Weapon Forms [Powers]

[AlexanderHowl]

I was just curious what would be the best way to transform a character into a weapon (think Soul Eater)? Would it be Alternate Form and/or Affliction (Alternate Form)?

In a related question, what traits should a weapon form have? I was DR, Injury Tolerance (Homogeneous, No Blood, No Eyes, No Head, No Neck, and No Vitals), Innate Attack, No Manipulators, and No Legs (Portable). What other traits would you include?

[Refplace]

AF if you turn yourself into a weapon, Affliction to turn others into a weapon.
The specifics of the form depend on the weapon. CM (Controls) is good for many.

[Aldric]

We did it once, I don't remember all the specific traits we gave to the AF, but it ended up quite messy, and alsoa lot more powerful than intended.
I remember some of the issues being, the skill used with the attack had to be changed to sword skill, accuracy of the innate attack is a lot cheaper than anything that can be done even with a magical weapon, basic damage of the attack being just about anything with the allowed point cost.
And also, damage the weapon can take: even with DR and Homogeneous, it would sometimes be subject to damage, when with a normal weapon you just worry if it breaks or not on a parry.

[Varyon]

Don't forget either No Legs (Portable) or No Legs (Flies) + Flight if the weapon can move under its own power. No Fine Manipulators or simply No Manipulators is also likely appropriate. The Teamwork Perk - or some of the options for "Team Up!" (Pyramid #3/65) - is also useful if the weapon can act on its own, letting it work extremely well with its wielder (provided the wielder has appropriate traits). For weapons that are incapable of independent action, I'd be tempted to give a discount on their abilities, something like Reliant on Wielder. I'd eyeball it at -20%. A beneficial Affliction to boost their wielder's stats in some way (like how Soul seemed to give a sizable bonus to Maka's combat skills) may also be appropriate. In some settings, No Reciprocal Damage and Reciprocal Rest are appropriate - a heavily-wounded character turns into a perfectly-normal weapon, while a seriously damaged - but not yet broken - weapon can revert to a healthy character. Giving Unkillable 2 to the weapon may also be appropriate, if the character can survive it being broken; a Trigger of some sort - being repaired by an appropriate craftsman would fit, and probably count as Common - may be appropriate to allow the weapon to recover from this state. For some characters, Morph with a Limitation may be a better option than Alternate Form, if they have a lot of weapons they can turn into. I'd eyeball Weapons Only at -50% (note this includes Nonliving Forms Only +0%). If we assume the ability is built with Reciprocal Rest +50% and Non-Reciprocal Damage +50%, Alternate Form costs [30] per form, plus 90% of the cost of the most expensive form. Morph with Weapons Only and the above modifiers, meanwhile, costs [150] plus the full cost of the most expensive form. Up to 5 forms, Alternate Form is more cost effective; for 6+ forms, Morph is preferable, unless the most expensive form increases your value by more than [300]. The breakpoint is 7 forms up to [+600], 8 forms up to [+900], and so forth, at +1 form per [+300].

[Plane]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

I was just curious what would be the best way to transform a character into a weapon (think Soul Eater)? Would it be Alternate Form and/or Affliction (Alternate Form)?

Alternate Form seems like probably what we're supposed to use, as the pricing for Self-Only Afflictions hasn't been entirely clear.

You could also possibly do Affliction: Alternate Form for extra design versatility.

Reciprocal Damage modifiers for Alternate Form are something to keep in mind: should you be beat-up as a weapon if you were beat up as a human, or vice versa?

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

what traits should a weapon form have?
DR
Injury Tolerance (Homogeneous, No Blood, No Eyes, No Head, No Neck, and No Vitals)
Innate Attack
No Manipulators
No Legs (Portable).
What other traits would you include?

Since you mentioned Innate Attack, two modifiers from page 119 of GURPS Thaumatology come to mind, either the "Must Be Wielded" limitation or the "Can Be Wielded" enhancement.

I can't remember Soul Evans ever being able to fight on his own as a scythe without Maka Albarn swinging him around, so I'm thinking that he probably had the "must" limitation.

Another thing that comes to mind is whether or not you'd be able to heal while in weapon form, or only be repaired. Unhealing could be appropriate if you don't want a self-regenerating weapon, and you might have enough DR as a weapon to avoid most injury anyway.