Attunement (Animal), And other often-skipped character options... Options

[Ol' Scratch]

I've been reading over character options that I usually dismiss as cool in concept but useless in practice and, in doing so, I came across Attunement (Animal) again. Even in light of Running Wild which introduces all these overly convoluted rules for something so rare, I can't really think of very many situations where it would be at all useful for a runner in the Sixth World. Especially with the examples they give us, such as Attunement (Lynx) or the iguanas and giant pythons in the artwork. For niche games like Amazonian freedom fighters or something, sure. But a typical game in the shadows of Seattle?

Does anyone have any experience with this metamagic technique in the default setting? How would you even be able to bring any of the animals allowed by the default rules (as opposed to the optional ones that allow for smaller ones) with you to a meet at a restaurant, let alone into an office building during a stealth run? How do you keep them alive when things get ugly? And if you're not bringing them with you or otherwise using them, why even bother getting one under the rules instead of as a Dependent that you leave at home?

I've only been able to think of a single concept where it might work, and then only if I use the optional rules for smaller animals. I'd really like to see more possibilities opened up.

What other character options do you see as being pretty useless the vast majority of time? Are there any that you thought might be interesting but you've always had to skip because it just doesn't work in a typical shadowrun game? Have you been able to make any of those work despite that while also keeping it believable?

[EvilP]

I'm getting Attunement (Miniature Giant Space Hamster)

[toturi]

I'm getting Attunement (Miniature Giant Space Hamster)

"Go for the eyes, Boo! Goo for the eyes! Raargh!"

"A den of steeeenking evil. Cover your nose, Boo! We will leave no crevice untouch!"

A Bear Sark adept I presume?

[AKWeaponsSpecial...]

Attuned dog.....could be doberman, rottweiler, German Shepherd, or chihuahua (stuff that sucker in the vents.....what do you mean, why? >.> <.<)
It'd make a good guardian while you sleep in whatever residence you live at....even more important if you're a squatter (or homeless)

[pbangarth]

I have worked on a shepherd character who lives near the junction of UCAS, Québec and Algonkian Manitou Council. He develops magic and directs it first into what he does, herding, but then with time adds skills and powers to enhance his smuggling business among the three nations.

He has Attunement (Dog) and Empower Animal. Working in conjunction with his border collie, an already remarkable breed of dog, he not only tends his sheep like nobody's business, but has an extremely agile and intelligent scout for his smuggling operation, one with whom he can share senses and powers.

[Vertaxis]

I'm getting Attunement (Drop Bear) ;-P

[darthmord]

I'm thinking Attunement (Harlequin) as we all know Immortal Elves are nothing more than animals. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

[Kumo]

A rat, bat, dog, snake or any small animal could be useful as a scout in the urban area.
Or something larger, watching adept's apartament/car.
Or serving as some nasty suprise for opponents - would a company man expect a rattlesnake in your sleeve?

[The Jake]

I'm getting Attunement (Miniature Giant Space Hamster)

GO FOR THE EYES, BOO! GO FOR THE EYES ARRGGGGHHHH!!!

- J.

[The Jake]

"Go for the eyes, Boo! Goo for the eyes! Raargh!"

"A den of steeeenking evil. Cover your nose, Boo! We will leave no crevice untouch!"

A Bear Sark adept I presume?

Shit. Someone beat me to it.

- J.

[Ol' Scratch]

Eh, it was a serious question but based upon the responses I guess my initial assumption was pretty spot on: It really is a useless metamagic for a runner. How about the last part of my post? As a reminder of what it was:

What other character options do you see as being pretty useless the vast majority of time? Are there any that you thought might be interesting but you've always had to skip because it just doesn't work in a typical shadowrun game? Have you been able to make any of those work despite that while also keeping it believable?

[3278]

How would you even be able to bring any of the animals allowed by the default rules (as opposed to the optional ones that allow for smaller ones) with you to a meet at a restaurant, let alone into an office building during a stealth run? How do you keep them alive when things get ugly? And if you're not bringing them with you or otherwise using them, why even bother getting one under the rules instead of as a Dependent that you leave at home?

I'm unclear. Are you talking about these rules?

Attunement (Animal)
Adept Metamagic
The Attunement (Animal) metamagic technique gives an adept a low-level telepathic link to an attuned Mundane critter, so that the adept can issue simple telepathic commands to the critter. Those commands may or may not be obeyed (especially if the command puts the critter in danger or goes against its instincts). Training the critter allows an adept to give much more complicated commands to the critter and encounter far less resistance to the commands.

When an adept has Attuned to a critter, the empathic link between the two of them provides the adept with a clear advantage in training. The adept may add her Initiate grade as a positive dice pool modifier for all tests involving Training or Handling the Attuned critter. The adept’s Initiate grade also affects the Training Test thresholds, decreasing the threshold by (Initiate Grade ÷ 2, round up). In addition, training intervals are halved, and the adept does not need to make any Training Reinforcement tests.

I'm not seeing the rules you'd mentioned, the lynx example, the list of accepted animals, and such. Where are you seeing them? I can think of many cases in which this attunement would be desirable, even in a standard Seattle game, but if I'm missing half the rules, that may not count for much.

[edit: Oh, I see: it's in Street Magic, too. Reading.]

[AKWeaponsSpecial...]

Cybertechnology might not be a particularly bad idea here.... Attune a young animal, bio-and-cyber-augment the bugger from birth (preferably with cybersuites), and you will have an allied monstrosity. Just a thought (bonus if you can get ahold of one that's either SURGE or genetech'ed) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cyber.gif)

[3278]

[edit: Oh, I see: it's in Street Magic, too. Reading.]

Now I'm not sure what's not useful about this.

• Having a few of your own flocks of sparrows [although the Sense Link range is bullshit] could come in all sorts of handy, for scouting in the city. Ravens are among the most intelligent birds - doglike in their intellect - and are common in the Pacific Northwest. They have superb sight, and can be trained to do many different tricks. Attunement makes that training much easier and take much less time. A bird can peck at a wire all day until it breaks in situations where having a human cut it would be impractical or dangerous.
• Flies - singly or in swarms - make good scouts, and can be terrible distractions, as well: insects can only be commanded to do things instinctive to them, but having a few dozen cockroaches "being instinctive" on command could be useful. Or spiders. Or bees. Mmm, bees.
• A horse might stand out too much in the metroplex, but having a dog isn't likely to raise too many eyebrows, depending on where you are and what you're doing. And for thousands of years, mankind has been using dogs - and other utility animals - in dangerous and even criminal enterprises; I don't see that as likely to be stopped. That's not to say you take your Rott with you on corporate facility extraction missions, but there are other missions, and other ways of deriving utility from an animal.
• Bats, yo. If you want a scout that can see in the dark and won't arouse suspicion - or if you'd just like to know what moth tastes like - a bat's your natural choice. They can also fit in tiny spaces, don't mind crawling about, and have a radar signature best described as "minimal."
• A mouse is really a very tiny thing. A mouse with the Munchkin genetic enhancement [Running Wild, p93] is really, really tiny. Mice deeply enjoy going places, getting things, and taking them someplace else. I must confess having some degree of control over the hoarding instincts of a ferret - furo is latin for "little thief" - makes my heart go pitter-pat. Rats are so common a sight in the city as to be invisible, although you don't really see them walking across boardrooms; still, they have their time and place. Squirrels can climb just damned near anything, and are as common in Seattle as pigeons in New York. [Though probably not downtown.]
• No, a lynx probably isn't practical: the streets are dangerous, and bringing your multi-thousand dollar imported attack pet to some corporate facility to maul guards for you probably isn't the best use of your money or training time. But a stray cat? They're common, inexpensive, naturally curious, quiet, have decent night vision and a reasonable sense of smell, and have been observed to be capable of avoiding approximately nine times more harm than other equivalent animals.

Other than the painful Sense Link range, I think Attunment (Animal) would be useful, for many of the same reasons I think Shapechange is one of the most useful spells in the game. It's not insanely expensive to bond an animal, either - their Essence, in karma - and you can bond as many [or, optionally, groups of smaller animals (but probably not portions of larger animals, ha ha)] as your initiate grade, so it's something you could use opportunistically, as well. On some missions, it really would be useful to be able to put a cow in a specific location, or get a zoo animal to do some particularly distracting thing at a time of your choosing, provided you had some advance notice. There are other ways of doing this, of course, but that doesn't diminish the utility of Attunement.

[Mongoose]

I'd tend to agree with the "drone replacement" thinking. Augmentation mentions all kinds of good uses for cybered animals that can be guided via rigger type interfaces. Why not go old-school and use magic and some good old fashioned training to do the same? Or mix the two for especially good results.

Hmm, how about a physically disabled rigger / adept who drives around in a van with a bunch of doggies, some cybered, and lends his adept powers to one or two of them? Ring any bells?

[AKWeaponsSpecial...]

I was thinking a cyber'd adept with a cyber'd Attuned war-hound of some sort....I don't see much need for the rigger adaptation for the beast companion, but having the two fight in concert would be quite intriguing (and potentially terrifying for potential opponents....)

[Ol' Scratch]

It's "useless" because it consumes karma, and quite a bit of it, for every one of your "drones." You can't take animals with you the vast majority of the time; good luck getting a flock of sparrows, let alone a "cybered war-hound of some sort" into that top secret facility you have to infiltrate, for instance. When a drone gets destroyed, it costs a handful of nuyen to replace. When an animal dies, there goes your karma forever. You also don't have to worry about them getting swooped up by a random alley cat, bird of prey, or spider (using the examples in 3278's post) either.

[AKWeaponsSpecial...]

Ah, good point; the group I play with is heavily combat-oriented, so they've turned into vigilantes of a sort, and having a cyber'd war-hound magically attuned to one of 'em would be a major bonus in their eyes, especially during their last strike.....

[Mr. Unpronouncea...]

good luck getting a flock of sparrows...into that top secret facility you have to infiltrate, for instance.

Oh, I don't know - a bright yellow canary/parakeet singing it's heart out while winging down the hall probably wouldn't attract any fire from the guards, but it may result in a sufficient number of them being distracted, running around trying to catch the bugger to put it outside to make it worthwhile.

[3278]

You can't take animals with you the vast majority of the time; good luck getting a flock of sparrows, let alone a "cybered war-hound of some sort" into that top secret facility you have to infiltrate, for instance.

Several animals listed would have no difficulties infiltrating a top secret facility, and could in fact do so with more acumen that a metahuman. Also, most criminals don't spend "the vast majority of the time" in top secret facilities! They also spend a great deal of time preparing to go into those facilities, looking around those facilities, asking other people about those facilities, stealing thing that let you go into those facilities, and, yes, actually doing things that aren't criminal, too.

When a drone gets destroyed, it costs a handful of nuyen to replace. When an animal dies, there goes your karma forever. You also don't have to worry about them getting swooped up by a random alley cat, bird of prey, or spider (using the examples in 3278's post) either.

Those are disadvantages, indeed. On the other hand, your animals keep working when the jammer gets turned on, they're not affected by spam zones, they're often completely free, they can't be hijacked by another adept with the same power, and they don't emit electromagnetic radiation. They're animals. That is, in certain circumstances, an advantage. Never mind the fact that some characters' personalities or socioeconomic status would make ownership of drones unlikely or unrealistic.

Just because something else is also useful doesn't make something useless. Just because something isn't useful all the time doesn't make it useless. The real question is whether it's worth one metamagic slot, and [Essence] karma per animal [or group of small animals].

[Ol' Scratch]

Just because something else is also useful doesn't make something useless. Just because something isn't useful all the time doesn't make it useless. The real question is whether it's worth one metamagic slot, and [Essence] karma per animal [or group of small animals].

Which is, you know, exactly what I've been discussing with this thread.

[3278]

Hence your usage of the word "useless?" Give it up, Funk.

[Ol' Scratch]

o.O

Considering I'm the one who started the topic, I think I have some small inkling of what I was trying to do with the thread and why I started it in the first place. Maybe you should go read it again instead of assuming whatever it is you thought it was supposed to be about.

[Mikado]

I've been reading over character options that I usually dismiss as cool in concept but useless in practice and, in doing so, I came across Attunement (Animal) again. Even in light of Running Wild which introduces all these overly convoluted rules for something so rare, I can't really think of very many situations where it would be at all useful for a runner in the Sixth World. Especially with the examples they give us, such as Attunement (Lynx) or the iguanas and giant pythons in the artwork. For niche games like Amazonian freedom fighters or something, sure. But a typical game in the shadows of Seattle?

Does anyone have any experience with this metamagic technique in the default setting? How would you even be able to bring any of the animals allowed by the default rules (as opposed to the optional ones that allow for smaller ones) with you to a meet at a restaurant, let alone into an office building during a stealth run? How do you keep them alive when things get ugly? And if you're not bringing them with you or otherwise using them, why even bother getting one under the rules instead of as a Dependent that you leave at home?

I've only been able to think of a single concept where it might work, and then only if I use the optional rules for smaller animals. I'd really like to see more possibilities opened up.

What other character options do you see as being pretty useless the vast majority of time? Are there any that you thought might be interesting but you've always had to skip because it just doesn't work in a typical shadowrun game? Have you been able to make any of those work despite that while also keeping it believable?

While I agree with you that this metamagic is not as useful in Seattle then say the NAN. The books often have gear that is not appropriate for Seattle. The few that come to mind are the military gun boat, tanks, rocket launchers that kill tanks... Well that last one people might protest to but whatever. Just because the books give Seattle as the main setting does not mean people have to play there.

[3278]

Considering I'm the one who started the topic, I think I have some small inkling of what I was trying to do with the thread and why I started it in the first place. Maybe you should go read it again instead of assuming whatever it is you thought it was supposed to be about.

Are you serious? You called it "useless," like, three or four times. You said it was, "useless in practice," and, "pretty useless." You said, ""I can't really think of very many situations where it would be at all useful." And now you're claiming that what you meant was actually, "Just because something else is also useful doesn't make something useless. Just because something isn't useful all the time doesn't make it useless. The real question is whether it's worth one metamagic slot, and [Essence] karma per animal [or group of small animals]."

Put the pride away, Doc. Some other people found some use for something in their game that you didn't in yours; that doesn't make your penis smaller or take away your Nobel prize. Come on, now.