Weaponized Ally (sorta) question

[Jasonft]

I have an odd interaction between two things on my character sheet and I want to make sure I am doing the math right.

Setting: Fantasy (eventually going Cinematic, but for now 120 or so points)

Thing #1: A Signature Gear quarterstaff. Currently unenchanted but very well made and about as durable as a non magical stick can be.

Thing #2: An immaterial Summoned Ally who is also my Familiar. If not performing a task elsewhere, it takes up residence in the aforementioned staff.

Question: When the Ally is in the Staff the durability of the Staff and it's performance as a weapon increase. The durability of the Ally versus things that target it (separate from targeting the staff) might also increase. How do I write this into the Ally's character sheet with appropriate modifiers?

[talonthehand]

For increasing the stats of the staff, I actually wouldn't put it on the ally's character sheet. My first inclination is to find out what the point cost (more viable since you're using the weapon rather than just cash) for the best version of the staff is, then apply the modifier "Granted by Familiar" (away from my books, so I'm not sure what the percentage is) to it.

For increasing the ally's durability, come up with a suite of advantages for whatever that entails (DR, IT....Obscure? Whatever), and give it an Accessibility modifier for "Only while possessing staff". The percentage on that should be based on how convenient/often the Ally expects to do it.

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by Jasonft

Question: When the Ally is in the Staff the durability of the Staff and it's performance as a weapon increase. The durability of the Ally versus things that target it (separate from targeting the staff) might also increase. How do I write this into the Ally's character sheet with appropriate modifiers?

This isn't RAW, but a good way to handle the improvement for the staff, particularly with it being Signature Gear, is to act like the character has it as an Advantage, a Natural Weapon (Pyramid #3/65), and simply pay the price for the Enhancements. Note this is something you put on the character's sheet, not the Ally's, but then buy it as an Alternate Ability to the Ally (as an added bonus, this means the Ally is impossible to target while within the staff).

So, let's say you have a Fine Quarterstaff, and when the Ally is inside it becomes functionally indestructible, has a higher weight (for Parrying purposes), gives +2 to skill for disarming, and does +2 damage. Well, going from Fine-equivalent to Indestructible is Resilient +30%, higher weight is +10% per +10% to weight*, Disarming is +20%, and Extra Damage 2 is +60%. On a Crushing Natural Weapon, with a base cost of [5], every +20% or fraction thereof is [+1], so you're looking at at least [6] for the price - as we're making this an Alternate Ability, might as well go with +90% to weight, for a cost of [10], and [2] as an AA.

*Technically, with Natural Weapons having a base weight of ST/10, this should be +10% per +ST/100 lb (or BL/200 lb if you want to do it that way).

[Donny Brook]

For enhancing the staff, if you have the necessary rules, you could build the Ally with an appropriate Imbuement ability.

[Jasonft]

Ooh. I hadn't thought of using Imbumnets. I'll have to look that up and see what works.

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by Varyon

This isn't RAW, but a good way to handle the improvement for the staff, particularly with it being Signature Gear, is to act like the character has it as an Advantage, a Natural Weapon (Pyramid #3/65), and simply pay the price for the Enhancements. Note this is something you put on the character's sheet, not the Ally's, but then buy it as an Alternate Ability to the Ally (as an added bonus, this means the Ally is impossible to target while within the staff).

So, let's say you have a Fine Quarterstaff, and when the Ally is inside it becomes functionally indestructible, has a higher weight (for Parrying purposes), gives +2 to skill for disarming, and does +2 damage. Well, going from Fine-equivalent to Indestructible is Resilient +30%, higher weight is +10% per +10% to weight*, Disarming is +20%, and Extra Damage 2 is +60%. On a Crushing Natural Weapon, with a base cost of [5], every +20% or fraction thereof is [+1], so you're looking at at least [6] for the price - as we're making this an Alternate Ability, might as well go with +90% to weight, for a cost of [10], and [2] as an AA.

*Technically, with Natural Weapons having a base weight of ST/10, this should be +10% per +ST/100 lb (or BL/200 lb if you want to do it that way).

This is an excellent way to do it.

[Jasonft]

The Natural Weapon option does seem like the best fit for what I would like to do, but I don't have the requisite issue of Pyramid to show the GM.

I might end up Weapon Form-ing the Ally and giving it some degree of Shapechange/ multiple forms. Thaumatology we have copies of. I was just wondering if there was a better way to do it. Having the Staff be one of the Ally's forms just feels a little cheesy to me for some reason.