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Cole Harris
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House Rules:

Thu 14 Jan 2016, 06:01

The Dog Handler is an interesting concept but fell somewhat flat in our game. This prompted me (as GM) to come up with some house Rules for...

Dog Handler
Sic-A-Dog: This skill works as usual, however, has the following additional Stunts:

Tame: due to their close relationship with dogs, the Dog Handler can attempt to apply similar techniques to tame other animals. This stunt may only be applied once per skill roll. Initially only broken animals may be tamed. However, if after spending additional time (3D6 hours) with previously tamed animals the PC can reroll the Sic-A-Dog skill and reapply the stunt for increased effect:
o Roll 1: animal is effectively domesticated livestock. It does not fear nor attack the PC. If removed from its natural environment the PC must feed and otherwise care for the animal. It will defend itself normally.
o Roll 2: animal becomes a socialized pet or a mount that can carry both people and/or equipment.
o Roll 3: animal can be trained to follow complex commands as well as special skills (i.e. Guard, Protect, Perform, Attack, etc.) Additionally, animal loses any inherent species hierarchy as the PC becomes its Alpha.
o Roll 4: animal becomes an obedient companion. Animal will defend the Dog Handler unconditionally.

Husbandry: the Dog Handler becomes adapt at caring for animals as well as discerning valuable traits. When applied to an animal, the Dog Handler can control selective breeding such that desirable traits are reinforced while undesirable traits are diminished/bread-out. To use this stunt, the Dog Handler must have access to more than two mated pairings of the same or similar animal species.

Situational Awareness: the Dog Handler is attuned to animal behaviors and can discern the location and severity of environmental dangers (if any) by observing the local wildlife.
 
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Tomas
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Re: House Rules:

Thu 14 Jan 2016, 11:56

Interesting house rule! Did you try it out?
Fria Ligan
 
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Cole Harris
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Re: House Rules:

Fri 15 Jan 2016, 04:06

Yeah, it seems to work so far.

The Dog Handler found a pig (baby Razorback) that she has since Tamed (level 1) but probably will continue to tame considering the breed. She also uses Situational Awareness a lot, especially when the Stalker is elsewhere.

Any suggestions are welcome.
 
Tarostar
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Re: House Rules:

Thu 28 Jan 2016, 20:03

Sorry if this is obvious, but what (apparent from GM fiat) is stopping a dog handler from having several dogs (especially if they are abundant in the Ark)?

I see that Sic a Dog takes an action but it seems reasonable that could be used for all dogs together. I guess the easiest "fix" is to just not make multiple dogs that much more powerful (maybe +1 per additional dog), but appreciate good ideas. I'd say that if you have more than one dog you need to start providing grub to make them stay around (and not turn on you or cause trouble in the Ark) as there is not enough to scavenge when several together.

I would also only require Sic a Dog be an action on the first round or when directing the dog to a new target/task.
 
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Cole Harris
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Re: House Rules:

Wed 10 Feb 2016, 22:58

With or without the house rule I came up with, nothing would stop the Dog Handler from having more than 1 dog - or any other animal - save for expenses related to keeping them (i.e. grub for healing each, having a suitable place to keep them, etc.) I think I would limit the number of dogs that can be handled at one time to something like D6 + Stat + Skill per Dog Handler, anything more than that would be beyond manageable...

As for using Sic-A-Dog skill with multiple animals, I can see it working one of two ways - either the PC gives a single order to the 'lead' animal and the pack does that too, or the PC gives individual orders to each animal. I'm hesitant to say a PC could mix-n-match whenever and should be locked into one method per scene, but then again, if the players/GM can keep everything organized and moving quickly let the PC do whatever...

In either case I would limit the skill rolls to one (or as few as possible) per 'scene' or task like you suggested.
 
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nerdvana
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Re: House Rules:

Sun 29 Apr 2018, 22:57

Sorry if this is obvious, but what (apparent from GM fiat) is stopping a dog handler from having several dogs (especially if they are abundant in the Ark)?
I don't see this as a problem since a Boss can have a number of NPCs with him also.
 
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Fenhorn
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Re: House Rules:

Sun 29 Apr 2018, 23:10

A dog handler might have more than one dog or anyone can have a dog (you can buy them) but the dog handler has a special relationship with his dog. For any other dog, they might guard but that is about it.
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