Transmogrification (RPM)

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by Dalillama

I'm not sure I see how this is different from the spell I posted above, which uses altered traits to get rid of things like Quadruped and Wild Animal mentality, plus a boost in IQ, to uplift a randomly chosen animal into a humanoid TMNT-style creature, and you described as too complicated...

I'm not saying it is. I thought the question was "Why not use Altered Traits to apply the animal's template" the answer is that's more expensive than it should be. If your question is "How do I uplift a animal to be more human-like" then the answer is "Apply Altered Traits." As long as you are using the baseline template you're good to go, you don't need Altered Traits. Step away from that and you need to price it out.

[Dalillama]

Originally Posted by Ghostdancer

I'm not saying it is. I thought the question was "Why not use Altered Traits to apply the animal's template" the answer is that's more expensive than it should be. If your question is "How do I uplift a animal to be more human-like" then the answer is "Apply Altered Traits." As long as you are using the baseline template you're good to go, you don't need Altered Traits. Step away from that and you need to price it out.

That's what I thought, and was clarifying that point. The confusion in the original thread arose from the use of Transmogrification as a template for an uplift spell, and I thought the uplift spell needed to be more complicated/expensive, and also didn't understand the Transmogrification spell's pricing (which this thread has clarified). So the upshot is that you would indeed need Altered Traits for an uplift spell, and could get a cheaper spell by doing less uplift (e.g. not buying off Bestial would get you a final discount of 50 energy).

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by Dalillama

That's what I thought, and was clarifying that point. The confusion in the original thread arose from the use of Transmogrification as a template for an uplift spell, and I thought the uplift spell needed to be more complicated/expensive, and also didn't understand the Transmogrification spell's pricing (which this thread has clarified). So the upshot is that you would indeed need Altered Traits for an uplift spell, and could get a cheaper spell by doing less uplift (e.g. not buying off Bestial would get you a final discount of 50 energy).

Yep. You got it. Also, as a odd aside: you could also enhance a animal's pedigree with a Lesser Transform Body effect. So turning a mutt into a pure-bred Chow-Chow (as long as he had some Chow in him) would be a Lesser Transform Body effect.


BTW, I love your Gunther Hoodie on your Etsy page. I'm a huge Adventure Time fan and I also dig penguins (one of my favorite animals). Nice work on it. :-)

[Dalillama]

Originally Posted by Ghostdancer

Yep. You got it. Also, as a odd aside: you could also enhance a animal's pedigree with a Lesser Transform Body effect. So turning a mutt into a pure-bred Chow-Chow (as long as he had some Chow in him) would be a Lesser Transform Body effect.

You'd have a heck of a time convincing the AKC of that, though.

BTW, I love your Gunther Hoodie on your Etsy page. I'm a huge Adventure Time fan and I also dig penguins (one of my favorite animals). Nice work on it. :-)

It's my partner's design, actually, but thank you. We also have a stuffed Gunther and a Gunther/Ice King scarf. :)

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by Dalillama

You'd have a heck of a time convincing the AKC of that, though.

Yes. Yes, you would.

Originally Posted by Dalillama

It's my partner's design, actually, but thank you. We also have a stuffed Gunther and a Gunther/Ice King scarf. :)

Well he, she, or whomever - has awesome design instincts. Kudos to them.

[Dalillama]

Originally Posted by Ghostdancer

Yes. Magical "uplifts" would require a Greater Create Mind effect with Altered Traits of IQ+X. Making a man a dog or a sheep into a fox in body and mind would be Greater Transform Body + Lesser Transform Mind.

Related to the previous one, if you want to, say, turn a cat into a human (who has the same basic personality as the cat and retains the cat's acquired phisical characteristics, like One Eye), would that be Transmogrification with an added Strengthen Mind effect to give him the minimal boost in IQ to get to 'capable of using language(poorly)', or something more like the Uplift spell?

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by Dalillama

Related to the previous one, if you want to, say, turn a cat into a human (who has the same basic personality as the cat and retains the cat's acquired phisical characteristics, like One Eye), would that be Transmogrification with an added Strengthen Mind effect to give him the minimal boost in IQ to get to 'capable of using language(poorly)', or something more like the Uplift spell?

Depends, does the cat gain human like IQ? If so use "Uplift." If you're just turning a cat into a human, I'd stick with using just Transmogrification. He's still got a cat's mind and a human's body. See the Stardust movie for a example of this with the Billy Goat becoming Billy the Innkeeper.

[Dalillama]

Originally Posted by Ghostdancer

Depends, does the cat gain human like IQ? If so use "Uplift." If you're just turning a cat into a human, I'd stick with using just Transmogrification. He's still got a cat's mind and a human's body. See the Stardust movie for a example of this with the Billy Goat becoming Billy the Innkeeper.

I was actually specifically thinking of an incident from Discworld, in which some witches in need of a coachman turn one witch's cat into a human. As a human, he's able to speak after a fashion (he can string 3-4 situationally appropriate words together), but otherwise has the same mentality he had as a cat. All told, I don't think he got any IQ upgrade from the transformation, but he might be ruled to have needed a +1-2 to get to the point of being able to use language even to that degree.

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by Dalillama

I was actually specifically thinking of an incident from Discworld, in which some witches in need of a coachman turn one witch's cat into a human. As a human, he's able to speak after a fashion (he can string 3-4 situationally appropriate words together), but otherwise has the same mentality he had as a cat. All told, I don't think he got any IQ upgrade from the transformation, but he might be ruled to have needed a +1-2 to get to the point of being able to use language even to that degree.

Yeah, he'd need at least IQ 6 to get to speak unless it's a single unchangeable phrase (which is a quirk). Otherwise, just use Transmogrification with the oddity that you're changing a animal into a man, rather than the reverse.

[Dalillama]

Originally Posted by Ghostdancer

Yeah, he'd need at least IQ 6 to get to speak unless it's a single unchangeable phrase (which is a quirk). Otherwise, just use Transmogrification with the oddity that you're changing a animal into a man, rather than the reverse.

IIRC he says "Yerrss Naannyy" "Millk Naoww?" and "Okaaay".