Sheet talk:Amanda Faust

PITCH: Puella Magic (Job 904)

This adds additional text under the "Puella Magic" heading on Amy's sheet to cover unwritten-but-assumed powers of regeneration and turning off pain.

Regeneration: Puella Magi can expend magic to make their body conform to how they see themselves. Most frequently, this is used to undo physical trauma. Small cuts and jabs and scrapes such as one accrues in day-to-day life can be repaired for negligible magic cost. Wounds of the sort that a typical mahou takes in combat and fights through without issue or with minor issue require more magic, on the order of that used for a finisher (a fraction thereof for lesser wounds.) Wounds that would incapacitate or maim other mahou can be repaired for more, perhaps considerably more. The hypothetical limit for a full soul gem is somewhere in the neighborhood of 'cartoonishly massive hole through your chest and some otherwise-survivable wounds.'

Puppet Mode: (This is what Amy thinks of it as, AKA Zombie Mode, turning off pain) This is actually two functions that manipulate the connection between Soul Gem and body.

• Puella Magi normally have a reduced sensation of pain while transformed, allowing them to grit their teeth and bear wounds that would incapacitate anyone else. Amy is particularly talented at enhancing this, able to temporarily degrade the connection such that the sensation of physical pain no longer reaches her; but this also results in a reduced sense of touch and a fraction-of-a-second delay in her actions, which is easy to get used to but causes issues similar to dealing with lag in a videogame.
  
• While transformed, Amy can use magic to keep her meat body operating outside of normal biological constraints; This, together with pain deadening, allows her to fight on through mortal injuries for a time, even if she doesn't have the magic to fully regenerate; as long as she gets a grief seed in time, she'll survive. These also make choosing to regenerate even possible when dealing with wounds that would otherwise quickly incapacitate.
  
  • While this latter effect is magic and not strictly limited by physics, most of the time (blood loss, choking, damage to heart/lungs) this boils down to making tissues function as if still oxygenated even if they're not. This is a continuous drain on magic, but usually not enough to matter in combat time; they can probably survive in such a state for hours seeking a healer or medical aid, maybe days or longer if they rest and wait and do nothing or there's minimal physical damage. "Survive without" other things like food and water could go for a much longer timescale.
    
  • This includes very limited ability to move body parts that can't move. It might be possible to force a single limb to move despite muscle damage, or to speak with damaged lungs, but the flesh does need to be mostly intact. Absolutely no being an animated skeleton.

PITCH: Drones (Job 908)

Since learning about soul gems and that Kyubey was using disposable drone bodies, Amy's wondered if there was a way for a Puella Magi to do the same thing, but was stumped by the question of how to make another body that her soul gem could connect to instead of her body. Willing to connect to a doll or the like didn't work. Meanwhile, she conjured and fired missile launchers in midair, and guided missiles with magic...

All this time, she assumed that Cute Magic consisted of only summoning clothes, not recognizing that if appearance maintenance and the ability to cute-ify her attacks and Calaveras's ghosts clearly were not 'summoning clothes', then there might be other functions.

Turns out that if she conjures something like a plush or a doll and then tries to control it with magic, that works just fine. Not by redirecting her soul gem's connection -- there's no brain for it to connect to! -- but as part of her ability to manipulate things that she conjures.

Some experimentation with trying to conjure other things leads to finding there's at least one category of stuff she can conjure she didn't realize before. Or, she conjures one as a costume accessory and experiments from there.

OOCly, the impetus for this is that I've always thought drone-use powers would be a neat expansion but couldn't figure out how to magically justify it and when someone suggested this, it's like... light bulb! There's some other ideas percolating in my brain, but this idea is pretty complete so I'm throwing it out there.

Narratively, this:

• hearkens back to when Amy initially found out Kyubey had multiple bodies and assumed that was a trick with soul gems, and to Taro asking if it was possible for her soul gem to control a doll or something.
• reinforces the otherwise seldom-seen quirk of Amy being just fine with (remotely) inhabiting bodies most would probably find at least a little unnerving
• expands on her overall theme of being someone who uses tech-and-scifi-inspired solutions by adding drones to her kit, but putting a wacky puella magi twist on them. Having a drone:
  • helps Amy make use of her weapons' capacity for indirect fire
  • is useful for scouting in the rare cases that's needed
  • is occasionally useful to deliver a message to someone who's not presently in contact otherwise, or to deliver a small package
• is evocative of one of her Witch's signature abilities (jumping to backup bodies)
• allows for a scene where one day while Amy's practicing with the power an Amydrone gets caught up in mascot shenanigans
• should NOT encroach on the narrative space of other summoners (outside of the above specific uses), nor on the crafting skills of anyone who actually makes such toys

If they can be used for this purpose, then the much simpler function of just using them to cushion impacts seems reasonable to throw in that also synergizes with a powerset that can lead to moving around at high speed.

The (plot-locked) option to make a drone last is intended to allow someone so inclined (Taro?) to have a communications doll if they want.
Sheet text: a new subheading under Cute Magic:

Cute Conjurations

Besides clothing and accessories, Cute Magic can summon plush toys!
Summoned plushies are usually fairly generic. Amanda can aim for a specific creature, color, and some design aspects (ie paws vs stubs, countershading or not, button vs glass bead vs felt eyes), but can't control every fine detail to make a perfectly custom-designed plush toy. (Plushes summoned as cosplay accessories are separate from this.)
For utility, a comically large plush toy, or a pile of smaller ones, can be conjured to cushion impacts.
Combined with Rocket Magic, they can be explosive; they have no special properties as explosives save the innocuous appearance.
(Plot-locked) If Amy ever figures out how to summon her Familiars, they can be covered in costumes that make them look like human-sized plushies summoned to fight for her.

Toy Drones

The Magical Rocket Girl Red can conjure drones with a Cute Magic twist!
Usually these are small -- under 2' or so -- for scouting purposes, but an Amy-size drone can be situationally useful as a decoy when an enemy can't see it clearly.
They can be conjured in one of a few forms, but always take on her color scheme:

• Plush toy, as above
• Any plushie/doll Amy's actually had for awhile
• Any plushie/doll or toy Amy's actually been, which has, incredibly, come up more than once
• A Chara-scale chibi plushie or figurine, because how Cute is that
• A Kyubey plushie, distinguishable from the real one by being made of plush rather than fur or marshmallow or whatever he's got going on there and the colors being slightly off (slightly redder eyes, slightly orange-er markings, ear-rings are never the right color)
• (Plot-locked for now) Some kind of 'human-size human-shaped but also kind of a toy' form to be figured out later. Maybe it looks like a life-size mecha musume or something?

Offensively, these can explode, and some forms can carry weapons sized for them, but they are not magically tougher than what they appear to be made of and are easily destroyed.
Amy controls the drone as if it's her body, it has to be within 100m and can only control one at a time, but this isn't actually changing her soul gem's connection; Her body is unresponsive instead of dead while she's focused on a drone, and she can independently fade senses between them, IE overlaying drone-vision over her own 50/50, although this can be disorienting in some situations; it's probably preferable to at least partially keep her body's senses of hearing and touch in most situations so she can notice anyone trying to get her attention.
Trying to move both bodies at once is disorienting, but some limited or simple movements may be possible with a lot of focus, ie, "walking in a straight line".
She has a magical sense of where each body and the things each sees are in relation to the other, useful for targeting attacks.
A drone can be conjured and puppeted out of henshin, but without Rocket Magic there's no way to make it fly or explode, and she lacks the magically precise distance/direction sense.
(Plot-Locked) Maybe it's possible in some special circumstance for her to keep operating a drone in range of her soul gem even if her body isn't, but it doesn't normally work that way.
(Plot-Locked) There's some way to make a drone last permanently, or enchant a specific doll/etc to function as such, and extend its range somewhat.

PITCH: Witch Magic (Job 905)

This is to change the "Hypothetical" entry to a mix of apped and locked powers. Apped powers she can learn to use; In this case, the intent of the locked powers is mostly so that they can be hinted at, or confirmed as used in another timeline, or used if a plot that temporarily explores what-ifs and resets the consequences after (IE, a timeloop) comes up.

Witch Magic

Perhaps because of Amy's knowledge of her own Witch, leaning into feelings associated with her Witch can result in drawing on its powers and, if strong enough, a temporary shift in appearance based on either or both aspects. The magic expenditure from her soul gem is less than non-Witch effects of similar power, but as long as she's in such a mental state, some of the magic spent on Witch effects can't be recovered, and she can more easily slide further into despair, which can eventually lead to Witching.
(Plot-Locked for now) Self-acceptance, growing past the fears and anxieties involved, and finding more positive associations for these forms may allow her to draw on them and their abilities without pushing herself towards despair.
Note: At time of apping this, she suspects she can do some of these things but doesn't know how to use them.

Robot Mode

The feelings that she is lesser in some way, "missing" something humans are supposed to have and so is broken or malfunctioning, or that because she can't fit in the most she can do is to fight to preserve others' way of life that she can never be part of: These push Amanda towards the robot side of her Witch.
Appearance: Amy's head on an obviously inhuman metal body with a fist-size soul gem recessed inside the chest. Further along, the body sprouts weapons, the hands become huge claws with knifelike fingers, the face's skin becomes more plastic, and the body grows in size to an 8-9' tall war machine.
All Those Wonderful Toys: Robot Amy's weapons can take the form of pretty much any technological or futuristic sci-fi weapon. Primarily aesthetic, but in some situations miniguns/railguns/energy weapons could work better than explosives.
Redundant Vital Systems: Regeneration is inverted in this form; Instead of regenerating, she can absorb damage directly to her magic for less than it would cost to regenerate the injury it would have caused to her human body. This, combined with the more efficient use of Witch magic, is the only effect making robot mode tougher to damage than a normal henshin.

• (Plot-Locked) It is theoretically possible for robot mode to keep functioning after taking so much un-absorbed damage that her soul gem could no longer sustain her body if she changed back. If something was able to do that much damage to her then it can almost certainly finish her off, though.

Expendable: (Plot-Locked) As long as she has a functioning drone body within 100m, she can make that her new primary body; her soul gem teleports to and incorporates itself into it. This can escape attacks that would otherwise destroy her. If the original hasn't been destroyed she can return to it.
???: (Plot-Locked for now) If Amy can find a way to not feel dehumanized using this form and replace it with a positive association instead, it might become safer and easier to use. Might take the form of a mini-mech summoned around her.

Demon Mode

The feelings of being othered, of seen as different and weird, and worse, that her differences will be ascribed to malice and evil intent; That if she has a place it is as an outsider walking among them; If people will see her as strange and monstrous anyway then maybe she should go ahead and be a monster: These push Amanda towards the demon side of her Witch.
Appearance: Bat wings, little horns and spaded tail. Further along, slitted pupils and her hands and feet becoming monstrous claws. Skimpy black 'evil outfit' optional.
Flight: Wings mean flight! Even if not actually flapping them. Doesn't even cost extra magic. Limited to about running-speed horizontally, with slower ascent and faster descent.
Energy Drain: A signature weapon of monsters that prey upon humanity. Seriously harming someone with this is (Plot-Locked), but there may be other situational uses.
Energy Gun: Even if not also tapping into the Robot side of her witch, Demon Mode can summon beam guns.
Witch's Kiss: Placed by touch, eye contact, or by blowing a kiss, this is somewhat more helpful than the full Witch version. Anyone with magic can easily ignore it. Sub-effects are independently toggled at will. She can dismiss it at will, or it wears off in a few moments after the subject is no longer aware of her presence, or a few minutes after if she willed it to last (ie, calming civilians and telling them to stay somewhere)

• Can stop people from realizing what is happening is impossible, much like how you don't question things in a dream
• Can put people in a calming and mildly pleasant stupor
• Can draw people's attention to her; If they don't know who she is, they're as positively disposed towards her as they possibly can be to a woman they don't know.

Witch's Curse: (Plot-Locked) All the Witch powers that Amanda feels are terrible to do to someone unwilling. There may be situational uses for good; Regardless, making any of the effects permanent requires that she view it as a curse with the intent for the target(s) to suffer as a result; Miracle-level help is required to use a permanent effect for the targets' benefit. Can be activated by touch, or at range (She must either have some sort of magical connection to the target(s), or be able to clearly see them, and focus on them for a moment to curse them at range.) As this is a plot-locked ability, the specifics of its results in any particular instance are left to plot. For the most part, it's assumed that really digging into this only happens in some evil timeline or the like, but the extent is noted anyway.

• Genderswap Curse: Runs on anime logic as per the side effect of her Witch Barrier; clothing changing with the body is optional.
• Bodyswap Curse: Does what it says on the tin. She doesn't have to be a swappee.
  • Advanced paths: Animal target, inanimate target (doll/plush/robot/etc), possess target (her body is comatose or merged/inaccessible), access current body's memories

Princess of Freedom: (Plot-Locked for now) One possible reinterpretation of this form emphasizes the themes of freedom from control and rejection of predetermined purpose. Besides making the form safer to use, this might come with some ability to help others resist or break magical control of their body or mind; given that such is usually happening as part of a plot in the first place, though, breaking it also needs to be plot-planned.

Thoughts: Potential new powers

Some current ideas:

• That thing with the shield that can absorb energy and release it as fireworks, if I can make it feel like it fits into the themes
• Cute self-transformation? 'Puppy dog eyes' effect on opponents that works on?
• Cute other-transformation? Briefly turn enemies into a doll or something?