A Crow Story; Power Mechanics Request // Shot in the Dark

So this is the first time we've ever mechanized anything for someone so I'll do my best to present behind the curtain. I had some chats with The Flock over discord as well. I wouldn't necessarily do this each time, but here's a buncha ways to implement this technique. P.s. the flavour is fine.

First to quickly define a typical minion, since this is going to become a shared term:

Minion - A minion is a combatant often controlled by a master and function otherwise exactly as a normal combatant except their action each turn is decided by their master. They have reiatsu, and thus stats determined when they are created through some method defined by their creation. They do not have skills but simply have an Attack and a Defense rating that is used in the related calculations. Minions sometimes have a reduced wound pool, ie they might be defeated when they sustain a moderate wound or greater as opposed to a serious wound typical of other combatants this will be noted in the body of the technique.

Flock of Crows - Standard - (3/2) Stamina - Minion - This technique creates minions of the Flock. This can be used multiple times in a single action and at Journeyman may begin the battle with it having been freely used. These minions are creatures with half of the Flock's reiatsu (rounded down) in a template that should be kept up to date as the Flock itself levels. Their attack and defense levels are defined by a split in the Flock's Hollow Evolution ranks. E.G. Journeyman is the 4th rank, so, the Flock minion could attack at Apprentice and defend at Basic if the Flock had Journeyman or any other division of the number of ranks.

So the idea here is that you can fight as this huge swarm of, obviously quite weak minions. These minions would not be much of a threat to an equivalent opponent, likely to be unable to even harm them though I will probably add some kind of 'defending against multiple attackers' penalty these are still much more suited to functioning as annoyance swarms. The reason they are weak is that they are easy to make a lot of and the Flock can still act after summoning them. Higher stamina cost, and especially the loss of the Flock's action to direct one of the swarm can be considered to make them beefier. The cost is 3 at Basic, 2 at Journeyman.

On that note, let's explore what a chonky minion cast might look like.

Flock of Crows - Standard - (6/5/4) Stamina - Minion - This technique creates minions of the Flock. Each cast takes an action to create a single Minion. The minion has the Flock's Reiatsu-30 placed into a template that should be kept up to date as the Flock itself levels. The attack and defence levels are one level below the Flock's Hollow Evolution skill. e.g, if the Flock is Journeyman, they are both Apprentice. This technique can be used to create two minions, at Reiatsu-60 instead when Hollow Evolution reaches Journeyman. Using this technique a second time replaces any existing Minion's generated by previous use of the technique.

Chonkier, a threat to an enemy especially one a bit weaker than the flock. You could tweak the Attack/Defense ratings up one and down another but it would need to be set there. The kind of minion you might be able to ignore but it could get a hit or two in especially in less evasive enemies if it is ignored.

Let's explore another approach to Minion's!

Flock of Crows - Standard - (10/8/6) Stamina - Minion - This technique creates minions of the Flock. Each cast takes an action to create a single Minion. The minion is created at Reiatsu-90 placed into a Template that should be kept up to date as the Flock itself levels. This minion has no attack rating and its defence rating is equivalent to the Flock's Hollow Evolution - 1. As it has no attack rating this Minion cannot attack, instead, it delivers a guaranteed Menial wound to one person in the battle each round. Using this technique a second time replaces any existing Minion's generated by previous use of the technique.

This is meant more to be a template of a minion that has itself, a technique that it can utilize to harass opponents. I would probably make this some kind of check verse the Flock to inflict the wound but I like it as is. The reiatsu penalty makes it easy to kill even if you focus all their points into Durability and Speed but you can also come up with ways to protect it or use the time they take to kill it as an opportunity.

And what about something a little? more nuanced!

Flock of Crows - Standard - (6/5/4) Stamina - Minion - This technique creates minions of the Flock. Each cast takes an action to create a single Minion. The minion is created at Reiatsu-90 placed into a Template that should be kept up to date as the Flock itself levels. This minion has no attack rating and its defence rating is equivalent to the Flock's Hollow Evolution - 1. As it has no attack rating this Minion cannot attack, instead, while it is on the field you may designate one opponent (and switch once per turn) who receives -1 to their defensive actions. Using this technique a second time replaces any existing Minion's generated by previous use of the technique.

A summon whose presence harasses and makes life a bit more difficult for a person. It can probably attack, I might not need the -90 there but it's a potent status effect. Could be that you pay to cause that effect while this minion is active and it could be quite a bit stronger.

All of these can be tweaked or altered, they serve as examples of what could be, not a binary four. Posted here to help provide a demonstration of all the neat shapes people's powers can take. Let me know if any of these rough ideas piqued your interest or what else you'd like to see.

Sorry my response took so long, but I was off and away in the wide world.

As I’ve mused over your ideas (struggled to understand the mechanical implications of said ideas) and reflected on the shape of the Flock in the future, I’ve started to get a different idea of the power I want for them. I want to pull back to something simpler and something that can grow with them as the future unfolds.

How would a technique designed to change/shift forms take shape? Basically, it would allow them to designate and split their reiatsu between the two forms (their current evolution and the Flock of birds) at the start of each thread. I can see potential with future techniques enhancing the Flock itself and building off of this first power. What say you?

To be clear, are you looking to have two like, spreads of your reiatsu that you can swap between?

That depends on what you mean by spreads. I'm hoping for something more flexible than a hard on/off switch between "you are gillian" or "you are Flock". The Flock would end up being some kind of 'minion' like you stated before, but ultimately it would be a different form that the character is taking, not a separate entity. Like Dracula's ability to turn into a swarm of bats with some flexibility on how much of themselves (their reiatsu) they're giving over to the swarm itself. This way it is a minion, but also themselves.

Moving on to another direction pending some discord clarity, names are super-duper place holders.

The Core and the Flock - Standard - 0 Stamina - Innate - The Flock is two parts, the forms of Crow it controls and the central consciousness which controls it. This technique is innately active and allows to user to exist as two distinct entities. Its focus is divided, and each turn of combat one of the two forms must take -1 to all of its checks both in offense and defence.

Simple and straight forward, if it's too strong, -1 to both might be the way to go, and then you could shift where one gets -2 for the other to have -1 but we'll cross that bridge when we get there.

The Core and the Flock - Standard - 0 Stamina - Innate - The Flock is two parts, the forms of Crow it controls and the central consciousness which controls it. This technique is innately active and allows to user to exist as two distinct entities. Its power is divided, and each form is at -30 Reiatsu, meaning both the stats and cap must be reduced for the Core and the Flock.

This allows you to have both forms be equal but swapping would be awkward by having it function off of reiatsu. Do either of these seem closer to what you want?

They both are much closer to what I was imagining. For clarity, if the Flock was using the second one at their current reiatsu of 150, they would be at 120 reiatsu when it was active?