On Transformation and Gear

[squidheadjax]

I'm curious as to why Gear only allows a net ability increase on a one-to-one basis, while Transformation gives two-for-one. I can understand that Transformation is supposed to be seldom-used, but the 'seldom' is the magical girl transformation/forming X-tron/firing the wave motion gun that happens basically every episode when things get serious. So basically, it's a bigger bonus whenever having it really matters.

[Atmo]

I'm curious as to why Gear only allows a net ability increase on a one-to-one basis, while Transformation gives two-for-one. I can understand that Transformation is supposed to be seldom-used, but the 'seldom' is the magical girl transformation/forming X-tron/firing the wave motion gun that happens basically every episode when things get serious. So basically, it's a bigger bonus whenever having it really matters.

That's why you can borrow your Gear to another person.

[Clay]

You sort of touched on why yourself: Transformation is limited. That "once per episode" is all you get. Your Gear, on the other hand, can be with you all the time, and in any situation. Even better, it can be stripped to drop off any negative features it has. Like that heavy piece of armor that makes you as elegant as an elephant in a tutu? Drop that Gear!

And as Atmo pointed out, Gear can be conceivably lent to others, too.

All Gear, really does, is let you organize Abilities and Weaknesses in a way that makes sense, or make your character more modular so you can have different "setups" during play. Trying to divide a character's martial arts from their sword-swinging damage output can be difficult without it.

[squidheadjax]

You sort of touched on why yourself: Transformation is limited. That "once per episode" is all you get. Your Gear, on the other hand, can be with you all the time, and in any situation. Even better, it can be stripped to drop off any negative features it has. Like that heavy piece of armor that makes you as elegant as an elephant in a tutu? Drop that Gear!

And as Atmo pointed out, Gear can be conceivably lent to others, too.

All Gear, really does, is let you organize Abilities and Weaknesses in a way that makes sense, or make your character more modular so you can have different "setups" during play. Trying to divide a character's martial arts from their sword-swinging damage output can be difficult without it.

Ah. So then an at-will transformation would be modeled more like Gear with the self-only flaw (on Gear itself, rather than the attribute)?

[Clay]

Right. Or if it's really summonable at will, you can just go ahead and give your character the full level of that Ability by default. That is, if a character has the ability to summon a power glove at any time, and this glove cannot be lost, there's really not any reason not to give him Strong +3 or +4 all the time. He would never be in a situation where he uses LESS than that amount, so dividing it off as a Gear or Transformation may be semantics to start with.

[StarRaven]

Might also be worth mentioning that characters with the Transformation ability are typically significantly less powerful untransformed than characters who have powers all the time. Certain magical sailor soldiers, for example, had virtually no powers at all untransformed!

[sniffycrab]

Do weapons count as gear or can I just use the weapon flaw on my attacks and assume that covers it?