NCM of Pets

[Tywyll]

One of my players is buying a Wolf as a follower and wants to eventually bulk it up. He asked me what the NCM was for the wolf and I was like...um...

 

Any thoughts on how to handle it?

[Vanguard]

I don't believe animals have an NCM.

 

Their stats are capped at whatever the GM feels is reasonable.

 

Do you happen to have the Hero System Bestiary?

 

That would be a good starting point.

[drunkonduty]

I'm assuming that unless said otherwise the NCM is x2.

 

<edit> OH! I read that as Non-Combat Movement. But your talking Normal Characteristic Maxima. Oops.

[Gnome BODY (important!)]

If you're using NCM as a strict cap on characteristics, why should a pet wolf be able to outdo all the PCs? 

If you're using NCM as a cost-increase above certain points, why should a pet wolf get away without paying the extra? 

Would you allow an NCM exception for a human Follower?  Orc Follower?  Elf Follower? 

[Scott Ruggels]

Build the wolf as a template. STR for bite, half STR for lift/ drag, as wolves are not as beefy as great cats. Move characteristic maxima around to reflect “wolf” not “human”. So lower INT, fed into Higher CON? Etc. 

[Duke Bushido]

On October 29, 2019 at 2:39 AM, drunkonduty said:

I'm assuming that unless said otherwise the NCM is x2.

 

<edit> OH! I read that as Non-Combat Movement. But your talking Normal Characteristic Maxima. Oops.

 

 

You're not alone.

 

[Tywyll]

On 10/29/2019 at 8:01 AM, Gnome BODY (important!) said:

If you're using NCM as a strict cap on characteristics, why should a pet wolf be able to outdo all the PCs? 

If you're using NCM as a cost-increase above certain points, why should a pet wolf get away without paying the extra? 

Would you allow an NCM exception for a human Follower?  Orc Follower?  Elf Follower? 

 

I use NCM as the point at which characters pay double.

I use 4th Edition (as far as NCM is concerned) in that different races have different NCM. So an elf doesn't pay double Dex till 23, for ex.

 

Sorry for the confusion, bad acronym! 

[Lucius]

On 10/24/2019 at 10:24 AM, Tywyll said:

One of my players is buying a Wolf as a follower and wants to eventually bulk it up. He asked me what the NCM was for the wolf and I was like...um...

 

Any thoughts on how to handle it?

 

Yes.

 

Doubling the cost of Characteristics past some arbitrary limit is and always has been a bad idea. Abandon it. Not just for wolves, but for all characters.

 

Set whatever absolute limits you like for wolves, Ogres, Pixies, and Humans. If you don't want a Human with a STR of 30, a player shouldn't be able to get that just for spending 10 extra points. Conversely if you feel the character's background justifies STR 23, there's no reason to charge 3 extra points for that. If it doesn't break the game at a cost of16, it won't break at a cost of 13.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

If a palindromedary will break your game, it will break your game no matter what point value you put on it....