[Magic the Gathering] Statting Cytoplasts

[Goober4473]

For my conversion of Magic: the Gathering to GURPS, I'm now working on the Simic guild of Ravnica's generic engineering. They accomplish most of it with cytoplasts:

Cytoplasts are small masses of living tissue, magical in nature, appearing as blue-green globules. These globules convey genetic information to and from any life-form they come into physical contact with. For example, if a cytoplast in contact with a giant is transferred to a human, the cytoplast then begins to incorporate into the human the physical strength of the giant. Cytoplasts also tend take on the physical characteristics of their hosts somewhat camouflaging themselves.

Originally, cytoplasts were grafted onto hosts using surgery and magic. Momir Vig developed newer versions, however, that only needed to come into contact with a host in order to bond with it.

The normal use of grafting cytoplasts is just an application of the genetic engineering rules in Bio-Tech, so the rules for those are all good. However, the newer version is a little more complex.

I'm thinking something along the lines of Modualr Abilities, using Chip Slots, and an Affliction that can bestow one of your "chips" onto someone else. The chips could begin empty, for example having 20 or 30 points available, but with nothing purchased. Once attached to a creature, they could pick up some new traits, or replace old ones.

I'm not sure of a few things though:

How should I price chips that are themselves somewhat modular? Should I stack modular abilities, where each chip has the Modular Abilities advantage, limited to switching to racial traits the current owner has? If so, what version of Modular Abilities should the chips have, and how much is "can only change to racial traits of the current host"?

When adding disadvantages to such a chip, is pricing them equal to their normal negative cost reasonable?

I think I'd like for the cytoplasts to simply enter the pool of chips available to someone with this ability (whether they have only the modular ability or the Affliction as well), with the option to switch to that chip immediately, rather than temporarily affecting them. Should this be a modifier, or just a trait? What if it was at the option of the Afflictor, rather than automatic?

What would the modifier be on the Affliction to apply any currently equipped chip (versus a set Advantage)? How about any owned chip rather than just those equipped?

What modifiers should I use to represent the loss of the chip for the duration of the Affliction (plus the time it takes to go pick it up if it doesn't just come flying back; perhaps a range limit on that?)? How would the price change if the user lost access to the entire slot versus losing only that chip? This one is especially wierd, since the way I want to set it up is to put the Affliction inside the chip slot, and have you lose access to that slot while the Affliction is used; this sounds like a Temporary Disadvantage (No Chip Slot), but the Affliction itself is inside that slot, so the price depends on itself (i.e. if the Affliction gets a limitation, it costs less, and thus the slot costs less, and thus the limitation is lower, which raises the cost, which raises the slot's cost, which raises the limitation, etc.).

[Goober4473]

I gave statting these things a shot, and it ended up extremely expensive for what it does.

It seems like madular abilities that themselves have modualr abilities are overpriced. It saves you some money on buying chips that do what you want, so it should cost something, but 20 points + 9 per point (5 + 3*(5 + 3 per point)), even with some limitations, is a bit excessive. What would be a fair price for this?

[DesertCoyote]

I'm looking into this, but some stuff you might consider.

Supers p 34 (4e) lists a couple modifiers that would be applicable and help with reducing the cost.

-10% mutant
Pretty much all of the MTG cards with graft (cytoplasm) are mutants... the land with graft doesn't count since it is from a different block.

-10% super science
I'd give it this since the effect is complex, even by magical standards of the world it's depicted in. Maybe rename the modifier to Magi-sci or something similar for flavor.

[Goober4473]

Originally Posted by DesertCoyote

I'm looking into this, but some stuff you might consider.

Supers p 34 (4e) lists a couple modifiers that would be applicable and help with reducing the cost.

-10% mutant
Pretty much all of the MTG cards with graft (cytoplasm) are mutants... the land with graft doesn't count since it is from a different block.

-10% super science
I'd give it this since the effect is complex, even by magical standards of the world it's depicted in. Maybe rename the modifier to Magi-sci or something similar for flavor.

Maybe, but it'd probably just be Magic for -10% as its power source. Regardless, I'd love to see this priced fairly before discounts for being affected by counter-magic.

Anyone know if simply a +10-20% modifier for "chips have super memorization (limited to racial abilities of targets of the Affliction)" be fair?

[Tuoni]

I'm assuming the Cytoplasts would be bought with as Allies yes? Then, how about giving the Cytoplasts:

Modular Abilites (Cosmic) (Accessibility (Only abilites of previous hosts) -30%; Magical -10%; Physical Only +50%; Trait Limited: Advantages Only -10%)
[10.1/point]
Compartmentalized Mind (Dedicated Controls) [10]

Can Cytoplasts give mental powers? Don't recall. If so it bumps the modular cost to 10.6/level for Physical And Mental +100%.

The CM is so the host can use active abilities. Then give all passive abilities bought with the MA Affects Others +50% and Accessibility (Only usable by host) -50%.

Considering the cytoplast would have Automaton (they weren't self aware right?) as well as a host of other disadvantages, a 0 point Cytoplast could have 10-15 point pool to use as needed.

[Goober4473]

Originally Posted by Tuoni

I'm assuming the Cytoplasts would be bought with as Allies yes? Then, how about giving the Cytoplasts:

Modular Abilites (Cosmic) (Accessibility (Only abilites of previous hosts) -30%; Magical -10%; Physical Only +50%; Trait Limited: Advantages Only -10%)
[10.1/point]
Compartmentalized Mind (Dedicated Controls) [10]

Can Cytoplasts give mental powers? Don't recall. If so it bumps the modular cost to 10.6/level for Physical And Mental +100%.

The CM is so the host can use active abilities. Then give all passive abilities bought with the MA Affects Others +50% and Accessibility (Only usable by host) -50%.

Considering the cytoplast would have Automaton (they weren't self aware right?) as well as a host of other disadvantages, a 0 point Cytoplast could have 10-15 point pool to use as needed.

I hadn't considered statting them as allies. My idea was to have a limit to how many a character could use, but allow them to be swapped out (chip slots), but maybe allies would make more sense. Then handing them off to allies would be easy, and you could give them their own "attach to unwilling host" attack.

One thing though, is I'd use Super Memorization, rather than Cosmic, since it already works almost perfectly (they can't swap into using any trait of a previous host; only the ones they actually absorb while attached). There would probably need to be a limitation for it to only memorize racial traits, and only of a current host. How much would each of those be worth?

I believe they can graft mental/magical as well as physical traits, so long as they're racial traits, so the +100% Physical would apply.

[DesertCoyote]

I was thinking about this at work earlier, and you might also consider making the cytoplasm signature gear. Because it's "equipment" that can be taken... via magical means (and in some cases "cannot be safely removed"), you can get a discount on it's purchase. Reword the power slightly. Have stock powers attached to the "grafted" signature gear for each character type that would have the cytoplasm. IE Simic Wizard, Simic Snake-Elf-Druid. I'll have to go read signature gear again, but I'm pretty sure it can be unique to your faction, and not just unique to you and still count towards this.

I'm not sure how point cost would go once the equipment is transferred, but if it were my campaign, I'm pretty sure I'd do something like this.

[Goober4473]

Originally Posted by DesertCoyote

I was thinking about this at work earlier, and you might also consider making the cytoplasm signature gear. Because it's "equipment" that can be taken... via magical means (and in some cases "cannot be safely removed"), you can get a discount on it's purchase. Reword the power slightly. Have stock powers attached to the "grafted" signature gear for each character type that would have the cytoplasm. IE Simic Wizard, Simic Snake-Elf-Druid. I'll have to go read signature gear again, but I'm pretty sure it can be unique to your faction, and not just unique to you and still count towards this.

I'm not sure how point cost would go once the equipment is transferred, but if it were my campaign, I'm pretty sure I'd do something like this.

I donno. These things would be granting advatages like +1 IQ, Flight, Rgeneration, etc. Those sound much more like advantages with gadget limitations than signature gear.

Also, how much would they cost as signature gear?

For the ones that can't be safely removed, the genetic engineering rules work well already. The method of splicing DNA would just be using ctyoplasts to graft abilities.

[Edit]: If I were to go the Allies rout, how would they grant their abilities to the host? Would they just use an Affliction? How much would "permanent while attached" cost as a modifier?

[Tuoni]

Originally Posted by Goober4473

I hadn't considered statting them as allies. My idea was to have a limit to how many a character could use, but allow them to be swapped out (chip slots), but maybe allies would make more sense. Then handing them off to allies would be easy, and you could give them their own "attach to unwilling host" attack.

One thing though, is I'd use Super Memorization, rather than Cosmic, since it already works almost perfectly (they can't swap into using any trait of a previous host; only the ones they actually absorb while attached). There would probably need to be a limitation for it to only memorize racial traits, and only of a current host. How much would each of those be worth?

I believe they can graft mental/magical as well as physical traits, so long as they're racial traits, so the +100% Physical would apply.

If going with Super Memorization, use two slots, A and B, with the same point value. Cytoplasm attaches to first host, fills slot A with a good racial ability. Then when it gets attached to a second host, that host now has access to whatever is in Slot A. Slot B then gets filled with the a good racial ability from the second host.

Third host would use Slot B while Cytoplasm fills slot A. Alternating every time the Cytoplasm changes hosts. A Cytoplasm with more slots can "remember" the racial abilities of more hosts. 6 slot Cytoplasm can remember the abilities of the last 5 hosts. Or 2 abilities from each of the last two hosts. Or whatever else it was bread to do.

Considering this is a M:TG setting, where racial abilities are varied and potent, I'd peg being limited to only those at -10%, or even -5%. It is a limitation, but not much of one.

The limitation of only being able to memorize from the current host meanwhile is built into Super Memorization. After all, in order to memorize, you need a reference on hand.

At least, that is how I'd model it.

[Goober4473]

Originally Posted by Tuoni

If going with Super Memorization, use two slots, A and B, with the same point value. Cytoplasm attaches to first host, fills slot A with a good racial ability. Then when it gets attached to a second host, that host now has access to whatever is in Slot A. Slot B then gets filled with the a good racial ability from the second host.

Third host would use Slot B while Cytoplasm fills slot A. Alternating every time the Cytoplasm changes hosts. A Cytoplasm with more slots can "remember" the racial abilities of more hosts. 6 slot Cytoplasm can remember the abilities of the last 5 hosts. Or 2 abilities from each of the last two hosts. Or whatever else it was bread to do.

The memorization would be optional, but that looks like a decent way of doing it.

Considering this is a M:TG setting, where racial abilities are varied and potent, I'd peg being limited to only those at -10%, or even -5%. It is a limitation, but not much of one.

The limitation of only being able to memorize from the current host meanwhile is built into Super Memorization. After all, in order to memorize, you need a reference on hand.

The biggest limitation I see with this is, you need to slap a goo ball on someone in order to memorize their traits. Most people won't be too willing, or happy with you if you force it on them. You could get all kinds of wild and exotic powers, if you can find the right creatures, get your cytoplast on them, and wait long enough for the memorizationto work. Not to mention, in the mean time, if the thign is an enemy, it has all the abilities of the cytoplast.

That seems a little harder than finding an instruction manual. Plus, you can't get non-racial skills, spells, etc., which seems like a pretty big limitation.

[Edit]: Also, if the cytoplasts can be damaged/destroyed, even if it's very hard to do, you'd be handing them over to the target for the duration for them to try anything they feel like to break the things. Not to mention the ease of stealing them. Any idea how much that would be worth?