Morph

[oma]

Say I have Morph [100] +50 extra ability [50]
I am a human.

1. If I morph into an elf that costs 30pts, am I able to use my other 20pts to up the stats of the elf form that I have chosen? Such as give it higher DX or ST?

2. same question as a human, can I just use morph to impersonate another human? It seems to say I can in the description. If I impersonate a human with a 15 ST and I have morph with an extra 50 pts, would I morph into this guy with a 15 ST or am I just not being reasonable.

3. Is there any reasonable way to use my extra points of morph to alter my body to make myself BETTER than the base racial template I turn into, (other than just eliminating mental disadvantages)?

Thanks

[starslayer]

As you have it listed, no.

However, there is morph enhancement called 'Improvised Forms' (powers pg 75), this MAY also require unlimited ( main book pg 85) for changes like 'I want tougher skin' (add DR to your new template). If you had those enhancements, yes- morph basically turns into a sort of 'very high cost for entry modular ability'.

[Mr_Sandman]

My reading of morph is that you can only apply the racial template, not improve it. The only trait that can be improved with extra points is appearance, when impersonating an individual with higher appearance than the morphing character.

The only way I know of around this is the "improvised forms" enhancement from Powers, it allows you to make up a new template that includes any traits that already exist in the game world. There are almost certain to be creatures in any game world with a template that has higher ST, DX or HT than the morph's race -- not necessarily IQ though.

Edit - Ninja'd, more or less.
And "cosmic" could get around the necessity for a trait to come from an existing template in the game world.

[vitruvian]

All correct - by RAW, for this sort of thing, you need Improvised Forms +100%. It has always seemed kind of strange to me for case #2, though - it seems like if you're a ST 10 regular joe in your base form, and you Morph into an exact copy of Arnold Schwarzenegger (or better, a power lifter who actually has a very high ST), your copied muscles should make you stronger even though you and musclebound guy are technically the same race and template.

I'd definitely allow a less expensive +50% Cosmic to allow for switching to such 'personal' templates in addition to racial templates, since it's not really Improvised as such, and might even be argued into house ruling that it's a +0% modifier if your Morph always acts this way -, since by that same token if you shift into the form of somebody small and spindly, you won't be able to keep your regular ST. Call it +0% Physical Mimic- your Morph only works to mimic specific individuals, and you take on all their physical characteristics, positive and negative (to the degree your Morph Pool allows). That is, everybody is considered to have a personal template which consists of their physical differences from your base form.

[oma]

On a related note, all modifiers to morph affect the base 100pt cost, correct? They do NOT affect the cost of additional points. Those additional points are always bought at regular price.

[B9anders]

Originally Posted by oma

On a related note, all modifiers to morph affect the base 100pt cost, correct? They do NOT affect the cost of additional points. Those additional points are always bought at regular price.

correct. Powers explicitly makes this point.

[B9anders]

Originally Posted by Mr_Sandman

The only way I know of around this is the "improvised forms" enhancement from Powers, it allows you to make up a new template that includes any traits that already exist in the game world. There are almost certain to be creatures in any game world with a template that has higher ST, DX or HT than the morph's race -- not necessarily IQ though..

yup.

Re IQ, and metal traits in general for Morph, I asked Kromm in a PM about this a while back:

Originally Posted by Kromm

What all Shapeshifting does is replace one racial template with another; Alternate Form gives access to one specific template, while Morph allows a choice of templates within a certain price range. If the initial or final template includes mental traits, then changing templates will usually alter mental traits. To tweak individual traits to taste irrespective of templates calls for Morph enhanced with Improvised Forms (Powers, p. 75). That modifier only lets one alter one's physical traits – mental traits aren't included in the first place.

[davidtmoore]

Originally Posted by starslayer

As you have it listed, no.

However, there is morph enhancement called 'Improvised Forms' (powers pg 75), this MAY also require unlimited ( main book pg 85) for changes like 'I want tougher skin' (add DR to your new template). If you had those enhancements, yes- morph basically turns into a sort of 'very high cost for entry modular ability'.

I was wondering about this. Does this effectively do away with the need for memorisation? Like, can I say, "I wanna be a wolf today," even if you're not looking at a wolf and haven't memorised a wolf form?

I ask because the write-up for Improvised forms mentions mixing and matching traits and making up new racial packages, but doesn't mentioned selecting racial packages from the game world or eliminating the need for memorisation. It certainly seems like a general "you can turn into anything" enhancement, but I wanted to be clear.

[chandley]

Originally Posted by davidtmoore

I was wondering about this. Does this effectively do away with the need for memorisation? Like, can I say, "I wanna be a wolf today," even if you're not looking at a wolf and haven't memorised a wolf form?

I ask because the write-up for Improvised forms mentions mixing and matching traits and making up new racial packages, but doesn't mentioned selecting racial packages from the game world or eliminating the need for memorisation. It certainly seems like a general "you can turn into anything" enhancement, but I wanted to be clear.

As I read it, if you use improvised forms to assume a form you havent memorized, you get the game effects (claws, teeth, enhanced move, fur, whatever), but no one is going to mistake you for a _natural_ wolf! You might be a fur bearing quadruped with fangs and claws and a good sense of smell, but thats about where the similarity would end.

[starslayer]

Originally Posted by davidtmoore

I was wondering about this. Does this effectively do away with the need for memorisation? Like, can I say, "I wanna be a wolf today," even if you're not looking at a wolf and haven't memorised a wolf form?

I ask because the write-up for Improvised forms mentions mixing and matching traits and making up new racial packages, but doesn't mentioned selecting racial packages from the game world or eliminating the need for memorisation. It certainly seems like a general "you can turn into anything" enhancement, but I wanted to be clear.

I would read it as 'you can mix and match traits to make up essentially anything you can imagine' if you want to make a SPECIFIC something 'if I could be a wolf no one on the grounds would suspect me' then I think an artist(morph) roll would be called for.