Power Build: Speak with Animals?

[Dr Archeville]

Perhaps this is already covered in 5th Ed. Revised; all I have is 5th Ed. How would someone build a "Speak with Animals" power? Mind Link to animal class of minds?

[Lord Kilsco]

Re: Power Build: Speak with Animals?

 

In the Fantasy Hero Grimoire, there is such a spell who allows to speak to animals.

It's based on Telepathy (animal class of minds).

[MitchellS]

Re: Power Build: Speak with Animals?

 

Usually it's done with telepathy [2-3d6] with the animal class of mind. A group mindlink works as well. The difference between the two is that with a mindlink the animal can leave at any time, whereas with telepathy the animal would need to make his breakout roll to avoid the communication.

[Fox1]

Re: Power Build: Speak with Animals?

 

Telepathy- Animal Class of minds.

 

Mind Link really wouldn't work unless there are a limited and defined number of Animals you can 'talk' with.

[Guest Black Lotus]

Re: Power Build: Speak with Animals?

 

Telepathy -- Animal Class, yep.

[Dr Archeville]

Re: Power Build: Speak with Animals?

 

I see. Thanks, all!

[NuSoardGraphite]

Re: Power Build: Speak with Animals?

 

Just to throw a wrench in the works:

 

It can also be done with an Enhanced Sense.

 

Detect Animal Communication [5]

Discriminatory [5] Analyze [5] 360^ arc [5] Ranged [5] Sense [2] Transmit [2]

Total cost: 29pts.

 

Detect Animal Communication allows your character to sense when animals are communicating with one another. (this is a "special" sense, since animals use various other senses to communicate from sound, to body language to smells) Discriminatory and Analyze gives your character the ability to know exactly what it is the animal is trying to say. Range and Sense of course allow it to be used instantly at range and Transmit allows your character to communicate with the animal properly.

 

There you go!

[Hugh Neilson]

Re: Power Build: Speak with Animals?

 

Just to throw a wrench in the works:

 

It can also be done with an Enhanced Sense.

 

Detect Animal Communication [5]

Discriminatory [5] Analyze [5] 360^ arc [5] Ranged [5] Sense [2] Transmit [2]

Total cost: 29pts.

 

Detect Animal Communication allows your character to sense when animals are communicating with one another. (this is a "special" sense, since animals use various other senses to communicate from sound, to body language to smells) Discriminatory and Analyze gives your character the ability to know exactly what it is the animal is trying to say. Range and Sense of course allow it to be used instantly at range and Transmit allows your character to communicate with the animal properly.

 

Actually, I like this better than Telepathy. Why? Because talking to the animals should logically not:

 

(a) require attack rolls

( be targeted to one animal at a time

© be subject to breakout rolls

(d) cost END

(e) work via Mind Scan

(f) permit digging beyond "surface/communicated thoughts"

 

You could simulate all this with modifiers to telepathy, of cours,e but the above seems a much cleaner buiild.

[NuSoardGraphite]

Re: Power Build: Speak with Animals?

 

Actually, I like this better than Telepathy. Why? Because talking to the animals should logically not:

 

(a) require attack rolls

( be targeted to one animal at a time

© be subject to breakout rolls

(d) cost END

(e) work via Mind Scan

(f) permit digging beyond "surface/communicated thoughts"

 

You could simulate all this with modifiers to telepathy, of cours,e but the above seems a much cleaner buiild.

 

Well, if you are going with a concept similar to the movie Beastmaster, then it probably should be Telepathy. However for simple communication that is not Telepathic in origin, either the Enhanced Sense or Mind Link works better than Telepathy.

[Fox1]

Re: Power Build: Speak with Animals?

 

Just to throw a wrench in the works:

 

It can also be done with an Enhanced Sense.

 

Only if you want to go around making animal noises with your character.

[Guest Black Lotus]

Re: Power Build: Speak with Animals?

 

Well' date=' if you are going with a concept similar to the movie [i']Beastmaster[/i], then it probably should be Telepathy. However for simple communication that is not Telepathic in origin, either the Enhanced Sense or Mind Link works better than Telepathy.

 

But it can be Telepathy, yet have SFX that indicates that, despite the name of the Power, it's not really Telepathy per se. If the SFX is just "Uncanny empathy with animals" or some such, you don't have to recognize that it's basically a psionic Power.

 

Same principle applies to "Summoning" missiles, which I believe is covered in Star HERO. Its Power is Summoning... but its SFX indicate that it's not really Summoning per se.

[Hugh Neilson]

Re: Power Build: Speak with Animals?

 

Well' date=' if you are going with a concept similar to the movie [i']Beastmaster[/i], then it probably should be Telepathy. However for simple communication that is not Telepathic in origin, either the Enhanced Sense or Mind Link works better than Telepathy.

 

I don't like mind link due to the requirement the target be a willing participant, but that comes down to how you want the power to work. A generic "Talk to the Animals" should reasonably be able to understand hostile animals, which likely don't want to Mind Link. [Even if we get over the hurdle of whether the animal's understanding is adequaet to allow it to decide it will permit such a link.]

[MitchellS]

Re: Power Build: Speak with Animals?

 

I don't like mind link due to the requirement the target be a willing participant' date=' but that comes down to how you want the power to work. A generic "Talk to the Animals" should reasonably be able to understand hostile animals, which likely don't want to Mind Link. [Even if we get over the hurdle of whether the animal's understanding is adequaet to allow it to decide it will permit such a link.']

I think it depends upon the special effect. If you want to just be able to talk to an animal like you would a person then mind link is fine [if the animal doesn't want to talk to you it can ignore you just as a person would]. If you want to be able to talk and understand animals, whether they like it or not, then you use telepathy with the appropriate limitations [normal range, incantations, etc].

[pinecone]

Re: Power Build: Speak with Animals?

 

I've always gone with Telepathy...but couldn't you also use lonely old Universal translator? Buy it OBO and they understand you just fine too....You can even take a lim: Only animals or only Land animals or Only avians...etc;...

[ghost-angel]

Re: Power Build: Speak with Animals?

 

Only if you want to go around making animal noises with your character.

 

That would require an ability to talk back.. NuSoardGraphite's enhanced sense let's you understand what they are saying but provides no means of two way communication (you can't talk back).

 

That would, IMO, require the appropriate language skill. Or something similar.

 

The Enahcned Sense, from my POV, translates from Animal to Your Language but gives no means of translating back.

....

 

And all the above would be true right until I noticed the "Transmit" function ... maybe it does Translate back from Your Language to Theirs.

[Dr Archeville]

Re: Power Build: Speak with Animals?

 

Only if you want to go around making animal noises with your character.

 

Unless you get the Invisible Power Affect for the Transmit portion Then you can understand what critters say, and talk back to them in their own language, but to an outside observer, it'd look like you're speaking to the critter in English (or whatever).

[Fox1]

Re: Power Build: Speak with Animals?

 

Unless you get the Invisible Power Affect for the Transmit portion Then you can understand what critters say' date=' and talk back to them in their own language, but to an outside observer, it'd look like you're speaking to the critter in English (or whatever).[/quote']

 

Actually the simplest method is for the GM to say there is a 'animal language' and just charge 3 points for it.

 

That's how it seems to work in some source material. Oddly all the animals in that same material seem to already understand english...

[BNakagawa]

Re: Power Build: Speak with Animals?

 

I do this all the time. I have a character with three points of language: cat.

 

It isn't as useful as say another level with EB...for the most part they only want to talk about food and sleeping.

[prestidigitator]

Re: Power Build: Speak with Animals?

 

I think buying a Language works well if you want to be able to communicate with a specific kind of animal (and maybe those with, "similar languages," whatever that means in your setting). However, I would assume that with this method you could only communicate the sort of things animals can normally communicate with each other (e.g. "go away," "give me food," "let's mate," etc., but for most animals probably not, "what did you have for lunch today," or, "what was the fellow wearing?").

 

I have been converting D&D creatures, and I address this sort of thing by making the Everyman Language Skill for a particular animal at a rough level of fluency to reflect the depth of things I think the animal can communicate with another of its kind (for example, insects might have one point of fluency, a dog two, and a raven three or four). For creatures which are closely related or that I feel should be able to communicate with each other somewhat, I just say the languages have apporpriate similarities (the kind expressed by the optional Language Chart).

 

A PC could learn a language at any level of fluency (and therefore possibly also have some knowledge of several similar languages), but will only be able to communicate at the same level of fluency as the creature's Everyman Language Skill is worth. Note that for a given Language, different types of animal might have different levels of fluency. For example, a normal boar and a, "Dire Boar," might both speak the language, "Boar," but the normal one with two points of fluency and the, Dire one at three points of fluency; therefore a PC with three points in, "Language: Boar," will be able to communicate more fluently with the Dire Boar than with the normal boar. He might also be able to speak with more or less success to domestic pigs, since they have a, "similar language."

 

I allow communication via Telepathy or Mind Link to be a bit more in depth (though still limited by an animal's Int and, "intellect," Physical Limitations). I also allow a, "telepathic communication," version of Mind Link that works as follows. Buy Mind Link to work on a group of individuals or anyone (one at a time is sufficient). Apply Non-Persistant (-1/4) and a Limitation called, "Cannot be Used for Mental Attacks (-1/4)." Now you can use Mind Link to communicate telepathically. It does not require a willing drop of mental defenses like normal Mind Link, but it can be ignored just like anyone could ignore you talking out loud, and you cannot blast thoughts directly into their mind like you could with Telepathy. It also does not continue to work if you break Line of Sight (that, in part, is what the Non-Persistant Limitation is for), but several applicable people/creatures can, "hear you," at once without the normal Adder. Whether a Range Limitation applies to hearing this sort of communication is up to the GM. You cannot use other Mental Powers through this kind of Mind Link, nor can you yourself be attacked by other Mental Powers through it (though there might be rare exceptions as deemed appropriate by the GM).