In games, an ability is generally supposed to work one way, and only that way; a passive ability that makes the equipped character immune to a specific Status Effect makes only that character immune to the specified effect. In a Collectable Card Game, an ability that allows a player to draw a specific number of cards will only let the specified player draw that number of cards, no more and no less. Elemental attacks only inflict a specific type of elemental damage and only the type of damage listed. While most abilities in games have fixed effects that are impossible to alter, others have effects that can modify or even completely change the effect of an ability.
The way said ability does this can vary. In an RPG, certain items, passive abilities, or status effects might alter how certain other effects work. A Collectable Card Game could have cards that add or subtract wording from others. The degree of this change can vary; from changing certain parts of the effect to giving it a completely different effect entirely.
These changes can be positive or negative. If positive, the effect is usually an upgraded variant of an already positive effect, such as a Draw Extra Cards effect allowing someone to draw even more cards or making an ability that normally only benefits the equipped character benefit multiple characters. Negative effects might include reversing the effects of enemy's buffs, or debuffs that change an opponent's ability to something useless or detrimental. It's also possible for the effect to be a Double-Edged Buff, such as an ability that changes an attack's element in a game that uses Elemental Rock–Paper–Scissors, or an ability that comes with some other trade-off.
More exotic rewrites can have effects similar to Semantic Superpower, but outright editing the rules rather than merely stretching definitions; many an Elite Tweak has used rewrites to bypass limitations or alter parameters in ways that turn an innocuous ability into an overpowered one via small changes with big ramifications. Because they tend to fall on the high complexity end of the Inverse Law of Complexity to Power, these are often tolerated or even intended in ways that other powerful combos are not. For instance, in collectable card games such combos are often Awesome, but Impractical, requiring Crippling Overspecialization to fully enact and exploit, or being harder to play and easier to derail than less convoluted routes to victory.
In a narrative context, an effect of this sort often acts as an alternative or limitation to New Powers as the Plot Demands and as a way to (further) complicate the lives of powered characters. If you're doing an underwater episode, giving the pyrokinetic some Applied Phlebotinum that temporarily rewrites their powers to controlling superheated water instead of fire both provides interesting challenges as they try to adapt and has fewer ramifications for future arcs than having them learn to directly negate their usual Kryptonite Factor.
Differs from Discard and Draw, which is about an old ability being permanently replaced by a new one, while this one involves an ability being modified as an effect of another ability.
Super-Trope to Reduced Mana Cost, Ability Reversal, and Cooldown Manipulation. Compare with Item Amplifier for when items are affected. See also Meta Power, for powers that influence other powers. A fundamental part of the Mechanically Unusual Fighter and the Mechanically Unusual Class.
Not to be confused with Skill Point Reset, in which a character can "rewrite" their abilities- this involves rewriting the abilities themselves.
Game Examples
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Card Games
- Fluxx: Some New Rule cards alter the numbers on other cards. For example, if "Inflation" (increases numerals on other cards by 1) and "Draw 2" are both in play, players draw three cards each turn.
- Sentinels of the Multiverse: The Harpy's Applied Numerology card lets her alter the numbers on her other cards when she uses the powers on them. For example, letting her attack two targets instead of one.
Collectable Card Games
- Magic: The Gathering:
- Swirl the Mists
is an enchantment that changes the color word of all spells and permanents to another chosen color word.
- Replacement effects are a common way to accomplish this, such as Massacre Girl's ability causing creatures to deal damage in the form of -1/-1 counters.
- Swirl the Mists
- Yu-Gi-Oh!:
- Overwriting opposing effects exists, although it is one of the rarest effects in the game as it tends to be much more powerful than a negate since it not only blocks your opponent's play but also allows you to advance your own gameplan. For example, the card "Phantom of Yubel" can Tribute itself on the field in response to an activated monster effect to turn that effect into "your opponent destroys 1 "Yubel" monster in their hand, field or Deck", gaining great advantage for the Yubel player as most Yubel monsters float into their evolved forms when destroyed. "Grapha, Dragon Overlord of Dark World" can turn any opponent's activated monster or Normal Spell/Trap effect into "Your opponent discards 1 card" once per turn, a supremely powerful effect in a Dark World deck since virtually all Dark World monsters need to be discarded to use their effects and become more powerful when discarded by an opponent's effect (which "Grapha" enables since it overwrites your opponent's card effect).
- Malefic Territory does this to the entire Malefic archetype; normally, Malefic monsters have the effect of preventing more than one Malefic monster from being on the field. Malefic Territory alters the effect to instead prevent multiple copies of the same monster from being on the field.
- Amplifier is an Equip Spell that changes Jinzo's effect, which prevents both players from using Trap Cards, to instead prevent only Jinzo's controller's opponent from using Traps.
- The Speed Duel format has the Skill Card Unlocking the Power which alters the Sacred Beasts' summoning conditions; normally each of the three Sacred Beasts requires the user to send three of a specific kind of card (Fiend-type monsters for Raviel, Continuous Spells for Hamon, and Continuous Traps for Uria) to the graveyard to summon them. Unlocking the Power makes it so that the user can use any combination of any of the Sacred Beast's required card types to summon them.
- Overwriting opposing effects
Tabletop Games
- Arkham Horror 3rd Edition: The politician Charlie Kane's starting talent Voice of Authority lets him substitute his Influence score for the standard ability in one skill test per round.
- Ars Magica: The Spell Construction rules allow Muto Vim ("Transform" + "Magic") spells to change the nature of another mage's spell as it's being cast, though it tends to be Awesome, but Impractical due to the complexity and specificity of the magic. Infamously, Pendule The Trickster created a Counterspell that turns fire magic into harmless noise, just to mock the House Flambeau pyromancers who tried to attack him.
- The Dark Eye: While minor alterations of a spell like a different target class, range, or casting duration just require decent proficiency in it, the only true limiting factor on how a spell can be changed is the skill and lifespan of the researcher attempting to do so. There's no one stopping you from merging elven and dragon magic into a witching spell with a reversed, demonic ice effect - but even a high mage may need a couple of centuries for it.
- Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition:
- An entire category of "metamagic" feats allow a Vancian Magic spellcaster to modify some aspect of a spell, usually at the cost of it occupying a higher-level spell slot and/or taking longer to cast (though there are various ways to circumvent this). Many of these effects are simple upgrades like Simplified Spellcasting, boosting the spell's range or power, casting it more quickly, or adding some secondary effect like Knockback. However there's also metamagic which more dramatically changes how the spell functions - e.g. changing the element of a spell, turning it into a proximity mine, making an anti-human spell work on plants instead, making an arcane spell function as a divine spell or vice versa, making a spell use holy energy which varies in strength depending on how evil the target is, and so on.
- Some items like the Metamagic Rod contain the effect of a metamagic feat and allow the holder to apply it to their spells for free a limited number of times per day.
- The Wu Jen's "Spell Secret" class feature allows them to choose one of their spells known and permanently upgrade it with the effect of a metamagic effect from a short list, at no added cost.
- The Elemental Savant Prestige Class is available to characters with the Energy Substitution feat (a metamagic which alters your damaging spells to use a specific element). Once entered, the effects of Energy Substitution become permanent for all the character's spells as they begin gradually transforming into an Elemental Embodiment of the chosen element.
- The 3.5e version of Incantatrix is known as one of the most powerful Prestige Classes in the game, not only receiving discounts on metamagic but being able to apply them to other peoples' spells (e.g. they can point at a foe's wall of fire and turn it into a wall of freezing energy instead). At high levels this even allows them to steal control of spells outright, allowing them to do things like attack an Enemy Summoner with their own summons.
- Most other magic systems in the game have their own equivalent to metamagic feats as well. Metapsionic feats are notable for being cheaper than metamagic but requiring you to expend psionic focus to use (a resource which you can gain by pausing to concentrate for a few moments), effectively turning them into a Charged Attack and making it difficult to apply multiple such effects at the same time.
- The Archmage Prestige Class gains a "High Arcana" at each level, with some of their options functioning like this. These include Arcane Reach (touch-range spells now work out to 30ft), Mastery of Elements (you can change the damage type of a spell), and Arcane Fire (you can convert any spell into a beam of Pure Energy which does fairly low damage but can't be counterspelled). Similarly the Recaster Prestige Class, exclusive to changelings, can modify spell parameters a few times per day - changing its energy type, changing its Area of Effect to a different type, creating safe spots inside an Area of Effect, etc.
- The Spellwarp Sniper Prestige Class is a specialist in striking precisely with Projectile Spells for extra damage. Their signature ability "Spellwarp" allows them to focus the effect of any Area of Effect spell so that it functions as a single-target ray instead, making it eligible for their techniques. Similarly the Enlightened Fist, which specialises in delivering touch-range spells through a punch, gains the "Hold Ray" ability which allows them to cast a ray spell as a touch spell.
- The Snowcasting feat allows a caster to power up a cold spell by pausing to scoop up some snow beforehand. When applied to a non-cold spell, it instead becomes a cold spell - this doesn't change its effect, but it does let it interact with other abilities that make your cold spells more effective.
- Snowcasting is somewhat infamous for its ability to produce cold-element divination spells, which can then be combined with metamagic to add secondary effects like damage or Life Drain in places they were never meant to be. E.g. locate city has an Area of Effect measured in dozens of miles (meaning that you can theoretically hit enough lv1 creatures with negative levels to kickstart a Zombie Apocalypse), while hindsight places its scrying sensor back in time.
- The Artificer class is a dedicated craftsman and Item Caddy with "infusions" that temporarily create or alter magic items. Among these item alteration changes the type of bonus granted by an item (e.g. the belt that normally grants a +6 enhancement bonus to Strength now grants a +6 insight bonus to Strength), allowing the wearer to stack the effects of multiple similar items rather than only using the strongest one that applies.
- Quorbred creatures are born with Anti-Magic and Psychic Block Defense abilities, a result of quori attempts to create an easily-controlled minion Gone Horribly Wrong. They have higher Intelligence scores and lower Wisdom and Charisma; however, their "Intellectual" ability allows them to use Intelligence in place of Wisdom or Charisma when determining how hard their special attacks are to resist. Also if their racial favored class would normally be one that relies on Charisma for its abilities (e.g. bard, knight, sorcerer, paladin), then they may choose to replace it with a different one.
- The Alienist Prestige Class is a spellcaster with ties to the Far Realm, a Lovecraftian unspace outside the normal cosmos. At 1st level their summon monster spells are permanently modified so that instead of summoning a creature with the celestial or fiendish template, they summon one with the pseudonatural template instead. At higher levels this applies to their ability to summon a familiar as well.
- An entire category of "metamagic" feats allow a Vancian Magic spellcaster to modify some aspect of a spell, usually at the cost of it occupying a higher-level spell slot and/or taking longer to cast (though there are various ways to circumvent this). Many of these effects are simple upgrades like Simplified Spellcasting, boosting the spell's range or power, casting it more quickly, or adding some secondary effect like Knockback. However there's also metamagic which more dramatically changes how the spell functions - e.g. changing the element of a spell, turning it into a proximity mine, making an anti-human spell work on plants instead, making an arcane spell function as a divine spell or vice versa, making a spell use holy energy which varies in strength depending on how evil the target is, and so on.
- Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition:
- The Order of Scribes Wizard gains a feature called Awakened Spellbook, which among other benefits allows them to change the damage type of a spell, as long as they know another spell at the same level that uses the new damage type.
- The Transmuted Spell metamagic option similarly allows sorcerers (or another caster with the Metamagic Adept feat) to change the damage type of a spell, to one of a few options: acid, cold, fire, lightning, poison, or thunder.
- Pathfinder: The Elemental Spell metamagic feat allows a spellcaster to either change the element of a spell that deals elemental damage or treat half the damage done by a spell as a chosen element and the other half as the original type's element.
Video Games
- Blue Prince: The Hovel outer building lets you pay in steps instead of gems for premium rooms.
- Bravely Second: The Wizard's Spellcraft ability allows them to reshape magic and make them provide additional effects. For instance, using the Dart Spellcraft makes the spell take effect at the start of a turn, while the Hammer Spellcraft makes the spell inflict physical damage while also boosting the damage dealt.
- Breath of Death VII: One of Sara's possible level up abilities is "Purity", which is a passive that makes it so "Heal Spells also Cure" a.k.a Anti-Debuff.
- Cthulhu Saves the World: : One of Sara's possible level up abilities at Level 9 is "Add Cure", which is a passive that makes it so healing spells also Cure a.k.a Anti-Debuff.
- Civilization VI: The Tech Tree has a "Eureka" mechanic where each tech has an in-game achievement that will grant half its research cost (e.g., building a coastal city to advance Sailing). For the Babylonian civilization, a Eureka instead grants the tech on the spot, whether or not its prerequisites have been fulfilled, completely changing how it progresses through the game.
- Diablo III: Levelling up your characters allows them access to runes that can be used to modify their basic skills. For example, the Necromancer skill Frailty has the basic effect of cursing enemies to die at 15% of their max health, and it can be modified with the runes Scent of Blood (cursed enemies take more damage from minions), Volatile Death (cursed enemies explode and damage nearby enemies when killed), Aura of Frailty (the curse becomes an aura that automatically radiates around the Necromancer instead of needing to be manually cast), Harvest Essence (gain essence when a cursed enemy dies), or Early Grave (the curse is easier to trigger but reduces the Necromancer's health).
- The HD-2D Remakes of Dragon Quest I and Dragon Quest II have the sigils, collectible Macguffins found over the course of the game. These sigils power up certain spells and abilities, turning them into new, stronger effects.
- Final Fantasy XIV: In exploratory zones like Eureka and Bozja, players gain access to special duty-specific actions, several of which can overwrite or modify the effects of other actions. Lost Spellforge converts all damage dealt by the user to magic damage even if they're playing a physically-oriented job like Dragoon. Lost Steelsting does the opposite, converting all damage dealt into physical damage.
- Genshin Impact: Chiori's Elemental Skill eventually gets a "switch to another character when Normal Attacking after use" effect.
- Hearthstone: The Whirlwind Tempest card reads "Your minions with Windfury have Mega-Windfury." Ordinarily, minions with Windfury can attack twice in one turn. With the Whirlwind Tempest in play, they can attack four times in one turn.
- Honkai: Star Rail: If you manage to acquire the 6th Eidolon upgrade for Acheron, it'll make her Basic Attack and Skill deal "Ultimate" damage, and thus said attacks will benefit from all buffs and effects that involve dealing Ultimate damage.
- Last Epoch is built on this: while most Diablo-style action RPGs let you modify your abilities via a skill tree, here each ability comes with its own expansive skill tree inside, letting you change damage types, convert a melee attack to a ranged area of effect nuke, remove a cooldown entirely at the cost of drastically increasing resource use, make it trigger another ability (which can be modified in turn), and so on.
- Mega Man X3: X can obtain one of four chips that can add abilities to one of your armor parts: Arm chip grants the Hyper Cannon, which lets you fire charged shots via ammo count; Body chip reduces damage further and forms a barrier around you; Leg chip adds in an extra air dash usage; Head chip will heal you and your sub tanks while standing still. Ignore them and you can find the Hyper chip, which grants all four abilities and turns you gold.
- Monster Sanctuary: Several monsters can learn passive skills that change all their neutral attacks into a different element. Ucan's Water Allegiance changes them to water; Ornithopter and Promethean's Wind Allegiance changes them to wind; and Fumagus and Rampede's Earth Allegiance changes them to earth.
- Persona 5 Royal: The Pinch Anchor Persona trait allows for the use of Ambush-only abilities after a Baton Pass, while the Vitality of the Tree Persona trait allows for the use of Ambush-only abilities in any situation.
- Plants vs. Zombies: Fusion: Squash, Inferno Squash, and Squalour normally function by detecting a zombie within attack range, then leaping over it and squashing them. However, if they're placed within a Squash Pumpkin (Squash + Pumpkin), they will no longer do this, and instead spawn a miniature version of themselves every 3 seconds, that bounces towards the nearest zombie six times and keeps the effects of the original, but dealing 1/8 the squash's original damage.
- Pokémon:
- There are some Abilities that change the user's Normal moves into another type while also increasing their damage by twenty percent; while this means certain powerful normal moves can receive a STAB, it also effectively prevents the Pokémon with the abilities from using damage dealing Normal moves.
- Normalize, an Ability exclusive to Skitty and Delcatty, changes all non-Normal moves into Normal type moves. While said moves receive a STAB bonus, it has the massive downside of preventing the user from being able to inflict super-effective damage.
- The Popplio line have the signature ability Liquid Voice, which turns all sound-based moves into Water-Type moves.
- Mummy, the signature Ability of Yamask and Cofagrigus, causes the Abilities of other Pokémon struck with a physical move or that strike its holder with one to be changed to also be Mummy. As it has no other effects besides its "contagiousness", it serves essentially as a way to cause or threaten a mass ability removal in a fight.
- Ion Deluge turns all attacks for the rest of the turn into Electric-type moves. Electrify does the same but only to the opposing Pokémon's next move.
- If a Pokémon with Sheer Force uses an attack that usually has a secondary effect, the secondary effect will not trigger but the damage will be boosted by +30%.
- The move Worry Seed changes another Pokemon's ability to "Insomnia," which makes them immune to the sleep status effect. If the Pokemon has a detrimental ability, it's effectively a Status Buff, whereas for Pokemon with useful abilities, it effectively leaves them with no Ability.
- Simple Beam is a move that overwrites a Pokémon's existing Ability with the Simple Ability, which doubles stat changes.
- Entrainment is a move that overwrites the Ability of the target with the user's own Ability.
- Risk of Rain: CHEF's fourth ability "SECOND HELPING" boosts the next ability he uses. For example, his first ability throws a meat cleaver. When boosted, he instead throws nine cleavers in a circle around him.
- Science Girls!: Using one of the levels of Exponential Explosion locks the cost of further uses at that same level or higher. Such as LV 5, costing 25 SP. Want to use it twice? Get at least 50 SP over the course of the battle.
- Super Robot Wars:
- Some Ace Pilot Bonuses do this for the pilot; common effects include upgrading pilot effects, changing one Spirit Command to a more powerful one for the same SP cost, and decreasing the morale requirements of certain abilities or attacks.
- Some Full Upgrade Bonuses do this for the mechs; common effects include giving certain attacks extra qualities (such as barrier piercing or ignoring size modifiers), increasing the stats of certain attacks, and improving one of the mech's passive abilities.
- Tales Series: Altered Artes are unique Artes that act as variations of a base Arte; these Artes can normally only be used under specific circumstances that vary from game to game, such as equipping certain items or having certain passive abilities equipped. Some games allow characters to permanently learn Altered Artes as separate abilities from its base Arte.
- Temtem: Shuine's Horn is an item that changes the holder's Toxic-type attacks to Water.
- Transistor: Using Functions to enhance other Functions can turn a basic damaging attack into a Status Infliction Attack.
- Vermintide II: Several level-based Talents modify the hero's career skill or passive abilities. The player can select which Talents to apply before each run begins.
- The Foot Knight's talent "Comrades in Arms" modifies his passive ability, an aura of 15% Damage Reduction, to give 50% damage reduction to his closest ally, plus a strength boost to both of them.
- The Ranger Veteran's Level 20 talents modify the ammunition pickups created by his passive ability, either boosting their yield or giving them the chance to produce potions, bombs, or buffs instead.
- The Waystalker's capstone "Piercing Shot" turns her career skill from a Homing Projectile Multishot to one powerful arrow that refunds its cooldown on a headshot.
- The Battle Wizard's capstone "Kaboom!" removes the flaming trail from her career skill Fire Walk but increases its explosive radius.
- The Witch Hunter Captain's "Fervency" grants guaranteed Critical Hits while his career skill is active but removes the buff it provides his allies.
- A Very Long Rope to the Top of the Sky: The rarer weapons are likely to have on-equip effects to turn basic attacks into Status Infliction Attacks.
- Warframe: Warframe Augment Mods alter a Warframe's abilities or passives when equipped to perform additional effects, enhancing or modifying that power's utility.
- Workshop In The Ironwood Grove: Nell being in an Elemental form gives Neris access to an elemental Shot of the same element.
Non-Game Examples
Anime & Manga
- Yu-Gi-Oh!:
- Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's: One of Lotten's Equip Spells, Double Arms, doubles the effect damage inflicted by the equipped monster's effect.
- Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL: Don Thousand uses "Numeron Rewriting" Traps, which straight up replace an opponent's card with another of the same card type, essentially rewriting the entire card.
- Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V:
- One of Zarc's Equip Spells, Supreme Presence, alters effects that would affect only one of the opponent's monsters to instead affect all of them. Zarc equips it to Supreme King Dragon Clear Wing to turn its ability to destroy one of the opponent's monsters to instead destroy every monster on the opponent's side of the field.
- The Four Nature series of spell cards, meant to counter Zarc, not only negate monster effects, they also treat the monsters as Normal monsters.
Fan Works
- Dungeon Keeper Ami: By becoming a Dungeon Keeper, Ami's magical spells from before that, gain different, more dangerous, effects when she chooses to fuel them with Dungeon Keeper magical energy instead of their original Mercury energy, turning her ice spell from "Encase target in ice" into "Impale target with ice".
Literature
- The Hidden Dungeon Only I Can Enter: Noir develops the "Edit" skill, which allows him to rewrite the effects of other characters' skills. For example, Luna Heela's Healing Hands magic is originally Cast from Lifespan, but he changes this to Cast from Money, giving her a much greater ability to heal people.
- Infinite Dendrogram: Ray's Embyro, Nemesis, has a second form, Flag Halberd, that gives him the skill 'Like a Flag Flying the Reversal, ' which can reverse the effect of debuffs (in the game, Status Effects also count as debuffs). Ray can activate it at the cost of 1 SP every second.
- Princesses of the Pizza Parlor: Selvi's ancestral totem power functionally turns every regular hit into three, if she's raging and wearing her talisman:
"The spirits move with you, attack with you, basically give you three sword strokes for the price of one. However, [...] only [...] if you're raging while wearing that talisman."
Podcasts
- The Adventure Zone: Balance: the Ring of the Grammarian changes one letter in the name of a spell, changing its effect as well. Merle uses it to change the spell Divine Word to Divine Wood to enchant his wooden arm with divine magic.