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[Mr Crabman]

Randomly generated experiments are good and all, as are experiments that are related to the original forms of the creature experimented on (which will presumably come after centaur problem is solved/mythgen is done), but taking it a step further, sometimes it should be possible to customize the creations in detail.

Sure pulling in dark energies to corrupt sheep into monstrous undead versions of themselves covered in eyes and horns and poison, but what if an aspiring necromancer has a certain aesthetic in mind and is aiming for that? What if they want their empire of monsters to have "theme" to it, like the use of certain colors, patterns, magical capabilities? Maybe you want your half-lizard half-sheep monsters to use specific parts from each, not just let the game randomly make its own idea of a "fusion" between them. Maybe you want all your monsters to be faceless creatures that sense through smell and hearing alone.

In some mythgens this kind of fine-grained/personal control over the outcome of transformations would be impossible (the dark energies give you what you're gonna get, and the best you can do is try different reagents to see if you like the result of that more), but it should be possible in others!

There could be a menu which, allows you to custom-design the bodily alterations, down to details like skin texture (which would be mentioned in the description obviously), body part colors (either just a specific palette or random within a certain selection), body parts used and their sizes, psychological alterations, etc. All subject to the limitations of the magic in that specific world of course.

This could also be broadly useful for things like the creation of magical automatons that aren't just "version of existing creature that mythgen spewed out, but made of different materials".


There could also be a more general way to modify many different creatures and get different results, but with some things the same; what I mean for example, is that you could design a generalize spell/curse that gives any creatures it affects say, skin made of flaming, green diamonds (and make them fireproof of course), and a tendency to give them horns even if they didn't have them already, but other than that, it does allow some freedom for the game to do some of its own random "details", so you can be surprised a bit by the results.

[SixOfSpades]

I'd favor a system that gave randomness, the character's "Transmuter" skill, and the availability of raw materials (creatures) all significant parts to play. For example, you'd have to start by capturing an existing creature, and because you're only a Dabbling Transmuter, you can only attempt to change a single attribute (probably size), and the change is in no way guaranteed to be the change that you wanted.

As your skill grows, you will be able to change more attributes at once, and more importantly, choose which attributes to change. But your control is limited: for each one, you can only choose Like or Dislike. "Like" can have effects like enlarging the chosen part, or enhancing it (bare skin might develop hair, scales, feathers, slime, etc.), or making that part more numerous (extra teeth), more numerous in a way that alters the body plan (extra limbs), or giving that part a quality that it didn't have before (a tail might become venomous, or prehensile, etc.). "Dislike" would have effects like shrinking the chosen part, simplifying it, removing things like claws/digits/limb sections, or removing the part entirely.

As your Transmuter skill continues to improve, you will develop the ability to graft parts (and/or qualities) from one creature onto another. Again, when you're just starting out, this will be very hit-or-miss. It will also progress in stages: At first, you will need to physically remove the parts from the source critter & (attempt to) attach them to the target. Later, you will only need to have the captured (or dead) source animal in your possession, and then only parts (bones, hide, etc.) from that creature, and then you can move on to animals that you have merely seen, and finally, you need only have read about some creature, in order to call up its description and Like/Dislike any aspects of its form that you wish to transfer to whatever abomination you're creating.

And finally, at skill levels of Master Transmuter & above, you can start to graft the qualities & properties of inorganic substances onto your creations. If you have made, e.g., a gigantic humanoid, you can replace all its tissues with some material like, say, bronze, and send it out to terrorize random settlements.