Blood: current rating in weeks

Shapeshifting Charms

The following Charms no longer exist under this option, being supplanted by the rules herein: Finding the Spirit's Shape, Deadly Beastman Transformation, Towering Beast Form, Humble Mouse Shape.

Shapeshifting charms will have Favor minimums.

Hide of the Cunning Hunter</b>

<b>Min. Heart's Blood: 1

Masking the Brilliant Form</b>

<b>Min. Heart's Blood: 2

Using this Charm effectively lowers the Lunar's Tell rating by three for the purposes of having her Tell detected by others.

Calling Luna's Favor</b>

<b>Min. Totem: 3

Blossoming Gift of Luna</b>

<b>Min. Totem: 4

Shaping the Ideal Form</b>

<b>Min. Totem: 2
Min. Heart's Blood: 2

Many-Faced Moon Transformation</b>

<b>Min. Totem: 2
Min. Heart's Blood: 3

Prey's Skin Disguise</b>

<b>Min. Totem: 2
Min. Heart's Blood: 4

Lunar Blood Reshaping Technique</b>

<b>Min. Totem: 2
Min. Heart's Blood: 4

Wondrous Lunar Transformation</b>

<b>Min. Totem: 2
Min. Heart's Blood: 5

Shaping the Once-Living Form</b>

<b>Min. Totem: 2
Min. Heart's Blood: 4

Fish Tail Technique</b>

<b>Min. Totem: 2
Min. Heart's Blood: 3

Tool Hand Technique</b>

<b>Min. Totem: 2
Min. Heart's Blood: 3

Rat-Head Technique</b>

<b>Min. Totem: 2
Min. Heart's Blood: 3

Becoming Chimera

Essentially, this involves buying a new, separate, Totem. Your old Totem is abandoned (and lost), but your old Tell is not.

This gives you two separate Tell ratings. In most cases, they will add together. Individually, neither may be greater than a Lunar's Totem. Together, they often will be.

The two Tells do not add together for the purposes of:

• experience point discounts on the development of a True Form. Use the lower of the two Tells.
• social effects of the Tell. Use the higher of the two Tells.

comments

This is interesting. I'd like to see more - I'd like to contribute, but my creativity and focus have been lacking of late. Keep it up, so I can steal the polished results. ;) - David.

You know, for the longest time I thought the title of this page was "Flavors of Luna". - willows

So im not alone! "Luna, comeing to a Baskins - Robbins near you" Oh, and in regards to the new mechanics, it seems that they are becomeing rather complictaited, to the point were many of the blander players out their might be driven away. But bah, who needs them. Keep up the good work. Jamez

Green cheese?

Yuck! Green cheese flavoured Luna would just be wrong. Perhaps a nice cheddar though...
-- Darloth