Hey all. I have a half or maybe three-quarters baked idea for a deviant concept, but the rules are a little complicated so I am hoping to get confirmation I did this correctly. It's sort of a weird combo of Crazy Jane, Q-Bee from Darksiders, and that ant superhero from that Rick and Morty episode. I am particularly unsure if I used the combo of Monstrous Transformation and the Relentless Variation deviation correctly.
The concept is a species of fae/demon/alien "bee" swarms that are closer to a sci-fi hivemind then actual bee swarms (close to the Amalgam form with one personality more dominant). They are carnivorous and their bites also steal memories. The energy and memories they eat are used to heal/replace dead bugs and grow the power of the swarm, and they can hide and deceive potential victims by consolidating and appearing as people they have bitten and the people in the stolen memories. They also use the energy to create a variety of substances for their stings and, most potently, for the nests of mysterious "honeycomb" they create, which can heal, harm, or have even stranger effects on people who consume them.
I like the idea of a Renegade who was turned into the queen of a swarm (not exactly sure how yet, maybe as a result of a powerful and large swarm force feeding someone royal jelly as it split and "reproduced"), probably by a conspiracy that wants to take advantage of the magical "honeycomb" as a wonder drug. The Deviant is stuck in bug form but they can appear as people whose memories they have stolen and thus live something like a human life, including engaging socially and having connections who are unaware of their nature (it seemed like too much of an unfun nightmare to enjoy rp-ing as otherwise).
I made this with what seems to be the default-ish number of starting variations (7 plus one scar-free dot from origin) and was spread pretty thin. In particular I could not find a way to fit in a dot of Memory Thief so at the start the character would not have quite enough control to be able to use the memories they steal.
Monstrous Transformation 5 (with the one scar free dot) made up of:
-Animal Transformation 3 for turning into a bee swarm
-Lash 3 for the swarm's stings/bites (a gentle brawl lash with versatile, envenomed, soporific, channel (inhuman digestion), and (in reserve, hopefully that's allowed) channel (memory thief))
-Face Thief 2 with the Recollection deviation making it 3
Scar: 4 Bane or Dependency (fleshing out the details but something appropriately fae or bee related) with the Relentless Variation deviation, which I would guess is +0 because despite the effect creating story complications, Face Thief makes it manageable.
Sacred Flesh 1, probably the Token version, with Rapid Healing as the secondary variation
Scar: Preparation 2 to 4, eventually 5 (I want to increase the magnitude of this variation over time to 3 or 4 and use growing the scar as a way to deal with excess Instability), with the Identifier deviation.
Inhuman Digestion 1 with the Cannibalize deviation making it 2
Scar: Amnesia 3 or 4, I'm thinking new queens lose much of their memories as they gain those from the swarm and people they bite. I liked the idea of the character ONLY being able to heal this way, but the closest way to achieve that seemed like the Sluggish Digestion scar which was a clunky fit (but did make me realize a healing method is probably required to avoid weirdness in applying the recovery rules to a bug swarm character).
Aside from wondering if I built this within the rules, I have a few other questions. How do I increase the magnitude of an existing variation through experience? Just spend the 4 exp and increase it by whatever amount, presuming a valid unentangled scar exists? Do the limits on unentangled scars include scars that are entangled but that have larger magnitudes than needed for their entangled variation(s)? Can I have a Skill Specialty in the use of my Lash under the appropriate skill (Brawl in this example)?
The concept is a species of fae/demon/alien "bee" swarms that are closer to a sci-fi hivemind then actual bee swarms (close to the Amalgam form with one personality more dominant). They are carnivorous and their bites also steal memories. The energy and memories they eat are used to heal/replace dead bugs and grow the power of the swarm, and they can hide and deceive potential victims by consolidating and appearing as people they have bitten and the people in the stolen memories. They also use the energy to create a variety of substances for their stings and, most potently, for the nests of mysterious "honeycomb" they create, which can heal, harm, or have even stranger effects on people who consume them.
I like the idea of a Renegade who was turned into the queen of a swarm (not exactly sure how yet, maybe as a result of a powerful and large swarm force feeding someone royal jelly as it split and "reproduced"), probably by a conspiracy that wants to take advantage of the magical "honeycomb" as a wonder drug. The Deviant is stuck in bug form but they can appear as people whose memories they have stolen and thus live something like a human life, including engaging socially and having connections who are unaware of their nature (it seemed like too much of an unfun nightmare to enjoy rp-ing as otherwise).
I made this with what seems to be the default-ish number of starting variations (7 plus one scar-free dot from origin) and was spread pretty thin. In particular I could not find a way to fit in a dot of Memory Thief so at the start the character would not have quite enough control to be able to use the memories they steal.
Monstrous Transformation 5 (with the one scar free dot) made up of:
-Animal Transformation 3 for turning into a bee swarm
-Lash 3 for the swarm's stings/bites (a gentle brawl lash with versatile, envenomed, soporific, channel (inhuman digestion), and (in reserve, hopefully that's allowed) channel (memory thief))
-Face Thief 2 with the Recollection deviation making it 3
Scar: 4 Bane or Dependency (fleshing out the details but something appropriately fae or bee related) with the Relentless Variation deviation, which I would guess is +0 because despite the effect creating story complications, Face Thief makes it manageable.
Sacred Flesh 1, probably the Token version, with Rapid Healing as the secondary variation
Scar: Preparation 2 to 4, eventually 5 (I want to increase the magnitude of this variation over time to 3 or 4 and use growing the scar as a way to deal with excess Instability), with the Identifier deviation.
Inhuman Digestion 1 with the Cannibalize deviation making it 2
Scar: Amnesia 3 or 4, I'm thinking new queens lose much of their memories as they gain those from the swarm and people they bite. I liked the idea of the character ONLY being able to heal this way, but the closest way to achieve that seemed like the Sluggish Digestion scar which was a clunky fit (but did make me realize a healing method is probably required to avoid weirdness in applying the recovery rules to a bug swarm character).
Aside from wondering if I built this within the rules, I have a few other questions. How do I increase the magnitude of an existing variation through experience? Just spend the 4 exp and increase it by whatever amount, presuming a valid unentangled scar exists? Do the limits on unentangled scars include scars that are entangled but that have larger magnitudes than needed for their entangled variation(s)? Can I have a Skill Specialty in the use of my Lash under the appropriate skill (Brawl in this example)?
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