Merging two heroes to make one

[Carravaggio]

Is it possible to make an attribute where two characters merge together to make one more powerful form? Like Siang from the mortal combat comics, or the meteor master from Capes.
When either character activates the power he and the ally that shares his power disappear and in their place stands a new character with the sum of their abilities.

[Epimethee]

Currently, no, it doesn't exist. Could be done as a "Gestalt" trigger for Accidental Change. Sadly, I just don't have the time currently. But if nobody else tackles it before XMas, please remind me and I'll finally try to do it – it has been dormant on my to do list since a few years... 

[Carravaggio]

Cool, thanks for the reply Epimethee, I'm surprised its possible in any way at all, I just didn't see any aspect of the engine that would allow you to do this. I had an idea for two characters with individual powers that became more powerful when they merged, but I wanted to see if this was even possible before I started skinning them.

[stumpy]

I probably wouldn't be able to work on this anytime soon either, but the "merging" itself might be pretty easy to fake with a simple attribute. It would be straightforward to script an attribute, say CONDITIONAL, where a character disappears as soon as another one, his linked character, disappears. So, say you have A and B who merge into C. Give A the SHAPESHIFTER attribute with the target form as C. Then make B CONDITIONAL on A. That way, when the shapeshift triggers on A, both A and B would disappear and C would show up.

If the merge required other conditions, such as that the two heroes be near each other at the merge or that they both be alive (and not in primary states), then it could be a bit more of a job. Getting some nice FX to play would be a good addition, too.

The code from the elementals mission in the campaign might also be a good place to start, where the blue wraiths and the subterrestrials merge into the red wraiths. I remember rewriting parts of that because it was such a disgusting event sink hog. Of course, there, the merging was not voluntary...

It would be slightly trickier to have the process be reversible if that was part of the concept. If A and B are supposed to come back when C disappears, some care might need to be taken with bookkeeping.

[Epimethee]

Good points Stumpy.

> If A and B are supposed to come back when C disappears, some care might need to be taken with bookkeeping.
My first idea would be to use the Driver code to hide the extra character.

Complete OT: Half-Life 2's (a game I hope to play during the coming holidays) laaarge modding community has created a Python 2.5 extension/replacement to the existing script engine. This seems to be a hit. Too bad the game isn't a tactical RPG set in the Sixties with over-the-top costumed folk. :P   
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