I like the concept of the archetype, but I'm confused about a couple things:
Familiar (Ex): The warlock gains a familiar, using her vigilante level as her effective wizard level. The familiar also has a social identity as a seemingly normal animal, though warlocks with outlandish familiars might still need to hide them.
It seems like they started with a similar setup to the Magical Child, but then stopped. So assuming it isn't the exact same as the Magical Child, how does this work?
When Joe Craftsman spends 10 rounds to turn into The Hooded Hood of Hoodtown, is part of that time spent removing Fluffy's glasses and put on his cape and booties to become Kitty Dangerous, but otherwise he's just a normal cat? Or does he have to spend 10 more rounds to do that? If the vigilante takes a talent that speeds up the switch, would that also speed up his cat's changing time?
Transformation Sequence (Su) (Blood of the Beast pg. 15): The vigilante’s transformation between identities is assisted by magic. This makes it faster than usual, but also more noticeable. The vigilante can complete the switch between his identities in 5 rounds, improving to a standard action if he has the quick change social talent, and to a swift action if he has the immediate change social talent. However, the transformation causes quite a spectacle, involving loud sounds or music, brilliant colorful energies, and swift motions. A vigilante can select this talent only if he is able to cast spells or spell-like abilities (this needn’t be from his vigilante class). A vigilante with the magical child archetype effectively gets this social talent for free at 1st level.
How does this work?
Example 1: So originally, in the Wonder Woman TV Show, the sequence where Diana became Wonder Woman was a slow motion scene of her spinning and swapping out her clothing. This was costly, apparently, so they truncated the changing sequence and hid it with a burst of light and sound. Is that what this is? Basically, the vigilante is changing his clothes, applying his makeup, putting a cute little costume on his kitty, but it's all covered up with a bright light and loud noise so people don't see it?
Example 2: (Marvel's) Captain Marvel (where Rick Jones would bash his negabands together and swap places with Captain Mar-Vell), (DC's) Captain Marvel (where Billy Batson would say Shazam! and become Captain Marvel), and others. Basically, the vigilante starts his sequence and his outfit/style mystically swap places (along with Fluffy becoming Kitty Dangerous)?
In one setup, the vigilante has his outfit under his clothes/in his backpack/whatever, and instead of needing to find a convenient phone booth to maintain his modesty he starts his transformation, a 30 second flash of light appears, obscuring his activities, and he's now in a different identity and has to figure out where to put his unused gear.
In the other setup, he has a specific setup for his vigilante identity and he can swap from his social identity (even if naked and bereft of equipment) into his vigilante identity.
Or is this more of an "ask your GM"-type of question? :D
Or is this more of an "ask your GM"-type of question? :D
I'd think so. While the familiar gets a 'social identity' in addition to its normal one, there are no specifics on how long it takes.
For the player's sake, I'd assume the following: The familiar does its transformation on its own and needs the same time as the vigilante. Once the vigilante becomes faster due to feats, they teach the familiar to also become faster. Given that the small buddy will have a solid Int by then (outsmarting half of the party, probably), it should be ok. Being more restrictive seems like a unnecessary burden for the player.
I think the point is basically that when you're in your social identity, people aren't going to be able to identify you via "wait, that isn't that Streaky the Supercat? What's that heroic feline doing with this everyday unassuming citizen?"
How exactly people are unable to identify you via your cat should be left to the player to explain.
When I originally started working on this character, the cat was more of a companion to the social identity. I just kind of assumed he wouldn't be around the vigilante. That's mainly because the part about the cat's social identity didn't click until later.
Now I'm picturing entering a fight with a cat wearing a costume. Seeing how people are around cats normally ("LOOK, A KITTY!") having Kitty Dangerous (I'm SO tempted to use that name) dressed in a cute costume should come with it's own distraction abilities. Like as he's trying to get his little booties off by randomly shaking his legs... or using his back legs to remove his mask... :D