Stating Animals

[caspiansk]

Hello All,

So for my table top game I first want to send something a little light at my pcs before they get mixed up with real enemies. They're going to find themselves on an abandoned spacestation, with some vermin I called "bilge rats".

Question is, what is a good way of stating out these creatures?

[Stormcrow]

ProBoards ate my last post to this topic. Let's try again.

Rats might be statted (notice the two t's) like so:

Awr 2; Crd 4; Res 1; Str 1.
Ath 2; Fgt 1; Sur 3.
Keen Sense (Smell); Quick Ref.; Coward; Nat. Weapons (Bite 1/3/4).

I just came up with this off the top of my head, and I didn't bother worrying about things like what a rat's Ingenuity is, and so forth (it's below the resolution of the system). This represents a very big rat--normal-sized ones wouldn't be worth statting up--and even these will probably run away when confronted.

You're not showing the players the creatures' stats, so make up anything you think is suitable, and only make up what you actually need.

[misterharry]

Jun 13, 2013 20:06:00 GMT caspiansk said:

Hello All,

So for my table top game I first want to send something a little light at my pcs before they get mixed up with real enemies. They're going to find themselves on an abandoned spacestation, with some vermin I called "bilge rats".

Question is, what is a good way of stating out these creatures?

The 11th Doctor GM's Guide has a section on statting up flora and fauna, so you might find it helpful to look at that if you have that edition. The main difference between statting animals and statting sentient creatures is that animals only have three Attributes: Awareness, Coordination and Strength (as animals are considered to have 0 in the mental Attributes). You also only need their key traits and skills - such as their attack, any defence/armour, specialised movement and the like.

[Rassilon]

You might want to check out Aliens & Creatures. There's a size chart that would be helpful for statting animals. The chart covers tiny to huge size ranges with all modifiers.

Also, there is something similar in the Primeval game. Primeval is essential for any animal-heavy games as it includes cages, restraints, tranquillisers, Tasers, animal handling, and deals with huge creatures with guidelines for things like a T-Rex flipping Landrovers and demolishing walls etc. It has in-depth animal building rules and includes a very neat rules feature for savage animals called 'Threat'. It is part of the Vortex System so it's fully-compatible with DWAITAS. The minor differences are easily integrated. I highly recommend Primeval and Aliens & Creature for completeness with DWAITAS.

Part of the chart from Aliens & Creatures is below and will give you modifiers for Rats:

[jeffrywith1e]

Primeval uses a Size Category for creatures.

• Tiny - Max Strength is 1; -2 or more penalty to Marksman skill to hit. Small enough to fit in a boot. Probably this for your Bilge Rat
• Small - Max Strength of 4; Children are Small
• Average - Max Strength 8; humans, etc.
  
• Big - Max Strength 12; bigger than human, but can still hide
• Huge - Max Strength 16; Elephants
  
• Colossal - Max Strength - no limit; +2 Marksman

An interesting note that would apply to the Bilge Rats- if there's more than one size category between attacker and defender, the bigger creature has to use Coordination when making melee attacks. (Coordination + Fighting to hit the little, scurrying thing)

[Pertwee]

Jun 14, 2013 6:08:34 GMT misterharry said:

Jun 13, 2013 20:06:00 GMT caspiansk said:

Hello All,

So for my table top game I first want to send something a little light at my pcs before they get mixed up with real enemies. They're going to find themselves on an abandoned spacestation, with some vermin I called "bilge rats".

Question is, what is a good way of stating out these creatures?

The 11th Doctor GM's Guide has a section on statting up flora and fauna, so you might find it helpful to look at that if you have that edition. The main difference between statting animals and statting sentient creatures is that animals only have three Attributes: Awareness, Coordination and Strength (as animals are considered to have 0 in the mental Attributes). You also only need their key traits and skills - such as their attack, any defence/armour, specialised movement and the like.

Also, remember that you needn't give them specific skills. You can give them broader, catch all skills, like Hunting or Tree Living', that allow you to give them general areas of expertise without having to write down every skill. A Hunting creature, for instance, would use it's 'skill' whenever the GM decides that their current action would use any of the various hunting skills that it knows, like tracking, ambushing, etc.

[jeffrywith1e]

If you do wish to use Skills, however, Primeval lists the following skills for creating creatures:

• Athletics - for running, jumping, flying, brute force, etc
• Fighting - obvious
  
• Marksman - used for like spitting acid or a frog's tongue, etc. Not very common for creatures.
  
• Subterfuge - sneaking and hiding, obviously not for picking locks or pockets.
  
• Survival - obvious

Each skill still has Area of Expertise for whatever the animal does best.

My intent to add this is not to counter everything Pertwee says, but in keeping with the thread, I thought it'd be useful info. No offense, Pertwee.