Alternate Form And Once On Stays On

Pentaclegram · 08-03-2017, 03:43 AM

I'm currently building a magical girl with an alternate form, and while messing around with it I found what seems to be a pretty big issue with the Once On Stays On (OOSO) enhancement. If this has already been discussed and solved, please refer me to the solution; I did check the google machine but I wasn't able to turn up anything relevant.

Now, normally, with Alternate Form you apply only a flat 10% cost reduction to the alternate form point value, which makes sense as a combination Accessibility and Requires Time limitation that prevents point-crock abuse. However, with the +50% OOSO enhancement clarification in Powers, you pay full price for the abilities of the alternate form.

Now, I agree that limitations that don't actually limit anything shouldn't be worth points. Being able to stay in your alternate form forever, with no way to change you back against your will, should be worth more points than the default Alternate Form. But having OOSO on an alternate form is MORE expensive than just buying up the powers on your base form, even though it requires a 10 second concentrate to shift into or out of. There should be some sort of limitation that should be applied to those points, especially if it's unfeasible for the character to remain in that form forever due to social constraints (magical girls with parents and school, supers with a secret identity and dependents, etc).

I understand that this is much more cost-effective when you have multiple templates on your Alternate Form, but what about for characters with just a single template? In the case of the magical girl I am constructing now, having Alternate Form (OOSO) actually costs me more points than buying the abilities straight, which I would prefer not to do for thematic reasons.

Is there something I'm missing, or are single-template Alternate Forms just not balanced for OOSO?

08-03-2017, 03:43 AM	#1
Pentaclegram Join Date: Jul 2017	Alternate Form And Once On Stays On I'm currently building a magical girl with an alternate form, and while messing around with it I found what seems to be a pretty big issue with the Once On Stays On (OOSO) enhancement. If this has already been discussed and solved, please refer me to the solution; I did check the google machine but I wasn't able to turn up anything relevant. Now, normally, with Alternate Form you apply only a flat 10% cost reduction to the alternate form point value, which makes sense as a combination Accessibility and Requires Time limitation that prevents point-crock abuse. However, with the +50% OOSO enhancement clarification in Powers, you pay full price for the abilities of the alternate form. Now, I agree that limitations that don't actually limit anything shouldn't be worth points. Being able to stay in your alternate form forever, with no way to change you back against your will, should be worth more points than the default Alternate Form. But having OOSO on an alternate form is MORE expensive than just buying up the powers on your base form, even though it requires a 10 second concentrate to shift into or out of. There should be some sort of limitation that should be applied to those points, especially if it's unfeasible for the character to remain in that form forever due to social constraints (magical girls with parents and school, supers with a secret identity and dependents, etc). I understand that this is much more cost-effective when you have multiple templates on your Alternate Form, but what about for characters with just a single template? In the case of the magical girl I am constructing now, having Alternate Form (OOSO) actually costs me more points than buying the abilities straight, which I would prefer not to do for thematic reasons. Is there something I'm missing, or are single-template Alternate Forms just not balanced for OOSO?