Fusing?

[kito]

I am having a small problem 2 of my palyers wan ther heros to "Fuse" togeather to make 1 stronger hero. with a buff in the abilitys? i told then if they both made a 30 stone hero over 40 i would ok it. (so it would only be 1 60 stone hero) any 1 have a good sugestion on how to do this?

[kito]

my general plan on this is to kinda Mesh everything togeather into a upgraded form for them so if 1 is duribity 6 and 1 is 3 then they go to dur 4. 1 has watermastery 5 and the other fiermastery 7 then it gos to water/fire mastery 6 ect

is that a good way or sould it be more like adding so dur 6 and 3 becom 9 and fer 7 and water 5 becom fire/water 12?

or do i just add some paces and rond down outher? i like my first was best but was unshure if u gys have some kinda "hous rulez" for fusing that migh be helfull

[Dionon]

You could always use the Fusion Action I created for my DBZ ruleset... It's a touch clunky, but it's made for DBZ, you can alter it any way you wish...

Fusion
Cost Level = AN + 4

DESCRIPTION
This action represents the ability to combine two warriors into one by synchronizing their life energy. When using this action, you must be at the same power level of the being you are attempting to fuse with. Either being may take situational penalties to their power level to match the weaker one's power.

When you attempt this action, both parties spend stones into their action box. If the two stone counts are equal, then the fusion is a success. If the person initiating the Fusion has to little stones, then the result is the Thin Fusion form. If the person initiating the Fusion has to many stones, then the result is the Fat Fusion form. Both forms are rather useless and only a True Fusion is of any value.

Fat Fusion forms have the CAD of the stronger half of the Fusion, while Thin Fusion form has the CAD of the weaker verison. Failed Fusions take a -3 situational penalty to any and all actions they perform to represent their ineptness.

True Fusions however are more powerful than before. Firstly, take the stronger of the two beings Abilities. If there is a tie, raise that Ability by +1. Secondly, take the stronger of the two beings Actions and Modifiers, if there is a tie, raise that Action or Modifier by +1. Lastly, the Fusion gains all the stones spent by both members of the Fusion to increase their character more, and create their own Custom Attack. These stones are to be used as Character Creation Stones.

Once you have initiated a Fusion, place red stones equal to your Fusion's energy pool, and white stones equal to your Fusion's stones of Health into a hat, and each panel remove one from the hat. If you removed a Red stone, you continue the fusion. If you remove a white stone, the Fusion ends, and you are stunned for one half your energy pool.

All Fusions are healed to full health, no matter what condition their previous parts were in. Once the fusion ends, unless the Fusion was killed, the two parts are left at the health they were at before the Fusion.

While in a Fusion, all Personality Challegnes both characters have are increased by +1

OPTIONS
- Photographic Fusion: Once you have competed a Fusion successfully once, you never fail again with that same partner (+5 to Cost Level)

[kito]

hmm i was loking for something like this was not shure if u had a DBZ rule set up i assumd u did but could not find it. this does seam to help, But there fusion is a alien abilty so im guessing i just egnor all the fist stuff need for enrgy? or keep that and make it a cos and just not put in fat and thin form ant suggestion?

[Dionon]

Well, like I said in my original post, edit and ignore what you want from what I put down on paper. In the end it's your game and you know the feel of it. I was just offering it as a possible solution. I'm glad you found it useful for your purposes.

My DBZ ruleset is located here.

[Pope Mega Force]

Fusion to me was never something of an action. You had to do it right but everyone had the ability to do it. You just had to do a silly dance and say some silly words. I figured a good way was to use something like Fusion earrings.

[Ricochet]

You could also use Transform Self: They'd pay full price for the fused hero, while they'd get all the discounts from transform self for the duo. You should let them share one pool of stones. (80 in total?)

[Gryphynx]

In my opinion, the best way to do this would be to put all the weight of merging on a single player. One character makes whatever character he wants, and the other makes a character that enhances him.

Example... Mrged character takes Telepathy wth possess target, and whatever other telepathic powers he wants so he can use these powers from the other player. He then also takes Power Boost, with maybe a +2 that power doesnt cause Out of Control, but does still cause Overstrain. Maybe counter balance it with a -2 Can only be used on Joe Specific. Now you possess him and enhance his personal powers, plus you have Telepathy. If you dont want your body just laying around, add a +2 to take body into possession. Maybe balance the high cost you are generating with a -2 no LoEs.

Transform Self w ould be my second choice, because merging pools to allow, say... A 60 stone character in a 40 stone game will be very very powerful... I can build any character at all on 60 stones, short of day... Galactus

[Ricochet]

Well, yeah. The alternative would be to let them play with the normal stonecount... Together. This would produce a weaker character, ofcourse.

[malice]

To me Fusion will always be a difficult concept to make effective in a table-top RPG. The players THINK it's a great idea until they realize THEY'RE not fused and so they can't actually roleplay the amalgam. The whole point of everyone having their own character is that everyone gets to make their own decisions. Sharing a character doesn't work unless you're not both at the table.

Speaking simply: I don't think "Fusing" is a good idea in a tabletop RPG because it produces less fun than the work you pay for it. However, since you asked the question, I will now suggest one way of doing it.

It can work I think, but the players who are capable of pulling it off usually aren't the ones wanting to fuse. Your best roleplayers and smartest roll-players smell an upcoming pain in their ass and they avoid it. Those best players COULD do it if they trade play time or agree on a personality AHEAD OF TIME.

"Ahead of time" is important, because either your players have to take turns playing the amalgam (which requires planning and a lot hopefully-unnecessary bathroom breaks), or they have to agree on how they want the character to behave without wasting the rest of the table's time. If you get two people discussing what they should do with their ONE character during play you're costing everyone else's play time. Thus you get it sorted before the game so that it can run smoothly during the game.

As for rules to execute it? I don't think it's as big a problem as you fear. MURPG uses a graduated cost system, so twice the stones isn't always twice the power. Compare a durability of 4 with a durability of 8, the 8 costs triple the 4, so you end up with a durability of 6 instead. You also don't have to just double-up for everything (Although that would be a simple and often-effective way I think).

Since the fusion actually forms a new character, I would make a new CAD for that character just like normal (only with more stones). The creature formed isn't just two people in one body, it's a distinct intelligence with its own personality and broader perspectives than either of its parts.

As with the roleplaying of the character, the CAD should be figured out ahead of time if possible. If you want the fusion to be a cool-but-unexpected plot device, then you need to figure out what the fused CADs will look like for the pairs of players that might do it.

As an example, I'll fuse Cyclops and Wolverine from the first book. Those two would love to be bound at the hip. You'll notice most of the time the additional stones don't afford an increase (a speed of 1 or 2 costs less than one white stone, so it can't increase a speed of 3 or higher).

Cy-Claw

Int 4 (Together the cost of their INTs COULD buy an INT of 5, but the fusion of personalities will be better demonstrated by the actions. Also considering they don't get along, the brain they'd make together isn't genius quality)
Str 4
Agi 4
Spd 3
Dur 6

ACTIONS:

Close Combat 8 (This is one where if you can afford a bump on a fused character, you should. Two heads are better than one, and the fused character will always be a better fighter than either of his/her component characters. It's just how fighting works. If you want to add an advantage like Efficient instead of bumping the AN, go for it. If neither character was a fighter and the amalgam isn't going to be either, you may want to skip it.)
(Agility Bonus or Weapon Modifier)
-X-Man Multi-Style
-Martial Arts
-Weapon X Training
-Samurai
-Hand-to-Hand

Optic Blast 9
-Ruby Visor [required]
-2x Damage
-Can't be improved
-Power out of control without Ruby Visor

Ranged Combat 4
(Weapon Modifier)
-Handguns
-Energy Weapons

Hunting/Tracing 7
-Stalking
-Outdoor Survival
-Spot/Set Ambush
-Spot/Set Traps

Vehicle Operation 7
-Any vehicles (including all of Cyclops's individual specializations)

Leadership 7

Black Ops 6
-Covert Operations
-Surveillance
-Infiltration
-Intimidation
-Assassination
-Extraction

Social Skills 7 (Once again multiple perspectives make a superior action. If both characters have invested in Social Skills, the amalgam will be a smoother talker than either of its components. That's just how social interaction works.)
-Streetwise
-World Languages and Cultures
-Authority
-Military Protocol
-Academia
-Blue Collar
-Underworld

MODIFIERS:
Adamantium Skeleton

Adamantium Claws +3
-Retractable
-Armor Penetrating

Accelerated Healing Factor

Mental Defense +2

Reflexive Dodge +1

Animal Senses 7

Wealth 3

EQUIPMENT: As Cyclops's PLUS whatever item you're using to make the fusion possible (like earrings) IF you're using an item at all.

Finally you should add something to make the character special. Start by using any stones that are left over just because one character was so much crappier. Cyclops's Strength and Agility are bad enough that they can't add their cost to Wolverine's and cause an increase. They also saved a stone on Intelligence because they're both idiots.

After simply adding the two characters together and buying whatever they can afford aside from intelligence, they have 4 stones left over (Their challenge stones don't do much because either they have the same challenges and can't benefit from them twice or they don't and they've already used the stones). If the goal is just to add some spice, 4 stones is plenty.

Cy-Claw used his left over 4 stones to transform his Force Blast action into a Fireworks action, because Fireworks is better than Force Blast. He likes to wrap his claws in Fireworks, and then detonate them for extra damage when he strikes a target. If he misses his target with the claws the area of effect might still get them, or he reabsorbs them to compensate for the energy lost in the missed attack.

In combat Cy-Claw tends to behave more like Wolverine, clawing toward melee. When he can't reach a target with his claws, the tactical mind of Cyclops shows through. He has more options than Wolverine, directing his team or playing a support role.

With one stone left over Cy-Claw can lean toward his Wolverine side and bump his Reflexive Dodge by 1, or his Cyclops side and buy something versatile for his 9th action like General Knowledge.

Cy-Claw's personality, like the rest of him, is more than just the sum of his parts. All amalgams have inflated egos because they know they're the best of two people. In many cases they show symptoms of mental disorder due to their dual nature.

Cy-Claw still has a major weakness for telepathic redheads, but knows his existence is temporary and refuses to indulge. His visor is red but his balls are blue, so he either trains relentlessly or carouses shamelessly. When he gets past his self-denial, he gets rejected anyway, and returns to his distractions.

If you wanted more stones, you could choose not to combine a few of the things I have combined. For example, Vehicle Operations doesn't necessarily improve with multiple perspectives, especially since the two characters have practically the same action. Two pretty good drivers doesn't make one awesome driver because they're still limited by the vehicle and their own experience. So if you wanted 3 more stones to play with, there's one place to get it.


Now that was a bit of a pain in the ass for a character who isn't that much more powerful than either of his components, but I picked those two kinda randomly to show how I'd do it. I think unless your group has discussed the challenges of "fusing" in the past then it's not something you want to do on the fly, so at least this level of preparation is how I'd recommend doing things.

Since both characters I chose are pretty different and neither is very powerful, that example is more about method than exploration. Other characters could gain a lot more power from each other, but you and your players know that because that's why they wanted to fuse in the first place.

The graduated cost keeps a lot of power in check. "Everything you can do I can do better" sounds like a great deal, until you realize that you have to do EVERYTHING that the subject does, which means you can't completely ditch Vehicle Operations or Leadership for those tasty 6 stones. Cyclops and Wolverine both have Vehicle Ops at 5 with flexible specializations, which means if they fuse the resulting character MUST have a Vehicle Ops of at least 5.

You can do everything the components can do, which means you have to waste all the same stones they did (Not saying Leadership and Vehicle Ops are a waste, just that you don't get to build something totally different with a higher stone count. You have to build the same things, THEN you can improve).

Fusing this way creates a more powerful character, but rather than twice the power you end up with something like 150% of the power. That's not too bad for balance, considering the character is inherently temporary and, if properly played, takes half the time that the two players previously did. Other players get MORE time to play, and the two fused players get that amalgam they wanted.

[kito]

Thx alot u have all been rilly helpfull i got more than a good idea wut i plan to do now.

[Hypester]

Hmmm...

I don't think a new rule is required. Tranform Self, with a require other player disadvantage, perhaps worth ten or twenty points. Each player is expected/required to contribute an equal number of stones to their fusion and build them together. This way, fusions can be just about anything, on just about any level.

For control, give each player half of the reserve, and they each can spend towards that fused character's actions. You could even give them two separate cads to control one character. As far as RPing goes, my honest answer is: don't. Fusion should be fight scene-only, imho.

[andyman]

My daughters both had Fussing 10 as an Action when they were babies.

[kito]

lol nice my son only had fussing 3 XD

[mrmackadocious]

Power out of control or no?