Self-Link
Self-Link is the Prince and the Revolution of superpowers in this campaign. It is not, itself, a physical nor mental nor even mystical power. It cannot have it own AP rating. Power Bonuses or Limitations "attached to" this Power will instead affect the Factor Cost of the connected Power.
Does that mean Self-Link is something that we'll never comprehend?
Effect
Self-Link must be purchased in conjunction with another Power.
The idea here is that the superpower permeates every iota of the Character's physical being: it comes not from the mind or the lungs or the musculature or hand, but everything. All of the Character's being at once.
An example always helps! Let's look at Quickbranch of Young Justice.
"Bubba Jordan" by Jarissa via Second Life
Me? I'm helping today?
Yes, please.
"Bubba Jordan" by Jarissa via Second Life
Okay! So long as we don't violate any Rules.
I will do my best. Your Rules allow us to talk about Powers, as far as I understand them, and this article is here to talk about a rare Power.
"Quickbranch" by Jarissa via Second Life
I am a growing boy. There is a lot we don't know about my Powers now, much less how they are going to be when I am an adult. I am not sure if I can help with this.
We might be using some hypotheticals. So long as everything makes sense to the reader, that works.
Some observers suspect that Quickbranch has Self-Link tied to Plant Growth, possibly with a Fatiguing or Power Burnout Limitation.
What observers know for certain is that Bubba can -- very rarely! -- abruptly cease to be in one location. (Is he teleporting? He might be!)
"Quickbranch" by Jarissa via Second Life
We definitely have not done any measuring of this! And who are these "observers"? Is someone spying on me?
Most of the information for this article comes from your father, plus some stories by your teammates.
When Quickbranch abruptly stops being in a particular spot, he leaves behind a large, disorganized pile of clematis vines and other plant matter, which behaves in every way like normal plants. The pile is never of sufficient total mass to be Bubba's actual body. It usually contains some of whatever the boy was carrying or wearing: any plastic or resin hairclips, his backpack with all its contents, his electronics including the Young Justice Earbud Communicator, notebooks and colored pencils, his clothes if they contain synthetic fibers.
Meanwhile, an assortment of living plants in another location suddenly writhe into action, weaving together and warping their component shapes until the profile of Bubba Jordan is clearly identifiable. Within a few days at most, all of Bubba will be clematis-based again, indistinguishable from the same body he had a month ago.
"Bubba Jordan" by Jarissa via Second Life
That makes no sense. I am always the same boy!
I know that. I meant that you are obviously the same boy with the same body now, after you did your disappear-in-one-place reappear-in-another trick, that you also were a month ago.
"Bubba Jordan" by Jarissa via Second Life
Yes, this is true. It is also true that the spot where they left does not have a little pile of discarded flower petals and bits of root ends. Nor is there a pile of cat fur, or a jacket, or anything like that. And if they left behind their school workbooks, they have to come right back to clean up.
"Bubba Jordan" by Jarissa via Second Life
I had not thought about that. I guess that does mean my be-someplace-different Power has to be different than theirs.
It could be different!
I do not entirely think so. I think you have Teleportation, which is the same Power that your cousins have. I think you might have it Self-Linked, which they do not, and the Gamemasters will both be having a conversation with your father about how that got slipped into continuity when the only Travel Power eligible for Self-Link in the original ruleset is excluded from our campaign setting. I like the idea in your case, Bubba, of having your Teleportation and your Plant Growth both tied together in the way that Mr. Wein and Mr. Wrightson used Spirit Travel and Plant Growth in their mystical-heavy campaign back in the early 1970s. It makes for a more interesting story.
"Quickbranch" by Jarissa via Second Life
I don't like to do it at all, most of the time. I don't like leaving Mr. Sniffles behind.
Do you feel like doing it a short distance, staying here in the same room? For science?
"Quickbranch" by Jarissa via Second Life
No!
That's fine.
The important component to the Self-Link Power is that it turns another Power that a Character has into a Power that, for however brief a time, that Character is. Quickbranch is a living mass of mobile plant matter forming the one person. When he teleports, he is entirely the movement from one place to another -- when he returns to being plant matter.
Hence the boost to Base Cost of the altered Power; hence Self-Link having no Factor Cost or AP rating of its own.
"Quickbranch" by Jarissa via Second Life
I don't like this conversation at all. Doctor Don says that what is inside my clothes is my private business. And if someone tries to pay attention to that without my first asking them to do so, I should tell an adult. I'm going to go get my Mom!
I think I need a different example Character!
A Character who has Self-Linked a Power has two "modes of use" for the same Power. The Character need use only one of their two Automatic Actions in a phase to swap from one mode to the other.
Standard Mode has the Power functioning mostly as described in the original Power article:
- at a Range of Touch only,
- taking into account any Power Bonuses and Limitations purchased,
- eligible for Initiative Maneuvers and similar modifiers.
Self-Link Mode has the Power's manifestation temporarily replace the physical body of the Character. Walter Threshbarg, for example, can turn into an equivalent sized and shaped cloud of Fog.
He what?!?
by CB Ash
In Self-Link Mode, the Character can move at a rate per phase of half their APs in the Power.
With two exceptions, Self-Link Mode includes no special protection against attack. Mr. Threshbarg could be punched or netted, even in Fog shape. Only Self-Linked Bomb or Self-Linked Projectile Weapons grant immunity to Physical attacks while the Character is discorporated; that immunity requires the Character to have purchased and used more APs of the relevant Power than they have APs of Body.
Finally, remember that a Character in Self-Link Mode is always susceptible to any reasonable vulnerabilities for that form. The Weather Wizard takes extra damage from heat attacks, strong dessicants, or heavy gusts of wind. Quickbranch gets very sick very fast from cold attacks or light deprivation.
Manifestation
Check with both GMs before spending points on this Power!
To add Self-Link to a Power, raise the Base Cost by 50 Hero Points.
Note:
If this is part of Character Advancement, this will subtract
500 Hero Points
from an existing Character's banked HP!
If this is part of Character Advancement, this will subtract
500 Hero Points
from an existing Character's banked HP!
The original ruleset from Mayfair Games gave a narrow list of Powers that were eligible to combine with Self-Link. We have reduced that list, and are considering a few homebrewed powers as possible additions.
The current eligible list:
- Bomb
- Darkness
- Energy Blast
- Flash
- Fog
- Lightning (requires Power Burnout Limitation)
- Plant Growth
- Projectile Weapons
Self-Link
Link: None!
Range: Self
Type: Auto
Base Cost: +50
Factor Cost: No
Power Bonus Options!
+1 to Factor Cost above
see article!
Power Limit Options!
-1 to Factor Cost above
Applied Restriction
Gadgets will almost never be permitted to have Self-Link. It would require several Genius Gadgeteers working together with at least one Genius Scientist. They would need one or more highly rated Laboratories or Workshops.
(The concept of the Gadget would have to be a particularly nifty story. Otherwise, the Gadget would probably make more sense as a rechargeable or limited-use tool. No Gadget will be able to turn its user into the form of a Self-Linked power!)
by Jarissa Venters
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