WHY A FERAL
SAIYAN?
(Or… An Explanation)
In
Volume Nine, Chapter 81 of the Adventures of the New Ginyu Force, Coliflur
undergoes a strange transformation, one that will soon be attained by some of
her friends and allies as well.
Following is an explanation of this form and how it fits into the Saiyan
power hierarchy. At the very end of this
article is a brief section outlining how this form might be used in the Dragonball Z Adventure Game from R.
Talsorian Games.
It
has long been held that one of the requirements to become a Super Saiyan is the
lack of the Saiyan tail. This theory has
never been proven or disproved, and the debate rages amongst DBZ fandom to this
day. In my new Ginyu Force tales, I’ve
adhered to the more popular belief that the absence of a tail allows for the
transformation. However, as I’ve written
the various sagas, I’ve introduced a handful of Super Saiyans (namely Melonia,
Nappa, Yamu, and the now-deceased Been Team).
As these characters have attained the state, Coliflur has been left in
the dust behind them—a situation I decided to rectify since, after all, she is
the main character.
In
order to restore Coliflur to a high-powered state comparable to that of some of
her allies, I decided that a new Saiyan transformation was required. I always liked the idea that she could go
Oozaru, but a mere ten times power multiplier wouldn’t cut it when compared
with the Super Saiyans she runs around with.
I decided that, if Super Saiyan is the form attained by someone with
sufficient power and no a tail, then there must be a comparable form for a
Saiyan who has the same amount of power and still retains her tail. However, I’ve tried to establish that
Coliflur’s heart is anything but pure, so becoming a Golden Oozaru was out of
the question. Therefore, there had to be
something in-between.
I
sat down and started drawing, looking for a form somewhere between normal and
Oozaru. Using Coliflur as my model, I tried
out a sort of were-Saiyan look, but it made her appearance too wolf-like. There were aspects of the design I liked,
however, including the fangs, claws, and bushy tail. I incorporated these into my next try, which
is almost the final look. In the second
design, Coliflur still looked a bit odd, due to the fact that I had glazed her
eyes over as when a Saiyan begins to go Oozaru.
This seemed to make sense, as the form I envisioned was somewhere
between Saiyan and Oozaru. However, the
glazed-over look wasn’t quite right for her normal eyes. At this point I decided to take a cue from
Super Saiyan III and sink her eyes into her skull (or rather, protrude her
skull out above her eyes), and with this final adjustment the Feral Saiyan was
born!
So
how strong is a Feral Saiyan, anyway?
Well, we all know that an Oozaru is ten times as powerful as a
non-powered Saiyan. A little math based
upon officially published power levels for Goku informs us that a Super Saiyan
is fifty times more powerful than his non-powered form. The form I wanted was to fall somewhere in
between. Ultimately, I decided that a
Feral Saiyan is twenty times more powerful than her non-powered self. Even though this power-up isn’t as great as
that of a Super Saiyan, it still gives Coliflur an edge due to the fact that,
in her non-powered state, she has a higher power level than any of her
friends. So, as of the start of the Captain
Ginyu Reborn saga, when Melonia, Nappa, and Yamu go Super Saiyan, their power
levels become 30 million, 25 million, and 20 million, respectively. When Coliflur goes Feral Saiyan, her power
level increases to a whopping 50 million.
This changes, of course, as the saga progresses and various Saiyans on
the above list have near-death experiences… but overall, Coliflur now has what
it takes to compete with her friends.
So
there you have the origin of the Feral Saiyan form and a quick description of
how I created it. Now, for those of you
still reading, and who are interested in R. Talsorian’s Dragonball Z Adventure Game, here’s an RPG formula for your
pleasure:
Feral
Saiyan Form Requirements: The Saiyan
about to transform must have a minimum power level of 2,000,000 and be in a
state of Saiyan Rage (see DBZB, The
Freeza Saga). Additionally, she must
have her tail. If, while in this state,
said Saiyan can roll a 3-5 on 3D6, she attains the Feral Saiyan state. Of course, this condition is subject to GM
whim, and can be altered as deemed necessary.
Once
the Saiyan enters her Feral Saiyan state, her power level is multiplied by a
factor of 20, and her Physical, Combat, and Mental are each multiplied by 2. Unless she can succeed at a Really Hard (22) Mental action, she
loses all reason and cannot do anything requiring prolonged mental
concentration (talk, plan complex strategies, use Mind skills, etc.). If the GM wishes, he may increase the
difficulty of the Mental action by one per millions of ki points attained in the Feral state (i.e., if the Feral Saiyan’s power is boosted to 5,000,000, the
difficulty of the roll to keep her wits about her increases by five, for a
total of 27).
That’s
the form in a nutshell. Please note that
these RPG rules have not been playtested, but I think they should work as they
are very similar to the Super Saiyan rules presented in the Freeza Saga book. And incidentally, I don’t for an instant buy
R. Talsorian’s claim that Goku was in a state of Kaio-Ken when he went Super
Saiyan. The fight was over, and he had no reason to keep the
power active! Why would he keep
torturing his body if he didn’t need to?
Therefore, I believe he was in his non-powered state of 300,000 when he
transformed. I realize this makes Feral
Saiyan harder to attain than Super Saiyan… but you need to remember that it’s
not as big a multiplier, so it makes sense.
