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Morphs and Character Creation

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Sun, 2010-07-04 06:55

Ravennus

Morphs and Character Creation

Hey all, I just recently found out about Eclipse Phase, and I have to say I'm loving it so far! Haven't played yet, but I've been reading the Core Rulebook almost non-stop. Anyway, while going over Chargen, I had a thought. Isn't it kind of counter-productive to spend a lot of CP on an expensive Morph (and also gear, for that matter)? The impression I got from Eclipse Phase, one which they drive home again and again, is that the Morph is disposable. It's just another piece of equipment. Re-sleeving is not just likely, but often an inevitability. It doesn't have to be because of an unfortunate death (though it certainly can be, especially if we want to keep the horror theme). It might even be as simple as Firewall needing your Ego for a mission on the other side of the solar system and sleeving you in a temporary Morph for the job. But in Chargen you can spend a crapton of CP on your Morph. Combat monkeys will likely want to spring for a Fury for example. That's 75 CP gone right there. Then there are all the augmentations available, many of which can set you back 20 CP or more. Then what happens if in the first mission they get spaced? Or don't even get to use their own Morph. Isn't all that CP essentially wasted? It's a similar oddity with traits. Why buy a positive Morph trait if I can get the same one for my Ego? Why get a negative Ego trait when I can just get easy CP for some negative Morph traits (and dump the Morph soon after chargen). I admit that when I first read chargen (often the first chapter I read in any RPG, for better or worse) I instantly gravitated to getting a blinged out uber-morph. But after reading through more of the book, this definitely struck me as a bad idea. Just wondered what everyone else thought about this, or if I'm missing something. I don't doubt that having an expensive and highly modded Morph out of Chargen gives you certain advantages. But the chances of losing it (or not even being able to use it) just seem too high. It seems that it would be much more advantageous to spend CP on Ego stats and skills that will stick with you forever, as well as a good amount of Rep with factions. Then when you get in game, just cash in a few favors with your Rep and get yourself blinged out that way.

Sun, 2010-07-04 09:27

Decivre

Re: Morphs and Character Creation

In all fairness, you could say something similar about any game. "Why create a character in Shadowrun? An unfortunate death can invalidate the entire process!" Death has serious consequences no matter the context, no matter the game. While characters in Eclipse Phase are capable of surviving beyond death, this does not render it a meaningless event... nor does the consequences of death invalidate spending your points on a souped-up body. So long as you continue to survive, all expenditures you make on your body are effectively permanent. This will certainly make for an interesting dichotomy when compared to the value of survival today: Modern Day: "Please don't kill me! I want to live!" Eclipse Phase: "Please don't kill me! This menton cost me a fortune!"

—

Transhumans will one day be the Luddites of the posthuman age. [url=http://bit.ly/2p3wk7c]Help me get my gaming fix, if you want.[/url]

Sun, 2010-07-04 15:55

RobBoyle

Re: Morphs and Character Creation

While there is the risk that you might spend a ton of CP on a morph during chargen only to lose it in the first scenario, there are a few things to keep in mind: Even if you need to egocast or resleeve, there is the option of keeping the initial morph you have on ice at the body bank until you return. Sure, you have to pay the storage/upkeep fees, but this is certainly something that people in the setting do when they have a morph they are particularly attached to or went to great lengths to acquire or customize. If you're not planning on returning, you can always trade it in for a morph of equivalent value. So if you splurged on a remade morph with some spiffy morph traits and extra mods, when you go to egocast/resleeve you should be getting a really good trade-in value for your next morph. Sure, you may end up dying on your first mission and losing the morph entirely, but that's really more of a GM call. If the players have all gone to great lengths to bling out their starting morphs and the GM decides to start the campaign off with a TPK in the first scene, well that may not go over so well. Then again, maybe that's a point the GM wants to be making to his min-maxing players right off the bat: your body is ephemeral. On an OOC level, I've noticed that a lot of players who are new to EP are initially resistant to the idea of egocasting or resleeving, even when it makes sense or is advantageous. In fact, they'll sometimes go to great lengths to avoid it and keep the morph they have. I'm guessing that psychologically, as humans, we're very attached to the bodies we have, because it's the only thing we got, and there's an uncertainty that the entity that transfers to a new body is going to be the same person (as discussed in this thread). Also, as game players, we've become accustomed to avoiding the death of our characters. Once they play a little while, and experiment with egocasting and resleeving, they get used to it. So usually it's not a bad thing that they invest a lot in their starting morph, because they'll probably stretch it out a bit.

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Rob Boyle :: Posthuman Studios

Sun, 2010-07-04 17:19

Ravennus

Re: Morphs and Character Creation

Rob, thanks for your reply. I suppose I'll just have to see for myself if I ever get in a game. However, if I ever ran one... I would definitely be upfront with my players about the possibility of losing their starting morphs (or just not being able to use them for certain missions). I think that might curb some over-spending and open the players up to the idea of their bodies as equipment. I also suppose you could use a high rep to justify having Morph Insurance. Better than Re-Sleeve insurance, it would insure another Morph of approximate equal value upon your return (if not the exact specifications). I think that would be a good use of a Level 5 favor.

Sun, 2010-07-04 18:02

Decivre

Re: Morphs and Character Creation

Ravennus wrote:
Rob, thanks for your reply. I suppose I'll just have to see for myself if I ever get in a game. However, if I ever ran one... I would definitely be upfront with my players about the possibility of losing their starting morphs (or just not being able to use them for certain missions). I think that might curb some over-spending and open the players up to the idea of their bodies as equipment. I also suppose you could use a high rep to justify having Morph Insurance. Better than Re-Sleeve insurance, it would insure another Morph of approximate equal value upon your return (if not the exact specifications). I think that would be a good use of a Level 5 favor.

One thing I might recommend is that you take note of what they spent on their body as GM. This way, when you decide to kill them off, you can find some way of replacing their bodies with something of equivalent cost by some means... whether Firewall pays them back or they get new bodies by way of a favor.

—

Transhumans will one day be the Luddites of the posthuman age. [url=http://bit.ly/2p3wk7c]Help me get my gaming fix, if you want.[/url]

Mon, 2010-07-05 07:36

nezumi.hebereke nezumi.hebereke's picture

Re: Morphs and Character Creation

Also worth noting that if you manage to come away with as much as the head of your biomorph, you can regenerate the entire morph in a healing vat (at least that's how I read the rules!) So even if you die, just capture the bits you can, and in a week, you'll be right as rain (and still keeping any biological enhancements you've installed, although likely losing all the cyberware or nanoware on board).

Wed, 2010-07-07 20:28

Karri

Re: Morphs and Character Creation

Regrowing from a severed head might take as long as it does to clone a morph. Or maybe not. I'm not entirely sure in this case; I think it can be read either way. How much you splurge on a morph definitely depends on your GM. Some are far more sadistic than others. However, it makes sense to go for your favorite morph right off the bat. You will always find it easier to download into that kind of morphs, and that can really come in handy since you don't always have time to deal with complications.