Talk to the Animals

[mrinku]

Clairvoyance (postcognition) with appropriate special effects and modifiers will do the job. Summon (talking plate) would also work.

 

One justification for it would be contacting the spirits of objects. The Japanese concept of "kami" includes spirits of places, art objects and qualities. Many polytheistic faiths have nature spirits that cover plants, rivers and such that clearly don't have INT.

[wick]

That's why the Power gives a target an INT score.

 

Granted, only 3 INT....

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary thinks that should perhaps have a Limitation, only for targets with INT below 3 naturally

Additionally, when speaking the language of the palindromedary, one must also know how to speak out of both sides of their mouth.

[wick]

I guess if you expand what the term language means you could expand it to quite a few species.  Simple chemical communication between ants comes to mind, but unless you can make those same chemicals you cannot speak and you need a way to analyze the chemicals they put down to read their language.  Bees perform a sort of dance to relay info about location of flowers to gather pollen. I remember an article where scientists used a fake bee puppet to communicate.

 

Otherwise you could read the body language and behavior of wild animals to know what they are saying at a sub basic level.  

 

Domestic animals communication is a bit better, some people do have a knack and understanding of how dogs think.  They make excellent trainers. 

 

Corvids and a few other bird species are remarkably intelligent even showing crude tool use (look Mah no opposable thumbs). I suppose if you can simulate the bird sounds and decrypt what they mean you can listen and speak bird.

 

I would say, however, that animals do not have a common language.  Can't speak to a raven and an ant with the same skill.  The species would need to be very closely related to have a shared language, and even then they would have dialects. Look at Eastern and Western meadowlarks which sometimes interbreed to make hybrids, but have different bird songs.

 

Most animals would have very simple concepts. Food this way. Alert predator! Attack!.

 

Chimps would have more. They have been shown to be able to learn sign language and communicate with humans with a fairly broad language base. It is unclear whether these trained chimps have more of a vocabulary than wild chimps. Perhaps through their training their brains developed more for communication than wild born chimps do. ( their is some elasticity in development, not everything is genetics.)  

[mrinku]

Realistic animal communication can be dealt with using Animal Handling in most cases, but it's worth pointing out that many animals ARE clearly capable of learning some human speech - any dog for a start - even if they can't articulate the words themselves, and it might be appropriate for a really smart dog to have a point of English while many primates can outright learn basic fluency. Some species of animal do appear to have a form of spoken and/or sign language, such as many birds and rodents.

 

Often, it's not unreasonable for this to be gamed out as spoken communication. In a fantastic setting, it may indeed be happening that way.

[Era Scarecrow]

I'm suddenly reminded of Dextor's Lab... Finding a thing... you can probably expect as useful conversations...

 

I've heard someone who played out being able to talk to squirrels in D&D and they were useless. They only know of things going on in a 50ft radius of their home, really important events they have like a week long memory of events, their sense of time is totally off, etc...

[dsatow]

That's why the Power gives a target an INT score.

 

Granted, only 3 INT....

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary thinks that should perhaps have a Limitation, only for targets with INT below 3 naturally

 

I meant an existing Int score. Otherwise, this might happen.

 

Hero: "Okay Mr. Fire hydrant, which way did the villain go?"

Fire Hydrant: "Hi.  I am a fire hydrant.  Whats a villain?"

Hero: "That being that just came by here a minute ago."

Fire Hydrant: "Oh, he right here talking to me."

Hero; "Not me!  The one before me."

Fire Hydrant: "Sorry, I only started being a minute ago."

[Lucius]

I meant an existing Int score. Otherwise, this might happen.

 

Hero: "Okay Mr. Fire hydrant, which way did the villain go?"

Fire Hydrant: "Hi.  I am a fire hydrant.  Whats a villain?"

Hero: "That being that just came by here a minute ago."

Fire Hydrant: "Oh, he right here talking to me."

Hero; "Not me!  The one before me."

Fire Hydrant: "Sorry, I only started being a minute ago."

+3 INT, Usable As Attack (+1/4), Grantor pays the END whenever the power is used, Grantor can only grant the power to others, Recipient must remain close to Grantor, Transdimensional (Single Dimension: The Past; +1/2) (5 Active Points); Incantations (-1/4), Costs Endurance (Only Costs END to Activate; -1/4), Conditional Power Must abstain from strong drink (a cup of wine disables power for a day) (-1/4)

 

Lucius Alexander

 

Hello World. I am a palindromedary.

[dsatow]

+3 INT, Usable As Attack (+1/4), Grantor pays the END whenever the power is used, Grantor can only grant the power to others, Recipient must remain close to Grantor, Transdimensional (Single Dimension: The Past; +1/2) (5 Active Points); Incantations (-1/4), Costs Endurance (Only Costs END to Activate; -1/4), Conditional Power Must abstain from strong drink (a cup of wine disables power for a day) (-1/4)

 

Lucius Alexander

 

Hello World. I am a palindromedary.

 

Still problems.

1) the Int would only be in the past and needs to be in the present in order to actually communicate.

 

Other issues.

2) Universal translator does not give the object an ability to speak nor any senses that the object doesn't have.  So at the very least it would need images too so i can communicate and possibly senses to "see" and  "hear" with.

 

Still interesting.

[Ninja-Bear]

Oh I can see languages for animal speak. I think I did go that route for DND conversions.

[Lucius]

Still problems.

1) the Int would only be in the past and needs to be in the present in order to actually communicate.

Hoosker Du: (Total: 9 Active Cost, 4 Real Cost) Eidetic Memory, Transdimensional (Related Group of Dimensions; Past and Present; +3/4) (9 Active Points); Usable By Other (-1), Grantor pays the END whenever the power is used, Grantor can only grant the power to others, Recipient must remain close to Grantor, Costs Endurance (Only Costs END to Activate; -1/4) (Real Cost: 4)

 

Other issues.

2) Universal translator does not give the object an ability to speak nor any senses that the object doesn't have.  So at the very least it would need images too so i can communicate and possibly senses to "see" and  "hear" with.

Images, yes.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary says that makes sense

[dsatow]

Hoosker Du: (Total: 9 Active Cost, 4 Real Cost) Eidetic Memory, Transdimensional (Related Group of Dimensions; Past and Present; +3/4) (9 Active Points); Usable By Other (-1), Grantor pays the END whenever the power is used, Grantor can only grant the power to others, Recipient must remain close to Grantor, Costs Endurance (Only Costs END to Activate; -1/4) (Real Cost: 4)

 

 

Images, yes.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary says that makes sense

 

To be honest, transdimensional eidetic memory seems abusive to me, like a way to get postcognition for cheap instead of using clairsentience.  But, whatever the GM will allow.

[Lucius]

To be honest, transdimensional eidetic memory seems abusive to me, like a way to get postcognition for cheap instead of using clairsentience.  But, whatever the GM will allow.

What, exactly, would YOU allow?

 

Lucius Alexander

 

Are palindromedaries allowed?

[Alibear]

Start with what the power does in plain English. Build from there. What does talking to birds allow him to achieve?

[BoloOfEarth]

From a character I'm working on

 

Giving Voice to the Voiceless: (Total: 36 Active Cost, 22 Real Cost) Universal Translator 11-, Usable As Attack (+1/4), Grantor pays the END whenever the power is used, Grantor can only grant the power to others, Recipient must remain close to Grantor (25 Active Points); Incantations (-1/4), Costs Endurance (Only Costs END to Activate; -1/4), Conditional Power Must abstain from strong drink (a cup of wine disables power for a day) (-1/4), Conditional Power Requires daily meditation (-1/4) (Real Cost: 12) <b>plus</b> Hearing Group Images, Usable As Attack (+1/4), Grantor pays the END whenever the power is used, Grantor can only grant the power to others, Recipient must remain close to Grantor, Costs Endurance Only To Activate (+1/4) (7 Active Points); Linked (Universal Translator; -1/2), Incantations (-1/4), Conditional Power Must abstain from strong drink (a cup of wine disables power for a day) (-1/4) (Real Cost: 3) <b>plus</b> +3 INT, Usable As Attack (+1/4), Grantor pays the END whenever the power is used, Grantor can only grant the power to others, Recipient must remain close to Grantor (4 Active Points); Incantations (-1/4), Costs Endurance (Only Costs END to Activate; -1/4), Conditional Power Must abstain from strong drink (a cup of wine disables power for a day) (-1/4) (Real Cost: 2)

 

This not only permits him to talk to living animals, but he can talk to a steak. And the plate it's served on. And the table the plate sits on.

 

At least that's the intention, I'm not sure the power build is right yet.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

Talking to a palindromedary

 

The problem I'd have with this is then the various formerly inanimate objects - like a teapot, cup, candleholder, clock, etc. - would break into a song and dance routine.  Then I wouldn't be able to get that Be Our Guest song out of my head for days.  That's to say nothing about talking mice going on and on about "Cinderelly."

[mrinku]

Squirrel Girl, Squirrel Girl

She's a girl and also squirrel

Can she climb up a tree?

Yes she can, easily

Becauuuse her name is Squirrel Girl!

[Lucius]

The problem I'd have with this is then the various formerly inanimate objects - like a teapot, cup, candleholder, clock, etc. - would break into a song and dance routine.  Then I wouldn't be able to get that Be Our Guest song out of my head for days.  That's to say nothing about talking mice going on and on about "Cinderelly."

It won't cause the inanimate to dance, but I suppose they could sing.

 

The mice could dance.

 

Cinderelly, Cinderelly

 

Night and day it's Cinderelly

 

Make the fire, fix the breakfast

 

Wash the dishes, do the mopping

 

And the sweeping and the dusting

 

They always keep her hopping

 

Lucius Alexander

 

And a singing and dancing palindromedary

 

 

[dsatow]

What, exactly, would YOU allow?

 

Lucius Alexander

 

Are palindromedaries allowed?

I already inferred it.  Replace the trans-dimensional eidetic memory with clairsentience (sight and sound) or only ask about memories which would be remembered by the target (such as "Did a scary predator go by here recently?" or "Did you smell something interesting recently?").

 

So if you want to ask questions about the past which a human would remember, use clairsentience.  If you phrase it in a way a animal would bother remembering it, which is rather limiting, you could just use it as is without the clairsentience.