Polymorphism

Polymorphism is the art of transforming living creatures into other living creatures. It is costly, but can be very powerful.

Many aspects of Polymorphism cost Magic points to invoke. To avoid confusion, a summary of all these costs are given here:

Changes usually last only for the scene. They can be made to last until a set time, such as midnight, dawn or until the target or sorcerer next awakens from sleep with a Magic point.

There is a danger. The shapshifted target must occasionally make Willpower rolls, with a difficulty equal to the number of Magic points spent on the change. If such a roll fails, the new form's personality and mental attributes take over for a time. A fumbled rolls means the character loses his identity and cannot change back under his own power.

Polymorphism is heavily dependent of belief. As long as a change makes a good story, it is easy, but a shapeshift of something inappropriate to it's juncture or environment (a fish on land, an abomination in 69 AD) costs an additional Magic point.

A radical change in a way that doesn't resonate, such as transforming a boy into a girl, a normal man into a snail or a fast man into a tortoise, costs two extra Magic points. The same applies to timid changes, where you change something into almost the same thing, only with altered attributes. Changing a fast, weak man into a slow, strong one is a timid change.

Transforming an unwilling target requires the Polymorph Blast effect. If you have both this schtick and that effect, you can use the full range of powers noted here as being restricted to willing targets against a target "killed" with Polymorph.

The difficulty of change sorcery is ten, but there is an Action Value penalty equal to the number of Magic points the changes costs. Very drastic changes often lead to fumbles.

Polymorphism Effects

Effects can be combined, to create exceptional or supernatural creatures.

Create Life

Life can be created out of nothing, or out of some insignificant substance such as a mouse, pumpernickel or pebble. This creates an average specimen of some mundane creature type, with a sum of primary attributes not exceeding the casters Sorcery AV. A number of skills equal to your Magic attribute can start out five points under the sorcerer's AV.

Empowerment

You empower somebody with supernatural creature schticks. You must explain the new schtick with a physical change; their form and looks must be changed to accommodate the new ability. Obviously, some abilities will be harder to justify than others. This costs one Magic point per schtick. Unless they have the Creature Powers skill or a high Magic attribute, they will not be good at using their new powers. This change does not turn them into supernatural creatures.

Shapeshift

The sorcerer can shapeshift any living target into another form. The target gains whatever physical attributes are appropriate to this new form, but retains skills.

You can shift the target's attributes around in the new form. Changes to Body are easier, as long as size is appropriately changed, and each point switched only gives half a point to put into other attributes and vice versa. Changing secondary attributes is done on a two-for one basis, increasing the highest secondary attribute means both the others go down by one each. If the sum of the primary attributes is increased, you must pay the difference in Magic points.

Mimic
This is the same as a shapeshift, but you imitate a specific individual. You must have a magical link to that individual (a lock of hair, drop of blood, true name or whatever is appropriate to your magic tradition). The transformed character will not have the victim's memories unless you also use Soul Change, but will adopt some of his mannerisms. It is almost impossible to tell them apart. Mimic costs one Magic point.

Mind Change
You change your target's personality and outlook, along with his skills. You can shift around the target's skills into new areas more suitable to his new form, or you can add entirely new skills. For example, you could change the Medicine skill of a human shapeshifted to a wolf into Martial Arts or Intrusion. If you give somebody the Supernatural Creatures skill, he counts as a supernatural creature while the effect lasts. Mind Change costs two Magic points, plus one point for each skill you want to add. New skills have a value equal to your Sorcery AV.

Soul Change
This is the most dangerous type of change, where the target's Mind and Chi can be changed, along with his personality and outlook. The target will remember his old self, as long as he has not lost control, but it seems remote. Soul Change costs three Magic points, and includes Mind Change.

Attempts to use this effect to recover dead friends or otherwise cheat fate usually end tragically.

Polymorphism Duels

A staple of Celtic myth is a duel between two magicians, where they both constantly change shape to gain some advantage over one another.

Playing out such a duel in Feng Shui can be lot's of fun. It can be started whenever a sorcerer with Polymorphism encounters another sorcerer who is shapeshifted. To change into a shape advantageous against the target sorcerer's current form, a Sorcery roll with a difficulty equal to the target's Perception is required. The now-threatened target can counter this with a shapechange of his own, likewise with a difficulty equal to the opponents Perception. For later shapeshifts, each form your enemy has assumed gives a -1 Action Value modifier.

If the roll to assume a new shape fails, you took to long to change and you loose. You are now under your opponents power and he has won the duel. He can freely use Sorcery on you once, and the difficulty of this Sorcery check is zero.

Branwen the witch spot Couroun the wizard in the form of a falcon. She changes into a crow (the logic is that crows eat falcon's eggs) to start a Polymorphism duel. Couroun has a Perception of seven, so Branwen succeeds easily. On his action, he changes into a squirrel (again, squirrels eat crow's eggs). Branwen has a Perception of 5, hard not to beat. Branwen then changes into a fox. She suffers a -2 Action Value modifier, because the squirrel is Couroun's second form. Because her initiative is so good, she can act again before Couroun, so she changes again, this time into a flea. Couroun now has a Sorcery modifier of -3 (for Branwens crow, fox and flea forms). He tries to change into a robin, but blows the roll. The flea symbolically bites the squirrel, and Branwen can now cast a spell on Couroun with a difficulty of zero.