The AEvV Silkies have a number of forms, and it is arguable what their base one is.
They have a human form, the only power this might have being a restricted form of telepathy. Rather vulnerable.
They have an purely aquatic merman form, that can chuck around big electrical discharges, and maybe has some other tricks. Somewhat tougher.
The kicker is their space form, which can handle hard vacuum, fly in space (and atmosphere), has all sorts of strange senses and some energy attacks.
It is never completely clear where their shapeshifting comes from, though it is implied it was engineered, starting from the space form.
The hero of the story runs into shapeshifting aliens, god like beings with the power of a sun, and beings who can completely mess up reality. As he meets these he bootstraps himself up, learning new shapes and tricks, and going seriously cosmic by the story's end.
I recommend this and a number of other A.E.van Vogt books if you are an SF fan, as even ignoring the philosophical sub texts they can be a really good read.
I am not too clear how you would engineer a shapeshifting power that gave you all the powers that the form implied, and enabled you to aquire further forms, without a massive increase in the rate that GURPS experience points are handed out.
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind
They have a human form, the only power this might have being a restricted form of telepathy. Rather vulnerable.
They have an purely aquatic merman form, that can chuck around big electrical discharges, and maybe has some other tricks. Somewhat tougher.
The kicker is their space form, which can handle hard vacuum, fly in space (and atmosphere), has all sorts of strange senses and some energy attacks.
It is never completely clear where their shapeshifting comes from, though it is implied it was engineered, starting from the space form.
The hero of the story runs into shapeshifting aliens, god like beings with the power of a sun, and beings who can completely mess up reality. As he meets these he bootstraps himself up, learning new shapes and tricks, and going seriously cosmic by the story's end.
I recommend this and a number of other A.E.van Vogt books if you are an SF fan, as even ignoring the philosophical sub texts they can be a really good read.
I am not too clear how you would engineer a shapeshifting power that gave you all the powers that the form implied, and enabled you to aquire further forms, without a massive increase in the rate that GURPS experience points are handed out.
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind