Creation Points

Overview In Duality, there are three different branches of character improvement that all fall under the umbrella of 'Creation Points'. These are Gene Mods, Implants, and Reality Gifts. Each one will be explain in its own section below. They all share one feature, though. Modifying the body causes a lot of stress on that body, and it takes time to come to terms with huge changes, tiny ones may go unnoticed, but big changes to your character, total body reconstruction or awakening powerful latent abilities, for instance, can cause feedback if you've made too many changes already recently.

This can be reflected in a few ways. First, if you want to buy big upgrades, but don't have the points you need, there are some options for forms of feedback that might manifest because you didn't want to wait for your character to grow and gain points naturally. Getting rid of that feedback will itself be a big change, which will later cost more points, but it's a way to take out a loan from your future self, and you repay by dealing with that feedback. For example, you might choose a Gene Mod that makes you a genius, but just last week you made your hair glow, and because it hasn't been long enough, your body reacts somewhat badly, causing feedback in the form of serious impulsive tendencies. So, yes, you're now a genius with glowing hair, but at the cost of being unable to press the big red button.

The other option is to do things gently, slowly, and carefully. By waiting for your body to accept that the chemicals to make your hair glow are only needed in certain amounts and regulate production, when you later decide to become a genius, there won't be massive hormone imbalances in your brain that cause you to do dumb stuff as soon as you get even a little bored.

While it's all technically up to the player what changes cause (or if at all) what feedback, it can be fun to choose based on what makes sense, or what might be a fun story to explain while sitting at a bar, that kind of thing. Creation Points, and the both positive and negative things they bring, are meant to expand your character in ways that skills don't; so, make good use of them for driving the story.

If that was just too much for you, what matters is this: every session (give or take, it's up to the GM in the end, this is assuming about a three hour session) you gain one Gene Point, one Implant Point, and one Reality Point. However, you can't necessarily do anything with them every session. This is part of what levels are for.

When you level up, it's an indication that you GM believes it's been long enough since your last level that more big changes are reasonable without them doing massive damage beyond simple feedback. Maybe you've gotten downtime finally after a long mission, maybe it's from stress that you awaken new powers, it's not up to us to decide. Whatever the case, now you can spend those Creation Points you've been gathering. If it's been a long time, as described above, maybe there won't need to be feedback when you get something big. If not.... Well, good luck.

Maybe you've decided to move on from having a certain ability. Maybe night vision implants were nice, but you want laser eyes instead. If it's been at least one full level since you originally purchased them (That is, if you've played a whole level or more with the ability) you can redeem any positive Creation Point ability for half of what you spent on it, rounded down. If you've looking to remove feedback you picked up in the same manner, at least one level ago, then you have to spend half of what it earned you in points, rounded up. You also can't mix the pools of Creation Points, ever. Gene Points can only ever be exchanged for Gene Mods, then back into Gene Points. The same with Implant Points and Implants, and Reality Points.

That about covers how exactly Creation Points work for Gene Mods, Implants, and Reality Gifts. There are a few other things worth knowing, but you can find them after the lists of Creation Point abilities.

- Gene Mods - Gene mods reflect direct changes to the genetic structure of your character. Some of them are more stable than others, and since they're constantly being changed, as well as being an overall somewhat immature technology, it's not totally clear how gene mods are passed to offspring, or how they are affected by diseases, if such things come up, it's up to GM discretion to decide based on the universe they're creating.

- Implants - Implants are typically the insertion of computer chips and other miniaturized electronics into the body to perform some function, although Implants in reality include almost all foreign material and non-genetic changes to the physical body beyond simple surgery. They are often very heavily shielded against hacking or disruption, and work automatically and seamlessly with the body to achieve some function.

- Reality Gifts - Reality Gifts are the hardest to explain, but it's a big galaxy full of far more ideas and mystery than anyone could ever have guessed. Reality Gifts are random gifts that science cannot easily explain, were never given to you by a doctor, and grant you powers that might even seem impossible, in extreme cases. Sometimes compared to magic, not all gifts are boons, you can very easily have a gift, but not a positive one.

Custom Creation Point Abilities This lists linked above are by no tiny measure complete lists of everything that would be available in a vast galaxy, however, they should serve as good guides for making custom abilities. Balance should be heavily taken into consideration when working with custom abilities, and the GM must always review any custom content before it can be used. However, to make things a little easier, consider the following guide, with anything listed as being positive (+N) being feedback, and therefore less desirable, and negative (-N) being abilities that are sought after:+4: A huge hindrance to everyday life, may make it impossible to fight effectively, talk, or perform a commonplace action, or make one terribly frail.+3: Debilitating, but not totally stopping function, it may leave a small window for someone skilled in the way otherwise hindered to still succeed.+2: A major annoyance, but something that can be worked past, generally the most serious a problem is likely to be and still be lived with.+1: An inconvenience, but in the end, not terribly inhibiting of everyday function. Something fairly minor that you might see in an average individual.-1: Minor net benefit, likely totally aesthetic or an ability that comes with checks and balances as intense as the abilities granted.-2: Noticeable in everyday life, likely a helpful boon in some part of life common to the bearer, but nothing that would turn the tide of battle or be breaking news.-3: A significant ability that likely can be called upon at will, probably without any shortcomings, that could gain the user and edge in some fashion.-4: The kind of ability you might show off, that could quickly change a neutral situation in your favor without much effort, or save you great effort in a mundane task.-5: Truly something remarkable, abilities of this strength allow easy control of the situation in all but the most extreme cases, and provide help that would be otherwise impossible.-6: An ability that could stop you from dying, allow you to control the outcome of a situation without regards to context, or make you a force to be reckoned with in battle.

Use any existing Creation Point abilities as a guide for the kinds and strengths of abilities that seem fair; and if an ability would be so strong it should cost more than 6 points, break it up into smaller parts. If you can't, it's probably unbalanced no matter how much it costs.

<h1 style="text-align: left; font-size: x-large; padding: 1em;">Increasing Stats The final thing creation points are good for is by far the least interesting, but perhaps one of the most useful. If you wish to increase one of your 8 primary stats, you can do so simply by spending creation points equal to the value you're trying to reach, going one stat point at a time, of course. This value goes in the 'Training' box of the stat. You cannot use points from two pools on the same stat at the same time, but you can use any pool for any stat. It's worth considering how the Creation Points you spent might have increased your stats, spending Implant Points to increased STR, for example, might be a sign of a simple strength implant in the legs.