Powergaming Pixie, ...just some thoughts. Options

[Machiavelli]

Imagine the following situation and tell me what you would think of it:

Pixie with magician or mystical adept quality. Owns a level 3 sustaining focus and depends on a possession tradition. Now it casts a shapechange spell (human) which should cause in physical attributes of average 3 and +1 for every hit he casts . Spell is put on the sustaining focus and tadaaa....you have a very skilled magician in human form with innate concealment power and none of the disadvatages of the pixie (size and fragility) any more.

Is that too much?^^

[Dakka Dakka]

It all comes down to the question whether a (meta)human is a suitable animal. The FAQ has a weird ruling on it. Norms are OK but the other metahumans aren't.

[Karoline]

It's funny, because I imagine alot of mage types could benefit from turning themselves into a human with that spell (or dwarf or elf or ork).

You're still paying all the points for being a pixie, you still have to pay more points to buy off uneducated, and you have serious problems every time you run into a ward. I don't see that as being that overpowered.

[Dakka Dakka]

Also the focus has to fit on the real pixie so it is very small and possibly fragile. A fireball won't do it much good.

[Doc Byte]

Better put a Pixie rigger into an anthroform drone. Or outright some flying combat drone. You might even upgade this old concept with a Pixie mage-(trode-)rigger using fiberoptic cams. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wobble.gif)

"Hey, man, did you see that drone casting fireballs from above?"

[Machiavelli]

It's funny, because I imagine alot of mage types could benefit from turning themselves into a human with that spell (or dwarf or elf or ork).

You're still paying all the points for being a pixie, you still have to pay more points to buy off uneducated, and you have serious problems every time you run into a ward. I don't see that as being that overpowered.

Pixies gain +2 to charisma, agility, willpower and reaction, they gain +1 to intuition and logic while they only cost 35 BP. No other subspecies has that much advantages (if you negate max. strenght and body with the spell i mentioned). So i think they are worth the effort. The concealment power not even included. And if shit hits the fan, you drop the spell and fly away.^^

[Karoline]

Pixies gain +2 to charisma, agility, willpower and reaction, they gain +1 to intuition and logic while they only cost 35 BP. No other subspecies has that much advantages (if you negate max. strenght and body with the spell i mentioned). So i think they are worth the effort. The concealment power not even included. And if shit hits the fan, you drop the spell and fly away.^^

That's true, but you're leaving out the 20 BP to get rid of uneducated. It is still a fairly sweet deal, but I wouldn't say game breaking. Also, don't forget that the pixi will lose all equipment whenever they loose shapechange. Not because it vanishes, but because it'll be too big for them to carry. Very annoying having to drop your focus to pass through a ward, then (butt naked) drag all your equipment over the ward, then recast the spell, then get dressed again.

And you have the problem of the focus having to be large enough to fit on a human and small enough that a pixie can handle it. A necklace is an obvious choice, but it would be too large for a pixie to really wear, and so require the pixie to carry it, limiting how much they can take with them if they ever have to run.

Even for a mage, suddenly dropping down to 2 items really sucks.

[The Dragon Girl]

And you have the problem of the focus having to be large enough to fit on a human and small enough that a pixie can handle it. A necklace is an obvious choice, but it would be too large for a pixie to really wear, and so require the pixie to carry it, limiting how much they can take with them if they ever have to run.

Choker on human, belt on pixie?

[darthmord]

Choker on human, belt on pixie?

Thumb ring for a pixie or pinkie toe ring for human...

[The Dragon Girl]

Thumb ring for a pixie or pinkie toe ring for human...

hn, don't think the size conversion is right there, they're between a sixth and a third the size of a human..

[Falconer]

This is a prime example of why I have no problems w/ shapechange as presented in the FAQ. But also still apply the augmented max of the native form. While they look and act like the new form, they still aren't the new form. As well as yet another reason to like the augmented max applying to possession traditions.


Pixie w/ augmented max of 5 bod and str in human form isn't much of a problem... You still get all the massive mental attribute bonuses, and can't completely bypass the physical problems.


As far as hauling all that gear when in pixie form... toss it in a bag and levitate.

Also one thing to keep in mind is that the mages are shapechanging into pure unaugmented humans. IE; they're losing their natural low-light and dark vision and the light... make doubly sure to apply visibility penalties as appropriate!

[Minchandre]

Choker on human, belt on pixie?

I would go necklace on the pixie, bracelet on the human.

[Laughing One]

Since pixies can accept geneware just like anyone else, you could use the Metaposeur Phenotypic Alteration (aug pg. 90) to look like a human. Not much different from a dwarf turning into a troll.

[Dakka Dakka]

Since pixies can accept geneware just like anyone else, you could use the Metaposeur Phenotypic Alteration (aug pg. 90) to look like a human. Not much different from a dwarf turning into a troll.

Are Pixies Metahumans? I thought they were sapient critters.

[Laughing One]

Are Pixies Metahumans? I thought they were sapient critters.

Metaposeur say that they can look like any metahuman they want, but it does not mention that they need to be a metahuman at the first place.

[Patrick the Gnom...]

Since pixies can accept geneware just like anyone else, you could use the Metaposeur Phenotypic Alteration (aug pg. 90) to look like a human. Not much different from a dwarf turning into a troll.

The limits of Metaposeur Phenotypic alteration are left up to the GM. I don't know who you play with but if a player comes up to me and says he wants to genetically alter his 1'6'' pixie to look like a 5'5'' human I am going to smack him upside the head for metagaming, just like I would for someone trying to play with an emotitoy, and while the dwarf troll thing isn't exactly unbalancing, it's still outside the bounds of what I feel post birth genetics are capable of, even in 2077. Plus, what's the fun of playing a pixie/dwarf if the rest of the players can't make short jokes?

[KarmaInferno]

I'd allow the phenotype alteration, but the character would end up looking like a 12 year old girl. Or whatever is opposite of what the player likes.

Something incompatible with the process, see...




-karma

[Yerameyahu]

Does the phenotype mod affect things like equipment sizing? If not, then you shouldn't be able to change your overall size enough to suggest such an effect.

Obviously, it's totally out of hand *anyway*, but I'm just offering a within-rules argument. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) As far as I'm concerned, you can't change your basic mass enough for this kind of thing. A dwarf > troll would be a *tiny* troll, etc.

[IceKatze]

hi hi

Four words: Plasteel Homunculus Hamster Ball.

[Machiavelli]

*harr harr* That is a good one...^^

We played yesterday evening and we already made some good pixie- and dwarf jokes, until our GM threw the option of a monofilament-whip in a pixies fairy-wand in.^^

[The Dragon Girl]

Man, I have to say my idea of what pixies are like in the sixth world appears to be terribly different from yours...

I can almost hear my little hacker scoffing about a 'pixie fairy-wand'.

[HappyDaze]

Metaposeur say that they can look like any metahuman they want, but it does not mention that they need to be a metahuman at the first place.

With rigorously applied logic like this, you'll find the SR rules to be a minefield. Do try not to get blown up.

[Yerameyahu]

They have butterfly wings, The Dragon Girl. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) Butterfly wings!

This is more a fairy (smaller), but: http://www.realmofatland.com/?p=259

[Tymeaus Jalynsfe...]

They have butterfly wings, The Dragon Girl. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) Butterfly wings!

This is more a fairy (smaller), but: http://www.realmofatland.com/?p=259

And your point? Wings are wings... so the Fairy has a magical component to them, so do Dragons, but no one seems to mind that they can fly as long as they like... why should it matter for the Fairy?

I know, The Pixies are supposed to be the Windlings from Earthdawn, and in that setting, they had a limit to their flight. They do not have such a limit in the Shadowrun environment... It does not matter, and it should not matter... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rotate.gif)

Keep the Faith

[Yerameyahu]

I have no idea what you're talking about, Tymeaus. My point is that Pixies can't really scoff at 'little fairy-wand' because they have freaking butterfly wings.