Wiki source for MMVariable
======Variable======
A Variable structure contains every trait of an appropriate type or descriptor! Variable structures approach the level of plot devices or X-traits (see X-Traits, M&M, page 211) and are about as close as the Gamemaster should let player characters get to those sorts of powers. Variable structures are generally used for creating powers with highly situational or indeterminate effects, where a set list of effects just won|t cover everything the power is supposed to be able to do. However, they come with their own drawbacks, including both complexity and cost.
With a Variable structure, you have a pool of (rank x 5) power points you can use to acquire certain other traits. 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 powers of a particular type or descriptor) at a time. Thus you could acquire any one skill at a time, for example, or any one power.
- **5 points: **Any one trait at a time.
- **6 points: **Multiple traits of a particular type (ability scores, skills, feats, or powers of a particular type or descriptor), so long as the total traits do not add up to more than (rank x 5) power points.
- **7 points: **Multiple powers of any type or descriptor at once, so long as the total traits do not add up to more than (rank x 5) power points.
- **8 points: **Any combination of traits adding up to (rank x 5) total power points.
It takes a standard action to change the configuration of your Variable structure|s points. The allocation of those points is sustained, so if you stop maintaining your Variable structure for any reason (failing a [[MMConcentration Concentration]] 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 effect|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 power|s rank). This costs only a fourth of a power point, but the remaining points can|t be allocated to anything, since the effect is limited to one skill at a time. The same is true with feats and some low-cost powers. 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 powers based on the Variable structure in this book for examples of descriptors.
=====Power Feats=====
Power feats within a particular Variable structure configuration are considered part of it and not feats of the effect itself. Thus power points from the Variable structure must be assigned to those feats.
Some power feats apply to the Variable structure rather than any of its configurations. These feats are "outside" the effect|s power point pool and apply equally to all of its configurations. The GM should carefully scrutinize any such overall feats, ensuring they do in fact apply to the Variable structure as a whole. The effect|s power points do not need to be applied to these power feats.
- **Accurate: **The GM may permit this power feat to apply to a Variable structure as a whole, granting its benefits to all of the effects requiring attack rolls for its various configurations, since the effect can be considered a single power (albeit one with a wide range of applications). However, the GM may choose to limit this feat to suitably focused Variable structures.
- **Alternate Power: **A Variable structure essentially contains all possible Alternate Powers for its point value and descriptors, so it does not require this power feat to add new configurations, just the permission of the Gamemaster.
- **Dynamic: **Likewise, a Variable structure is already dynamic in the allocation of its power points and does not need this power feat.
- **Innate: **A Variable structure may be [[MMPowerFeats Innate]] at the GM|s discretion, in which case all of its configurations are [[MMPowerFeats Innate]] as well. Individual configurations cannot be [[MMPowerFeats Innate]]; the entire Variable structure must be [[MMPowerFeats Innate]]. Gamemasters should be cautious about allowing [[MMPowerFeats Innate]] Variable structures.
=====Extras=====
Generally, extras are applied to the various effects in a Variable structure|s configurations rather than to the effect 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 effect 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 power extras also apply specifically to the Variable structure itself, rather than any of its configurations:
- **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 reaction: 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.
- **Affects Others: **While individual configurations may have this modifier, a Variable structure can also [[MMExtras Affect Others]] as a whole, allowing you to grant the use of the effect 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 effect altogether whenever you wish).
- **Duration: **A [[MMExtras Continuous]] Variable structure holds its current configuration until you choose to change it, even if you are stunned, knocked out, or the effect is nullified.
- **Linked: **Effects 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.
- **Range: **A Variable structure with [[MMExtras Affects Others]] may have the [[MMExtras Range]] extra to improve the range at which you can grant the effect to another. This does not alter the ranges of the effect|s various configurations. To do so, apply the [[MMExtras Range]] modifier to the effect(s) within a particular configuration.
=====Flaws=====
Variable configurations can have their own individual flaws, which reduce the cost of the configuration (and the number of power 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.
- **Action: **A Variable structure that requires a full round action to reconfigure has a -1 flaw. Further increases in configuration time apply the [[MMPowerDrawbacks Action power drawback]].
- **Duration: **A concentration [[MMFlaws duration]] Variable structure only maintains its configuration as long as you concentrate. This significantly limits the effect|s usefulness, since you have to make Concentration skill checks to use any configuration requiring more than a move action, juggling both the Variable structure and any others you wish to use. A Variable structure cannot have an instant duration.
- **Distracting: **A Variable structure that is distracting to reconfigure is a drawback rather than a flaw (see the [[MMPowerDrawbacks Drawbacks]] section, following). The effect|s individual configurations may also be [[MMFlaws Distracting]], in which case the flaw is applied individually to them, rather than the Variable structure as a whole. If all the configurations of a Variable structure are [[MMFlaws distracting]], then the flaw may apply to the entire Variable structure and does reduce the cost of its configurations.
- **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 effect|s configuration changes and what it changes to, or all of the effect|s configurations are considered [[MMFlaws Uncontrolled]] (but the user gets to choose how the effect is configured). [[MMFlaws Uncontrolled]] applied to a particular configuration has its normal effect when that configuration is in use.
- **Unreliable: **If this flaw is applied to the Variable structure as a whole, then changing its configuration becomes [[MMFlaws 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.
=====Drawbacks=====
- **Action: **A Variable structure that takes longer than a full-round action to reconfigure has this power drawback. Each step up the [[MMTimeTable Time Table]] is a -1 point drawback; one minute, five minutes, twenty minute, etc. The GM may set any reasonable limit on the [[MMPowerDrawbacks Action drawback]] for Variable structures (beyond the standard limit of 1 point less than the effect|s total cost).
- **Distracting: **If it is distracting to reconfigure a Variable structure (rather than using any effects derived from it), then the effect has a 2-point [[MMPowerDrawbacks power drawback]].
[[MMEstructuras]]
A Variable structure contains every trait of an appropriate type or descriptor! Variable structures approach the level of plot devices or X-traits (see X-Traits, M&M, page 211) and are about as close as the Gamemaster should let player characters get to those sorts of powers. Variable structures are generally used for creating powers with highly situational or indeterminate effects, where a set list of effects just won|t cover everything the power is supposed to be able to do. However, they come with their own drawbacks, including both complexity and cost.
With a Variable structure, you have a pool of (rank x 5) power points you can use to acquire certain other traits. 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 powers of a particular type or descriptor) at a time. Thus you could acquire any one skill at a time, for example, or any one power.
- **5 points: **Any one trait at a time.
- **6 points: **Multiple traits of a particular type (ability scores, skills, feats, or powers of a particular type or descriptor), so long as the total traits do not add up to more than (rank x 5) power points.
- **7 points: **Multiple powers of any type or descriptor at once, so long as the total traits do not add up to more than (rank x 5) power points.
- **8 points: **Any combination of traits adding up to (rank x 5) total power points.
It takes a standard action to change the configuration of your Variable structure|s points. The allocation of those points is sustained, so if you stop maintaining your Variable structure for any reason (failing a [[MMConcentration Concentration]] 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 effect|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 power|s rank). This costs only a fourth of a power point, but the remaining points can|t be allocated to anything, since the effect is limited to one skill at a time. The same is true with feats and some low-cost powers. 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 powers based on the Variable structure in this book for examples of descriptors.
=====Power Feats=====
Power feats within a particular Variable structure configuration are considered part of it and not feats of the effect itself. Thus power points from the Variable structure must be assigned to those feats.
Some power feats apply to the Variable structure rather than any of its configurations. These feats are "outside" the effect|s power point pool and apply equally to all of its configurations. The GM should carefully scrutinize any such overall feats, ensuring they do in fact apply to the Variable structure as a whole. The effect|s power points do not need to be applied to these power feats.
- **Accurate: **The GM may permit this power feat to apply to a Variable structure as a whole, granting its benefits to all of the effects requiring attack rolls for its various configurations, since the effect can be considered a single power (albeit one with a wide range of applications). However, the GM may choose to limit this feat to suitably focused Variable structures.
- **Alternate Power: **A Variable structure essentially contains all possible Alternate Powers for its point value and descriptors, so it does not require this power feat to add new configurations, just the permission of the Gamemaster.
- **Dynamic: **Likewise, a Variable structure is already dynamic in the allocation of its power points and does not need this power feat.
- **Innate: **A Variable structure may be [[MMPowerFeats Innate]] at the GM|s discretion, in which case all of its configurations are [[MMPowerFeats Innate]] as well. Individual configurations cannot be [[MMPowerFeats Innate]]; the entire Variable structure must be [[MMPowerFeats Innate]]. Gamemasters should be cautious about allowing [[MMPowerFeats Innate]] Variable structures.
=====Extras=====
Generally, extras are applied to the various effects in a Variable structure|s configurations rather than to the effect 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 effect 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 power extras also apply specifically to the Variable structure itself, rather than any of its configurations:
- **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 reaction: 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.
- **Affects Others: **While individual configurations may have this modifier, a Variable structure can also [[MMExtras Affect Others]] as a whole, allowing you to grant the use of the effect 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 effect altogether whenever you wish).
- **Duration: **A [[MMExtras Continuous]] Variable structure holds its current configuration until you choose to change it, even if you are stunned, knocked out, or the effect is nullified.
- **Linked: **Effects 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.
- **Range: **A Variable structure with [[MMExtras Affects Others]] may have the [[MMExtras Range]] extra to improve the range at which you can grant the effect to another. This does not alter the ranges of the effect|s various configurations. To do so, apply the [[MMExtras Range]] modifier to the effect(s) within a particular configuration.
=====Flaws=====
Variable configurations can have their own individual flaws, which reduce the cost of the configuration (and the number of power 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.
- **Action: **A Variable structure that requires a full round action to reconfigure has a -1 flaw. Further increases in configuration time apply the [[MMPowerDrawbacks Action power drawback]].
- **Duration: **A concentration [[MMFlaws duration]] Variable structure only maintains its configuration as long as you concentrate. This significantly limits the effect|s usefulness, since you have to make Concentration skill checks to use any configuration requiring more than a move action, juggling both the Variable structure and any others you wish to use. A Variable structure cannot have an instant duration.
- **Distracting: **A Variable structure that is distracting to reconfigure is a drawback rather than a flaw (see the [[MMPowerDrawbacks Drawbacks]] section, following). The effect|s individual configurations may also be [[MMFlaws Distracting]], in which case the flaw is applied individually to them, rather than the Variable structure as a whole. If all the configurations of a Variable structure are [[MMFlaws distracting]], then the flaw may apply to the entire Variable structure and does reduce the cost of its configurations.
- **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 effect|s configuration changes and what it changes to, or all of the effect|s configurations are considered [[MMFlaws Uncontrolled]] (but the user gets to choose how the effect is configured). [[MMFlaws Uncontrolled]] applied to a particular configuration has its normal effect when that configuration is in use.
- **Unreliable: **If this flaw is applied to the Variable structure as a whole, then changing its configuration becomes [[MMFlaws 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.
=====Drawbacks=====
- **Action: **A Variable structure that takes longer than a full-round action to reconfigure has this power drawback. Each step up the [[MMTimeTable Time Table]] is a -1 point drawback; one minute, five minutes, twenty minute, etc. The GM may set any reasonable limit on the [[MMPowerDrawbacks Action drawback]] for Variable structures (beyond the standard limit of 1 point less than the effect|s total cost).
- **Distracting: **If it is distracting to reconfigure a Variable structure (rather than using any effects derived from it), then the effect has a 2-point [[MMPowerDrawbacks power drawback]].
[[MMEstructuras]]
