AWW: Companions and Pets
Apr. 22nd, 2013 10:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alexandraerinSo, I needed to take a break from actually writing the rules out tonight and I wanted to make another blog post, but I couldn't decide what about. Jack suggested the topic of pets.
Now, obviously *everything* I put out is kind of tentative because it's pending playtesting, but this is more tentative because I'm not planning on including pets/animal companions in the initial playtesting rule set. I am planning on including them in the game at launch, but I want to test things out without them first.
Companions are acquired using Gear Points (which, incidentally, means you can also trade Details for them). The basic companion is an animal defined by the player, of anywhere from about rodent to about medium dog size. It comes with a grand total of 2 attribute points that can be put anywhere in the General Attributes (not combat ones) and a small amount of Fight Points it can lose before it will either collapse or flee and be generally unavailable.
It does not act as an autonomous fighter in combat... in fact, it won't fight at all. Its only combat ability is a dodge score, and the character of the animal is basically under the player's control, but it can't be made to do things that an animal couldn't do, though as with all things, AWW errs here on the side of fantastic/cinematic reality.
Like other Gear categories, the animal companion can be customized by traits, like Flying (self explanatory), Clever (both a bit more intelligent than normal and more capable of manipulating objects. Think a monkey or crow), Mount (capable of supporting a rider), etc. Unlike the weapon traits I've previewed, they're not all a flat price of 1 Gear Point... the cost of Flying actually equals the total cost of all other traits possessed, since it becomes more useful the more things the animal companion can do. Like most trait-able gear, animals will come with 1 Gear Point's worth of trait free.
Other traits will add combat potential, including not just actual physical combat but Nuisance, which allows the animal to attack for effect, and Menacing, which allows it to make mental/social attacks.
The other way to enhance your animal companion is to give it attributes... which in this case, literally means spending your own attribute points. Because if your character has a Perception 4 hawk or a Strength 4 horse, that basically means you have those scores at your disposal. There are some disadvantages compared to having all your attribute points in one basket, but there are some advantages, too, so it's assumed to basically balance out.
So it's very simple to have something like a monkey or hawk or snake or horse that can be occasionally useful and add a bit of characterization to the character, but to turn an animal companion into a major part of your character's schtick requires giving up some significant amounts of character resources. One thing that's kind of both the epitome of that and a way around it is the Companion Quality, which gives you an animal companion with an extra pool of attribute points and traits.
Fully Anticipated Questions
Can I have more than one animal companion?
Yes. Technically you could start with about a dozen of them if that floats your boat, but it could get more than a little unwieldy.
How does having companions work in combat?
One thing I borrowed from D&D 4E is the idea that the "action economy" doesn't change just because you're controlling more than one character... AWW's action system is more flexible, but if you do have multiple pets you're better off tag-teaming with them than trying to bring them all into play every round.
What about wizards' familiars?
By default, an animal can't do magic, but if you put either of your animal's points into Magic, they can act as a buffer for you, mitigating the effects of "Magic Burn" (a negative consequence of spell failure). There's also a trait called "Linked" that allows the standard master/familiar sense-sharing thing. That's a 1 point trait, so you could make a basic 1 Gear Point animal, put a point or two of magic in it and pick Linked for the trait, and you'd have a full-fledged familiar.
Can I combine other gear with an animal companion?
Depends on what it is? One possibility that springs to mind is making an animal into a wizards' implement, which goes into the familiar thing and actually seems like a cool idea. You'd have to have the animal in hand/have a hand on it to use it, but hey it would still be cool. Why not.
What about non-animal companions?
D&D 4E did some really great things with their wizards' familiar types including things like tiny demons and devils, miniature gelatinous cubes, constructs, disembodied body parts, skulls, etc.
AWW doesn't by default use specifically defined type for animal companions, it's up to the player's choice and description, so if you want to say that it's a mummified hand or a flying crystal ball that's up to you. Rules as written, the default class of creature is animal but you can change that to something else (undead, construct) to suit your concept. There's no resource cost, as it will rarely matter and the change could be for the better or the worse.
How far can this concept go?
Imagine someone with the Companion Quality and a companion with traits like Summonable, Magic-User, Humanoid, Talking, and Intelligent... you ain't never had a friend like me.
Now, obviously *everything* I put out is kind of tentative because it's pending playtesting, but this is more tentative because I'm not planning on including pets/animal companions in the initial playtesting rule set. I am planning on including them in the game at launch, but I want to test things out without them first.
Companions are acquired using Gear Points (which, incidentally, means you can also trade Details for them). The basic companion is an animal defined by the player, of anywhere from about rodent to about medium dog size. It comes with a grand total of 2 attribute points that can be put anywhere in the General Attributes (not combat ones) and a small amount of Fight Points it can lose before it will either collapse or flee and be generally unavailable.
It does not act as an autonomous fighter in combat... in fact, it won't fight at all. Its only combat ability is a dodge score, and the character of the animal is basically under the player's control, but it can't be made to do things that an animal couldn't do, though as with all things, AWW errs here on the side of fantastic/cinematic reality.
Like other Gear categories, the animal companion can be customized by traits, like Flying (self explanatory), Clever (both a bit more intelligent than normal and more capable of manipulating objects. Think a monkey or crow), Mount (capable of supporting a rider), etc. Unlike the weapon traits I've previewed, they're not all a flat price of 1 Gear Point... the cost of Flying actually equals the total cost of all other traits possessed, since it becomes more useful the more things the animal companion can do. Like most trait-able gear, animals will come with 1 Gear Point's worth of trait free.
Other traits will add combat potential, including not just actual physical combat but Nuisance, which allows the animal to attack for effect, and Menacing, which allows it to make mental/social attacks.
The other way to enhance your animal companion is to give it attributes... which in this case, literally means spending your own attribute points. Because if your character has a Perception 4 hawk or a Strength 4 horse, that basically means you have those scores at your disposal. There are some disadvantages compared to having all your attribute points in one basket, but there are some advantages, too, so it's assumed to basically balance out.
So it's very simple to have something like a monkey or hawk or snake or horse that can be occasionally useful and add a bit of characterization to the character, but to turn an animal companion into a major part of your character's schtick requires giving up some significant amounts of character resources. One thing that's kind of both the epitome of that and a way around it is the Companion Quality, which gives you an animal companion with an extra pool of attribute points and traits.
Fully Anticipated Questions
Can I have more than one animal companion?
Yes. Technically you could start with about a dozen of them if that floats your boat, but it could get more than a little unwieldy.
How does having companions work in combat?
One thing I borrowed from D&D 4E is the idea that the "action economy" doesn't change just because you're controlling more than one character... AWW's action system is more flexible, but if you do have multiple pets you're better off tag-teaming with them than trying to bring them all into play every round.
What about wizards' familiars?
By default, an animal can't do magic, but if you put either of your animal's points into Magic, they can act as a buffer for you, mitigating the effects of "Magic Burn" (a negative consequence of spell failure). There's also a trait called "Linked" that allows the standard master/familiar sense-sharing thing. That's a 1 point trait, so you could make a basic 1 Gear Point animal, put a point or two of magic in it and pick Linked for the trait, and you'd have a full-fledged familiar.
Can I combine other gear with an animal companion?
Depends on what it is? One possibility that springs to mind is making an animal into a wizards' implement, which goes into the familiar thing and actually seems like a cool idea. You'd have to have the animal in hand/have a hand on it to use it, but hey it would still be cool. Why not.
What about non-animal companions?
D&D 4E did some really great things with their wizards' familiar types including things like tiny demons and devils, miniature gelatinous cubes, constructs, disembodied body parts, skulls, etc.
AWW doesn't by default use specifically defined type for animal companions, it's up to the player's choice and description, so if you want to say that it's a mummified hand or a flying crystal ball that's up to you. Rules as written, the default class of creature is animal but you can change that to something else (undead, construct) to suit your concept. There's no resource cost, as it will rarely matter and the change could be for the better or the worse.
How far can this concept go?
Imagine someone with the Companion Quality and a companion with traits like Summonable, Magic-User, Humanoid, Talking, and Intelligent... you ain't never had a friend like me.