Rifts Pets

[13eowulf]

So been thinking about the idea of pets, or animal companions, bound through plain old loyalty and/or love, nothing preternatural.

There is the Whisker Coyote from new west, the two bio-creations in the Vampires sourcebook, and of course the various robo-pet entries. Can anyone else think of other entries that are explicitly listed as pets/companions?

Also, how would you classify a pet, mechanics wise? Are they equipment or something else?

[kaid]

So been thinking about the idea of pets, or animal companions, bound through plain old loyalty and/or love, nothing preternatural.

There is the Whisker Coyote from new west, the two bio-creations in the Vampires sourcebook, and of course the various robo-pet entries. Can anyone else think of other entries that are explicitly listed as pets/companions?

Also, how would you classify a pet, mechanics wise? Are they equipment or something else?

You won't see them listed to often in the OCC stat blocks unfortunately. Some like lemurians always have the option for a lemur pet but mostly its something you pick up in play. For things like simvan/psi stalkers/psi druids/mages there are a number of avenues to pick up pets/minions as you go along.

[Blue_Lion]

A pet mechanics wise is both a NPC and equipment.

It is equipment because it is something the player owns and may be purchased, traded for, or given to acquire like equipment. It is also something the player may use. It is not something the player typically rolls up with. Some magic forces may grant pets or force things to be pets.

It is a NPC because it takes actions on its own and the GM is ultimately responsible for its actions. (some GMs may let the player run the pet as a sub PC)

[Library Ogre]

FWIW, I have the CS have a breed of dog, the "Missouri Hill Dog", that's incredibly intelligent for an animal, but not human smart, based on the Bounders from After the Bomb. Haven't worked up exact stats, 'cause I'm lazy, but they're popular throughout the Mississippi and Great Lakes watersheds... some newly introduced from Lone Star, others descended from the pre-Rifts survivors. Non-MDC, but a "smart dog".

[glitterboy2098]

Rifter 21 has a bunch of familiars, some of which could easily be used as pets as well.

[Pepsi Jedi]

FWIW, I have the CS have a breed of dog, the "Missouri Hill Dog", that's incredibly intelligent for an animal, but not human smart, based on the Bounders from After the Bomb. Haven't worked up exact stats, 'cause I'm lazy, but they're popular throughout the Mississippi and Great Lakes watersheds... some newly introduced from Lone Star, others descended from the pre-Rifts survivors. Non-MDC, but a "smart dog".

Not a horrible idea. We know that the CS uses genetically engineered cows to produce more, better tasting meat.

A market in 'Non Dog boy, dogs" could be pretty good. Thing is I'm not sure they'd up the intelligence on them. I WOULD see the Cs having breeders that specialize in breeds that 'mimic' popular dog boy breeds.

As in fully mundane dogs, that are purposefully bread/pure bred, to appear like popular or famous dog boys.

Your favorite dog boy in that recruitment poster (With it's human superiors, clearly) is a Doberman Dog boy? Why... you can buy this pure bred doberman to have around your own home! Your favorite one from that promotional video, a Irish Terrier, well this breeder over here specializes in Irish terriers. Etc.

That seems like a very Coalition States sort of thing to do. In the CS Dog boys are much loved and adored. (And usually 'seen' as very smart animals. Not intelligent furry 'people')

[Library Ogre]

FWIW, I have the CS have a breed of dog, the "Missouri Hill Dog", that's incredibly intelligent for an animal, but not human smart, based on the Bounders from After the Bomb. Haven't worked up exact stats, 'cause I'm lazy, but they're popular throughout the Mississippi and Great Lakes watersheds... some newly introduced from Lone Star, others descended from the pre-Rifts survivors. Non-MDC, but a "smart dog".

Not a horrible idea. We know that the CS uses genetically engineered cows to produce more, better tasting meat.

A market in 'Non Dog boy, dogs" could be pretty good. Thing is I'm not sure they'd up the intelligence on them. I WOULD see the Cs having breeders that specialize in breeds that 'mimic' popular dog boy breeds.

As in fully mundane dogs, that are purposefully bread/pure bred, to appear like popular or famous dog boys.

Your favorite dog boy in that recruitment poster (With it's human superiors, clearly) is a Doberman Dog boy? Why... you can buy this pure bred doberman to have around your own home! Your favorite one from that promotional video, a Irish Terrier, well this breeder over here specializes in Irish terriers. Etc.

That seems like a very Coalition States sort of thing to do. In the CS Dog boys are much loved and adored. (And usually 'seen' as very smart animals. Not intelligent furry 'people')

The upped intelligence comes from the Pre-Rifts versions; Lone Star just pumps out copies of those, in addition to the other sorts they may have. I can also see the CS really supporting the keeping of dogs and cats, as they've got magic/psionic detection abilities.

[Pepsi Jedi]

Ehh while the original pure bred stock no doubt came from lone Star. I don't see them in the business of making them on the regular. They've got bigger and better things to spend their time/money on.

established breeders 'In CS Society' could take it up after that. People looooove dogs.

[taalismn]

And if you're a Crazy, your pet can be both a comic device and emergency rations.

"What did you call your...pet clam?"
"Mister Chowder. I've taught him to whistle like a boiling put!"

[Blue_Lion]

And if you're a Crazy, your pet can be both a comic device and emergency rations.

"What did you call your...pet clam?"
"Mister Chowder. I've taught him to whistle like a boiling put!"

Reminds me of a animaiton where they had a pet cat as emergency rations.

Also the peanut brittle using the pet elephant in dark legacy comics.

[taalismn]

And if you're a Crazy, your pet can be both a comic device and emergency rations.

"What did you call your...pet clam?"
"Mister Chowder. I've taught him to whistle like a boiling put!"

Reminds me of a animaiton where they had a pet cat as emergency rations.
.

Excel Saga, I believe.
The pet was actually more intelligent than the peple were, and was plotting their demises)though whether this was because they'd already declared the cat was a back-up food supply or for some other reason, wasn't clear).

[Axelmania]

Any normal human in Rifts who doesn't keep a cat/dog/horse around as a pet is either destitute or insane. The free sixth sense / sense evil is too good to pass up.

[taalismn]

Any normal human in Rifts who doesn't keep a cat/dog/horse around as a pet is either destitute or insane. The free sixth sense / sense evil is too good to pass up.

Indeed, and it makes for dramatic decision-making in the middle of a firefight/monster attack, since the GM might use the pet as a hostage; does the PC save himself, or risk life and limb to save his pet? And the PCs' treatment of their pets may just impact how others see them; wilderness-attuned folk may take exception to people who are seen as abusing their animals(the criteria varying from actual neglect to just keeping the critter on a lease).

[Pepsi Jedi]

Well it's not like they're all immune to fear. When something supernatural comes around they're much more likely to just haul rear out of the area. It's not like they're supernatural Radar. If yo'ure lucky you might see fido or Whiskers tearing off. Which could mean anything from 'Dragon coming' to "It smelled a dinosaur a quarter mile off".

[flatline]

I've had several characters that had mundane animals as pets. Birds and dogs work well. Cats not so well since they won't follow you around.

As a mage, I find that having a pet can be life saving since opponents will often waste a shot to waste your pet rather than you on the assumption that the pet is actually a familiar.

My mind bleeder always kept birds around so that he could possess them. I don't recall that he ever grew attached to any.

Most importantly, pets can be a nice way of adding flavor to a character.

--flatline

[Axelmania]

The problem of them reacting to scents can be fixed by keeping them in air-controlled environments. If you kept a pet cat inside your robot vehicle, for example, the air filtering system should prevent them from reacting to smells, and emphasize only their supernatural detection abilities.

It never occurred to me to try Mentally Possess Others on animals... very good idea. Could you also Hypnotic Suggest a dog to bite the hand that feeds it? That might require a Language skill to undertand verbal suggestions though...

[CyCo]

Humans. We make great pets.

8p

[ShadowLogan]

So been thinking about the idea of pets, or animal companions, bound through plain old loyalty and/or love, nothing preternatural.

There is the Whisker Coyote from new west, the two bio-creations in the Vampires sourcebook, and of course the various robo-pet entries. Can anyone else think of other entries that are explicitly listed as pets/companions?

Also, how would you classify a pet, mechanics wise? Are they equipment or something else?

Companions that come to mind:
-WB2 Dragonsaur (IIRC, I know at least one of the creatures in there is a pet/guard dog)
-W20 (Canada) also has sled dogs (also bears, wolves, and foxes)
-WB2's Tattoo magic also has entries for more common pets among their animal selection (can be used for relevant or part of the relevant info)
-WB14 has snakes and insect/arachnids that could be kept as "pet", not sure if they qualify as companion useful though
-Main Book/Canada (maybe elsewhere) has the Fury Beetle (it can be domesticated)
-WB14 IIRC also mentions that some dinosaurs can be domesticated
-WB14 also has horses
-SB1 IINM has a mount, so it could be seen as a "companion" (forget the name off hand, Ostro-something)
-Zombie, Mummy, and Golems can be thought of as "pets" to I suppose
-WB12 Dragoncat, WB9 (IIRC) Bloodlizard, WB14's Psi-Pony might all qualify,though they form bonds so might not qualify

It should be noted that some races (ex Simvan) can "tame" creatures that might not normally be thought of as "pets" or "domesticated". Vampires, and other Supernatural/magical creatures are also known to take humans (and others) as "slaves" or "pets".

As for classification, I agree with Blue_Lion they are both equipment and an NPC.

Which could mean anything from 'Dragon coming' to "It smelled a dinosaur a quarter mile off".

Or worse a squirrel or something else mudane.

[J_cobbers]

Don't forget PF Monsters and Animals for stats on tons of common animals which would work as pets or familiars. There are maybe a handful of monsters that might work as pets, familiars or companions (Hytril come to mind, though may be more trouble than they are worth).

[Pepsi Jedi]

Which could mean anything from 'Dragon coming' to "It smelled a dinosaur a quarter mile off".

Or worse a squirrel or something else mudane.

Exactly. A good GM would let your 'I'm going to have a dog as a free supernatural detector" work once.. or twice.. then he'd totally start screwing with you on it. Till you ignored your dog the 48th time he freaked over the raccoon and suddenly that raccoon morphed into a pissy great horned dragon and smacked you around.

[Blue_Lion]

Which could mean anything from 'Dragon coming' to "It smelled a dinosaur a quarter mile off".

Or worse a squirrel or something else mudane.

Exactly. A good GM would let your 'I'm going to have a dog as a free supernatural detector" work once.. or twice.. then he'd totally start screwing with you on it. Till you ignored your dog the 48th time he freaked over the raccoon and suddenly that raccoon morphed into a pissy great horned dragon and smacked you around.

I would not let it be a free detector, an untrained dog would react to lots of things the same. That could draw in threats by its barking at squirels and such.
To be effective it would need to be trained and that takes allot of time. It would be a level of training seen in police or military working dogs. Requiring constant upkeep. The training would require months with its handler in a controlled envorment, not traveling through the woods. Quicker to hire a feral dog boy or wild psi-stalker

[HarleeKnight]

As a mage, I find that having a pet can be life saving since opponents will often waste a shot to waste your pet rather than you on the assumption that the pet is actually a familiar.
--flatline

LMAO! Great tactic but it seems a little harsh. I love it.

[taalismn]

Humans. We make great pets.

8p

Dear god...it's 'Springtime for Ming (the) Merciless'....

[bobharly]

Which could mean anything from 'Dragon coming' to "It smelled a dinosaur a quarter mile off".

Or worse a squirrel or something else mudane.

Exactly. A good GM would let your 'I'm going to have a dog as a free supernatural detector" work once.. or twice.. then he'd totally start screwing with you on it. Till you ignored your dog the 48th time he freaked over the raccoon and suddenly that raccoon morphed into a pissy great horned dragon and smacked you around.

I would not let it be a free detector, an untrained dog would react to lots of things the same. That could draw in threats by its barking at squirels and such.
To be effective it would need to be trained and that takes allot of time. It would be a level of training seen in police or military working dogs. Requiring constant upkeep. The training would require months with its handler in a controlled envorment, not traveling through the woods. Quicker to hire a feral dog boy or wild psi-stalker

To use the pet as a second line of defense the handler would have to have some sort of animal attunement. To most people, a barking dog sounds the same whether it's barking for attention, dinner, at a squirrel or signalling danger. If you have no skill in handling dogs, how are you really going to know? As for the issue of training the dog itself, a trained dog would clearly be superior and easier to understand than an untrained dog. But you still have to know a bit about handling animals to really get the most out of that.

But let's assume we are talking about a companion pet. Eventually you would learn the nuances in the pet's personality and signals. I had a dog when I was kid, who when he felt threatened, he would get real quiet and the hair would lift on the back of his neck. He never barked when he felt threatened. One of my current dogs will yelp with fear at a distance from an intruder (which sounds totally different from "feed me," which in turn sounds different from "let me in," which sounds different from, "these kids are bothering me"). Getting to know your pet takes time (months or years), so in the beginning you'd be second guessing whether it's a squirrel or dragon? But eventually you could know the difference (not squirrel vs. dragon example, but rather being territorial with a critter vs. calling out a serious danger) if you cared about the animal as a companion. But then, if you care about it, it's gonna suck when it gets killed. Which brings us back around to the idea that the dog is equipment. Is his life expendable for yours? And if you view him as expendable, how attuned will you be to him?

The game tends to simplify stuff like this or don't even address it. So it is really up to GM interpretation and player investment in roleplaying the companion relationship.

And one final thought on trained animals. They signal detection on stimulus that they have been conditioned for. A bomb dog sniffs for a type of explosive. Drug dogs look for certain types of drugs found in that area. Medical dogs sniff for a specific disease or cancer cells. So if you have a trained dog, it is likely trained for a specific danger like Vampires. Or Dragons. Or Demons. Or Cyborgs. So a trained dog isn't going to help in all situations unless the GM wants to interpret trained liberally (which could be fine for a fictional game).

[Axelmania]

If I make a cat into an animal mummy would it keep it's psi?

[ShadowLogan]

If I make a cat into an animal mummy would it keep it's psi?

By RAW... No. There does not seem to be any allowance for previous capacity/ability to be carried over. There is no text for the Mummy or Zombie that says something like: "magical/psychic powers are retained", so I don't see an animal mummy/zombie carrying over their psychic ability.

Now there could be a variant of the spell/ritual in question I'm not familiar with, and one could also house rule it as such.

[J_cobbers]

If I make a cat into an animal mummy would it keep it's psi?

Depends if you use the normal spell or create a feline Mummy Imortalus ala Monsters and Animals.

[Axelmania]

Page 121 mentions a spell of legend but not the PPE cost... kind of hard to use.

[Riftmaker]

If your doing savage rifts there is an edge that covers this

[CyCo]

Humans. We make great pets.

8p

Dear god...it's 'Springtime for Ming (the) Merciless'....

8p

[eliakon]

Page 121 mentions a spell of legend but not the PPE cost... kind of hard to use.

There are a lot of incomplete spells. Many of them are spells like this that seem to be designed to not be used "in play" and as such don't have information for things like PPE, ritual elements, saves, dangers, etc. Which is fine since the spell can not be learned in play by anyone with out the GM explicitly providing a teacher for it (there is no canon way to just 'learn' a SoL) so if they put the spell into their game, then presumably they have also put in the details that they want to use in as well.

[drewkitty ~..~]

snip….
Also, how would you classify a pet, mechanics wise? Are they equipment or something else?

Not equipment.
However, the equipment section is where I would list the pet on a paper char sheet.

[glitterboy2098]

Which could mean anything from 'Dragon coming' to "It smelled a dinosaur a quarter mile off".

Or worse a squirrel or something else mudane.

Exactly. A good GM would let your 'I'm going to have a dog as a free supernatural detector" work once.. or twice.. then he'd totally start screwing with you on it. Till you ignored your dog the 48th time he freaked over the raccoon and suddenly that raccoon morphed into a pissy great horned dragon and smacked you around.

I would not let it be a free detector, an untrained dog would react to lots of things the same. That could draw in threats by its barking at squirels and such.
To be effective it would need to be trained and that takes allot of time. It would be a level of training seen in police or military working dogs. Requiring constant upkeep. The training would require months with its handler in a controlled envorment, not traveling through the woods. Quicker to hire a feral dog boy or wild psi-stalker

To use the pet as a second line of defense the handler would have to have some sort of animal attunement. To most people, a barking dog sounds the same whether it's barking for attention, dinner, at a squirrel or signalling danger. If you have no skill in handling dogs, how are you really going to know? As for the issue of training the dog itself, a trained dog would clearly be superior and easier to understand than an untrained dog. But you still have to know a bit about handling animals to really get the most out of that.

But let's assume we are talking about a companion pet. Eventually you would learn the nuances in the pet's personality and signals. I had a dog when I was kid, who when he felt threatened, he would get real quiet and the hair would lift on the back of his neck. He never barked when he felt threatened. One of my current dogs will yelp with fear at a distance from an intruder (which sounds totally different from "feed me," which in turn sounds different from "let me in," which sounds different from, "these kids are bothering me"). Getting to know your pet takes time (months or years), so in the beginning you'd be second guessing whether it's a squirrel or dragon? But eventually you could know the difference (not squirrel vs. dragon example, but rather being territorial with a critter vs. calling out a serious danger) if you cared about the animal as a companion. But then, if you care about it, it's gonna suck when it gets killed. Which brings us back around to the idea that the dog is equipment. Is his life expendable for yours? And if you view him as expendable, how attuned will you be to him?

The game tends to simplify stuff like this or don't even address it. So it is really up to GM interpretation and player investment in roleplaying the companion relationship.

And one final thought on trained animals. They signal detection on stimulus that they have been conditioned for. A bomb dog sniffs for a type of explosive. Drug dogs look for certain types of drugs found in that area. Medical dogs sniff for a specific disease or cancer cells. So if you have a trained dog, it is likely trained for a specific danger like Vampires. Or Dragons. Or Demons. Or Cyborgs. So a trained dog isn't going to help in all situations unless the GM wants to interpret trained liberally (which could be fine for a fictional game).

in regards to training, Dead Reign has a dog handler class that includes details on the kinds of training they can give dogs, and how long that takes. this includes the regular stuff (drug sniffers, bomb sniffer, guard dogs, herding dogs, etc) and unconventional (supernatural sniffers)

and the Rise of Magic book for chaos earth has greater detail of how cats, dogs, and horses use their supernatural senses, and how they act when something supernatural is going on. even if the animal is not trained, someone who knows animals fairly well should be able to tell the difference between "i saw a squirrel" and "Run, a demon is coming after us" in terms of behavior, because they animals do specific things when they encounter such stuff.

[kronos]

in regards to training, Dead Reign has a dog handler class that includes details on the kinds of training they can give dogs, and how long that takes. this includes the regular stuff (drug sniffers, bomb sniffer, guard dogs, herding dogs, etc) and unconventional (supernatural sniffers)

and the Rise of Magic book for chaos earth has greater detail of how cats, dogs, and horses use their supernatural senses, and how they act when something supernatural is going on. even if the animal is not trained, someone who knows animals fairly well should be able to tell the difference between "i saw a squirrel" and "Run, a demon is coming after us" in terms of behavior, because they animals do specific things when they encounter such stuff.

That makes sense.
I was watching the Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles recently, and all dogs reacted to the terminators in a warning growl/barking manner, even ones that had no training as guard or police, like one super friendly dog did this when a terminator was close by. So in Rifts dogs might do something similar to any cyborgs, robots or androids near by as well as supernatural. Just a thought.

[Axelmania]

SkyNet borgs may not be as advanced in imitating the human form as some disguised borgs in Rifts though, they might be able to duplicate human scent.

[flatline]

SkyNet borgs may not be as advanced in imitating the human form as some disguised borgs in Rifts though, they might be able to duplicate human scent.

We don't know how the nuclear reactor in a borg converts heat to electric power, but odds are that it produces some amount of sound that dogs might be able to hear.

And seriously, in a setting where IR/thermal detectors are easily available, borgs would be easily detectable. Trying to disguise yourself as a normal human is hard when you have a nuclear reactor generating all sorts of heat.

[Axelmania]

For all we know the reactors used in Rifts are super-efficient and don't produce much wasted energy as heat, and super-insulated so that any that is produced is contained until it is dissipated.

Page 74 of the Bionics Sourcebook for the Cyber-Humanoid OCC mentions "sensors, metal detectors and x-ray machines" so I guess the first term is open-ended enough to possible include thermal.

In that case, these full-conversion borgs might want to wear some NE-C20 Camouflage Variable Armor (Mercs 124) since it blocks infrared emissions.

Anyone remember other ways to block infrared?

[Blue_Lion]

For all we know the reactors used in Rifts are super-efficient and don't produce much wasted energy as heat, and super-insulated so that any that is produced is contained until it is dissipated.

Page 74 of the Bionics Sourcebook for the Cyber-Humanoid OCC mentions "sensors, metal detectors and x-ray machines" so I guess the first term is open-ended enough to possible include thermal.

In that case, these full-conversion borgs might want to wear some NE-C20 Camouflage Variable Armor (Mercs 124) since it blocks infrared emissions.

Anyone remember other ways to block infrared?

There is a stealth guilie suit in I think merc opps, that blocks thermal way more common way.(bonus to prowl and hides thermal signature.)
The sensor spoofers in juicer uprising for light armor can block thermal immersions as well as jam many other sensors and scatter targeting lasers.(Do the spoofers using jamming they can be detected by sensor operators as something is jamming in the area, but they make it hard for robots to target you.)

Thermal sensors for distance are generally optics, typically found in cyber eyes, or robot sensor sweets.

[eliakon]

My two cents is that there seems to be no reason to assume that borgs are easily detectable since there are many examples of infiltrator borgs, often with cyber disguises. The idea that some unmentioned ability is making multiple OCCs actually incapable of performing their job seems... unlikely. Now if a particular gaming group wants to nerf cyborgs by making them more difficult to play... sure house rule away, but there is no reason I can see to assume that RAW they are easily detectable with out 'detailed medical scans' is I believe the term often bandied around.

[Pepsi Jedi]

To use the pet as a second line of defense the handler would have to have some sort of animal attunement. To most people, a barking dog sounds the same whether it's barking for attention, dinner, at a squirrel or signalling danger. If you have no skill in handling dogs, how are you really going to know? As for the issue of training the dog itself, a trained dog would clearly be superior and easier to understand than an untrained dog. But you still have to know a bit about handling animals to really get the most out of that.

But let's assume we are talking about a companion pet. Eventually you would learn the nuances in the pet's personality and signals. I had a dog when I was kid, who when he felt threatened, he would get real quiet and the hair would lift on the back of his neck. He never barked when he felt threatened. One of my current dogs will yelp with fear at a distance from an intruder (which sounds totally different from "feed me," which in turn sounds different from "let me in," which sounds different from, "these kids are bothering me"). Getting to know your pet takes time (months or years), so in the beginning you'd be second guessing whether it's a squirrel or dragon? But eventually you could know the difference (not squirrel vs. dragon example, but rather being territorial with a critter vs. calling out a serious danger) if you cared about the animal as a companion. But then, if you care about it, it's gonna suck when it gets killed. Which brings us back around to the idea that the dog is equipment. Is his life expendable for yours? And if you view him as expendable, how attuned will you be to him?

The game tends to simplify stuff like this or don't even address it. So it is really up to GM interpretation and player investment in roleplaying the companion relationship.

And one final thought on trained animals. They signal detection on stimulus that they have been conditioned for. A bomb dog sniffs for a type of explosive. Drug dogs look for certain types of drugs found in that area. Medical dogs sniff for a specific disease or cancer cells. So if you have a trained dog, it is likely trained for a specific danger like Vampires. Or Dragons. Or Demons. Or Cyborgs. So a trained dog isn't going to help in all situations unless the GM wants to interpret trained liberally (which could be fine for a fictional game).

in regards to training, Dead Reign has a dog handler class that includes details on the kinds of training they can give dogs, and how long that takes. this includes the regular stuff (drug sniffers, bomb sniffer, guard dogs, herding dogs, etc) and unconventional (supernatural sniffers)

and the Rise of Magic book for chaos earth has greater detail of how cats, dogs, and horses use their supernatural senses, and how they act when something supernatural is going on. even if the animal is not trained, someone who knows animals fairly well should be able to tell the difference between "i saw a squirrel" and "Run, a demon is coming after us" in terms of behavior, because they animals do specific things when they encounter such stuff.[/quote]


A difference between "I saw a squirrel' and "Demon coming after us" yeah

but difference between "I smelled something scary" and "Demon coming after us" no.

For 1) Dogs aren't going to have names and indications like that. They'll have 'Fear responce" which yes, a terrorfied dog will look scared, but you're not going to be goin "Oh that's a demon right there. That's how fido holds his ears when he smells demons.. but when it's a dragon he does this thing with his tail, and if it's a werewolf he gets all randy"

It'll be 'Hey the dog's freaked out about something!"

And 2) If the dog runs off from the supernatural it's not going to be that much of a help other than "Dog ran off again, better look out"

3) Supernatural things, by and large are going to be smart enough to take fido out. Then come back when you're unaware or something or take the dog out from range, or first, etc. Thats if it hasnt' run and just not come back due to the utter horrifiying nature of the supernatual beast. (Horror factor)

if the dog has a 'fight' responce, well. that 'USED' to be a good dog. I say "used to" because in Rifts, 9 out of 10 supernatural ANYTHING are MDC creatures and your dog isn't. So if it growls and goes to bite the supernaturla thing. the supernatural thing's responce will likely to be some verson of "Dragon rips the dog's head from it's body and throws it at it's master's chest laughing"

[glitterboy2098]

Pepsi, can you please fix your quotes? you have me saying Blue Lion's post, and messed up my actual post.

also, have you read the entry? in creature of chaos (i had the wrong book, i apologize for that), pg 12.

it isn't just a "i saw something scary" response, it's a full on freakout. one where the canine acts like it's getting ready to fight to the death while also acting scared to death, which is not a normal response to say, another dog in its territory or smelling a normal predator. in such cases you usually get either just aggression or just fear.. not usually both turned up to 11.

by the write up, you might be able to mistake it's actions for normal stuff when the threat is a long ways off. but by the time the threat is within a few hundred feet, it will be clear your dealing with something out of the ordinary.

cats have a similar write up. horses are the one where regular behavior would be hard to separate from the sensing of the supernatural, since not only do they have longer ranged senses for it, but their response is basically a normal fear response.

[Pepsi Jedi]

Sorry about that. It gave me one of those 'Can't have 5 quotes" things and I missed the scalping on there.

I'll check Creatures of Chaos... Have to find it. Not a book I reference often. thanks.

[Zer0 Kay]

Any normal human in Rifts who doesn't keep a cat/dog/horse around as a pet is either destitute or insane. The free sixth sense / sense evil is too good to pass up.

Indeed, and it makes for dramatic decision-making in the middle of a firefight/monster attack, since the GM might use the pet as a hostage; does the PC save himself, or risk life and limb to save his pet? And the PCs' treatment of their pets may just impact how others see them; wilderness-attuned folk may take exception to people who are seen as abusing their animals(the criteria varying from actual neglect to just keeping the critter on a lease).

Does the PC see the pet as a work animal and a tool or a pet.

[Blue_Lion]

Any normal human in Rifts who doesn't keep a cat/dog/horse around as a pet is either destitute or insane. The free sixth sense / sense evil is too good to pass up.

Indeed, and it makes for dramatic decision-making in the middle of a firefight/monster attack, since the GM might use the pet as a hostage; does the PC save himself, or risk life and limb to save his pet? And the PCs' treatment of their pets may just impact how others see them; wilderness-attuned folk may take exception to people who are seen as abusing their animals(the criteria varying from actual neglect to just keeping the critter on a lease).

Does the PC see the pet as a work animal and a tool or a pet.

Depends on the pc and the animal.

[Axelmania]

A difference between "I saw a squirrel' and "Demon coming after us" yeah

but difference between "I smelled something scary" and "Demon coming after us" no.

I think dogs would react pretty differently. Annoyed territorial bark vs utter freakout mouth-foaming.

For 1) Dogs aren't going to have names and indications like that. They'll have 'Fear responce" which yes, a terrorfied dog will look scared, but you're not going to be goin "Oh that's a demon right there. That's how fido holds his ears when he smells demons.. but when it's a dragon he does this thing with his tail, and if it's a werewolf he gets all randy"

I'm not even sure they could tell the difference to begin with.

And 2) If the dog runs off from the supernatural it's not going to be that much of a help other than "Dog ran off again, better look out"

It might stay and bark in the direction of the danger, giving you a rough idea of it is, they're not all cowards.

3) Supernatural things, by and large are going to be smart enough to take fido out. Then come back when you're unaware or something or take the dog out from range, or first, etc. Thats if it hasnt' run and just not come back due to the utter horrifiying nature of the supernatual beast. (Horror factor)

I don't agree that supernatural creatures are by and large smart, the majority might be dumb predators. A lot are also limited to melee actions and could move slower than a dog.

Plus you could always get more than one dog.

if the dog has a 'fight' responce, well. that 'USED' to be a good dog. I say "used to" because in Rifts, 9 out of 10 supernatural ANYTHING are MDC creatures and your dog isn't. So if it growls and goes to bite the supernaturla thing. the supernatural thing's responce will likely to be some verson of "Dragon rips the dog's head from it's body and throws it at it's master's chest laughing"

Them being MDC is okay, per the Chaos Earth rules dogs inflict MD to all supernatural creatures.

The main problem is... simultaneous attacks.

[Pepsi Jedi]

wait.. what? Lol Dogs are suddenly MDC now???

[eliakon]

wait.. what? Lol Dogs are suddenly MDC now???

No, they deal MD to demons and many other supernatural monsters though.

[glitterboy2098]

their bites inflict 1D6 md. whether to all supernatural creatures or just the chaos demons is open to interpritation, it is a bit ambigious. though it does seem to imply all supernatural creatures.

they remain SDC critters though, so they die easy. the book actually mentiones that specificalyl as a drawback of using dogs as weapons vs the supernatural.

though IMO you should be able to make some sort of canine armor for MDC protection. such stuff exists IRL for police dogs and the like, so there should probably be MDC dog armor already in existence, and scratch building some makeshift stuff from MDC scrap should be doable too.

[Pepsi Jedi]

Where's this rule at? I gotta read it. Dogs suddenly doing MDC damage is trippy.

Do dog boys suddenly do MDC too?

[glitterboy2098]

Where's this rule at? I gotta read it. Dogs suddenly doing MDC damage is trippy.

Do dog boys suddenly do MDC too?

creatures of Chaos, pg 12

and the book does not mention dogboys. IMO i suspect whatever the CS did to make them humanoid and have human like intelligence messed up the "anti-supernatural bite" ability.