So: it has been pointed out in another thread that characters like Superman and the Flash can be difficult to model in Aberrant — not because the game cannot handle the power levels that these characters tend to operate at (both exhibit powers that can be modeled with the upper end of the Scale charts), but because the rules require a degree of divergence from baseline humanity that the likes of Clark Kent or Barry Allen simply don't exhibit.
The difficulty comes from the mandatory link between Quantum and Transcendence. If you're Quantum 4, you have at least Transcendence 1; Quantum 5, Transcendence 2; and so on. One could model Superman at as low as Quantum 7, with his more outlandish feats being examples of Maxing Out; but that still mandates a minimum Transcendence of 4, which in turn represents enough of a disconnect from regular people that all of his social interactions with them would be at +2 difficulty. And Superman simply doesn't exhibit that kind of disconnect.
This rules hack is designed to address this, by making the acquisition of Transcendence entirely optional. The basic rule is this: you no longer automatically gain a point of Transcendence at Quantum 4 and another point of Transcendence for every dot of Quantum after that; instead, you have the option to buy the Quantum trait at half cost (8 XP up to Quantum 5; 16 XP for Quantum 6+) if you take a point of Transcendence with it.
Note that this leads to more powerful or more human Novas: for the same experience cost as the current system, you get the same Quantum without the Transcendence, or you get more Quantum with the Transcendence. On the other hand, it has the virtue of being simple. If you want a system that remains on par with the official setup, then you need to double the XP cost of Quantum starting at Quantum 4, with the expectation that Novas will take the Transcendence to bring the cost back down. If you want to be more strict about it, you might require the Transcendence at Quantum 4+ if the Nova in question hasn't been using Grounding.
Regardless, keep track of where you're getting the Transcendence; because by using Grounding as a catalyst, you can remove it for a cost equal to the XPs that it saved you. If you bought a dot of Quantum for 8 XP plus a dot of Transcendence instead of paying16 XP for the dot of Quantum, then you can use Grounding to justify paying 8 XP more to get rid of the dot of Transcendence. When buying off Transcendence, you must pay for the most expensive point first. (If you don't want to mess with different dots of Transcendence being worth different amounts of XP, just say that taking a dot of Transcendence is always a discount of 6 XP. You lose the effect of Transcendence becoming a greater temptation at higher levels of Quantum; but you gain simplicity in the math.)
You can extend this logic to Transformations as well: taking a low-level transformation with a Nova trait saves you 3 XP; so you should be able to spend 3 XP to remove the low-level transformation, provided you take appropriate actions in the story to justify its removal. Ditto with mid-level and high-level transformations. I wouldn't necessarily tie these removals to Grounding; but there should be some sort of effort in the story that's opposed to the nature of the Transformation. It should never be as simple as “pay the XP, and the Transformation magically disappears”.
Thoughts?
The difficulty comes from the mandatory link between Quantum and Transcendence. If you're Quantum 4, you have at least Transcendence 1; Quantum 5, Transcendence 2; and so on. One could model Superman at as low as Quantum 7, with his more outlandish feats being examples of Maxing Out; but that still mandates a minimum Transcendence of 4, which in turn represents enough of a disconnect from regular people that all of his social interactions with them would be at +2 difficulty. And Superman simply doesn't exhibit that kind of disconnect.
This rules hack is designed to address this, by making the acquisition of Transcendence entirely optional. The basic rule is this: you no longer automatically gain a point of Transcendence at Quantum 4 and another point of Transcendence for every dot of Quantum after that; instead, you have the option to buy the Quantum trait at half cost (8 XP up to Quantum 5; 16 XP for Quantum 6+) if you take a point of Transcendence with it.
Note that this leads to more powerful or more human Novas: for the same experience cost as the current system, you get the same Quantum without the Transcendence, or you get more Quantum with the Transcendence. On the other hand, it has the virtue of being simple. If you want a system that remains on par with the official setup, then you need to double the XP cost of Quantum starting at Quantum 4, with the expectation that Novas will take the Transcendence to bring the cost back down. If you want to be more strict about it, you might require the Transcendence at Quantum 4+ if the Nova in question hasn't been using Grounding.
Regardless, keep track of where you're getting the Transcendence; because by using Grounding as a catalyst, you can remove it for a cost equal to the XPs that it saved you. If you bought a dot of Quantum for 8 XP plus a dot of Transcendence instead of paying16 XP for the dot of Quantum, then you can use Grounding to justify paying 8 XP more to get rid of the dot of Transcendence. When buying off Transcendence, you must pay for the most expensive point first. (If you don't want to mess with different dots of Transcendence being worth different amounts of XP, just say that taking a dot of Transcendence is always a discount of 6 XP. You lose the effect of Transcendence becoming a greater temptation at higher levels of Quantum; but you gain simplicity in the math.)
You can extend this logic to Transformations as well: taking a low-level transformation with a Nova trait saves you 3 XP; so you should be able to spend 3 XP to remove the low-level transformation, provided you take appropriate actions in the story to justify its removal. Ditto with mid-level and high-level transformations. I wouldn't necessarily tie these removals to Grounding; but there should be some sort of effort in the story that's opposed to the nature of the Transformation. It should never be as simple as “pay the XP, and the Transformation magically disappears”.
Thoughts?
Comment