Limits on the SP Shapeshift:Imitate
It has been brought up that the Spirit Power Shapeshift:Imitate has the potential to be really abusive. I thought we should have a thread to discuss what actual limitations are inherent with the power, so we can see whether or not, when accounting for its downsides, it is problematic. This discussion could probably be used to evaluate the other Shapeshift SP's as well. The first limitation I see is probably the biggest one there is. Regardless of what form they're in the Shapeshifter still retains its abilities and limitations. The important limitation being that the Spirit still cannot spend Void points. As many Techniques require Void to use this can at time severely limit the usefulness of the School they're imitating. They cannot soak wounds as a Hida, they cannot take full advantage of many kiho's, they cannot use the Violator Technique, etc. The only way that I know of for a Shapeshifter to use Void is to use the Humanity SP which would in turn prohibit their use of Shapeshift Imitate. The spirit takes on the physical attributes of the imitated person. This can often be good, but at times could actually lower your traits. On top of that it only really helps you as an advantage when imitating physical schools such as bushi. When Imitating say a Courtier, you still have to use your own "Mental" Traits. When imitating a shugenja you only would copy the physical half of their Rings and thus might end up with a Ring lower than that character if your mental half of that ring were lower and this would make spellcasting difficult. This means you still have to be already be somewhat capable in the realms of the person you're imitating, especially in the Traits department. Physical Handicaps such as one eye would also affect the Shapeshifter. You have to have something cherished by the person you are trying to imitate. As samurai are generally trying to hold their emotions close to themselves for proprieties sake, it can often be hard to find a suitable object to use to activate this power, let alone get your hands on to it. Getting ahold of the object of importance from a highly powerful individual should be very difficult if not impossible for a Shapeshifter of much lower rank, and should eliminate most of the situations where a Shapeshifter imitates someone of much higher rank. The fact that the item has to be cherished also makes the "lending" of an cherished item to a shapeshifter friend stretch credibility for this power because, if the item is so easily given, how can it be cherished? There are also times, such as with the case of an Ascetic, that there may be no item cherished enough to activate this power. With Cherished Items there is always the option to just take the object away from the shapeshifter, snd then he would no longer be able to imitate the person. You do not gain the memories of the person. It says you gain all of the learned capabilities of the character, but it says nothing about gaining the memories of such an individual. This can be a large impediment towards using this power as an infallible disguise, and also means that the shapeshifter has to figure out his own tactics to use with the strengths and limitations of his new form. If a shapeshifters Taboos are known you can force him or trick him into breaking a Taboo, at which point he would revert to his animal form and would no longer benifit from the Shapeshifting. Spiritual qualities and non-learned non-physical traits are not copied. Thus non-physical inherant Advantages, and Granted advantages can not be duplicated. You can't gank Great Potential or Bishamons Blessing. Instinctual psychological Advantages like Wary cannot be taken as they are a benifit from a particular personality trait rather than a learned ability. Fate based abilities such as Luck and Great Destiny cannot be stolen. Magic Resistance is also not subject to imitation as it is a spiritual anomoly. Etc, etc. These are just some of the things I though of off of the top of my head. I thought I'd bring these points up so that we'd get a look at the flip side of this powers usefullness. Any thoughts?

You have to have something cherished by the person you are trying to imitate. As samurai are generally trying to hold their emotions close to themselves for proprieties sake, it can often be hard to find a suitable object to use to activate this power, let alone get your hands on to it. Getting ahold of the object of importance from a highly powerful individual should be very difficult if not impossible for a Shapeshifter of much lower rank, and should eliminate most of the situations where a Shapeshifter imitates someone of much higher rank. The fact that the item has to be cherished also makes the "lending" of an cherished item to a shapeshifter friend stretch credibility for this power because, if the item is so easily given, how can it be cherished? There are also times, such as with the case of an Ascetic, that there may be no item cherished enough to activate this power. This is really where the limitations and abuse comes in. Realistically, if you have a party it is unlikely that the spirit creature would steal the forms of other samurai which the party knows as someone in the party could easily take offense. Unless of course, you are talking about a campaign in which it is the plot point. For example, I could see Scorpion agents and a shapeshifter wreaking all sorts of havoc. Nevertheless, something like that is probably ok because that is the basis of that game. In other words, it is constructive to the story rather than destructive. However, taking the forms of other samurai on the party (say your best friend) is much more of a general concern, because your best friend is not likely to say no if you really need to switch forms. In my current game, I have a shapeshifter that regularly takes the form of a specific samurai-ko, because her best friend has given her a cherished item and has explicitly allowed her to take her form as needed. Granted this means there has to be quite a bit of trust between the characters for something like this to happen. As such, I think the use of the power and its abuse stems from who is playing the shapeshifter (do they respect other individuals identities), what are the other PCs like (how comfortable are they with a friend that can take their persona and act like them or others), and if the GM isn't dropping the ball (enforcing the cherished item bit). I mean really if a Shapeshifter steals a cherished item from an important NPC they are likely asking for serious trouble. For most bushi that means the daisho or some other weapon and stealing that will likely raise the ire of the samurai. It's just as bad as Shosuro Actor who steals a samurai's cherished item and tries to imitate them. I can think of a pretty nasty shapeshifter villian that likes to kidnap druken samurai, lock them away, and steal their forms. Additionally, I was talking with Tsukaede and the best solution to this shapeshift: imitate power is that there should have been a clause that stated you lost all other spirit powers/abilities while you were enjoying your new form.

Honestly, this is not one of those abilities that I think will be broken on GPs, but it will spawn an aweful lot of broken combos. It is also worth noting that the Shapeshifter's ability to carry over their own mental traits is not always an inpediment. There are some schools (like the Mirumoto Bushi) that spread their bonuses across several traits, presumbably so that one person cannot excel in all areas. If the shapeshifter finds someone who is admirably stated physically, but leaves something to be desired mentally, they will become an absolute powerhouse in their adopted form... especially if the new body does not use Void Point powered techniques.

Figured this would be the place to post this. Somebody brought up something a while back on the AEG forums about a Shapeshifter with this power learning Kiho's while in the imitated form. After reading the power one more time it says that you gain access to their learned abilities, but it does not say that you can learn abilities as if you were them. Note this is important because having ACCESS to their learned abilities is not the same as actually HAVING the learned abilities. In my mind this would preclude them from actually buying Kiho's, Kata, etc. as they do not actually heve the prerequisites they are merely using them.

It makes me remember to some water spells that let you use skills you didn't have, but you wasn't allowed to learn them when the spell was going on.

It seems to me the restriction that requires an item that is cherished is the place where the balancing comes in. This is absolutley where the GM has control over the spirit's power. Who is to say what someone cherishes. A samurai might cherish his daisho, but I would hardly say that this is a given. He might be honorless or a ronin who will simply steal himself another one. I can't imagine Dairya cherishing anything. What object would an inkyo cherish? He would cherish almost nothing in the physical world. The object component of this ability is a challenge to the player.