Critter Training Rules, Something I've put together Options

[Moonstone Spider]

http://moonstone.netfirms.com/training.htm

A set of cyberware, gear, vehicles, skills, and rules for owning, training, and using critters. After all, the corps all have critters, why shouldn't a Shadowrunner have a reasonable set of rules as well?

I bogged down a bit trying to set prices for all the critters. I've wound up making a set of rules more complex than Rigger 3's vehicle construction rules, not a good idea at all. I'll have to revise that and hope somebody else has some decent ideas on a balanced and simple way to price critters.

[Capt. Dave]

Frag, that is some fraggin' awesome fraggin' stuff! Mass kudos to you, Moonstone Spider. Oh, I can't wait to show these to my group. :D

[Grey]

Very cool! I'm gunna make use of these on my next character. Great work!

[Eyeless Blond]

Sweet stuff!, although the various turrets should cost ECU instead of Essence. A microturret might, for instance, cost 5 ECU, and a mini cost 9. Also, I suspect larger animal's cyber replacements should hold more stuff in them, and smaller ones hold less.

[Moonstone Spider]

[hobgoblin]

err, why did this make me think of pokemon from hell?

[Eyeless Blond]

[Moonstone Spider]

[Capt. Dave]

I must say again how much I like these rules. Now visitors to my mage's house get to watch the Cerberus Hound and earth elemental play chess.

Question: Can you house-train a critter that stays inside? (aside from the Pavlov Pack) I really don't want to be seen walking a Cerebus Hound down the sidewalk. Draws attention, you see.

EDIT - maybe this could be one of those commands you pay points for...

[mfb]

very cool. a few suggestions: characters with astral perception should have an easier time training critters, and critters with astral perception should have an easier time learning. astral perception allows for a more effecient transfer of intent--if your dog can see from your aura that you're happy with the last trick he pulled, it'll be easier for him to comprehend that you want him to do that trick on command. likewise, if you can look at the dog's aura and see that your gibberish is confusing it, you can change tactics and approach it from a different angle.

also, spells such as Control Thoughts, detection spells that deal with emotions and intent, and the adept power Empathic Sense should aid in training.

you should include specializations for teaching different tricks, or something like that. speaking of specializations, is there a reason you didn't make a single, base Training skill, with specializations according to genus?

[Moonstone Spider]

Hmm, hadn't considered astral perception as an aid to training. However it should probably only apply if the animal has it. It really doesn't help a trainer too much to know the animal's emotional state after all.

I also disagree on the spells, simply put controlling the animals thoughts will get it to obey temporarily and then piss it off once the spell wears off. It won't lead to a permanent state of cooperation and obedience, any more than control thoughts allows you to permanently make somebody L3 contact by making them act like your friend for a few hours.

I didn't make a base training skill because I thought it'd be overpoweringly strong, and becasue I saw the possibility of a Trainer Archetype. If it's just one skill and possibly 1 background skill, you could pick up all there is to know about training animals at Chargen for a handful of points. (I personally dislike how you can do that with Biotech/Medicine, effectively becoming an expert doctor with skills left over for almost everything else).

I'll start working on an update to incorporate some of the suggestions here. I also see the need for cages to have a barrier rating (To determine if a Critter can escape) and for cages to have a radio signal accessory to tell you when they've sprung.

What else is still needed?

[mfb]

depends on whether the animal notices the spell. Control Thoughts might be too strong, but what about Influence?

astral perception will let you know if you're getting through to the animal you're trying to train--if you tell Sparky to roll over, and he plays dead, you can see whether he's just dicking around, or if you've confused him. that lets you change what you're doing in response, trying something that might be more effective, rather than figuring out through trial-and-error that the dog doesn't understand what you're trying to get him to do.

[Kanada Ten]

I just had a thought about spells, only not Mind Control. Instead, the Translate spell! One could communicate directly to the animal!

Animal Tongue
Mana | Touch | 6 (V) | Sustained | -1(M)
The caster is granted the ability to speak with a targeted animal while the spell is sustained. The animal must first trust the caster to invoke the voluntary clause. (Restricted Target)

Parselmouth
Mana | LoS | 6 (Will) | Sustained | (S)
The caster can speak to and understand any targeted snake without the need of trust or touch. (Very Restricted Target)

And the web page is down :(

[Ecclesiastes]

Hey Moonstone Spider, the link isn't working anymore. What gives? That stuff was way cool and I wanted to make some use of it. If you are still around can you hook me up? I'll be happy to host the page if you don't have time to do it anymore.

[Feonyx]

Ditto what Ecclesiates said. Was it pulled for Copyright infringement? I wouldn't think so since it helps not hinders :)

Feonyx