New mutations; how many points?

I saw some complaints about the mutation system. The first was that there aren't enough of them, and the second is that there isn't a way to buy mutations without taking penalties (or taking an AdC - not that the class isn't cool, 'cuz it is).

So why not post new mutations here? I'm sure our collective wisdom (or guesswork) can approximate their costs.

This one is based on an Alternity mutation.

Extra Vital Organs [Major]
Cost: 5 MP?

You have multiple redundant vital organs. If an organ is damaged, you may have a backup for it.

You ignore 25% of critical hits made against you (but not stunning effects) and you gain a +3 bonus to your Fortitude save to resist massive damage.

This one was popular with mutant soldiers of the Thuldan Empire.

I'd say 5 MP is pretty fair after looking through the other mutations in d20F. I compared it mainly to Skeletal Reinforcement: +3 to your MDT, -1 die on damage from falls, 5MP. I won't claim that I'm any good with rules but +3 to MDT seems better than +3 to the roll whereas ignoring 25% och all critical hits is better than reduced fall damage. So, again, 5MP sounds fair.

Be careful with this one:
Improved Ability Score [Major]
Mutation Points: 6
One of your ability scores improve by 2 points.
Special: you can take this mutation multiple times, each time affecting a different ability score.

Notes:
Increasing ability scores is not included in the D20 Future, and there might be a good reason for it. But anyway, I think there should be such a mutation, and it must obviously cost more than Ability Decay can get you. 6 was a good guesstimation (it costs 1.5x then Ability Decay grants you), but maybe it should even be at 8 points.

Mutations can be used well as a guideline to create new races ECL0 races, because in fact if you apply mutation, that´s exactly what you are doing.
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And here a new feat:
Mutant (General)
Benefit: You can freely spend 3 mutation points that you don´t have to compensate with drawback mutations.
Special: You can take this feat only at 1st level. If you gain multiple feats at 1st level, you can take it multiple times, its effect stack.

Notes:
It is difficult to assign a feat for gaining mutations. 1 point can already give you Claw attacks, which is better than Combat Martial Artists. On the other hand, other abilities might seem quite equivalent to a feat, and cost a lot more. I think 3 points is a good point.
Claw attacks can´t be improved as easy as your unarmed attacks, and there is no class that specifically improves them further. (The Martial Artist unarmed damage doesn´t apply to Claw damage, because Claw attacks aren´t unarmed attacks!).

Mustrum_Ridcully said:

Notes:
It is difficult to assign a feat for gaining mutations. 1 point can already give you Claw attacks, which is better than Combat Martial Artists. On the other hand, other abilities might seem quite equivalent to a feat, and cost a lot more. I think 3 points is a good point.
Claw attacks can´t be improved as easy as your unarmed attacks, and there is no class that specifically improves them further. (The Martial Artist unarmed damage doesn´t apply to Claw damage, because Claw attacks aren´t unarmed attacks!).

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IMO you might be better off creating "mutation combos" so you could have one combo that gives natural armor and claws for some pre-requisite, and the more powerful feats would also give you a fixed number of flaw points of your choosing.

Mustrum_Ridcully said:

Notes:
Increasing ability scores is not included in the D20 Future, and there might be a good reason for it. But anyway, I think there should be such a mutation, and it must obviously cost more than Ability Decay can get you. 6 was a good guesstimation (it costs 1.5x then Ability Decay grants you), but maybe it should even be at 8 points.

Click to expand...

Increasing ability scores is covered under Scientific Engineering:More Human Than Human. It requires gene therapy and 10 Fort Saves (DC15) to gain +1 in a score.

I think to 1.5 times the cost of an opposite flaw is a good value.

The Mutant feat should have a type of [Initial]. Again I think that 3 points is a good value.

(Psi)SeveredHead said:

IMO you might be better off creating "mutation combos" so you could have one combo that gives natural armor and claws for some pre-requisite, and the more powerful feats would also give you a fixed number of flaw points of your choosing.

Click to expand...

Sounds like a good idea.