Modular attributes?

[Dichotomy]

I'm trying to create a racial ability to represent a races limited ability to shapeshift. They already have elastic skin, but I'm also trying to include something non-cosmetic and I know what I want it to do, but I'm not sure what it should cost:

Modular attributes: you have 20 points to move around between attributes (so +2 ST, +1 ST +1 HT, or +1 IQ, etc), at the end of a 5+ hours rest you can change where these points are allocated.

Anyone have any ideas? Would adding the option to include secondary characteristics be a bad idea?

Modular abilities doesn't seem to fit at all, so I'm not sure where to get the base cost, or exactly how the "only after extended rest" limitation applies for discounts and I'd like players of this race to be able to increase the size of their point pool over time if they want to with additional points.

[Culture20]

Attributes are advantages, so modular abilities works.

[Dichotomy]

So what kind of limitation/discount does "can only change after rest, limited to attributes only" apply to modular abilities then? In order to represent the indicated versatility they'd need to be a Cosmic pool as opposed to seperate slots

[AlexanderHowl]

Attributes are not advantages, they (and secondary characteristics) are a different category than advantages, so they are not legal for Modular Abilities. However, you can make them into abilities, so it would be reasonable to have them as Alternate Abilities. Alternatively, you can use Alternate Form to represent different attribute levels.

In the case of Alternate Abilities, a super could be able from force to speed. When they choose force, they get +10 ST. When they choose speed, they get Basic Speed +5.00. In any case, they pay 120 CP (before modifiers).

In the case of the Alternate Form, a super could have a mobility form and a battle form. One for is the base form while the other is the alternate form. The mobility form would have DX+4 and HT+4 while the battle form would have ST+10 and HT+2. The cost would be 15 CP (before modifiers).

[Dichotomy]

Thanks for your feedback, I'm kinda new to running GURPS and there's just a lot of stuff I don't know

That makes sense for supers, but to model the limited shapeshifting of this race I think a pool that can be redistributed (analogous to Cosmic pool modular abilities) works better than defined forms.

I kind of want to just have it cost 2-3 points per character point in the pool, and have the pool restricted to attributes. There really isn't THAT much versatility with only 4 options, and it scales pretty well, if someone wants to sink a lot of points into morphing they're going to wind up with half as many total points as someone who just put the same number of points into a skill.

[Dichotomy]

So call it:

Modular Abilities (Cosmic pool) (10 points per)
Requires prep (-60%)
Special limitation: attributes only (sort of like physical only, but definitely a limitation rather than an enhancement) -20%

That puts it at 2 points per point, am I mis-evaluating the cost of the special limitation?

[Plane]

Originally Posted by Dichotomy

So what kind of limitation/discount does "can only change after rest, limited to attributes only" apply to modular abilities then?

"can only change after rest" sounds like it might resemble B114 Preparation Required ?

you said earlier "at the end of a 5+ hours rest" so the closest would be 1 hour (-50%) or 8 hours (-60%). Assigning something like -55% to 5 hours sounds okay.

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

Attributes are not advantages, they (and secondary characteristics) are a different category than advantages, so they are not legal for Modular Abilities. However, you can make them into abilities, so it would be reasonable to have them as Alternate Abilities.

P13 "Attributes as Abilities" mentions "Price such a bonus as additional levels of the affected score, adjusted as usual for modifiers. List it as an advantage"

That last sentence sounds like this instance of it might work under Modular Abilities, if limited so they don't always work?

"Maximum Duration: 24 Hours -0%" could be one way of doing that. A daily 5-minute reset for these creatures wouldn't be too crippling a downside, and fit well into their "I need some downtime to reset my abilities" concept.

[dataweaver]

Originally Posted by Dichotomy

I'm trying to create a racial ability to represent a races limited ability to shapeshift. They already have elastic skin, but I'm also trying to include something non-cosmetic and I know what I want it to do, but I'm not sure what it should cost:

Modular attributes: you have 20 points to move around between attributes (so +2 ST, +1 ST +1 HT, or +1 IQ, etc), at the end of a 5+ hours rest you can change where these points are allocated.

Anyone have any ideas? Would adding the option to include secondary characteristics be a bad idea?

Modular abilities doesn't seem to fit at all, so I'm not sure where to get the base cost, or exactly how the "only after extended rest" limitation applies for discounts and I'd like players of this race to be able to increase the size of their point pool over time if they want to with additional points.

Perhaps I'm missing something; but why couldn't a limited ability to shapeshift be handled as Shapeshifting with Limitations? Either Alternate Forms (if you've got a fixed catalog of configurations for your attributes) or Morph (if you don't)?