Steve Jackson Games - Site Navigation
Home General Info Follow Us Search Illuminator Store Forums What's New Other Games Ogre GURPS Munchkin Our Games: Home

Go Back   Steve Jackson Games Forums > Roleplaying > GURPS

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 01-01-2018, 12:52 PM   #1
JCurwen3
 
JCurwen3's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Brooklyn, NY
Default Reduced Time on Unaging w Age Control?

I'm helping someone build a character that doesn't age & has pretty much complete & instant control of their age.

Unaging w Age Control allows you to control the direction & rate of your control over your own current age, but only 10 times the normal rate (so, for instance, + or - 10 years / year).

Would it be acceptable to use enough levels of Reduced Time to make their control more in the range of seconds rather than potentially years? Also, how would this be done? Do I add the Reduced Time levels to Unaging, or to Age Control (increasing its enhancement %). I'm a little foggy on that & don't have Powers on hand right now.
__________________
-JC
JCurwen3 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-01-2018, 01:17 PM   #2
Kelly Pedersen
 
Kelly Pedersen's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Saskatoon, SK, Canada
Default Re: Reduced Time on Unaging w Age Control?

Quote:
Originally Posted by JCurwen3 View Post
Would it be acceptable to use enough levels of Reduced Time to make their control more in the range of seconds rather than potentially years?
I think so, yeah.

Quote:
Originally Posted by JCurwen3
Also, how would this be done? Do I add the Reduced Time levels to Unaging, or to Age Control (increasing its enhancement %).
I would definitely use the second method, enhancing Age Control rather than Unaging directly. I don't have a specific rules cite for this, but just based on the pricing, I think it's far more fair. Unaging is already pretty expensive (I feel it's overly-priced, but let's assume the RAW price here). Putting Age Control and enough Reduced Time to make it so you can change 10 years in a minute (19 levels) on Unaging together makes it cost 75 points. Whereas putting the Reduced Time on Age Control increases it to a +96% enhancement, which in turn works out to Unaging costing 30 points. To me, that seems far more reasonable for what's effectively just a rather specific disguise ability.

In fact, even the method of using Reduced Time on Age Control still ends up so expensive that I'd be inclined to just tweak Age Control directly. I'd say that adding +5% to Age Control for each "step" of time down it takes to change your age by 10 years (years to months to weeks to days to hours to minutes to seconds) produces more reasonable values. That would make Age Control (10 years in 1 second) be a +50% enhancement, in turn making Unaging with it cost 23 points. That feels more reasonable for this to me.
Kelly Pedersen is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-01-2018, 03:05 PM   #3
mr beer
 
Join Date: Mar 2013
Default Re: Reduced Time on Unaging w Age Control?

Could do it as Unaging + Age Control +20% + Cosmic +50% (Instant Age Control) for +70% total [25].

By RAW I would interpret it as +20% per 'level' of Age Control, so 160% for 100,000,000x speed Age Control, so total cost [39] to be able to age 1 year per roughly 0.3 seconds. Which I agree is too expensive.
mr beer is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-01-2018, 03:23 PM   #4
Flyndaran
Untagged
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Forest Grove, Beaverton, Oregon
Default Re: Reduced Time on Unaging w Age Control?

At that speed it really becomes a very limited Morph.
No one would think the 20 year old youth they see around the corner was the 55 year old man they chased there.
Garner sympathy or intel in a school by becoming a 12 year old or in a senior living complex by becoming 65.
Become very young so companions can just carry you if you're injured or otherwise have trouble walking yourself.
It shouldn't be a cheap ability in most games.
__________________
Beware, poor communication skills. No offense intended. If offended, it just means that I failed my writing skill check.
Flyndaran is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-01-2018, 03:56 PM   #5
ericthered
Hero of Democracy
 
ericthered's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: far from the ocean
Default Re: Reduced Time on Unaging w Age Control?

Flyn has a solid point about morph. The main utility of such an ability is to rapidly change your appearance. I'd use Elastic Skin rather than morph though: if you're only changing appearance rather than abilities, its sufficient for what you want and much cheaper. I'd price the limitation at 70% or so: you really don't have that many available forms, and someone who knows your trick can identify all of them.

This is in additional to normal unaging, of course.
__________________
Be helpful, not pedantic

Worlds Beyond Earth -- my blog

Check out the PbP forum! If you don't see a game you'd like, ask me about making one!
ericthered is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-01-2018, 04:43 PM   #6
Kelly Pedersen
 
Kelly Pedersen's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Saskatoon, SK, Canada
Default Re: Reduced Time on Unaging w Age Control?

Quote:
Originally Posted by ericthered View Post
The main utility of such an ability is to rapidly change your appearance. I'd use Elastic Skin rather than morph though:
Elastic Skin and Hermaphromorph are both examples of why I find Unaging with Age Control to be rather overpriced. Unaging with Age Control can basically just alter your age, and extremely slowly at that. And even large age differences aren't necessarily all that deceptive - I've certainly known people who, at 60 or 70, were still identifiable with pictures of them at 20. And, of course, you've got to remember the general principle of GURPS advantages: by default, they're known to exist in the setting. So suddenly turning into a 60-year-old version of yourself isn't going to necessarily have everyone say, "It can't be her, she's too old!", they're going to say "Well, she kind of looks like the person we're searching for, only older. Maybe she's an age-changer!".

And compare Hermaphromorph, which at 5 points, is far cheaper than any version of Unaging with Age Control, and lets you change to a version of yourself who's the other gender. That's probably at least as confusing as changing to someone 10 or 20 years older.
Kelly Pedersen is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-01-2018, 04:52 PM   #7
Flyndaran
Untagged
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Forest Grove, Beaverton, Oregon
Default Re: Reduced Time on Unaging w Age Control?

Some people are easily identified throughout their lives. My mom has a picture of when she was 4 and it's creepy, because it looks almost like someone just pasted her adult face on a child's body.
But each of my school pictures look like a different kid. I've had a 'fro, curly, wavy, and straight hair naturally. One neighbor was certain my parents somehow switched kids and lied to him about it for some reason.

I have no clue how to price or restrict that idea.
__________________
Beware, poor communication skills. No offense intended. If offended, it just means that I failed my writing skill check.
Flyndaran is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-01-2018, 07:57 PM   #8
David Johnston2
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Default Re: Reduced Time on Unaging w Age Control?

Quote:
Originally Posted by JCurwen3 View Post
I'm helping someone build a character that doesn't age & has pretty much complete & instant control of their age.

Unaging w Age Control allows you to control the direction & rate of your control over your own current age, but only 10 times the normal rate (so, for instance, + or - 10 years / year).

Would it be acceptable to use enough levels of Reduced Time to make their control more in the range of seconds rather than potentially years? Also, how would this be done? Do I add the Reduced Time levels to Unaging, or to Age Control (increasing its enhancement %). I'm a little foggy on that & don't have Powers on hand right now.
Acceptable? Yes. Insanely expensive? Certainly. I'd go with letting it be a 50% Cosmic.
David Johnston2 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-01-2018, 08:59 PM   #9
David Johnston2
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Default Re: Reduced Time on Unaging w Age Control?

Quote:
Originally Posted by ericthered View Post
Flyn has a solid point about morph. The main utility of such an ability is to rapidly change your appearance. I'd use Elastic Skin rather than morph though: if you're only changing appearance rather than abilities, its sufficient for what you want and much cheaper. I'd price the limitation at 70% or so: you really don't have that many available forms, and someone who knows your trick can identify all of them.

This is in additional to normal unaging, of course.
If you use elastic skin you might need shrinking for reversion to very young ages.
David Johnston2 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-02-2018, 06:14 AM   #10
Not another shrubbery
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Default Re: Reduced Time on Unaging w Age Control?

Quote:
Originally Posted by David Johnston2 View Post
If you use elastic skin you might need shrinking for reversion to very young ages.
Yeah, although I suspect most characters wouldn't need or want to reverse their age to that degree. I realized the usefulness of shapeshifting to simulate rapid age control some years ago. Unaging + Elastic Skin should be sufficient for most purposes. Cosmetic Morph can be used instead for more extreme aging, and you can reduce the cost of either with an Accessibility (only to simulate age changes).
Not another shrubbery is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
age control, reduced time, unaging

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Fnords are Off
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 02:50 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.9
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.