Transformations

Most characters only transform once a fight, right at the beginning of combat, before any other combat system actions are taken. (It is occasionally amusing to disrupt the usual ‘wait for everyone to stock footage transform’ but attacks should never target someone’s Base Mode without the defender’s consent.)

However, once a battle has begun, a character can opt to transform up no more than once per round, before they attack and after all their previous attacks have been reacted to, as well as after they have reacted to all attacks in their Reaction Queue. In other words, at the very beginning of their next combat round, as defined by ‘when they’re about to make their first (and usually only, barring boss modes) attack. As stated more precisely above, they must then remain in their new Henshin Form for at least one entire round -- that is, while people react to their attack, and then attack them in turn, and while they’re reacting to those attacks. Transforming more often than that is against the rules (though the code should prevent most attempts). If it’s done by accident, as long as the transformer immediately swaps back before any ongoing attacks or reactions involving them proceed, there’s no harm done.

The Battle Fantasia Combat System is not designed to accommodate someone swapping between six or seven different forms, lasting one round apiece (as this is not behavior relevant to the genre it’s trying to emulate -- Henshin Forms are not fluid combat stances, they are fundamental transformations through one’s very spirit); our usual “don’t be a dick” policy applies here, as in all places. Swapping, over the course of the fight, from one non-Base Henshin Form to another, and then perhaps back again to the original Henshin Form, is generally sufficient flexibility. Excessive mid-combat transformation may lead to conversations with the staff about alternative ways to build a character in the combat system, such that their concept is preserved along with the spirit of the rules.

For more information, please see: Mana, Supercharged Henshin Modes, Ranks, Battle