Transmutation Resistance vs Types of Transmutation

[DeathNoodles]

Say, there was a character. That character possesses a type of disease that essentially allows them to achieve Matter Manipulation (Molecular level) and Transmutation through the said disease infecting their targets and then changing them. The disease allows the character to be capable of performing feats such as:

• Transforming living beings infected by the disease into mutated creatures with a variety of different growths and deformities.
• Being able to infect inanimate objects right down to their structures with the disease, thus performing feats such as strengthening their integrity to allow the objects to withstand greater force than they are normally able to or being able to convert parts of those objects into dried rubble upon the character if they wanted to upon touching the objects.
• Being able to infect water, and produce large organisms twice or thrice the size of an ordinary human through nothing but the water they have infected, essentially converting the water into these organisms.
• Being able to convert clothing, including combat body armour, into organic materials.
• Being able to convert organic materials into metal-like materials that could be used as weapons.
• Being able to manipulate all traces of their targets at the molecular scale once the disease infects them.
• Etc.

Say, if there was an another type of disease that was created based on the same disease as its source of origin (thus, scaling to the same disease in terms of the feats mentioned above) and then it infected that same character (which wrecked havoc on their body), and that character later developed resistance to it, they could logically resist Matter Manipulation and Transmutation.

However, does that character's resistance to Transmutation apply to Transmutation abilities of different nature than their own (E.g. That character being able to resist being transmuted by characters who can transmute their targets into inanimate objects through non-scientific means such as Magic or even unknown means)? Or would their resistance to that type of Transmutation not be applicable as the type of transmutation they've resisted is not the same nature as what they have resisted (Resisting a disease that can manipulate matter and transmute their targets vs abilities that can transmute their targets into inanimate objects or even transmute them into pure data through non-scientific or unknown methods)?

I'm wondering on how far Verse Equalisation can extend to abilities such as this, if it does apply.

The types of Transmutation I'm talking about are ones that doesn't have any explicit precision/level on how they transmute the form of their targets into something else (So they can turn their targets into stone, turn their targets into an apple, etc. But it is never explicitly stated that the scale they did so is either molecular, atomic, subatomic etc.), as most fictional series tends to not give any explicit scale on characters altering the form of their targets into something different.

 

[DeathNoodles]

Bump

 

[Antoniofer]

It seems like the character generate a disease that turns inorganic matter into organic matter, meanwhile organic beings suffer from mutation, right? That would be Disease Generation that cause Organic Transmutation and Mutation Inducement.

As for the resistence, it works what those resist: the cause or the effect.

 

[Oliver_de_jesus]

I feel you took out the initial context of prototype


The above, even if everything goes
ex: it could be that the virus evolves in a way that initially did not affect it but gradually it will affect it basically also depends on the context.

 

[DeathNoodles]

It seems like the character generate a disease that turns inorganic matter into organic matter, meanwhile organic beings suffer from mutation, right? That would be Disease Generation that cause Organic Transmutation and Mutation Inducement.

As for the resistence, it works what those resist: the cause or the effect.

The disease gives the character the ability to also convert organic matter into inorganic matter as well (hence the example of organic materials into inorganic ones such as metal-like shapes used as weapons), so it's not actually just inorganic into organic transmutation as it can also apply for vice versa. It can also likely cause changes on its living targets at the molecular scale as well.

However, for this resistance, what matters more? The cause or the effect?

Because I've seen some suggesting when Character A has Reality Warping used to cause Existence Erasure, but Character B has resistance to Existence Erasure but no particular resistance to Reality Warping, Character B would end up resisting Character A's Existence Erasure anyways as they have resisted the same effect even if the cause is different (but would not resist Reality Warping used for any other methods outside of Existence Erasure as Reality Warping tends to be too broad of an ability due to its amount of potential applications). Yet, I've also seen some suggesting that the cause of the ability can also matter, which contradicts the aforementioned logic.

So, which would matter more for abilities like Transmutation? The cause or the effect?

And how far does Verse Equalisation extend to abilities like this? Does it equalise the mechanics of Transmutation abilities to the point of allowing resistance to the effect of the abilities with the cause being irrelevant, or it does not?

 

[DeathNoodles]

I feel you took out the initial context of prototype

Prototype doesn't have characters with resistance to Matter Manipulation or Transmutation on their profiles if that's what you're talking about.

 

[Oliver_de_jesus]

It is because of the disease issue and as described it reminds me of the blacklight virus

 

[Antoniofer]

Welp, then Disease Manipulation + Transmutation + Mutation Inducement. But if any, of what character are you talking about? I also though it was from Prototype.

Resistence to cause would be like, resist powers of magical nature, so doesn't matter if the character hasn't show any resistence against transmutation or banishment for example, if those powers are performed by magic, then the character can resist them. Resistence to effect in however a little more difficult to prove, is like having a psychic shield or an immutable body, regardless of the nature of the power, their effects can be resisted.

 

[DeathNoodles]

It's actually a hypothetical character with hypothetical matter-altering abilities that can cause transmutation through a disease in this hypothetical scenario, which I've thought up to help determine the mechanics of abilities like these and resistances to it (which could help me make any future potential CRTs one day). To be fair, I did take a lot of inspiration from Prototype while having the hypothetical character possessing similar feats to the viruses in that verse, so it could be why you can see a lot similarities to it.

So, either the cause or the effect can matter for the resistance (but it doesn't have to require both), and for the effect in this case, the effect of the transmutation gets resisted regardless of the nature of the power as the effect is still Transmutation in the end?

 

[Antoniofer]

In the most vague cases, yes, resistence to transmutation is resistent to that regardless of the nature of the power.

 

[XSOULOFCINDERX]

You know he's talking about Alex Mercer right?

 

[DeathNoodles]

You know he's talking about Alex Mercer right?

Shush you.

 

[XSOULOFCINDERX]

XD

 

[DeathNoodles]

In the most vague cases, yes, resistence to transmutation is resistent to that regardless of the nature of the power.

That's nice to know. I guess it looks like resistance comes down to either the cause or the effect (and it looks like it isn't needed to require the both as just one of the two is needed to resist the ability mentioned). That answers my questions at least.

 

[XSOULOFCINDERX]

So...

Now what?

 

[Antoniofer]

Naturally, it wouldn't apply if someone resists physical transmutation (body) it wouldn't automatically resists esoteric transmutation (soul); resistence/immunity to cause are generally the more difficult to prove, although generally common in ttrpg.

 

[DeathNoodles]

Naturally, it wouldn't apply if someone resists physical transmutation (body) it wouldn't automatically resists esoteric transmutation (soul); resistence/immunity to cause are generally the more difficult to prove, although generally common in ttrpg.

Ah, okay. But if the mechanics are all about physical transmutation but through weird mechanics of doing so (E.g. Transmuting the target's body into pure data, which probably doesn't have molecules or atoms), it's still physical transmutation in the end and thus gets resisted (resisting the effect) as it still affect the body rather than elsewhere, right?

 

[Antoniofer]

Yes, is physical if it affects matter (something that Transmutation mainly does).

 

[DeathNoodles]

That's good to know. I'll keep that in mind for any potential versus match-ups or CRTs.