forced shapeshifting instead of uncosciousness

[Ji ji]

I don't find a good way to price an advantage (or an enhancement? Mmmh...).

I'm working on a racial template. It's a race of fey creatures which are, in basic form, a swarm of insects (there are slightly different tamplates for locust swarms, scarabs ones, moth ones and so one). This swarm has a hive mind and can shapeshift in a humanoid form. This is regular shapeshifting from native form (about 25 cp + 15 for shapeshifting in 0 pt racial template - human). This advantage has Uncontrollable limitation, because under heavy stress these feys can lose control and suddenly revert to swarm form (shapeshifting from human to swarm takes one ready maneuver while going from swarm to human takes 10' of concentration).

Obviously, swarm being the native form, when these feys goes unconscious in humanoid form they reverts to swarm. My idea is that this unconsciousness affects their (hive) mind, but the swarm itself doesn't go unconscious; it simply become bestial and primeval and tent to fly away. What kind of advantage could simulate this (or, if using a custom advantage, how to price it)?

Note: this isn't Supernatural Durability. There's no need for specific threat to kill the swarm, apart form being able to inflict enough injury to a Diffuse one (and this is already covered by Diffuse advantage, in the template). Moreover, the forced reversion to swarm doesn't mean that the fey remains conscious; it means that while unconscious the insect bodies acts on their own as a whole, fleing away.

[gjc8]

As I recall, you automatically change back to your native form when knocked unconscious. There's an enhancement in Powers for Non-Reciprocal Damage, which would mean the swarm form would still be at full health even if the humanoid form is knocked out from injury.

[Ji ji]

Yes, this would be a sort of solution, yet different from my idea.

I'm thinking of following another way:
Immunity to Unconsciousness (accessibility, only in swarm form, -10%; temporary disadvantage, severe stress atavism (12), cosmic - no die roll required, -40%) [15]

With the above advantage the character in humanoid form reverts to original form (because the advantage is limited to swarm form); once reverted, the advantage becomes active and he is no more unconscious. Yet he is automatically in stress atavism (because of cosmic enhancement of temporary disadvantage) and can recover to regular behaviour only when the stressful situation passes (that is, when he would recover from unconsciousenss). It seems to fit.

[Edman]

Originally Posted by Ji ji

Yes, this would be a sort of solution, yet different from my idea.

I'm thinking of following another way:
Immunity to Unconsciousness (accessibility, only in swarm form, -10%; temporary disadvantage, severe stress atavism (12), cosmic - no die roll required, -40%) [15]

With the above advantage the character in humanoid form reverts to original form (because the advantage is limited to swarm form); once reverted, the advantage becomes active and he is no more unconscious. Yet he is automatically in stress atavism (because of cosmic enhancement of temporary disadvantage) and can recover to regular behaviour only when the stressful situation passes (that is, when he would recover from unconsciousenss). It seems to fit.

I would say it's a Disadvantage, actually - if he can't control what he does while in swarm form, then that's worth as much as being unconscious, with the added drawback of being more difficult to heal. Maybe this balances out with being much more difficult to damage further.

[Sunrunners_Fire]

I'd suggest looking at the disadvantage version of Alternate Form as described in (GURPS Horror, pg 18). Set the trigger as "Failed Check Against Unconsciousness" (Rare).

[Bruno]

I might be remembering something from Shadowrun or Cyberpunk 2020, but I could have sworn it was 3e. Anyways, in SOME cyberpunk-y suplement there was a sort of emergency autopilot chip or program or plugin for your brain. You get knocked out, and the autopilot would follow some limited preprogrammed behavior (usually to hide you behind cover and possibly then inject a stimulant or something).

This is pretty similar. If it WAS a GURPS thing, does anyone know which book it was in and how it was done?

[kirbwarrior]

Originally Posted by Ji ji

I'm thinking of following another way:
Immunity to Unconsciousness (accessibility, only in swarm form, -10%; temporary disadvantage, severe stress atavism (12), cosmic - no die roll required, -40%) [15]

Slight nitpickery, you can just have the SC be 0 instead of using cosmic, and it even saves you points!

Honestly, if the player can't control his character during this nor knows what is going on during it, it's probably a fair replacement effect as a feature.

[the_matrix_walker]

Originally Posted by Bruno

I might be remembering something from Shadowrun or Cyberpunk 2020, but I could have sworn it was 3e. Anyways, in SOME cyberpunk-y suplement there was a sort of emergency autopilot chip or program or plugin for your brain. You get knocked out, and the autopilot would follow some limited preprogrammed behavior (usually to hide you behind cover and possibly then inject a stimulant or something).

This is pretty similar. If it WAS a GURPS thing, does anyone know which book it was in and how it was done?

You're thinking of the "Incapacity Override" From 3rd Ed's Cyberpunk.

Originally Posted by Cyberpunk 3e

This is a "cruise control" system for your body. If the user is stunned or rendered unconscious, this chip takes over active control of his body. Its first reaction is flight — flee from the danger to the nearest safe place. If retreat isn't allowed, then it will go into Berserk mode, as per the disadvantage (see p. B22). The chip will keep him on his feet until he dies or regains consciousness enough to override it. Note that these functions can be reversed — the chip can be told to force the body to fight until it takes a certain amount of damage, at which point it will flee.