[Space] Help With an Exotic Race

[Jinumon]

Hey all!

Me and a friend are putting together a Space Opera setting for all the Sci-Fi shenanigans we want to play out. We're putting together a playable alien race with a unique life-cycle and I'm curious as to how we'd model it as an advantage.

So basically, this race matures into a teenage state in 10-12 years, at which point they cease aging. After that, they can voluntarily induce a metamorphosis and, after a short period of hibernation, emerge in a later life-stage. There are probably 4 or 5 stages (childhood/early teen, young adult, mature adult, middle age, and old), and all have their own pros and cons. All stages, save for the last one, do not age on their own. Those in the last stage of life age and die like any other species. An important distinction is that while this race must choose to advance forward, they cannot reverse the aging process to revert to previous stages: once they move forward, there's no going back.

I figure each stage will essentially be its own racial template, with all but the last stage having the Unaging advantage. That being said, I don't know how to model the ability to effectively be able to switch racial templates, but only a limited number of times and only in a specific sequence. I also figured that transitioning into the final stage would essentially start at age 70, and am unsure how this might be modeled or how much that would be worth.

I've thought about heavily limited Alternate Forms or simply as perks or perhaps 0-point features, but I'm curious as to what other people think.

Jinumon

[Kelly Pedersen]

Originally Posted by Jinumon

I figure each stage will essentially be its own racial template, with all but the last stage having the Unaging advantage. That being said, I don't know how to model the ability to effectively be able to switch racial templates, but only a limited number of times and only in a specific sequence. I also figured that transitioning into the final stage would essentially start at age 70, and am unsure how this might be modeled or how much that would be worth.

I've thought about heavily limited Alternate Forms or simply as perks or perhaps 0-point features, but I'm curious as to what other people think.

It's a cool idea! I think your thought of Alternate Form is the right way to do it. Specifically, limit the base 15 points of Alternate Form with the "one use only" limitation, which divides the cost by 5. Since transforming back to your previous form also counts as a "use" of Alternate Form, making it one-use-only means it's a one-way transformation. As long as the new forms don't cost more than the template for the previous form, each form they go to will only cost 3 points. If the new form does cost more, they'll have to pay the difference in template cost - remember it will be the full cost of the template difference, not 90%, because these effectively have Once On, Stays On.

[Bilanthri]

I would create a base racial template with only the features that will be shared by all stages, then create lenses for each stage of the metamorphosis. When the player wants to move to the next stage, they trade their current lens for the next one in line. You could make each lens worth the same CP cost, or make them progressively more expensive if you want them to work up to it in CP.

Really, it seems to me like a case where the GM determines how that race progresses and the player just gets to choose how fast they progress. No need for much game mechanics to make this work.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by Jinumon

Hey all!

Me and a friend are putting together a Space Opera setting for all the Sci-Fi shenanigans we want to play out. We're putting together a playable alien race with a unique life-cycle and I'm curious as to how we'd model it as an advantage.

So basically, this race matures into a teenage state in 10-12 years, at which point they cease aging. After that, they can voluntarily induce a metamorphosis and, after a short period of hibernation, emerge in a later life-stage. There are probably 4 or 5 stages (childhood/early teen, young adult, mature adult, middle age, and old), and all have their own pros and cons. All stages, save for the last one, do not age on their own. Those in the last stage of life age and die like any other species. An important distinction is that while this race must choose to advance forward, they cannot reverse the aging process to revert to previous stages: once they move forward, there's no going back.

I figure each stage will essentially be its own racial template, with all but the last stage having the Unaging advantage. That being said, I don't know how to model the ability to effectively be able to switch racial templates, but only a limited number of times and only in a specific sequence. I also figured that transitioning into the final stage would essentially start at age 70, and am unsure how this might be modeled or how much that would be worth.

I've thought about heavily limited Alternate Forms or simply as perks or perhaps 0-point features, but I'm curious as to what other people think.

Jinumon

You'll need to have strong motivations for voluntary aging. One group of aliens in a Sci Fi novel I saw advertised (about forty years ago) was immortal as long as they didn't go through puberty. If they went through puberty they aged at a slightly faster rate than humans.

[ericthered]

In most games, age related traits won't come up, and thus shouldn't be charged. This is pretty close to RAW: several "Worked Examples" make note of it.

I'd call it a perk, plus the cost of whatever the highest racial package is.

[Jinumon]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

You'll need to have strong motivations for voluntary aging.

The species itself is a very sort of nationalistic, communal group. Every hundred or so years, they declare that a new "form" will rule, depending on the era they feel is most appropriate. Children for peace, young adults for reproduction, mature adults for industry, middle aged for culture, and the old for war (when the species must act with a sense of urgency). When the species has too little of a particular form, they may encourage (though never coerce) their population who are "young" enough to assume a particular form. Because all forms save the oldest are Unaging, this generally isn't too much to ask, and enough will comply to correct the imbalance.

I'll admit that I got the idea for the race as something of a combination between Tolkien's immortal Elves and the Parshendi from Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archive.

Jinumon