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The difference between Ego and Morph as well as physical and mental stats.

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Mon, 2011-05-23 15:54

Prophet710 Prophet710's picture

The difference between Ego and Morph as well as physical and mental stats.

Basically I was thinking about making a rule where morphs would only have physical stats and the ego would only have mental stats. Mainly I'm thinking about this because the physical morph has been designed from the ground up without ego in mind, so its physique isn't going to be downloaded into the morph via ego transfer. Reflexes, Coordination and Somatics would basically be morph specific, with each more having a variable rate depending on upgrades given, credit/rep spent, etc. This would ensure that most if not all morphs are a little different and the ego itself would not change. Just a house rule I'm thinking about, would like some feedback on it.

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"And yet, across the gulf of space, minds immeasurably superior to ours regarded this Earth with envious eyes. And slowly, and surely, they drew their plans against us."

Mon, 2011-05-23 19:56

Arenamontanus Arenamontanus's picture

Re: The difference between Ego and Morph as well as physical ...

A clumsy person is not going to become a ballet dancer just because they are downloaded into a sylph.

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Mon, 2011-05-23 22:24

petros

Re: The difference between Ego and Morph as well as physical ...

Reflexes, Coordination and Somatics can all be interpreted fine as purely mental traits. Basically; how quickly you respond to input from the senses with a physical reaction, for Reflexes; how accurately you can control the physical characteristics of the Morph, for Coordination; and how well you can push the Morph to the limit of it's physical ability, without exceeding it, for Somatics. Maybe a whole new, but limited, set of physical stats to describe all Morphs and robots and vehicles. Then you apply various of the Ego's stats to see whether you can take full advantage of the stats of the Morph, and whether you can push it a little past it. So no matter how high the Neotenic has it's SOM, and how low the Reaper has it's SOM, the former will have a low strength or power stat, while the latter would have a high strength or power stat. With the high SOM, pretty much every test the Neotenic makes to perform an action that is within their power will succeed. With the low SOM, the Reaper has a chance to fail at doing things within their power, either because they don't apply enough force right away, or they push themselves too far and damage themselves. The equivalent with COO would use a dexterity stat for the Morph. So you would still need a high SOM if you intend to take full advantage of physically powerful Morphs.

Wed, 2011-05-25 13:12

nezumi.hebereke nezumi.hebereke's picture

Re: The difference between Ego and Morph as well as physical ...

I've been considering this as well, except make ALL aptitudes morph-linked. Changing my brain chemistry and architecture will permit me to imagine four-dimensional figures, calculate massive numbers, and perform logic functions faster. More muscles make me stronger, reinforced neural pathways make me more dextrous. The ego would contribue moxie and skills. After all, being able to calculate as fast as a calculator doesn't make me any significantly more capable of understanding physics notation or completing navigation challenges (the physicist and navigator just use a calculator, after all). While the sylph may make me dextrous enough to physically perform ballet stances, it's the skill, the muscle memory, that put my limbs where and when I need them to be. It's just like shooting. A match-grade AR-15 can shoot straighter than I can. It doesn't make me any good at shooting, though.

Wed, 2011-05-25 14:54

CodeBreaker CodeBreaker's picture

Re: The difference between Ego and Morph as well as physical ...

nezumi.hebereke wrote:
I've been considering this as well, except make ALL aptitudes morph-linked.

The annoying thing is, doing it that way would be so much easier for things like alternate character creation rules. A PACKs system is doable when you don't have to worry about morph aptitude modifiers. I would actually like to see (and would be willing to contribute) to such a house rule. It probably wouldn't be that hard. All morphs have a baseline of 15 (10 for Flats) across the board, and then they automatically get whatever modifiers they currently have. So an Olympian would have; COG 15, COO 20, INT 15, REF 20, SAV 15, SOM 25, WIL 15, with a +5 to one 15 aptitude. Edit: Doing it that way basically makes aptitude maximum useless though, so introducing a similar mechanic might be difficult. Perhaps changing it to skill maximum instead, in which different morphs have a different maximum skill. So a Flat would have a skill maximum of 60, a Splicer would have a skill maximum of 80, and the specialist morphs would have 99. You can keep the specific aptitude limitations by using skill/aptitude links. A SOM weak morph might have a SOM linked skill maximum of 80, while everything else is 99.

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Thu, 2011-05-26 10:13

nezumi.hebereke nezumi.hebereke's picture

Re: The difference between Ego and Morph as well as physical ...

I would include a little more variability, but basically, yeah. Yes, aptitude maximums would be useless, so drop them. Put a rule saying each morph can only be modified to add a total of +10 to its base aptitude (normally 15). Then have the positive morph trait: better aptitudes, which permits you to add another +10.

Thu, 2011-05-26 14:31

CodeBreaker CodeBreaker's picture

Re: The difference between Ego and Morph as well as physical ...

So... yeah, I got bored, and decided to get started on doing this. Only done the Core rulebook so far. Keeping them organized in a wiki for now. I am updating it as I do them, so it will rapidly fill up with all the rest of them. I am also going to rewrite the Character Creation chapter to include the changes, which will also be hosted on the wiki. These are the things CodeBreaker does when he doesn't have to worry about exams. WIKI: http://codebreaker.wikispaces.com/ That link should work...

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Thu, 2011-05-26 19:57

Prophet710 Prophet710's picture

Re: The difference between Ego and Morph as well as physical ...

This stuff looks excellent CodeBreaker I really like the direction you guys took with this. If you don't mind I plan on using a modified version to fit our groups needs. I would say that each morph can start out with 10 as a baseline to develop that human average and then each morph type can have points to spend to increase each attribute according to the tastes of the ego. This would allow even more variability with the morph/ego relationship, as some players might want a remade that is stronger as opposed to more cognitive, or a fury that is able to think sharper/faster as opposed to being a somatics powerhouse. I might even drop the base stat to 5 to make sure that each morph is limited, I have a gritty/tough style game being played. We have been Shadowrunners for quite sometime but we love this system. The skill/attribute max ideas are great too, it makes so much sense that a flat could only really grasp something perfectly with traits and training. I believe I will use a set of traits that allow for further development of attributes and skills as well to emulate this kind of activity. As such I also wanted to touch on attribute maxes for synth versus biomorphs. With metal/polymer being more durable I feel that biomorphs have a titanic (no pun intended) grip on this kind of thing. Surely steel pistons powered by gearboxes can hit harder and supercomputer style electronics can think faster, so I'm thinking about limiting the biomorph attribute max across the board and leaving the synthmorphs at 40. Good idea? bad idea? feedback?

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"And yet, across the gulf of space, minds immeasurably superior to ours regarded this Earth with envious eyes. And slowly, and surely, they drew their plans against us."