[X] My Assistant

[BlackJaw]

So I really need to get a Tradition for this character hammered out.

It needs to be Possesion, and it really should have the Beast Spirit as an option (combat?) somewhere in there. There aren't that many Possession traditions to start with, and many are too... ethnic for the character concept I'm working towards (Voodoo, Rastafarian, or Qabbalistic?) or too female (Hedge Witch) for me.

I'm thinking of a Possession variant of the Shamanic Tradition, and I'm using bits of northern Californian native american mythology for some bits (Coyote as the creator is Miwok, for example.) I admit it's a lot of stereotypical thoughts from someone that isn't all knowledgeable. I'm really shooting in the dark here.

Is this setup too potent a collection of spirits? I'm attached to Beast for Combat and Man for Health, but I'm open to tweaking the rest.
I took air for deception because it has concealment and confusion, and fits the trickster spirit of a raven. It also matches the Illusion-Air Spirits of Merlin Hawks, which is a critter I might start with.
I took Guidance for Detection because it has Search and Divining.
I took Task for Manipulation because it can be summoned with a selective skill.

Nature Caller Tradition
Magic is the influence of the spirits in the world. The spirits of nature are most potent, but the spirits of your ancestors watch over you.

• Combat: Beasts (Wolf the Hunter)
• Detection: Guidance (Owl the Wise)
• Health: Man (Grandfather the Healer)
• Illusion: Air (Raven the Trickster)
• Manipulation: Task (Coyote the Creator)
• Drain: Willpower + Charisma
• Note: This is a possession tradition.

Spirits dwell in all things, from the stones underfoot to the clouds above. Most ignore humans, although if you ask them correctly, they can awaken and come to your aid.

Spirits summoned within this tradition prefer to possess living animals and people.


Alternatively, I'm interested in having a tradition that is more like a Hermetic Mage (magic as a kind of science) possession tradition. Maybe something with shades of necromancey and/or Stross's Laundry files, where actively calling Entities from beyond space/time? ...OR... maybe something of a Posession variant on Chaos magic, where bits and pieces of dozens of traditions are bastardized and melded, with no issues againts working with tech.

[Makki]

I'll add this to my collection

[BlackJaw]

I've reworked the tradition into more of a possession oriented off-shoot of Shamanism. It's practitioners call to the many ancestral and animal spirits of (meta)humanity's many cultures.

Totem Caller Tradition
Magic is the influence of living spirits in the world. The spirits of animals, which came before man, are the oldest and most potent, but the spirits of the ancestors more closely watch over you.

• Combat: Beasts (Predatory Animals: Wolf or Shark)
• Detection: Guidance (Wise Animals: Owl or Bear)
• Health: Plant (Herbalists Ancestors: Grandmother or Crone)
• Illusion: Air (Trickster Animals: Crow, or Rat)
• Manipulation: Man (Leader Ancestors: Grandfather or Architect)
• Drain: Willpower + Charisma
• Note: This is a possession tradition.

"The Spirits of all that live are around us, unseen but not unfelt. Most ignore humans, although if you ask them correctly, they can awaken and come to your aid."

Practitioners of Totem Calling are referred to as Callers. Essentially an offshoot of the more common Shamanism, Totem Callers see the spirits of animals, and our early ancestors have having an invisible influence on world. One favored by the spirts can call on them for aid, even calling them to awaken in a person, creature, or thing, so that they might be more able to affect the world. Unlike more traditional shamanism, Callers put more focus on the spirits of living things, animals, plants and people. Callers claim that spirits of living creatures are more responsive. They say that one should call for a spirit based on it's role and personality, not one what substance it is aligned with. For conflict or battle, one would call a hunter like Wolf. For Knowledge one would call a wise spirit like Owl. For complex aid in the world, like healing or building, it is best to call an ancestor spirit like Grandfather or Grandmother.

Callers do not claim to that a summoned spirit is pulled from a place to be made a servant, nor do they claim that they call their particular ancestors. The Grandmother Spirit is grandmother of metahumanity, spoken of it the myths of many peoples. To a Caller, she is a part of all people, and perhapes places and animals as well. One calls on an aspect of her, for she dwells in the hearts of all people.

As a tradition, Totem Callers and shameless in adopting the various spirits and ancestral archetypes of numerous cultures. For example, they will call Octopus trickster spirits as easily as Crow, Fox or Monkey.

Callers claim that the spirits of life they call on prefer to take up residence in a form rather than be forced to take an unnatural form, and Callers therefore practice possession summoning as a form of respect. They also claim that different spirits have preferences for their hosts. A Wolf spirit, called for combat, prefers a predatory form. A Trickster spirit prefers something cunning and manipulative. Ancestor spirits prefer human forms. Callers say it is especially disrespectful to offer corpses up for possession.

[Makki]

this is so close to the Bravestarr character I have in mind. Thx (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

However, I prefer to switch Guidance to Water and Man to Earth. For a more nature focussed route.

[3278]

Callers say it is especially disrespectful to offer corpses up for possession.

You know, that is pretty rude, when you think about it. If I were a spirit, I'd be a little put off if that's what someone gave me to walk about in.

Great character concept, and I like your execution of it, as well. Have you considered becoming a licensed animal handler or trainer, for cover and to get permits and such? If you set yourself up as the owner of an exotic animal rescue organization, you have a cover for your animals, and even for some modifications "they might have had before they came into my hands, officer." And when you have the license to keep and transport the barghest, it's a lot less trouble to keep and transport the barghest.

If people actually donate their purloined and out-of-control hellhounds* to you, there's actually a source of new free animals, as well. This happens shockingly often in the real world, where someone buys a tiger and builds a cinderblock cage for it in the back yard and thinks that's going to keep it from eating someone. Hence, exotic animal rescue.

You don't have to be the Dog Whisperer, you can just be a local guy who runs an exotic animal shelter. Plus, you can and should then have the skills to actually train the animals yourself, saving some training costs versus just "buying" the animals. Seems like Day Job and Trust Fund, as someone else mentioned, would be a good combination to finance all this, but there's no reason you couldn't finance it like any other lifestyle: by breaking laws for money.

[BlackJaw]

I'm still tweaking things in my Excel spread sheet (I'm way overspent on BP at the moment,) but having the right licenses is something on their at the moment. In fact he has various sets of licenses under each of his two fake SiNs. One is his "daily living" SiN that makes him out to be a Vet and animal trainer with permission to work with Paranormal critters. The other is a cheaper Fake SiN for shadowruning purposes. He's also got an "assistance animal" license for each of his 4 combat trained warform wolfhounds.

My concept for the character is that he use to be full vet and likely connected with some forestry service or similar. He was also attached to some paracritter smuggling or the like, and ended up going to jail for a few years. He got out a few years back but has had to start living (and working) under a fake SiN and set of licenses because no one will hire a vet or animal trainer with a record. He can't risk taking big jobs or contracts under his fake id because he'd get caught. He's once again found himself dealing with criminal and criminal actions in order to keep his bills paid.

As an added bonus, corps are not likely to pick him up as an employee because:
1) He's a shaman, and they prefer hermetic mages
2) As a mystic adept paracritter trainer, he can't train creatures to deal with the astral because he can't see astral space.
3) He's an Ork, and they may be a bit racist, at least if you ask him
4) Now he's got a record for illegal animal dealings.

Actually, to go over where I currently sit:

He's a Mystic Adept Orc. Magic 5: 2-adept, 3-magic.

His spells mostly focus on healing and animal handling.
Heal, Calm Animal, Control Actions, Shapechange, Eyes of the Pack

His Adept powers are wider ranging:
Improved Reflexes 1, Improved Sense: Scent, Animal Empathy 1

His qualities currently include Animal Empathy, Mystic Adept, and Mentor Spirit (Earth Mother).
Negatives are at: Sensitive System, Sensitive Neural Structure, SiNNer (Criminal), and 5 points I haven't nailed down yet. I'm thinking Incompetent in some viable skill, like Hacking or Shadowing.

His combat skills right now are:
Blades, with a specialization in swords because machetes are considered swords.
Exotic Weapon: Dart gun
Automatics
Unarmed combat, with a specialization in Natural weapons.

The unarmed combat is a great combo with Shapechange, where his options include Black Bears. To further advance that combo I've got a Rank 3 Manipulation Sustaining Focus, so he doesn't have to take the -2 to actions in his new form.

I've got him using the Animal Husbandry and Biotech skill groups, which makes him a medic and animal healer. Sorcery and Conjuration skill groups make him a viable shaman. Add to that the "needed" generic skills: Perception, Dodge, and Infiltration. I've got a specialization of Smell in perception, making it his key "sense."

In the "it makes sense" category: 1 point of Pilot Ground Vehicle, with a specialization in wheeled, and 1 rank in both Computers and Data Search, making him basically computer literate., Lastly I've got a single rank in some rounding out skill groups: Outdoors, Influence, and Athletics, which tend to use attributes he currently has decent values in.

All of which, when combined with his massive gear (too complex to post in full at the moment) and Lifestyle needs results in being a number of build points over. I haven't even started on contacts yet, and I'll need SeaShadows (digital group) and some sort of source for his critters and vet-tech.

My plan at this point is still to build him out and then clip him back to reach the BP limit by clipping gear and skills down to a core. I'm suspecting I may need to break up some skill groups and take specific skills with more specializations.

[Daylen]

No bandit? or no license for his bandit?

[Irion]

Jesus christ, just start off small times.
Use the appropriated knowledge/hobby skill to tame animals and there should be spells like control animal.
So you have a mage with some additional skill. Make it a intuition based tradition (or even make one up)

And the RP for training yourselfe a merlin hawk in game can be very great, depending on the GM.

Just do not step into the concept to strong from the start. Start with using wild animals as help if needed.
In off time train your own. Use them if they are needed.
Thats maybe the big point of such a character: Use resources as needed do not bring all of your pack to every mission...

@BlackJaw

The trouble with exotic and paranormal animals is the extreme cost in getting them trained.

I can have a pack of combat trained warform wolfdhounds for less than the cost of a single moderately trained Merlin Hawk, and I'm not sure what advantage the hawk provides... It's got some magic spellcasting and Spirit summoning, but that puts me at step removed from directing the spirit or spells. Not just a step removed, but that step is a non-sapient bird that is too expensive to risk on most runs. Hell, it's dual natured so it'll have trouble dealing with the common wards in most runs. Considering I'm already playing a spellcaster that can spells and summon spirits, the bird is still too much liability and not enough fun.

The other issue is that implants on an animal mess up Pack dynamics unless they are VGI, and VGI only works on cat-sized or smaller, so I can't easily get a pack of cyber-dogs, although I can see how making a single chimeric or warform attack dog could be rather useful.

Right now I'm looking at a small pack of 4 Warform Wolfhounds (nothing illegal about driving around town with 4 dogs in the back of your truck.) In many situations I could use 1 of them as a "seeing eye dog" and fake being semi-blind. If it's a more direct combat kind of run, I can just bring the whole pack with me, and they'll gain a nice +4 Pack/tacnet type bonus on their various actions. And of course I can always summon a possession spirit for the dogs when I need them to be crazy effective.

I'm also dropping some cash on a chimeric cyber-rat. It's modified with wall crawling and adaptive coloring, and enhanced infiltration. It's cyber eyes, ear recorder, and goad allow me to direct it on scouting missions via wireless (but no rigging.) I've also got it equipped with a shock implant, so I could use it to taze guards or fry electronics if desired. It's also got full combat training so I can use it effectively.

I'm also starting to consider getting Rat Bombs or something similar. They'd be stripped down versions of the the above rat, with an area of effect cranial bomb.

I'm also trying to track down the most appropriate rule set of making non-standard armor. I suspect it's in Runner's Companion (for the less meta-human races) and/or in Arsenal in the gear modification rules (Metahuman adjusted stuff... although it's aimed more at trolls.) I did a search for Armor in Running Wild and aside from a throw away line about elvish horse barding, there was no crunch.

Well, that sounds about right... But while paying to stuff it into the rats head (and I have to say, the head of the rat is much smaller). I do not know the rules, but for critters it was go delta... so.
If you want exploding rats, just strap on a suicide belt. The point of suicide bombers is, that they are cheap if you have no concerne for life. So why mess with a working concept...

[BlackJaw]

Here's my latest build, and the first to not be over BP!

Attributes:
6 Body
3 Agility
1 Reaction (2 with Adept Powers)
3 Strength
3 Charisma
2 Intuition
2 Logic
3 Willpower
2 Edge
5 Magic (3 Magician / 2 Adept)
6 Essence

Metatype: Ork

Positive Qualities:
Mystic Adept
Mentor Spirit (Great Mother)
Animal Empathy

Negative Qualities
Sensitive System
Sensitive Neural Structure
SiNner (Criminal Version, did some time for links to paracritter smuggling ring)
Day Job 1 (Animal Trainer & Vet)

Adept Powers:
Improved Reflexes 1
Improved Senses (Smell)
Animal Empathy 1

Spells:
Heal (Fetish Limited)
Eyes of the Pack
Calm Animal
Control Actions
Shapechange
Fashion

Skills:
Biotech Group 3 (dice pool 5, +Gear)
Animal Husbandry Group 2 (dicepool ~4, +3 Animal Empathy's, +Gear on Vettech too)
Conjuring Group 4 (dicepool 7, +2 Plant Spirits, +2 at home)
Sorcery Group 3 (dicepool 6, +2 Healing spells, +2 at home)
Exotic Weapons: Dart Guns 5 (dicepool 8, +2 smartlink)
Automatics 2 (dicepool 5, +2 smartlink)
Unarmed Combat 5 (dicepool 8, +2 natural weapons specialization)
Infiltration 1 (dicepool 4, +2 possible bonuses from shapechange forms)
Dodge 2 (dicepool 4)
Perception 1 (dicepool 3, +2 smell, +adept power)
Pilot Ground Vehicle 1 (dicepool 4, +2 specialization wheeled)

Knowledge Skills
Native Language: English
Biology 1 (Specialization Zoology)
Salish-Shidhe Council 1 (Specialization Cascade Orks)
Security Design 1 (Specialization guard animals)
Language: Or'zet (Specialization Animal Commands)

Contacts
Talismonger 1L / 3C
Animal Contact (buy/sell, gear, etc) 2L / 3C

Gear
Fake SiN 3, AKA: Lifestyle SiN (Licenses: Vehicle, Animal Training, Para-animals, Veterinarian)
Fake SiN 2, AKA: Running SiN (Assistance Animals, Vehicles)
Commlink (Renraku Sensi 2R / 4S: Renraku Ichi 2 / 2)
Subvocal Mic
Magical Lodge 3
Fetish: Healing (In Med Kit/on self)
Fetish: Healing (Backup at home)
Medical Shop (Used: Gremlines 1)
Gaz Pickup Truck (Off road tires, morphing plate, spoof chip, manual control/drive by wire, Valkyrie module, smuggling compartment, used Gremlins 1)
Survival Kit
Sustaining Focus 1 (worn on wide necklace, able to fit Bear Form)
Parashield Dart Pistol (external Smartgun)
Parashield Dart Rifle (external Smartgun, Optical Imaging scope with many options)
Extra ammo clips full of Narcojet
HK-227X SMG (Personalized Grip, Fore-grip, heavy barrel)
Extra clips of Explosive ammo
Armored Vest (Gelpacks, Resized to Bear form via Fashion Spell)
Camoflaged Suit (All Secure Tech PPP except helm, Gelpacks)
Glasses (Smartlink, Flarecomp, Imagelink, Vision enhancement 1)
Medkit 6
3x Stim Patch 5, (3 of them at potency 3)
1x Trauma Patch
3x Wolfhound Warform Dogs, combat trained
3x dog sized armored vests (Biofabrics for basic medical data)
3x Metalink commlink dog collars
3x "Assistance animal" fake licences
3x Stealth RFID tags, implanted
Full Combat training for the pack of 3
Norwegian Rat, Chimeric with Cyberware
Orientation Goad
Eye Recording Unit
Ear Recording Unit
Select Sound Filter 1
Shockhand
Implanted Metalink Commlink with Signal 4 upgrade (max)
Stealth RFID tag, implanted
Rat has full "unatural" training regiment for infiltration via remote commands
Crow, warform with cyberware via VGI
Orientation goad
Cyberye with Lowlight and thermographic
Ear Recording Unit
Select Sound Filter 1
Crow has full "unatural" training for acting as a spy in odd environments.

Lifestyle
Comforts: Low
Entertainment: Low
Necessities: Middle
Neighborhood: Low
Security: High

Animal Lover 2
Reinforced Housing 1
Aspected Domain
Black Hole 1 (Crow most likely)
Workplace
Poor Condition
Rough Neighborhood

House Rules at our table
30 extra BP for rounding out characters: 1 rank each in Outdoors, Athletics, and Influence skill groups
Bonus to Perception equal to Intuition for all characters (not included in dicepool above)

Further Tweaks
I still have $1835 left to tweak a few things, maybe pickup some untrained animals for further training.

[Midas]

Totem Caller Tradition
Magic is the influence of living spirits in the world. The spirits of animals, which came before man, are the oldest and most potent, but the spirits of the ancestors more closely watch over you.

• Combat: Beasts (Predatory Animals: Wolf or Shark)
• Detection: Guidance (Wise Animals: Owl or Bear)
• Health: Plant (Herbalists Ancestors: Grandmother or Crone)
• Illusion: Air (Trickster Animals: Crow, or Rat)
• Manipulation: Man (Leader Ancestors: Grandfather or Architect)
• Drain: Willpower + Charisma
• Note: This is a possession tradition.

"The Spirits of all that live are around us, unseen but not unfelt. Most ignore humans, although if you ask them correctly, they can awaken and come to your aid."

As a GM, I would call "Shenanigans" on a tradition using spirits of Beast, Plant and Man, but that's just me ...

[Midas]

Like the concept, though.

Also: what no Pilot Anthroforms?

[Udoshi]

As a GM, I would call "Shenanigans" on a tradition using spirits of Beast, Plant and Man, but that's just me ...

What would you prefer for a more shamanistic tradition? Guidance? got it. Guardian?
I think he's trying to AVOID using a tradition with purely spirits from Street magic, as they're generally better. Besides, it seems to be a shaman variant, and those get man anyway.

After all, beasts need someone to tame them and feed them.

If I were a GM, I'd rather see a neat custom tradition than..... more Voodoo with channeling.

[3278]

Here's my latest build, and the first to not be over BP!

If I were your GM, here are the things I'd say:

Attributes:
6 Body
3 Agility
1 Reaction (2 with Adept Powers)
3 Strength
3 Charisma
2 Intuition
2 Logic
3 Willpower

I would think someone who works with animals would have a higher Willpower and Charisma and Intuition, and not necessarily such a high body. Planning to get shot a lot? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

Negative Qualities
Sensitive System
Sensitive Neural Structure

If I had a nickle...

Skills:
Animal Husbandry Group 2 (dicepool ~4, +3 Animal Empathy's, +Gear on Vettech too)
Exotic Weapons: Dart Guns 5 (dicepool 8, +2 smartlink)
Automatics 2 (dicepool 5, +2 smartlink)

Why dart guns over automatics? Actually, why Automatics? As a weapon choice for an animal trainer, it seems like a strange one. And why are you so much better at shooting things with darts than you are at training animals?

Perception 1 (dicepool 3, +2 smell, +adept power)

I would want more, but if your group gives a bonus equal to Intuition, that probably all evens out.

Language: Or'zet (Specialization Animal Commands)

Really? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

All critique aside, I love the character. If I thought something like this would work in our games, I'd be all over this concept.

[Tymeaus Jalynsfe...]

As a GM, I would call "Shenanigans" on a tradition using spirits of Beast, Plant and Man, but that's just me ...

Why, they are not the best of the spirit combinations?

[Makki]

Why, they are not the best of the spirit combinations?

ask 10 dumpshockers what the best 5 spirits are, you get at least 10 different answers.

[Tymeaus Jalynsfe...]

ask 10 dumpshockers what the best 5 spirits are, you get at least 10 different answers.

Perhaps, but it still does not answer the question, now does it? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Yerameyahu]

Ten different answers that overlap a *ton*.

[PresentPresence]

But the top two will still probably be Air and Man.

[Makki]

Perhaps, but it still does not answer the question, now does it? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Ten different answers that overlap a *ton*.

But the top two will still probably be Air and Man.

lets find out: http://forums.dumpshock.com/index.php?showtopic=36210

[BlackJaw]

I would think someone who works with animals would have a higher Willpower and Charisma and Intuition, and not necessarily such a high body. Planning to get shot a lot? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

When I started building the character, he had mostly average stats across the board. There really wasn't a good place focus on because this character is kind of a generalist. Healing is mostly Logic, Spellcasting needs Willpower and Charisma, Animal Training and perception need Intuition, combat needs reaction and body and agility, and melee combat in particular needs strength.

Then I made him an Ork, which booted his Body and Strength up a bit. Then I noticed Shapechange limits target critter forms by body +/- 2, so I upped his body to the point he could turn into a Grizzly Bear.

As it became clear I needed to lower his BP costs, I ended up taking away some attributes. I lowered his body (he can now take on Black Bear form but not Grizzly,) and took away some of the social attributes (charisma and intuition) because I felt it was balanced out by the 3 dice worth of Animal Empathy he gets. Those dice are explicitly valid on all checks for all the skills in the Animal Husbandry group. That effectively makes him much better at animal handling and vet work than at the human equivalent counterparts, which is why I left his Biotech higher than his Animal Husbandry.

I do see your point here, however. I suspect I'll toy with lowering his Body a bit more and adding those points elsewhere. Intuition seems a good place.

I'm now considering the idea that he can turn into one his wolf hounds and run with the pack... something that will require a lower body score. I can use those points to alter his mental stats which will aid his perception, spellcasting, and animal training at the same time.

Negative Qualities
Sensitive System
Sensitive Neural Structure

If I had a nickle...

Actually I'd say Sensitiv Neural Structure is a tiny bit of a hit on a character that might otherwise make use of Biorigged critters... once he could afford (or steal) one. Now he's unlikely to ever do so rigged in.
The Sensitive System is, I admit, a cop out. At least I didn't take "Incompetent: hacking" or the nanoware intolerance negative qualities to go with it. Can you recommend something more interesting? I have considered making him Wanted (skipped bail on his paracritter smuggling charges?) or the like.

Why dart guns over automatics? Actually, why Automatics? As a weapon choice for an animal trainer, it seems like a strange one. And why are you so much better at shooting things with darts than you are at training animals?

Actually my weapon choice for an animal trainer/rescue/smuggler type is the Dart Gun, which makes a lot of sense in my mind. If you want to take animals alive, you tranq them. His dart-rifle is actually tricked out like a fancy hunting rifle.
I originally had him with a few ranks of the Firearm Group to go with it, but as I started clipping BP to get him under budget I decided to limit him to a single skill. My group gave me a stern talking to when I made my hacker character a Pistol user, and said if I was going to only take 1 firearm skill, it should be Automatics. it works with machine pistols, SMGs, and Assult rifles... which covers a wide range of weapon sizes and abilities. Also, autofire helps give bonuses to hit, which is helpful.

Storywise, I figure Longarms are more apt. Rifles and Shotguns fit the hunter mold... but I went a bit meta-game. I could try to argue that SMGs and the like are what he was handed when on illegal border runs, but that's thin excuse.

As for the Animal Training vs Shooting things... well I'm taking the advice that I need to be competent on my own, with the Animal thing as a nifty extra. This is a Shadowrun game, and if my character is overly focused on animal stuff, then he won't be that useful on 75% of runs. Now if he's able to quietly tranq targets with a dart-gun rifle, and transform into an angry bear and rip people's throats out... well now he's viable on his own even when he can't bring animals along.

Perception 1 (dicepool 3, +2 smell, +adept power)

I would want more, but if your group gives a bonus equal to Intuition, that probably all evens out.

The group I joined has an odd rule about bonus perception ranks. I'm not sure if it's a hold over from past editions (I'm not familair with past editions) or what... but in this case I like the idea of the character having a Wolverine like sense of smell.

Language: Or'zet (Specialization Animal Commands)

Really? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

Guard dogs, police dogs, and similar in the modern world often have their commands in German or Dutch. It's because the premier police/military dog breeding & training schools are in those countries and it's a lot easier to train the handler to speak the new language than it is for the dog to learn English (or french, spanish, etc) commands.
Only neither my character nor his pets are from Europe... they're from the Cascade Orks... and although I can't find much info on the Cascade Orks (other than they are "tribal" and in favor of smuggling) I figured they may make use of the (fake) Ork language in some token ways. Also, it seemed like a fun way to play up his Pro-Ork stance.

[3278]

I'm now considering the idea that he can turn into one his wolf hounds and run with the pack... something that will require a lower body score.

I was thinking of this while reading your reply: that 6 handicaps your ability to become some interesting things. I really find that limitation troubling; I comprehend the reason for it, but if I were playing a mage, I'd petition the GM for a higher-drain version that was a little more liberal with the difference in allowable Body.

The Sensitive System is, I admit, a cop out. At least I didn't take "Incompetent: hacking" or the nanoware intolerance negative qualities to go with it. Can you recommend something more interesting? I have considered making him Wanted (skipped bail on his paracritter smuggling charges?) or the like.

Man, 15 points is tough, within the character's background. Pacifist and Gremlins? Uncouth? Uneducated? A lot depends on background.

Actually my weapon choice for an animal trainer/rescue/smuggler type is the Dart Gun, which makes a lot of sense in my mind. If you want to take animals alive, you tranq them. His dart-rifle is actually tricked out like a fancy hunting rifle.

Duh. I should have thought. Not sure where my head was there.

I like the idea of the character having a Wolverine like sense of smell.

I think it's one of the coolest things. I've worked with bloodhounds, and it's just astonishing what that level of scenting can give you if you know what to do with it. [For a good set of story examples, witness Connor in Angel.] It's a world humans don't normally have access to, although we're usually better than we think.

Guard dogs, police dogs, and similar in the modern world often have their commands in German or Dutch.

Been thinking about doing this with our Shar Pei guard dog, but the only Chinese I know isn't useful to teach a dog.

[Udoshi]

Actually my weapon choice for an animal trainer/rescue/smuggler type is the Dart Gun, which makes a lot of sense in my mind. If you want to take animals alive, you tranq them. His dart-rifle is actually tricked out like a fancy hunting rifle.

Have you considered the moral, ethical, and ammo cost ramifications of using Stunbolt for this as well?

because stunbolt is hella good.

[BlackJaw]

Have you considered the moral, ethical, and ammo cost ramifications of using Stunbolt for this as well?

because stunbolt is hella good.

Partly I really like the idea of a Dart Gun, for style reasons and for the varible functionality of what you load in the darts.

Partly I've intentionally geared my character away from Combat Spells. For one thing, my mentor spirit is a penalty on Combat Spells. I wasn't going for a combat mage so much as a healer/animal handler shaman type.

Also... I'm not the best spellcaster around.


New Business:
So I've only just now recalled that as a Possession practitioner, I can have watcher spirits possess things and interact with the physical world. I think I may need to buy a Force 1 homonculious of some kind.

Maybe some binding materiels too... or would I be better off keeping my base "extra cash" so that I can get more game start-funds and use that to buy binding materiels and a cheap homonculious.

[Tymeaus Jalynsfe...]

Partly I really like the idea of a Dart Gun, for style reasons and for the varible functionality of what you load in the darts.

Partly I've intentionally geared my character away from Combat Spells. For one thing, my mentor spirit is a penalty on Combat Spells. I wasn't going for a combat mage so much as a healer/animal handler shaman type.

Also... I'm not the best spellcaster around.


New Business:
So I've only just now recalled that as a Possession practitioner, I can have watcher spirits possess things and interact with the physical world. I think I may need to buy a Force 1 homonculious of some kind.

Maybe some binding materiels too... or would I be better off keeping my base "extra cash" so that I can get more game start-funds and use that to buy binding materiels and a cheap homonculious.

Puppies make excellent Homonculi... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Paul]

I was thinking of this while reading your reply: that 6 handicaps your ability to become some interesting things. I really find that limitation troubling; I comprehend the reason for it, but if I were playing a mage, I'd petition the GM for a higher-drain version that was a little more liberal with the difference in allowable Body.

I'd at least listen to this sort of idea.