Audrey III

[Dust Raven]

Okay, not really. But I have a player who's character can talk to plants, and I need to know how to simulate that. It seems it should cost a bit more than 2 points (Language: Plants).

 

Basically, here's how we worked out how it works. All plants, though not truly sentient, have a spirit that is aware of their surroundings and is able to communicate with the spirits of other plants and even some animals. The plants don't really ponder anything, or think idley, or even "think" in any way that we conceive of the term. They are just aware and can communicate.

 

This character, we'll call her Plant Girl, is able to communicate with these plant-spirits. Doing this, she can ask the plants about things that happened in the area, or even network with an entire forest to find somone. She cna ask favors, like have a plant wake her from a nap if someone approaches, or to pass on other information to other plants or other characters with her ability.

 

Note: Plants cannot lie. They don't know the concept of deception. However, they also have no comprehension of things like human speach and manerisms. Also, even though a plant cannot lie, it can make a mistake.

 

So how would I write this up?

[DigitalGolem]

This looks similar to the write-up for "spiritual contacts" in Fantasy Hero, in some ways. So you could do it as an organizational contact.

 

DGv3.0

[J4y]

Sounds like clairasentience (retrocognition) with limited conditional power - only works around a plant (-1/2), limited conditional power - only as far back as plant has lived (-1/2). I'd also put on incantation (-1/4.)

 

Using plants for favours would be more difficult and might be best as a seperate power.

[pinecone]

J4y beat me to it...I'd do it much the same...just treat plants as a "must have" speacial effect....

[dugfromthearth]

it doesn't matter if they talk to plants.

 

it matters what plants are.

 

if plants have personalities and are truly NPC's so they have opinions, have senses, may or may not be friendly, etc, then you would have to buy a language skill (probably with extra cost for it being a rare language).

 

If plants have some mystic awareness of their surroundings, always answer, and don't lie, then talking to plants is a special effect of clairsentience.

[Farkling]

if plants have personalities and are truly NPC's so they have opinions, have senses, may or may not be friendly, etc, then you would have to buy a language skill (probably with extra cost for it being a rare language).

 

In this case...I would imagine Telepathy would be appropriate also.

 

"requires communion" (0 DCV throughout)

"verbal communication" (plant language!)

 

 

For other effects, such as warnings or extra knowledge...perhaps Mind Control to ORDER said plants to assist...

 

Mental Illusions to lie to the plants?

(imagine their pooor little minds fraying)

"Is it possible in the language of the filthy waste-breathing warm-blooded animals to state things which are not of the truth?"

 

Of course...the easiest way out is Clairsentience/Retrocognition with plants as a special effect and a small lazy VPP or Multipower to buy "Detect Danger" "Pass without Trace" "Shield of Green" "Hide in the Glade"

 

I prefer the easy method. Plants in my superhero worlds are NOT spirits or NPC's. In fantasy hero I would reconsider it.

[Magmarock]

Oh great...

 

I hope that there aren't any vegans reading this thread... they might all have to starve now!

[Sociotard]

Re: Oh great...

 

Originally posted by Magmarock

I hope that there aren't any vegans reading this thread... they might all have to starve now!

*uses cell phone to call friend* "Dude, she says she's a vegan. What's a vegan?"

"She got pointy ears?"

-funniest commercial I've seen in a while

 

Okay, I like the retrocognition as well, unless the plants have individual personalities (the last few posts were right on). you might also toss in an Area knowledge. "Uh, dude, where's the bathroom" "oh, pick a tree, any tree." "How about you?" "I'm more of a shrub, really."

[Dust Raven]

Clairsentience/Retro it is then. It happens to be how we have it written up, though not exactly as suggested.

 

Now Plant Girl wants to be able to command plants, forcing them to do stuff for her. Following the same line...this has gotta be TK with plants being an OIF.

[Dust Raven]

Okay...after digging out the character sheet, this is what she's currently got:

 

Talk With Plants: Clairsentience with Hearing Group, Retrocognition, 1/2 END, Retro Only. (50 Active, 25 Real)

 

Should it be Hearing Group or Sight...or both? I'm thinking it shouldn't have Retro Only because a plant should just as easily talk about stuff going on presently as well.

[dugfromthearth]

plants cannot see.

 

so unless you give them eyes, sight does not make sense

 

they can feel sunlight, they can feel vibrations possibly (which could be hearing), they can touch.

 

but basically you are making up their senses for this.

 

you are right, it doesn't have to be retro only.

 

You should probably add an extra time limitation - required every time. Plants probably don't talk very quickly - think Ents.

[Dust Raven]

I'm kinda waving my Superhero Wand about plant senses. Basically, they got partial discriminatory spatial awareness and photosensitivity. They can also hear, but don't understand the speach of animals, including humans (Plant Girl is the exception of course...), nor would it have the perfect memory to repeat the syllables. They don't understand sounds in the same way as people either, but can explain things like "a rumbling from the sky" (possibly a jet) or "a rumbling fromthe baren wasteland beyond the grass" (car on the road?).

 

Right now, it's looking like this:

 

Talk to Plants: Clairsentience with Unique Senses, Retrocognition; 0 END (+1/2) (60 active); OIF (nearby plants, -1/2), Time Modifiers (-1/2), Limited Conscious Control (-1) Real Cost: 20 points

 

Basically, Plant Girl doesn't actually see or hear or in any say sense what the Clairsentience is supposed to let her; it's being described verbally by things that aren't used to describing their surroundings. The Limited Conscious Control represents that plants can talk to her whenever, even if she doesn't want them to, and that what they describe isn't always what she's looking for or is described in a way she doesn't understand.

[Pattern Ghost]

Plants doing her bidding can be a combo of TK and Entangles. If they get up and move around, you could build them as Summons, also.

[Dust Raven]

Originally posted by Pattern Ghost

Plants doing her bidding can be a combo of TK and Entangles. If they get up and move around, you could build them as Summons, also.

 

I think I have the Control Plant powers okay...

 

Control Plants: TK 34 STR 51 Active; OIF (plants, -1/2), STR Dependant On Structure Of Plants (-1/2), Targets Must Be Within Reach Of Plants (-1/4) 23 Real.

 

Animate Plants: Summon 1 175 point creature; Loyal (+1/2), Very LImited Group (+1/4) 61 Active; Being Must Inhabit Locale (-1/2), OIF (plants, -1/2) 31 Real

 

There is also a Minor Transform that can reshape/grow plants.

[prestidigitator]

I think the Clairsentience thing depends on what exactly the plants can tell you (what kind of information do you see your character being able to divine by "talking" to local plants?). It might be visual, but with Limitations because you can only get a sketchy description which is open to interpretation (depending on whether you are "told" what happened, or whether the plants confer to you actual mental images).

 

Alternately--and this depends completely on the GM and his/her setting/view of the world--it might just be a Mind Link/Telepathy. If plants are treated more like objects that just happen to be living, you might have to go with the Clairsentience. If plants are "spiritually sentient" and aware of their surroundings, it could be Telepathy. If they are basically all open to communication and willing to help anyone, it could be Mind Link. This could also depend on whether the game is Heroic or Superheroic.

[Chuckg]

Mind Link w/ any one mind (any willing target), Plants Only (-1/2), No Range (-1/2)

 

15 Active Points, 7 Real Points

[Dust Raven]

The game is Superheroic (standard 200+150). I'm the GM and I'm working on this for one of my players.

 

I see this as a unique talent. Trees are living things with spirits and such, but they're not sentient or self aware. This power seems to work more like psychometry, but with the SFX of talking trees that only the character can hear (everyone can hear the character talk back and ask questions). All the limitations of having such information come from a third party, hearsay point of view, and from such a third party that doesn't always understand what its observing.

[prestidigitator]

Originally posted by Dust Raven

The game is Superheroic (standard 200+150). I'm the GM and I'm working on this for one of my players.

 

I see this as a unique talent. Trees are living things with spirits and such, but they're not sentient or self aware. This power seems to work more like psychometry, but with the SFX of talking trees that only the character can hear (everyone can hear the character talk back and ask questions). All the limitations of having such information come from a third party, hearsay point of view, and from such a third party that doesn't always understand what its observing.

Sounds like a pretty limited form of Clairsentience. You could even define it as a (non-targetting) special Sense Group which is "whatever trees can perceive."

[Dust Raven]

Originally posted by prestidigitator

Sounds like a pretty limited form of Clairsentience. You could even define it as a (non-targetting) special Sense Group which is "whatever trees can perceive."

 

See one of my above posts....It's almost exactly what I did (I just wrote in "unique" though").

[Chuckg]

Alternatively...

 

Universal Translator, Only with Plants (-1) -- 20 Active, 10 Real