Phys-ads, retinal duplication and finger prints, Screwed? Options

[A Clockwork Lime]

Powers like Improved Physical Attribute already allow adepts to directly modify their physical forms. Powers like Improved Sense and Enhanced Perception vastly improve your sensory organs. Powers like Killing Hands can be reflected as growing (and retracting) animalistic claws or any other way you want to describe them.

There's plenty of powers that exist in canon that allow an adept to modify their bodies.

[Siege]

Within tightly controlled elements -- but you'll note that adepts still can't improve Charisma, alter pheremones, voices and so on that would be perfectly in line with the idea of magic warping a physical appearance to alter social interactions.

Which is why I describe the current limitations as fairly arbitrary.

And I've never believed that Improved Senses as a power actually alters the adept's body per se -- if you rip out an adept's eyes with low-light and thermo, I don't think the eyes will be any different than eyes similar to other members of his gender/species.

It may be a limitation of my GM(s), but Killing Hands has always been described as blows dealing Physical damage but not requiring special effects such as energy fields or claws.

-Siege

[Hasaku]

Exactly. If they were claws, the power would be no more effective against spirits than spurs or hand razors.

[A Clockwork Lime]

Oy.

Anyway, an adept is free to describe any of their powers however they want as long as it fits within the constraints of the power. That's part of the fun of playing an adept. Distance Strike can be a huge fireball that shoots forth from the adept's mouth, an invisible force of kinetic energy, or the adept's arms growing to ridiculous levels before retracting. Killing Hands can be a pair of vicious claws, an aura of cackling energy around his fists, hands that turn into wicked blades, or just an innate ability to land vicious blows. An eagle physical shaman might go with a pair of claws and duplicate an eagle's eyes when using Enhanced Perception or Improved Sense: Optical Magnification, for instance.

And of course none of their powers are permanent; if they were, you wouldn't be able to turn them on and off on a whim. Enhanced Perception and Improved Sense only works for as long as the adept wishes them to. As soon as they deactivate the power, any modifications revert to their natural, non-magical state. The same happens when you knock out a magician sustaining Shapechange on themselves. Poof! The magic ends and they revert to their normal forms.

Not surprisingly, the same would be true about a power of this nature.

[Zazen]

I doubt that kind of carte blanche description is actually mentioned in the rules. I think some limits are desirable.

Me, I'd have a problem giving someone extendo-arms or bladed hands. If they had that power they could do other things with them, and I don't like saying "yeah, you have extending Dhalsim limbs, but you can only use them for attacks". When another player wants him to grab the jailers keys from across the room or something, the "no" will feel arbitrary.

[Siege]

I'm not knocking your game creativity -- but Zaz hit the nail on the head, at least regarding my one of my primary concerns.

That being said, the proposed power is not balance-altering nor supreme munchkin bait -- it just happens to bug me personally.

Since I don't dictate the flavor of your games, run with it. :grinbig:

-Siege