Is there any way for a PC to gain a critter power on a permanent basis? Through Surge, or Adept Powers of some kind? If there isn't a path to that currently, what would you cost the following as Surge/Adept powers? Mist Form, Animal Control (), Concealment, etc.

Mist form only by HMHVV Vampire.
Animal Control, should be doable with Adept-Power. At least Magic Spells can do that.
Concealment can probably only be done by Magical SPELLS too.

Be a critter lol.

Seriously, between the infected and Free Wild Spirits, you can pretty much get any critter power.

Most critter powers are easy to obtain if you can summon spirits. Seriously, just summon a spirit in the morning and tell it to sustain whatever power you want for the rest of the day. It doesn't cost you anything except maybe a little stun damage and some forethought. Mist form is one you can't get through summoning. I'd say if the PC really wants that power he would have to go out and get bitten by a vampire. I wouldn't offer critter powers as SURGE or Adept powers because it'd be hard to price them without being game breaking.

Surge does allow Spell/Spirit Knack as a meta-genetic quality. The question I guess would be whether or not an already awakened being could pick them up through surge. An adept picking up a spell Knack, or a spirit knack (magicians and mystic adepts have no need).

Rules as Written, only through playing an Infected, Sentient Critter, or Free Spirit.

Through House Rules, I have personally replaced the Spell/Spirit Knack & Aspected Magician qualities with a variant Aspected Magician & Magical Knack, the latter granting a single Critter Power, priced dependent on the power chosen (for example Concealment [Self Only] is 10 BP, Animal Control is 5 BP, & Regeneration is 25 BP).

Magical compounds, temporarily.

Even then, Magical Compounds only work if the character is already awakened or the power being granted does not require a Magic attribute. And they still usually are not actually the critter power, but a not-so-good variant (the Regeneration one for example deals Essence damage).

If your GM is feeling nice you could house rule a way. We had a house Adept power that allowed someone to take a critter power by eating them. Number of powers you could have if I remember right was either magic magic divided by 2 or 3. I am pretty sure it was 3.

*looks left, then looks right, making sure Embers doesn't realize they've slipped into the thread*

The power in question was Mist Form, to better emulate the Mist Lynx as a mentor spirit. I kind of like the idea in principle, but without a LOT of handwavium, can't come up with a good way to implement it. It's not like it's way overpowered or anything compared to a lot of other things, either.

Although... I COULD do it as a "expanded" power of the Mentor, only accessible as an-

An initiate power perhaps? Duration limited to Initiate Grade minutes or some such?

Thoughts?

Not completely: there is no spell that can hide you from Assensing. Extended masking can hide the spell and desguise your aura, but you are still as easy to spot.

As a metamagic power power would work for me, but I was more curious in general. It would seem like critter powers would be tailor made for surge, picking up innate spell (rather than spell knack), or animal control. Yes, certain powers are much stronger than others, but I do think at least some of them make sense.

The biggest problem must be Regeneration. Can't let the PCs put their hands on that.

Its already availible through being a shapeshifter, or possibly a power pact. What really needs to be done is just to have the various critter powers given a build point price and then let Surged characters take them at those costs.

I've got TWO players with the regeneration ability - one of them is a shifter (coyote) and the other is a vampire. both of which tend to have negatives that balance out their abilities fairly well.

Regeneration isn't all that powerful anyway. Roll Magic and heal [hits] boxes of damage once a combat round. Basically it's free after-combat healing, which should be minor in any case (if a party is constantly getting into fights that leave them with 6+ boxes of physical each either they or the GM is doing something wrong). Medkits can heal up to their rating (or the user's skill) which comes in at about 3 boxes on average (3 skill + 3 medkit + 3 logic => ~3 hits, anything higher is pretty specialized) followed by a magical Heal for another 2 boxes. Voila, 5 boxes healed and the caster probably didn't even take any stun.
(Medkits work on stun damage too, so everyone should be fully healed at the expense of no expendable resources after every fight)

first aid has a threshold of 2.

Why not? An average human with that power, unlike a vampire or shapeshifter, would be the Tamanous' wet dream - slice them open, scoop out all the valuable bits, wait for them to regenerate, repeat ad nauseum. It's simply a matter of balancing out the potential benefits with potential liabilities.

Regeneration is too easy.
Ethernal Flower is a DRUG that gives this . .

Point. Still, 3+3+6 (that being moderate intelligence, and unlikely candidate for the guy performing first aid, but with moderate skill, and most expensive kit) still heals 2 boxes, plus 2 from magic is 4, which equates to 30 to 45% of every player's total "hit points."

Ramp that up to 6 skill, 6 logic, 6 kit and you get 4 boxes healed. Toss in a little magic that deals some stun (we can first aid that!) and you can get another 4 boxes, for a total of 8, which brings back characters bordering on death.

And that's before using edge.

The requirements for the qualities don't disappear simply because you're taking them as a SURGE trait rather than a standard quality. So no, magicians couldn't take those types of SURGE traits.


That's neither permanent nor without severe long-term consequences, namely addiction and Essence loss.

well then you just speedball it and roll on the potions miscibility table... i mean... uhhh... yeah, that wouldn't work

(really though, i don't think in general critter powers should be handed out permanently. certain critter powers maybe, but i don't think they should all be available via surge or anything like that)

I have a "working relationship" with Eddie, the neighborhood poltergeist. He is really interested in human sexuality, and he himself has the uncanny ability to repair damage very quickly. So, for the capability of casting my Orgy spell, Eddie has Pacted his regenerative abilities to me. I like Eddie. (game info: F1/Edge 1 Free Spirit Power Pact - 5 BP)