Long ago, a friend created a Piranha totem to use in a Shadowrun campaign. I never allowed it into the game, and we never reached a compromise on it. I post it here as an exercise to the reader.

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Piranha Totem

Characteristics: Piranha are highly sensitive, territorial and vicious. Thrown into murderous rampages at the drop of a hat, piranha's have a tendency to shun large groups as too avoid the social implications of some claustrophobic slaughter in a crowded mall. Always aware of infringements of their large personal space bubbles both on the physical as well as the astral planes, piranha's tend to kill whatever has invaded their space, whenever they feel crowded. Piranha also are very sensitive to wounded, and instinctively attack all that are sick or wounded in their presence. Piranha shamans only originate from a small group of tribes found along the Amazon river in the southern part of aztlan, therefore Aztechnology has a tendency to look for and abduct all the magically sensitive children from that region at very young ages.

Favored Environment: Near water, Wilderness and low populated areas.

Advantages: +4 dice for all spells when used as an attack, +2 dice for healing self spells. Piranha shaman have +4 dice to combat pool as a naturally occurring Combat Sense Spell.

Astral Awareness: Any time something enters the piranha shamans personal space bubble of 20 meters in astral space, the shaman is automatically pulled into astral perception, and may make a willpower (4) test to resist, if failed however, the piranha shaman is pulled all the way into astral projection, immediately attacking the intruder with his most damaging spell (usually to the surprise of the intruder).

Disadvantages: Piranha shaman cannot learn detection, illusion or spells to heal others. Piranha shamans must make a willpower test against the number of people and spirits that have invaded their 20 meter personal space bubble, or begin attacking the invaders with his most damaging spell until he can successfully make the test . If there is any wounded on the physical or astral plane that can be perceived by the piranha he must make a willpower(4) test ,or attack the wounded that he has perceived, with his most damaging spell. A wounded piranha will lash out at anything that moves unless he makes a willpower (6) test ( each time he is wounded) until nothing living around him is moving, or he's incapacitated.


Piranha Spirits:
B: F+4
Q: F*2
S: F+2
C: 1
I: F-2
W: F
E: F
R: F+4
Powers: Mana Bolt, Mana Missile, Mana Ball, Power Bolt, Power Missile, Power Ball, Bite(Strength (S))

Domain: Piranha spirits school anywhere there is a piranha shaman.

Special notes: Piranha spirits have the same characteristics as the shaman and must make willpower tests for claustrophobia, or wounded. Piranha spirits also travel in schools, when summoned 1D6 +3 spirits show up, they attack the same target , as a unit ( attacks are resolved individually per spirit.) . Once called, Piranha spirits will never wander farther then 1000 meters away from the shaman that called them, and new spirits will come each time the shaman calls for some *. Many stories have been told of piranha shamans being devoured by all the spirits that he had called on in his life time. To reflect this, each spirit requires it's own 20 meter space bubble, so once the shaman has called on more then 50 spirits, they all infringe on each other's as well as the shamans personal space and eventually large battles between spirits and shamans come to a head **. Piranha spirits ban together and attack anyone that tries to banish them, the shaman who called them can not banish them due to his positive feelings of being in a school...

* Sometimes the spirits of the past may wander through and attack wounded (this includes the shaman as well) the more spirits the shaman has called in the past, the higher the frequency of this occurring.

** If a piranha shaman is killed by his spirits then the school will continue to wander the astral plane untethered to any one area.


Optional rules:
1) for every piranha shaman that is not under the control of Aztechnology, there is one that is.
2) All piranha shamans that are not under the control of Aztechnology, are being hunted by the corporation and start with a hunted -3 flaw.

...

that's, uh.... that's way too much. Even for MY campaign.

I've got an idea. Just do a find/replace in the existing totem descriptions, and change "Shark" to "Piranha."

Ta-da! My idea wins, because it's not bug fucking insane.

Instead of making a new thread, you should have simply posted that obscenity here.

*ROFL* That reads like it is written by a 12 year old wannabe-munchkin.

Well, in Churl Beck's defense, he did say "a long time ago" (IE, maybe when they were dumb kids), and "I never allowed it into my game."

So it could be worse.

That's exactly why I didn't call him a 12 year old munchkin.^^

Wow, I like it.

Per say, I wouldn't ever allow it for a PC due to the impossibility of being a successful shadowrunner, but I like the character idea. Maybe a random event occurance to throw against the team (a strong team ).

Most of the advantages both positive and negative were well explained, nicely done. I can see why aztechnology would try to grab these guys, very powerful but hard to control.

Why wouldn't this character work as a shadowrunner? No subtelty and 0% teamwork. Wherever this shaman goes, people die. Massive carnage, immense numbers of dead, and amazing amounts of forensic evidence. Maybe as a one shot expendable assassin...

I think several people have no real concept of how ridiculous a "personal bubble" of 20 meters is.

Whenever any living creature moves anywhere within 65 feet of this Shaman, he starts making Willpower tests, or goes bug-fucking-insane and starts flinging around his most potent spells.

That's beyond absurd.

Agreed. Make it about 2 or 3 feet. And then only if they stay there. Maybe.

If I was going to create a piranha shaman it wouldn’t look close to that.

I see the defining aspect of piranhas as there weak pidlynes individually and the fact that they come in large schools that add up to dangerous.

Those piranha spirits are incredibly powerful as an individual and attack each other.

My proposal

Wise Piranha appreciates the strength of numbers and considers him self strong only as part of a group, and understand that as a group they can defeat opponents many times there individual strength, he will throw himself into the fray with reckless abandon knowing that his life is small and his fellows will succeed even if he dies. He is also more than happy to take advantage op an opponent’s weakness preferring to choose targets that have already been weakened buy another.

Advantages +1die to all spells when working with a group of at least 4(in addition to the Sharman, all must be with the shaman at the time)

Disadvantages, +1 to all target numbers if the shaman dose not have the assistance of at least 2 team mates (need not be with the shaman but the shaman must believe them to be working with him). When the shaman dose have 2 or more team mates /with/ him he can not back down from a fight without making a TN6 will check. (similar to combat monster, once the team mates have run the shaman will be able to run but will be taking +1 to all target numbers because nobody is helping him).

If you want special spirits this is what I would do.

Perana shamans summon spirits that are not quite the same as others, instead of summoning a single spirit they summon a swarm of smaller spirits, the number of spirits is equal to the force. They move and attack as a group taking only one set of actions and having stats as a normal spirit but must be killed individually. They benefit to immunity to normal weapons only as a 1st level spirit but use there full force to soak. Any attack that deals damage will kill one of the small spirits and reduce the force of the whole buy one. In all other respects perana spirits are the same as normal spirits of the land/nature.

Great form piranha spirits gain all the usual advantages except they can not be given extra armour, instead a number of additional spirits are summoned that must be killed before effective force can be affected.

Edward

I'll stick by my "if someone really wants to call themselves a Piranha shaman, fine -- use Shark stats, and change the name" idea.

Heh. I'd allow it.

I'd then hold the meet at a cafe alongside a busy street, and watch as he fails that TN 100 test to avoid going beserk.

Oh, look, a Lonestar blimp drone just caught you killing people on camera! Don't worry, a Lonestar FRT is on the way to rescue all of those innocent victims, assumingthe other runners don't attack the apeshit mage first.

Moral of the story: Don't peeve off the DM with munchkin antics.

I'll just comment on the spirits. Those stats are horribly wrong. The only penalty being mental stats, which are set to Force for all non-ally spirits is completely absurd.

A proper pirahna spirit is numerically just a materializing watcher doing Force L physical damage. The fishies are dangerous because they have numbers, not because they have innate spells of everything in the combat section and massive attack power that puts swordsminotaurs to shame.

.. Don't Piranhas swim in schools anyway???

According to this article they do

so piranhas would from more of a gang mentality, at least until they get older.

If you were going to make a Piranha Mentor for SR4, it would look something like this:

Piranha
Small and individually unimpressive, the piranha is nonetheless amongst the most of all animals. While alone a piranha is a weak and timid individual, travelling in schools she is able to skeletonize her enemies in seconds. Piranha recognizes the strength of the group, and will do anything for her friends. Those outside the group are merely food.

Advantages: +2 Dice to Ritual Spellcasting, +2 Dice for Combat Spells
Disadvantages: Piranha are uncomfortable outside of a group setting, and are at -1 dice to all social tests while alone. A follower of Piranha must succeed at a Willpower + Charisma (3) test to intiate combat against an opponent that outnumbers her.

-Frank

Don't forget, folks:

In addition to being bloodthirsty under certain circumstances, piranha are CANNIBALS.

I'm not sure I'd want to be (a) a Shaman following the Piranha totem if the spirits decide to turn on him/her; or

(b) someone in the vicinity of a Shaman following that totem should he/she fail a Willpower check and end up under the control of the totem.

(If that's possible. My (admittedly) limited expertise is in the area of Adepts, not Shamans or Mages.)

--Foreigner

Cannnibals? Not really. Most of the time they seem to be fairly tame rather than the film version of natures shredding machines. Couple minutes searching turned up pages saying how a lot of locals in South America swim in waters with Piranhas without getting a scartch and that some types also eat vegetable matter.

Piranha are a little bit of both. As pets, nearly all kinds are recommended to be kept solitary, as otherwise you will eventually end up with one piranha (or at least one healthy and one rather injured piranha).

~J

Someone should make a candiru totem.

I'm sorry, but every time someone mentions the Candiru, I keep getting that routine by The Monarch in The Venture Bros. cartoon.....

I'm sorry that people talk about Candiru in your presence enough that you have something you "always do", "every time."

-Frank

While on strange totems:
Humahumanukunukuapua
Humahumanukunukuapua is a small topical fish. However that has little to do with the benefits or drawbacks of the totem.

Advantages: +3 dice to all tests involving something that requires a word with more than 5 syllables. Such as any actions involving an antidisestablishmentarianist.

Disadvantages: the player may be called upon at any time by the GM to properly pronounce the totem. If this fails, the character is devoid of magic for 24 game hours or until the next GM questioning whim.

Don't forget that they swim in and around water that is boiling due to lava flows... so maybe add:

Immunity: Steam/Scalding Water

edit: Oh wait, you were just joking. *feels stupid now*

It is true that there are several spices of vegetarian fish closely related to piranha. They sell in Australia as silver dollars (although they reach the size of side plates). Although taxonomically they may be a type of piranha and the similarities are easy to observe they are now what is commonly thought of as piranha.

Most of the totems pull from social or mythical interpretations of the animal (bears don’t practice first aid) this is something that should be kept in mind.

Edward

What about a kookaburra totem? try coming up with something for that...

Here's a thought, folks:

Does anyone think that a Mayfly totem is worth the effort?



On second thought, probably not.

After all, you couldn't do much with a Shaman who lived for a day....

Unless you were looking for the ultimate in "deniable/disposable assets", that is.

The magical equivalent of a one-shot disposable rocket launcher, as it were.

--Foreigner

Mayfly

Advantages: +1 on instant duration spells.

Disadvantages: Double the usual "Subject is Awakened" penalty for medical care. It's against the totem's will that you live longer than natural.

I am disappointed by the dearth of Mentor Spirits that are suitable for Mages and Adepts. IMO Mage Mentor Spirits should reflect scientific or proto-scientific concepts and inventions, rather than animals (unless it's a lab rat or a fruit fly). While brainstorming I came up with this idea for a Scientology Mentor Spirit:

Egsusheyftef: Egsusheyftef is the ultimate computing machine, more fantastically capable and infinitely more elaborate than any ever constructed. It is perfect and absolutely incapable of error. It directs the shaman in the dynamic principle of existence: immortality or infinite survival.

Advantages: +2 to Health spells.

Disadvantages: -1 to Physical spells. Followers of this totem insist that at least 70% of all magic is psychosomatic.


P.S. I also envision "Dissection Mages," the mad scientist equivalent of Toxic Shamans--"Dissected Frog," "Dissected Pig," etc.--conjuring up scarred and eviscerated undead spirits.

Dissection mentors and infinite survival. That gives me an idea for a new mentor spirit to unleash upon your PCs.

The Eternal Friend

Advantages: Followers of the Eternal Friend cannot die no matter how hard they or anyone else tries to kill them. They possess Imunity to Age, Immunity to Toxins and Pathogens, and Regeneration. Their regeneration cannot fail. Even when they throw themselves into volcanos and nuclear explosions out of dispair (and they certainly will) their bodies regenerate perfectly.

Disadvantages: Followers of the Eternal Friend cannot have any contacts. If the character obtains a contact through roleplaying the GM will roll 1d6. If the roll is less than or equal to the contact's loyalty rating the contact is transformed into a beautiful sculpture of dissected flesh. The GM may repeat this roll and is encouraged to do so often.
Friends and family not classified as contacts will instantly suffer this fate without a roll.

And that gave me an idea: Television Totems. E.g.

Friends: The Friends Mentor has an insipid sense of humor and tends to overact.
Advantages: +2 dice to all social skills tests if the target is using English as a second language or has an IQ less than 100.
Disadvantages: Automatic failure when casting any Entertainment spells.

Walker: Texas Ranger: Walker is the god of cheese and B-movie acting, always looking for the right moment to drive a big truck or deliver a roundhouse kick.
Advantages: +6 dice to all Roudhouse Kick tests.
Disadvantages: Followers of this Spirit lack a sense of reality. -2 dice to resist all Illusion spells.

Kookaburra, no need. there defining trait is laughter, just copy one of the trickster totems and ignore the fact that the kookaburra’s laugh is actually an aggressive territorial call.

Edward

Power Rangers: Power Rangers are heroic and naive, always eager to save the world and help little children join the local soccer team all in the same afternoon.

Advantages: Power Rangers are always getting new and improved weaponry. With every new encounter, character receives a cumulative +1 die for all Combat spells.

Disadvantages: Unfortunately, the new and improved weaponry always functions exactly as before. With every new encounter, character receives a cumulative -1 die for all Combat spells.

Well, many Earthdawn groups think so...

Give them the feeling that the death of their PCs maybe was avoidable if they fought better and the players feel much better
And you can grin those "evil-gm-grin".