Upgrade & Rework FAQ

This guide is meant to answer common questions about upgrades and reworks. It assumes that you have already read the Character Sheet Modifications section of Character Policy for basic definitions of what upgrades and reworks are and what they require.

1. When can I apply for an upgrade?

A character is eligible for an upgrade once it has collected enough AP to purchase the desired stat increases or new attacks/abilities, and has a log or logs of RP to justify the upgrade. These logs don’t necessarily need to involve a direct demonstration of your character literally obtaining the new weapon or skill, however, the idea there is that you put forth the effort to facilitate RP or generate story in relation to your upgrade. This means that the character receiving the upgrade needs to be an active participant in the logs justifying the upgrade, as well as contributing to the storytelling in a palpable way.

2. When do I need to apply for a rework?

A rework is required any time a player wants to change anything about a character’s sheet, profile, or info files without increasing its overall CP cost, as long as he/she has not exceeded the rework quota for the character. Reworks do not generally need IC justification, unless it is a major change such as a faction change or significant shift in personality or build concept. For example, a scout turning into a bruiser.

3. What kinds of upgrades and reworks may be approved?

In general, upgrades and reworks need to be in alignment with the character’s overall theme. For example, Blurr shouldn’t be gaining much armor, and Brawl shouldn’t be increasing Agility or Intelligence to anything higher than average. Drastic changes to any type of FC will likely be rejected on concept, and OCs will receive a much higher level of scrutiny. A good example of this is a change of altmode type. A beastformer shouldn’t typically be getting reformatted into a vehicular alt mode, and vice versa for vehicle mode characters. Characters also aren’t likely to be approved for additional altmodes. It is much easier to justify a number of modes higher than the typical 2 during character generation than to add new altmodes later. While this doesn’t mean we will never approve major changes to altmodes or additional altmodes, it would be a rare circumstance for us to do so.

If you still aren’t certain whether your upgrade or rework concept will be approved, please submit a Pitch request through the Job system.

4. Can I change my faction?

In most cases, no. Generally, this is simply not a very feasible thing ICly. It is also not something we want to be occurring on a regular basis. If it’s an FC that does not have a faction change as a part of its classical development in IDW, more than likely such a change will not be approved. That being said, some FCs do have that background or are known to be more faction fluid. Although this is fairly rare, it is possible that exceptions will be made for them.

For OCs, staff will judge on a case by case basis. However, it will come under heavy scrutiny.

In general, leaving a faction without joining the opposite one is easier than switching. However, it should be noted that Decepticons are far less accepting of desertion than Autobots.