[HOE] My old Transformer power...

["Christopher Merrill" <fuzyn9feet@earthlink.net>]

> (Hey Kai, do you have those
> >powers all gussied up and stored somewhere? I'd like
> >to check them out.)
>
> I've got three others made, and one being worked on at the moment, but
> unfortunately none of them have anything to do with transformable devices.

I put up on the list a rough write up I did some time ago (I also had two
others powers but Kia's version of alchemy blew mine out of the water). Here
it is, still a work-in-process:

Transform
Associated Spirits: Tool
TN: 5
Components:
Chemical: 0
Electrical: 0
Mechanical: 30%
Structural: 10%
Drain: Special/change
 The Junker that came up with this little do-dad watched the old videos of
TransformersT as a kid. But in truth aren't most Junkers really kids with
new toys to play with?
 Now to make them cars get up and walk away, we need to install some hinges,
gears and cut it in the right places. This takes up 10% of the Frame's total
slots. There you have it, a transforming device. Unless you want to bend and
stretch your creation into it's other shape by hand the device is going to
need the power Agility built in.
 The time it takes for a device to make the change is equal to the Frame
Size minus the Agility die type (that's if you add Agility, other wise your
looking at just the Frame Size) in rounds. The time needed to change can
never be less than one round, sorry.
 There are two other small things to go over. First, if the device is a car
that becomes a robot (like the power implies), you're going to need to
install legs and four wheels. That's a lot of slots, but lucky you only need
one engine. When figuring the engine for the vehicle pick the acceleration
as you normally would using the slot cost of the larger engine (i.e.
StarscreemT would need the powers Jet and Locomotion, but use the Jet power
cost for acceleration). The Drain or MPG for each mode of travel is figured
as if it was the only mode of travel built in the device (i.e. StarscreemT
would need to figure how much fuel the Jet power needs to run, and the legs
need separately).
 There is one other piece of the pie to deal with. If your shape-changing
car holds people while a car and not as a robot his size can change
dramatically. Build the car as normal (including this power) and remember to
put the slots needed for a driver and others. Once you know the total
passengers figure out what frame size the slots equal. You can take half
that many sizes out of the final frame size to adjust the robot's size.
(i.e.; You build the VW bug and it holds two passengers. The car size is 9
with a total of passenger space equaling frame size 6. When it changes to a
robot it folds some of itself into that area reducing the size by 3 to make
him a size 6)

Christopher Merrill
A W.H.A.T.T. Member