Mutation Guidelines

Last Updated: May 18th, 2002 00:49 EST

Description: Mutate allows genetic changes to be introduced into the target. The changes are purely physical and do not allow for the addition or modification of any learned skill/spell/memory (though "instinct" can be modified and that's a very grey area). The magic of the mutate forces the change to manifest itself almost immediately. If a target undergoes a mutate for which it does not have sufficient experience points available then the HEA stat of the target will be decreased in order to gain the requisite experience points. The normal method is to cast a mutate and then pick the trait/ability from the "creature abilities" and pay the required experience points for the trait/ability. A lot of physical modifications do not require experience points as they do not grant traits or abilities.

1. Question: Can I mutate traits/abilities away from a target? If so, where do the experience points go?
   Answer: Yes, you can mutate away traits and abilities assuming that they are physical in nature (i.e. part of the body). If those traits are a natural part of the target (i.e. it is their original body and they were either born with the traits or used a mutate to gain them) then the experience points go back to the target to use as he/she wishes. However if the traits are _NOT_ a natural part of the target (body swapped into a body with the trait, cursed/blessed with the trait, etc...) then the trait can be mutated away, however the experience points must immediately be used to gain some other physical trait (another mutate or physical stats). Any experience points not immediately used are lost.
   Rationale: The purpose behind handling things in this manner is to circumvent the creation of an "eep engine" (a way to generate experience points). Experience points are an artificial mechanism and there should not be an in game method of generating them. The ability to mutate abilities away, get the eeps and then body swap into the next gargoyle/whale/whatever would allow the creation of such an engine if the experience points were allowed to move with the soul. By forcing them to be reinvested in the body we keep such an engine from being created. And it also just makes more sense this way. Mutates are about the body after all.
2. Question: Can I mutate in weaknesses such as Inferior Stats? If so, do I get the experience points for doing so?
   Answer: The short answer is Yes. You can mutate in the weaknesses. You do gain experience points for doing so but these experiences must immediately be used to gain some other physical trait (see previous question).
3. Question: Can I mutate away a weakness such as Inferior Stats?
   Answer: Yes. Just pay the required experience points. For instance if the weakness is listed as costing -3000 experience points you would need to pay 3000 experience points to offset the weakness. When you do so the weakness will be mutated away.
4. Question: Does mutating wings mean I can fly?
   Answer: A lot of physical abilities can be mutated for no experience points. You can mutate wings for no experience points. However you cannot fly. On the other hand, since you naturally have wings you may now start buying up a "flying skill" at triple (since you weren't born with wings it would cost triple). This lets you go into it more slowly and gives you a skill that you can keep even if your wings are mutated away or you body swap to some other winged creature. If you mutate in "Flying" at a rank then you not only gain some method of flight (wings, helium producing organs, whatever) but the instinct to use that flight properly. That's why it costs experience points. The basic rule of thumb is: If its decorative then its probably free. However if it conveys any ability or advantage then it probably costs experience points some how.
5. Question: Instinct? What does that cost and what kind of instincts can you give people?
   Answer: When you pay experience points for a creature ability then you also gain the ability to USE that ability. That's what separates a winged human from some guy who has wings. If you just go out and get wings you won't know how to use them. If you have been mutated for "flight" then you naturally know how to use your means of flight (e.g. wings). If your mutated for Death Venom then your body just knows when to use it and when not and you don't go around dripping venom from your teeth (or nails, or whatever).

   There are some other types of instinct such as "fly south for the winter" or "land on my feet". If they are not listed as creature abilities then a GM should decide if its a positive or negative survival trait and assign eeps accordingly. For instance: Landing on your feet is good so a GM might say it'll cost you 300 eeps. On the other hand "sexually attracted to fire" is bad and may cost -300 eeps.
   It should be noted that creatures that are born with these abilities may not have ratings that total up correctly. Just like movement isn't calculated into the rating for adventurers usually.

6. Question: How can I tell what's free and what costs experience points?
   Answer: The basic rule of thumb is: If its decorative then its probably free. However if it conveys any ability or advantage then it probably costs experience points in some manner. This is a common theme through out the game: TANSTAFL (There Ain't No Such Think As A Free Lunch).
7. Question: Does it take more than one change to grow a set of wings?
   Answer: No. One Change is enough for a set of wings.
8. Question: So how much can you accomplish as a single change?
   Answer: This should be obvious but it does need a bit of clarity. To go from being a lizard to being a lizard with wings is one change. To go from being a lizard to being a stone giant requires a huge number of physical changes (skin type, size, remove a bunch of lizard traits (one change each), etc...). Any single physical change counts as one change.
9. Question: So what about ranked abilities? Can I get 10 ranks with one change?
   Answer: The mutate spell allows for one change and then one additional change for every two finesses. This allows for a maximum of three changes for a fully finessed mutate. For each change you can get up to 5000 experience points (or 1 rank whichever is greater) worth of any single ranked ability.
10. Question: So if I can spend 5000 experience points per change, then can I mix and match abilities that total up to 5000 and get them all as one change?
    Answer: No. Only one ability per change.