The beings that practice Kailindo are all capable of altering their shapes, either at will or after a few moments of concentration. Either way, this kata is designed to help such beings use their natural abilities to the best effect. Those with this kata learn to effect partial transformations, faster transformations, and even the use of shapeshifting as a dodge! In game terms, this permits the character to move combat bonuses from one place to another and reduces time required for changing shape. If the character's transformative ability is usually measured in melee rounds, reduce that number to melee actions! (ex: A Nightbane can usually transform from Facade to Morphus in one melee round. Using the Form Adaptation Kata, that time is reduced to one melee action.) If the time required is already measured in melee actions, reduce that time by half to a minimum of one melee action.
In addition, a being that can normally only transform its entire body may now transform just a piece of its body for the desired effect. However, this requires the full transformative duration unless a ME check is made.
(ex: The Nightbane from the previous example has the Morphus characteristics of Animal Magnetism and Were-Creature: Canine. She wishes to grow claws [which her Morphus has] without fully Becoming and rolls an ME check. She fails; she can still grow those claws, but it will take her a full melee round [in which she cannot do anything except defend herself] to accomplish the feat.)
Finally, the character, by subtly altering their body's form and musculature, may "move around" combat bonuses. This transformation requires one melee of intense concentration, during which time the only actions possible are the dodge (automatic if the character possesses it) and the automatic parry. The maximum number of points that may be moved are equal to the being's Mental Endurance. If the character so wishes, they may also move so many points that they have a negative (penalty) in one or more bonuses, so long as the points moved are equal to or less than their ME. This alteration lasts for a maximum length of (ME divided by 3) melee rounds, rounded down. Finally, because of the unnatural twisting of ligatures and bones, the character takes a number of points of damage equal to the number of points moved, direct to hit points, both at the time of the transformation and when returning to normal! If the being has a regenerative ability, this ability takes twice as long to heal the damage; however, if the being's natural state is fluid, colloidal, or ectoplasmic, the damage is reduced by half.
(ex: The Nightbane from the previous two examples has the following combat bonuses: +6 to strike, +7 to parry, +5 to dodge, +10 to damage and +4 to initiative, as well as possessing an ME of 14. She gets into a fight most heinous with a lone Hound. In this case, it is better to act first and hit more often, so she decides to move her bonuses around--but she cannot move any more than 14 points. After one melee round of concentration and heavy defense, her bonuses now look like this: +10 to strike, +2 to parry, +1 to dodge, +10 to damage and +9 to initiative! Because she moved 5 points from her parry bonus and 4 from her dodge bonus, she has moved only 9 points--well below her maximum of 14. As an unfortunate side-effect, she also takes 9 points of damage direct to her HP immediately, and will take another 9 HP of damage at the end of three rounds, as her body returns to normal--well, as normal as Nightbane get, anyway.)
