Morph, Elastic Skin, Hermaphromorph, Appearance, oh my !!

[Irioth]

I got perplexed about the interplay and reciprocal value of such body-change (not illusion) powers as Morph, Elastic Skin, and Hermaphromorph, that may be used a) to disguise oneself as someone else (not necessarily to impersonate a specific individual) or change one's appearance b) get a fully-functional sex change. For coherence's sake, let's assume that both Morph and Elastic Skin always get Once On, Stays On, since it is included in the workings of Hermaphromorph.

Morph (Once On, Stays On +50%; Cosmetic -50%, No Memorization of Forms -50%, Mass Conservation -20%, Retains Shape -20%) looks cheaper than the combination of Elastic Skin (Once On, Stays On +50%) plus Hermaphromorph (Not while Pregnant -20%), although I wonder whether a Cosmetic Morph would allow a full sex change, and whether a no-memorization Morph would still allow for improvising a generic type face change ("today I'm going to look like a slim, athletic half-Asian, grey-eyed redhead").

I also wonder about the impact of above-average appearance on these Advantages. I'm aware that according to the FAQ, an equivalent level of Appearance may be "carried over" in any new face and build you change into, so that if you have Very Handsome/Beautiful in your base form, you may freely vary the appearance of any new form from Hideous to Very Handsome/Beautiful. I wonder whether this is also true for Appearance modifiers (Androgynous, Impressive): i.e. if having Elastic Skin or Morph or Hermaphromorph allows one to freely shift such modifiers so that you may be Impressive in one form, Androgynous in a second one, Very Beautiful in another, and Handsome in yet another one, or to change the descriptor from Handsome to Beautiful, for Hermaphromorph. Or would something like Selectivity (androgynous, impressive) on Appearance be needed ?

[The Benj]

I'd call for Switchable and Selectivity on your positive Appearance, so you can freely alter it.

[Irioth]

I can understand the calling for Selectivity (I had the doubt myself about the need for it), but I'ver trouble understanding why you suggest, since according to my understanding of the FAQ, Morph and Elastic Skin already incorporate Switchable for Appearance:

You can look like anyone, so if you're imitating a good-looking person, you can have that person's looks. You can't have your own, unique good looks through -- not without paying points for them. If you can assume a unique form that's good-looking, then you should pay the usual cost for its appearance level as an unrelated ability. Assume that with a specific model, you can do a good job of imitating that person's good looks, but that unless you've paid for personal good looks, you haven't mastered the art of creating attractive appearances out of thin air. They all look like crude caricatures, blow-up sex dolls, or whatever.

In essence, you have to "steal" somebody's identity to look good if you're not natively good-looking. This limits you quite a bit, actually. If you haven't ever met a person with the Appearance level you want, you're out of luck! And even if you have, you're often going to be limited to being "Jane, the really hot 5'6" redhead" when what you need is "Ace, the handsome 6'1" quarterback." And you can't be "Me, the Handsome shapeshifter" unless you pay to be Handsome.

There is two ways to buy this improved Appearance:

1) Those with full, unlimited Morph, can either buy Morph [100] + Appearance [X] and have a native form that has their chosen Appearance level, or they can take Morph [100+X] and be able to assume any number of forms -- including completely made-up ones -- that have any Appearance level up to what X points would buy. Obviously, the second option is a much better deal, but you still have to buy the Appearance level of your non-morphed character separately.

2) For those with Morph (Cosmetic only) who wants to be good-looking without stealing somebody else's face, they need to purchase Appearance separately from Morph. Morph (Cosmetic) work differently from unlimited Morph partly because it has no point pool. It isn't a better deal -- Cosmetic was priced at -50% instead of perhaps -75% on the basic assumption that it permitted "Appearance theft." If it didn't, then in many ways, Cosmetic would barely be better than Elastic Skin [20].

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by Irioth

... although I wonder whether a Cosmetic Morph would allow a full sex change, and whether a no-memorization Morph would still allow for improvising a generic type face change ("today I'm going to look like a slim, athletic half-Asian, grey-eyed redhead").

I wouldn't allow a Cosmetic Morph to provide a total sex change, but I would allow them to function in the new form - a male character may turn into a female, but he'll never be able to get pregnant or lactate.

A no-memorization morph cannot improvise forms at all. They can only copy things in front of them. Improvisation is a big enhancement, +100% as per Powers p. 75.

[Gudiomen]

Originally Posted by Bruno

I wouldn't allow a Cosmetic Morph to provide a total sex change, but I would allow them to function in the new form - a male character may turn into a female, but he'll never be able to get pregnant or lactate.

Well, disturbingly... lactation might be possible.

[Bruno]

Elastic Skin not only conserves mass, but it also does not allow major changes to bone structure - a man with Elastic Skin will not be able to narrow his shoulders and wrists, and/or broaden his hips to become a totally "feminine" woman.

A character with Elastic Skin and the Androgynous modifier on his/her appearance is in much better shape to convincingly mimic the opposite sex - their body is ambiguous, and if they take on facial features that are firmly of one gender or the other, adjust body and head hair to match cultural standards for a given gender, and change body posture and mannerism with an Acting roll, most people won't even notice the ambiguity...

Whether Hermaphromorph does change the characters bone structure or not would be something I'd require the player to define at character creation - and a character who does change his or her bone structure will still be recognizable as "a female version of himself" or "a neuter version of himself".
People who aren't aware of his power will probably assume the other forms are close relatives (eg, siblings) or possibly may assume the character is a very very good cross dresser.

A Hermaphromorph who is defined as not changing his bone structure would be required to take Androgynous, even if his/her appearance is Attractive or lower.

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by Gudiomen

Well, disturbingly... lactation might be possible.

OK, outside of unusual medical circumstances, men who don't buy the perk "can lactate" won't be able to lactate. Howzzat? :D

[Gudiomen]

Originally Posted by Bruno

OK, outside of unusual medical circumstances, men who don't buy the perk "can lactate" won't be able to lactate. Howzzat? :D

Well, better. But I didn't mean to annoy. What I was getting at is that while I agree that capability of getting pregnant would be too much for simply Cosmetic Change... lactation might be possible.
After all, the character is getting bigger breasts, and it's filled with something I'd assume normal breast material: fat, mammary tissue, etc.
On top of that, someone capable of comsmetic change can modify their eye collor, skin collor, hair length, etc...
Does the smell change?
Do hormones change slightly?
I'd rule not, and your pherormones would still be the true you (either male or female) and atract the people atracted to those pherormones. But some GM's might rule differently.
For me simple cosmetic change isn't going to cut it even, as Bruno put it, acting fully. The male character turned into an apparent woman would still atract female, and probably leave a lot of them wondering if they're lesbians.

[Irioth]

Originally Posted by Bruno

A no-memorization morph cannot improvise forms at all. They can only copy things in front of them. Improvisation is a big enhancement, +100% as per Powers p. 75.

Improvisation is for improvising racial templates, not cosmetic changes.

[Irioth]

Originally Posted by Bruno

Elastic Skin not only conserves mass, but it also does not allow major changes to bone structure - a man with Elastic Skin will not be able to narrow his shoulders and wrists, and/or broaden his hips to become a totally "feminine" woman.

A character with Elastic Skin and the Androgynous modifier on his/her appearance is in much better shape to convincingly mimic the opposite sex - their body is ambiguous, and if they take on facial features that are firmly of one gender or the other, adjust body and head hair to match cultural standards for a given gender, and change body posture and mannerism with an Acting roll, most people won't even notice the ambiguity...

Whether Hermaphromorph does change the characters bone structure or not would be something I'd require the player to define at character creation - and a character who does change his or her bone structure will still be recognizable as "a female version of himself" or "a neuter version of himself".
People who aren't aware of his power will probably assume the other forms are close relatives (eg, siblings) or possibly may assume the character is a very very good cross dresser.

A Hermaphromorph who is defined as not changing his bone structure would be required to take Androgynous, even if his/her appearance is Attractive or lower.

Hmm, assuming that a character has both Elastic Skin (bought with Once On, Stays On) and Hermaphromorph (defined as full body-change of all sexual features, hence bone-changing), linked together at +20% (so that one can use Elastic Skin separately), and is Handsome, could then one use them to switch from an Handsome male to a Beautiful female, or an Androgynous/Impressive type ? IOW, if the shape-shifting Advantages allow the appropriate body changes, can one freely "shift around" his/her beauty sexual appeal from Handsome to Beautiful or to the "flat" Androgynous/Impressive types, notwithstanding how the "basic form" above-average Appearance is bought (note that if you buy Once On, Stays On, the concept of basic form only remains relevant if the power is nullified), just mattering that above-average Appearance is paid for ??