So, the premise is that the Big Bads are trying to seed magic into the mundane world, let's say they're trying to grow the magical "capacity" of the mundane world to the point where they can enter it.Omegonthesane wrote:This explains why you might want to not instantly transform at the first sign of danger, but not necessarily why you didn't start the day transformed - unless the buffs are really quite minor.Blade wrote:I liked the approach in the Chroma Squad video game: being transformed is better, but since it comes with a complete healing, it's better to wait until you've got low HP before transforming.
Also, I don't remember transformation taking an action of the kind that could be spent moving or attacking in Chroma Squad, although it has been some time since I actually played.
It's also worth considering if there are any features you lose in magical transformed... form. The secret identity conceit of many magical girl things functions similarly to losing stealth abilities (specifically, the ability to blend in and be deemed beneath notice) when you transform, and it wouldn't be out of genre for magical girl abilities to come with dramatic displays that ruin your more literal Hide and/or Move Silently.
The way they're doing this is by using the current, very low, magical capacity to create big spectacles that make more people believe in magic, which will increase the capacity.
So the trade off of entering one's magical persona is that they risk being seen, and increasing that capacity through their actions.
Ie, if they run around transformed all the time, they further the villains' plans. So they have to use their magical personas carefully so they don't do more harm than good while fighting the monsters created by the villains.
So far, I've decided that in their mundane personas, they retain hp, skill points, and feats that they meet the prerequisites for in their mundane form. Because that seems the easiest way to handle those things. In their magical persona, their ability scores improve*, and they gain their class features. If their Int mod is higher in their magical persona, then any skill points spent from that increase are only available in their magical persona.
*their mundane ability scores are flat 3d6, and they add a d6 and drop the lowest die in their magical persona. So, like, for their mundane str, they roll 3d6, and get 3, 4, 5, for 12. Their magical persona str is normal D&D ability score rolls, so they add another d6, getting another 5, so they drop the 3, and their magical persona str is 14.
But I'm not 100% set on handling the forms this way. I do want the characters to be tougher than normal people in mundane form, but I'm not committed to having the same hp in both forms.