Pentaform

Alert

Type

Power to Transmogrify

Has Five Life Stages

Setup: Manifest five random alien powers and display them in your nexus from left to right in any order as “life stages”. Place your mark on the leftmost life stage. The life stage with your mark becomes your sub-power.

Whenever you gain dominion, use this power to advance to the next life stage.

Whenever you lose dominion, use this power to regress to the previous life stage.

Legacy: When an alien gains dominion, they scramble their power.

Seemingly violating all known understanding of genetics, the Pentaform’s biology is determined at birth based not on the DNA of its parents but rather the DNA of five unique organisms that permeates the egg during gestation. Since they started storing their eggs at Federation HQ, no two members of their species have ever looked the same.

Any: Any

Mandatory

Wild Flare

At any time, you may discharge this flare to manifest two random alien powers. Transform your power into one of those powers. Burnout.

Any: Any

Super Flare

During any warpfall, you may discharge this flare to swap the positions of any two life stages without changing the position of your mark.

Any: Warpfall

Modifications

Originally the power to “evolve”. Swapped with Lizard.
Original Wild Pentaform manifests flares to determine the power. My version chooses from the powers directly, since the flares do not enter the forge afterwards. No meaningful distinction.
Pentaform’s legacy results in every alien changing their power after gaining dominion, requiring them to adapt to their new power to gain each new foreign base. Any alien can be punished or rewarded by this legacy depending on how attached they are to their power. It’s an interesting legacy in the same match as Reincarnator’s legacy, since invaders and forewards always scramble their power, unless they agree to a deal that doesn’t result in a peaceful victory. as Original Cosmic has no legacies.

Tips

Pentaform wants to make the most of each of its life stages before moving to the next. Powers that stack up value like Warrior or Sapient are less useful since they likely won’t stick around for long.
Some life stages are better toward the end of the match than the start, such as Warpish and Virus. They can be used to give Pentaform a final push over the finish line, instead of simply a free first base. Order your life stages thoughtfully.
Everyone can see all of Pentaform’s life stages. Prepare in advance for what is coming before sponsoring Pentaform too freely.
As with Reincarnator and Chrysalis, Pentaform has its own tier list when it comes to powers that it values. Pentaform can get more use out of loss-based powers than Reincarnator can, since it can use them more than once. Contrarily, it may get less value from win-based powers, since it can only use them once as invader or foreward.
Pentaform does not do well with any long-term setup powers since it can only ever get one base from them. It does much better with powers it can simply use and dispose, almost like a consumable resource. Aliens like Leviathan, Ace, and Anti-Matter come to mind, which can be really useful in the moment without locking the user into one specific strategy.
If Pentaform is ever zapped, its final life stage will be essentially locked out, unless they get zapped again after losing dominion. Consider this fact when deciding if zapping Pentaform is worth the pod.

Development Notes

Pentaform is an excellent example case of how not all meta powers that gain new powers are created equally. Reincarnator and Chrysalis are the two primary points of comparison to this one, and it easy to see the differences. Reincarnator wants to find a strong power and then keep it, only changing it if either forced to change it or if the current one isn’t working out. Chrysalis chooses one specific power from a set amount and starts as the super version of the power once enough time passes. Pentaform switches willingly between five different “life stages”, changing each time it advances forward in the match. While Reincarnator can theoretically go an entire match with its starting power, Pentaform is intentionally designed to switch. It only keeps its current power if it gets zapped, which it cannot do itself but might be done by another alien to stop them from getting a particularly strong power.
If Reincarnator gets a power like Virus, it can use it to potentially gain all of its foreign bases. Pentaform is locked into getting one base with it max. It cannot be as dependent on one given power as Reincarnator can and instead has to take all of its life stages into consideration.
Suppose Pentaform was given Clone, Siren, Horde, Specter, and Lightning as its life stages. If it had a strong opening cache, Clone would be a good first choice. Otherwise, Specter could be put to good use to help with a resupply. After winning an encounter with Clone and cloning the winning pod, they can switch into Siren to pull the next invader to them for another win. Horde might be useful as a final stage to help offset lost ships, so Lightning could be used as the “oddball” 4th cycle since it doesn’t fit anywhere else. Such considerations should be made when deciding the life stage order, as it can have a huge impact on the outcome of the match.
A “pentaform” is not a term you can find in the dictionary. It simply combines the prefix “penta” with “form”, meaning a creature with five forms. The ability to “transmogrify” is borrowed from Lizard, but I find it works better with this alien. It refers to a creature transforming in a surprising or magical way, taking on an entirely new form. I imagine every Pentaform looks different from one another in-universe, based on the powers they receive. I designed the artwork based around combining five alien designs into one, plus the “egg” base that it hatches from.
One could argue that the Pentaform should take the form of the alien it transforms into instead of being a chimera-like beast, but I wanted to provide a clearer image of how other aliens would know Pentaform’s life stages in advance. Perhaps it doesn’t make sense that the creature literally transforms clothing or props, but it could always obtain those on its own separate from the power. I think it makes sense if the Pentaform’s head always matches its current life stage, with the rest of its body shuffling its features between its other life stages. Or perhaps it assumes this chimera-like form while it is in the process of transmogrifying.
If one of Pentaform’s powers is Reincarnator, Pentaform’s main power will be replaced by what it reincarnates into after losing. According to my Setup Exceptions, if Pentaform never loses as Reincarnator, it will advance to the next life cycle without disruption.