Variable

A Variable structure contains every Trait of an appropriate type or Descriptor! Variable structures approach the level of plot devices and are about as close as the Gamemaster should let player characters get to those sorts of FX. Variable structures are generally used for creating FX with highly situational or indeterminate FX, where a set list of FX just won’t cover everything the FX is supposed to be able to do. However, they come with their own weaknesses, including both complexity and cost.
With a Variable structure, you have a pool of (rank x 5) character points you can use to acquire certain other traits. No trait can have a rank greater than your Variable structure rank. The cost per rank determines what types of traits you can acquire:
* 4 points: One trait of a particular type (Ability Scores, Skills, Feats, or FX of a particular type or Descriptor) at a time. Thus you could acquire any one skill at a time, for example, or any one FX.
* 5 points: Any one Trait at a time.
* 6 points: Multiple traits of a particular type (Ability Scores, Skills, Feats, or FX of a particular type or descriptor), so long as the total traits do not add up to more than (rank x 5) character points.
* 7 points: Multiple FX of any type or Descriptor at once, so long as the total traits do not add up to more than (rank x 5) character points.
* 8 points: Any combination of traits adding up to (rank x 5) total character points.
It takes one action to change the configuration of your Variable structure's points. The allocation of those points is Sustained Duration, so if you stop maintaining your Variable structure for any reason (failing a Focus check, for example), your allocated points "reset" to a "null" value: you lose any acquired traits and you must take the action to reconfigure your Variable points again to regain them.
Any Variable points you are unable to spend due to your FX's limitations are "wasted" and not usable. So, for example, a character with Variable 1 (any one skill, 4 points/rank) can acquire 1 rank in any one skill at a time (since the trait is limited to the FX's rank). This costs only 1 character point, but the remaining points can't be allocated to anything, since the FX is limited to one skill at a time. The same is true with feats and some low-cost FX. Variable structures simply pay a premium for them.
You must also place a particular Descriptor on your Variable structure, limiting its scope to traits suited to that descriptor. For example, a Variable structure that mimics other's traits is limited to the traits its subject(s) possess, a Variable structure providing adaptations is limited to the stimulus to which it adapts, and so forth. This descriptor does not reduce the cost of a Variable structure unless it's particularly narrow, and the GM is the final arbiter of what constitutes a suitable Variable descriptor and what descriptors are narrow enough to be considered flaws. Use the FX based on the Variable structure in this book for examples of descriptors.
==Extras==
Generally, extras are applied to the various FX in a Variable structure's configurations rather than to the FX itself. If a particular extra applies to all of a Variable structure's configurations equally, the GM may wish to note it as applying to the FX itself for simplicity. This should be limited solely to extras that always apply; given how this is rarely the case with any set of configurations, it shouldn’t be often.
Some FX extras also apply specifically to the Variable structure itself, rather than any of its configurations:
* Accurate (Fixed +1): The GM may permit this Extra to apply to a Variable structure as a whole, granting its benefits to all of the FX requiring attack rolls for its various configurations, since the FX can be considered a single FX (albeit one with a wide range of applications). However, the GM may choose to limit this Extra to suitably focused Variable structures.
* Affects Others: While individual configurations may have this modifier, a Variable structure can also Affect Others as a whole, allowing you to grant the use of the FX and its configurations to someone else. The subject granted the use of the Variable structure controls its configuration from round to round (although you retain the ability to withdraw use of the FX altogether whenever you wish).
* Alternate FX (Fixed +1): A Variable structure essentially contains all possible Alternate FX for its point value and descriptors, so it does not require this Extra to add new configurations, just the permission of the Gamemaster.
* Dynamic (Fixed +1): Likewise, a Variable structure is already dynamic in the allocation of its character points and does not need this Extra.
* Extended Duration: A Continuous Duration Variable structure holds its current configuration until you choose to change it, even if you are stunned, knocked out, or the FX is nullified.
* Increased Range: A Variable structure with Affects Others may have the Incraesed Range extra to improve the range at which you can grant the FX to another. This does not alter the ranges of the FX’s various configurations. To do so, apply the Range modifier to the FX(s) within a particular configuration.
* Innate (Fixed +1): A Variable structure may be Innate at the GM's discretion, in which case all of its configurations are Innate as well. Individual configurations cannot be Innate; the entire Variable structure must be Innate. Gamemasters should be cautious about allowing Innate Variable structures.
* Linked: FX in the same configuration of a Variable structure are not linked by default, but may have this modifier, if they're intended solely for use simultaneously.
* Reduced Action: You can change the configuration of your Variable structure more quickly, although it still cannot change more often than once per round. Gamemasters should exercise caution with Variable structures that can be reconfigured as a Free Action or Interrupt: they not only grant tremendous flexibility, they can also slow down game play as the player considers virtually infinite possibilities for each action using the Variable structure.
==Flaws==
Variable configurations can have their own individual flaws, which reduce the cost of the configuration (and the number of character points that must be allocated to it from the Variable structure's pool) normally. If a particular flaw applies to all of a Variable structure’s configurations, the GM may allow it to reduce the cost of the Variable structure rather than the points applied to a particular configuration.
* Decreased Duration: A Concentration Duration Variable structure only maintains its configuration as long as you concentrate. This significantly limits the FX's usefulness, since you have to make Focus checks to use any configuration requiring more than a Free Action, juggling both the Variable structure and any others you wish to use. A Variable structure cannot have an instant duration.
* Distracting (Fixed -2): A Variable structure that is distracting to reconfigure is a Fixed Flaw. The FX's individual configurations may also be Distracting, in which case the Flaw is applied individually to them, rather than the Array as a whole. If all the configurations of a Variable structure are distracting, then the flaw may apply to the entire Variable structure and does reduce the cost of its configurations. If it is distracting to reconfigure a Variable structure (rather than using any FX derived from it), then the FX has this Flaw.
* Increased Action: A Variable structure that requires a two actions to reconfigure has a -1 flaw. Further increases in configuration time apply the Prolonged Action Fixed Flaw.
* Prolonged Action (Fixed -1): A Variable structure that takes longer than two actions to reconfigure has this Flaw in addition to the its normal Increased Action Flaw. Each step up the Time and Value Progression Table is a Fixed -1 point Flaw; one minute, five minutes, thirty minute, etc. The GM may set any reasonable limit on the Prolonged Action Flaw for Variable structures (beyond the standard limit of 1 point less than the FX's total cost).
* Uncontrolled: If this flaw is applied to a Variable structure (rather than one or more of its configurations) then the Gamemaster either controls when the FX's configuration changes and what it changes to, or all of the FX's configurations are considered Uncontrolled (but the user gets to choose how the FX is configured). Uncontrolled applied to a particular configuration has its normal FX when that configuration is in use.
* Unreliable: If this flaw is applied to the Variable structure as a whole, then changing its configuration becomes Unreliable. The player must roll a die when changing the Variable structure, on a 10 or less it remains "stuck" on its current configuration and doesn't change.
Category:Rulebook
Category:Characters
Category:FX
Category:FX Structures