Zoophagus Mimicry; New Power for Review

[Ren]

If you look at the second version I've removed the mandatory Recovery requirement and further made it so that if one DOES take a Recovery power that it cannot affect any of the Consequences earned via the Mimicry Power so thus it cannot be reduced below the major milestone or three scenarios. I think that puts a lot more of a limitation on it.

Yes part of the idea was to put everything under one blanket pool too make it easier to track and to allow a little more flexibility.
I'm also contemplating making it an add-on to Feeding Dependency or a power unto itself in which case the power grouping might look something like this;
[+1] Feeding Dependency
[-0] Zoophagus Mimicry (Reduces the cost of Beast Change, Mimic Ability, Mimic Form,  or True Shapeshifting by one each)
Both Affecting the Following;
[-6] Mimic Ability (7 points to allocate)
[-3] True Shapeshifting
Total Cost: -8 (9 Refresh Campaign)

This treats it more like Sponsored Magic where the Power affects the cost of several other Powers, though with it's built-in cost it doesn't actually cost anything itself.

[Blackblade]

I agree the two powers have different uses in different situations but I don't think he's looking for Modular abilities, though.  You could Cheat and take Modular Abilities and just wing it.  Eat a Bear then take all the powers a bear might have, but I don't think that's what he's looking to do.

Mimic Abilities doesn't let you shift or steal skills...that's what you need True Shifting for.

I'd say you would need Mimic Form.  True Shifting let's you turn into A Bear or A Human while Mimic Form let's you look like THAT BEAR and THAT Human.

I don't have the books on me right now, but I'm pretty sure that Mimic abilities lets you use one of your mimic points to duplicate someone's skill rating. 

[Taran]

I don't have the books on me right now, but I'm pretty sure that Mimic abilities lets you use one of your mimic points to duplicate someone's skill rating. 

Yes, you're right...it was a small paragraph on the next page after the Picture.  I missed it.

[Ren]

Ooh nice catch, I missed that one as well!

[Sanctaphrax]

What does the version of Zoophagus Mimicry that reduces shapeshifting costs do?

[Ren]

Here's the updated version:

[-0] Zoophagus Mimicry  
Description: You are able to mimic the abilities of another person, at least to an extent.
Musts: Characters with his power must also take “Feeding Dependency” and requires regular consumption of fresh, raw meat.
Skills Affected: Discipline and Many Others
Effects:
Power Corrupts – Reduces the cost of the following Powers by one each; Beast Change, Mimic Ability, Mimic Form, or True Shapeshifting, but each power is now permanently attached to Zoophagus Mimicry and affected by the Feeding Dependency and placed under the limitations of Zoophagia as listed below.
> Note: When Zoophagus Mimicry is taken then any of the Shape-shifting powers in the list above MUST be attached to this one, there is no option otherwise.
Zoophagia – Any time a character wishes to use any of the Powers attached to Zoophagus Mimicry they must consume a major organ from the target; typically the brain or the heart. Upon doing soothe character may take an Extreme Consequence (Your choice of Physical, Mental, or Social) to permanently learn that power configuration, but the aspect change gained from the extreme consequence becomes permanently attached to that power configuration. You may change to any previous power configuration, by taking the same extreme consequence that you took for that set of powers the last time you gained them. When swapping in this way the extreme consequence aspect attached to the new configuration will replace the aspect gained from the old configuration. So keep track of whom you’ve eaten and the powers and skills they had. You may only have a total number of learned Power Configurations and Beast Forms equal to the combined rank of your Discipline Skill. Example; with a Discipline of Great (+4) You could have 2 power configurations and 2 beast forms or 3 powers configurations and 1 beast form etc…
> Note: The Extreme Aspect gained for this use of the Power will never go away, as such characters with this Power may take as second Extreme Consequence of the same type for mitigating damage etc…however it also counts as an additional taggable aspect for those who know it exists. As long as a power configuration gained from the use of this power is maintained the character will have the Aspect “Flesh-Eater” that can be tagged freely once per round by anyone who knows of the Aspects existence.
> Note: Consequences gained by the use of this power cannot be reduced or healed by any form of Recovery Power.]
True Form – A character with this power may revert to their True Form, whatever it may be, at any time, losing all existing power configurations (Though they can still revert to previously learned configurations at the usual cost later on), without taking any consequences.  

[Ren]

I'm just curious about the rest of your character's group for this game. This power has some pretty gruesome requirements...

To answer this; the game is a series of one-shots) set during WWII and the characters all work for the British SOE, or to use the more fun term; "The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare" so we are all required to work together. Still working out the details but odds are the other characters may not even be aware of his abilities, only that he is a "Master of Disguise".
Though I am tempted to give him the Hannibal Lecter introduction where he's rolled in bound to a hand-cart and give to the other characters with "Care and Feeding" Instructions...

[Sanctaphrax]

Looks better.

I'm still not totally sold on it, but I figure that this is good enough to use.

[Ren]

I'm contemplating making the cost a [-1] or possibly even [-2] to balance it a bit further but then I might increase the number of configurations possible by an additional x amount based on say Lore or possibly Endurance. I chose discipline as a reflection of the need to have Discipline for Feeding Dependency and that they go hand-in-hand with that. I may also alter it so that you use Lore rank for Power Configurations that involve any form of Spell-Casting, Endurance for anything that would change your actual form with Discipline as a base. Still tweaking and looking for suggestions.

[Ren]

Here's the Finalized Version; added a cost to it and removed the power reduction, I think this makes it much more balanced.

[-1] Zoophagus Mimicry 
Description: You are able to mimic the abilities of another person, at least to an extent.
Musts: Characters with his power must also take “Feeding Dependency” and requires regular consumption of fresh, raw meat.
Skills Affected: Discipline and Many Others
Effects:
Power Corrupts – Attaches to the following Powers; Beast Change, Mimic Ability, Mimic Form, or True Shapeshifting, and thus are affected by the Feeding Dependency and placed under the limitations of Zoophagia as listed below.
> Note: When Zoophagus Mimicry is taken then any of the Shape-shifting powers in the list above MUST be attached to this one, there is no option otherwise.
Zoophagia – Any time a character wishes to use any of the Powers attached to Zoophagus Mimicry they must consume a major organ from the target; typically the brain or the heart. Upon doing soothe characetr may take an Extreme Consequence (Your choice of Physical, Mental, or Social) to permanently learn that power configuration, but the aspect change gained from the extreme consequence becomes permanently attached to that power configuration. You may change to any previous power configuration, by taking the same extreme consequence that you took for that set of powers the last time you gained them. When swapping tin this way the extreme consequence aspect attached to the new configuration will replace the aspect gained from the old configuration. So keep track of whom you’ve eaten and the powers and skills they had. You may only have a total number of learned Power Configurations and Beast Forms equal to the combined rank of your Discipline Skill. Example; with a Discipline of Great (+4) You could have 2 power configurations and 2 beast forms or 3 powers configurations and 1 beast form etc…
> Note: The Extreme Aspect gained for this use of the Power will never go away, as such characters with this Power may take as second Extreme Consequence of the same type for mitigating damage etc…however it also counts as an additional taggable aspect for those who know it exists. As long as a power configuration gained from the use of this power is maintained the character will have the Aspect “Flesh-Eater” that can be tagged freely once per round by anyone who knows of the Aspects existence.
> Note: Consequences gained by the use of this power cannot be reduced or healed by any form of Recovery Power.]
True Form – A character with this power may revert to their True Form, whatever it may be, at any time, losing all existing power configurations (Though they can still revert to previously learned configurations at the usual cost later on), without taking any consequences. 

[polkaneverdies]

I am curious. How is this working out for you?