MDC Dogs/Familars

[RockJock]

So.....
I know this has been rehashed repeatedly in different forms, but I want a MDC familiar for a mage. I'm not looking for anything crazy, just basically a dog/wolf animal that isn't an automatic liability during the game.

Here are the options I've come up with:

Moonseer Hound from one of the Vampire books. A bit more powerful then I am really wanting, and has such a strange look that it would attract more attention than is really worth.

Robot Dog/Wolf from Archie, or from New West, maybe other places. It would work accept well, not actually an animal, so not actually a familiar.

NEMA Enhanced Dog from the Chaos Earth First Responders Preview. Not MDC, not exactly "book legal", but I kinda like it.

Maybe a standard dog from Woodwood? Wouldn't they be MDC? No MDC damage, but could survive a light hit at least.

Whisker Coyote from I think New West. Not MDC, but has some neat abilities, and still kinda funky looking.

Here is a strange idea, but one I'm considering. Standard dog or the NEMA option with something like the Demon Skin used by the Chinese, possibly with a bionic jaw. Should still work as a familiar?

Any thoughts, ideas, suggstions?

[Warshield73]

Dimension Book 7: Megaverse Builder has section on familiars including some biomechs. It does not include canines but Rifter 59 has several more biomechs including a canine. I use the feline one for my shifter pre-gen for convention games so it might be what you are looking for.

That issue also has some stuff from Splicers on dog packs too but I don't know if that will help much.

[Grazzik]

WB36 pg 150-153... cyborg canines! The advantages of a robot dog, but the mind of a real hound.

Use TW bionics to get that extra magical flavor. Or bionic-grotesque implants from TtGD for a cyber-magic enabled puppy. Arguably, a magically augmented cyberdog familiar shouldn't have the magical benefits impacted too much, GM permitting.

Perhaps have a friendly Gene-splicer create a Tri-wolf for you... SB3 pg 69.

[Warshield73]

WB36 pg 150-153... cyborg canines! The advantages of a robot dog, but the mind of a real hound.

Use TW bionics to get that extra magical flavor. Or bionic-grotesque implants from TtGD for a cyber-magic enabled puppy. Arguably, a magically augmented cyberdog familiar shouldn't have the magical benefits impacted too much, GM permitting.

Hmmmm. This is a cool idea but I think I might use it for an evil shift/techno-wizard.

Perhaps have a friendly Gene-splicer create a Tri-wolf for you... SB3 pg 69.

Or kill a gene-splicer, take his crap and rescue a tri-wolf puppy to raise as your familiar. Question is, which head would be your familiar and how do the other two react?

[ShadowLogan]

Not sure what other canine's you might have looked at, but here are a few more you might have missed:
-World Book 20: Canada (pg143-7) has stats for various Bears (143-5), Foxes (145-6), Wolves (146-7), Sled Dogs (147). Includes the option for a Mutant Bear (pg145) with MDC, which opens up the idea you could just have a mutant canine (likely a wolf, there are animal MDC mutants in WB7 so these mutations do exist, they just might be rare)
-World Book 26: Dinosaur Swamp (pg32-3) an alien "canine" the " Panthera-Thrinax related to the Terron "feline" in WB14 New West. It's also MDC, might be a bit big

For MDC you could:
-create "barding" armor for the animal (we do make body armor for canines in the real world, so why not Rifts?). This can also take the form of "power armor" similar to the Dolphin/Whale "power armor" in WB7 (which is more like armed barding than power armor, ala Dino-Riders). And there are examples of Horse Barding in a few places IINM
-equip with a tech Force Field belt (likely Naruni)
-magic item(s), though here not sure if the canine's dislike for magic might come into play
-Splugorth Bio-Wizardry (from WB2 you have MDC transformation pg108, Transfortifiers pg113, WB21 might also have something for animals)
-result of magical experimentation (the Darkhounds are believed to be the result of magical experimentation, which if true could have precursor examples out there)
-time traveling canine might have enough time displacement to become MDC (like dinosaurs) and resulting offspring (like dinosaurs)

[Marcethus]

Rifts Book Atlantis: The Dragonsaurus(sp?) It's MDC and is basically dog like in it's personality.

[RockJock]

Thanks for the replies all. I'll check out the Rifter when I get home tonight, it totally slipped my mind to look into the Rifters. The Russia cyborg dogs/bears/falcons I was familiar with, and is in the realm of what I'm wanting. Not the brain implant stuff, but the upgrades. That was sort of what I was going for with the demon skin/bionic jaw, but the dog borg would work. The MDC bear fits, just never saw rules/examples of a dog version. I don't think it would be overpowering to have a MDC wolf along the same lines as the MDC bears. Triwolf I had totally forgotten. I can't think of the last time I flipped thru mindwerks.