Bay 12 Games Forum

This simple, unadorned ring of ebony has a three very simple, but potent, powers. first, it cannot be destroyed (although it can be hidden), second, the ring prevents any outside mental influence on the wearer, including from deities, third, the wearer, as long as they are not an avatar of a deity, and are self aware, becomes aware of the currently active Petition, and may vote on Petitions with the same level of voice as a deity.

It is noteworthy that this ring does not grant the awareness of the universe that a deity has, nor any of the other ancillary powers deities have, including the ability to start Petitions, and awareness of the Petitions in the queue. it simply gives the ability to vote on whatever the current Petition is.

Has three forms, one of a local animal (human?), one of another animal (does not have to be local), one a hybrid of the two.

physically is a mildly above-average instance of its current species in each of its forms. mentally it is moderately above-average for the species of the most intelligent of the forms.

the avatar always appears as the same creature each time it changes to a particular form. it can be recognized just like any other being and cannot use this shapechanging ability to appear as someone else. (although a disguise could work, just like it would for anyone else)

transitions between forms takes two seconds to perform, and distract the avatar from doing anything else during the transition.

transitions must have at least 60 seconds between changes.

transitions do not require transitioning through the hybrid form, can go between each of the forms directly.

excess matter from a transition to a smaller form is dissipated as the element the avatar is associated with (by volume), changing into a bigger form requires an amount (by volume) of the element associated with the avatar roughly equal to the gain in size.

damage taken in one form stays with the avatar upon changing forms unless the body part damaged has no equivalent in the new form.

damage to a body part that has no equivalent in the new form does not heal while in that form, and will remain when changing back into a form that has such an equivalent.

ages at the rate of the slowest aging of its forms.

if its current form is incapable of speech, is capable to speaking directly to another creature's mind if within 10 ft. this communication is words only, and is 1-way. the creature spoken too has to reply through normal means.

requires the same basic needs as another instance of its current species, changes in form retain its current state of sustanance proportionally. (starving in one form is starving in another, but a small form doesn't need to eat as much, and changing to a big form from a small one doesn't automatically make it starving.)

is able to manipulate one of the classical elements (water, fire, earth, air) or a common derivative of them (ice, lightning, wood, etc) within 500ft of the avatar's current position.

can only generate a 1-foot sphere of the element, and can only do that up to 5 times within any 24-hour period.

cannot make the element cease to exist, can however reposition it such that it will logically cease to exist when it is no longer being manipulated. (if associated with fire, can put out a burning building by moving the fire into the sky where it has no fuel and then releasing control of it, but cannot put the fire out directly.)

cannot manipulate microscopic amounts of the element (if water, water vapor in the air doesn't count).

cannot manipulate instances of the element within the body of a living creature (if water, water in blood doesn't count, neither do electrical signals in the brain if lightning associated, etc).

does not have a maximum limit on the amount of the element manipulated, but stops being able to manipulate any instances of the element that leave the 500ft radius of the avatar.

cannot be directly harmed by the element, but can be harmed indirectly. (if associated with fire, the fire wont burn the avatar, but the avatar could still be suffocated if the fire consumes all the oxygen in the area.)

the avatar is not omniscient, and does not have access to all the information we do.

upon spawning or respawning, the avatar does know:
     its own identity and abilities, in full detail.
     the functionality of physics, time, chemistry, the petition system, the physical properties of creatures, locations of planets, the appearance of other avatars, etc. at the level of an expert on the subject
     where it is, and everything around it within a 1 mile radius, at the level of a local.
however the above list of information is not updated as changes occur.

the avatar is innately aware of any time it is referred to by name, and the vague circumstances under which it is being spoken of, within a 200 mile radius. it can hear the conversation itself if it is within 10 miles. it must be actually spoken of for this to trigger, if the avatar is named "and" it will not know every time people say "and" in normal conversation, only when "and" is being used to refer to the avatar. the name of the avatar is fixed upon spawning or respawning, and changing its name or using a different one as its name does not count for the purposes of this ability. Deities (because they can be anywhere they want) can choose to be inside these radii or not at any given time. (i will assume you are not normally, but are if you start talking to the avatar directly, and are whichever you want if you state a position specifically)

other than the above, the avatar is limited to the information it acquires over the course of its actions.

the avatar can be affected by mind-affecting effects similarly to other creatures of its current form. (meaning it can be mind-controlled by the mind-control-sword Kansa wants).

the avatar can be killed just like any other creature, does not require special weapons or other such things (yes, this means it can get sick too, or starve to death, or whatever).

when the avatar is killed, it respawns 24 hours later at a minimum of 50 miles away from where it died last, as an adolescent, and in its hybrid form.

upon death, the avatar is effectively reset. it loses all memories, mind-control effects, physical changes, etc. nothing carries over, it simply spawns a new avatar using the same spawn rules.

it is asleep for the first hour after spawning or respawning, no matter what occurs to it during this hour (the time is used to handle the massive data dump it gets upon spawning).

upon respawning the avatar's forms (and their appearances), element, and name, are all re-chosen, and can be the same or different.