Transform Self - Guidance on Stats, e.g. Shadowcat

[Bill the barbarian]

4 hours ago, Stephen L said:

Anyway, I am under no illusion: when he lays yet another ambush for me, he's just checking for signs of weakness.  

As long as you have thumbs and a can opener you should be safe.... sleep with one eye open anyways!

[g33k]

On 10/8/2020 at 3:40 AM, Joerg said:

... there are herding dogs in the 40 to 60 kg range, which overlaps with that of smaller and lighter humans.

FWIW:  there's TWO kinds of "herd" dogs, really.

Generally, the big ones are herd GUARDS -- they live with/in the herd, and "adopt" it as their own to protect.

Generally, the smaller ones are "herding" dogs -- they move the herd from place to place, as the herdsmen direct, with "faux hunting" behavior.
 

On 10/8/2020 at 3:40 AM, Joerg said:

... The Norwegian Forest Cat is one of the bigger breeds of housecat, reaching 9 kg in large toms. Unless practicing bull riding, I don't see modern-sized cattle as very impressed by such creatures. A larger specimen of bobcat or Canada Lynx will bring twice that mass into contests, and might qualify as enough of a nuisance that a cow of 200 kg might prefer to follow its lead rather than minding its own business. Whether a bull weighing above 350 kg would follow is yet another question.

The biggest breed of domestic cat, AFAIK, is the "Maine Coon."  It's believed to be descended -- pre-Columbus, so it's claimed! -- from Viking-imported cats (so likely the same bloodlines as the Norwegian).

Agreed RE the lynx family of cats -- a much better physical starting-point (than domestic housecats) for the Gloranthan shadowcat; and the name "Alynx" should give even more of a hint as to Greg's intention there!

If you wanted more variation, I might recommend looking at others of the medium-small hunting-cats, like the Serval, the Caracal, the Ocelot, etc; I'd be reluctant to move up to the puma/cougar/mountain-lion/etc (lots of regional names!) or larger.
 

Re how big a herding animal needs to be -- Exhibit [A] (for Australian Cattle dog) runs 15-22 kg (33-49 lb), and readily moves a herd (including bulls) wherever they want to move it... <cue singing Lemur "We want to move-it move-it">

Edited October 9, 2020 by g33k

[Psullie]

The Bestiary clearly states that Shadowcats are Lynx sized withs a 1D6 SIZ. Sure a semi-divine version could be bigger but that is not, imo, in keeping with the nature of Yinkin. The Rune creature is supposed to embody the nature of the God. Odayla is big and bearish, Yinkin is lithe, swift and astute. So to transform, the key attributes one would gain are speed, agility, sight and smell. A Yinkin priest should therefore be looking for those attributes, not size.

[Arcadiagt5]

Thank you all for your suggestions. What I'm currently considering is the following:

Yinkin:

1. STR = x2/3, round down to reflect the shift from 3D6 to 2D6
2. CON = +2, to reflect the shift from 3D6 to 2D6+6
3. SIZ = x1/4, round down to reflect the shift from 2D6+6 to 1D6
4. DEX = x2 to reflect the shift from 3D6 to 3D6+12
5. INT, POW, CHA remain unchanged. (Which is a little sucktastic for the Yinkin initiate/priest given what a Shadowcat's POW looks like but these three define the inner person and can't be changed)

Odayla:

Here it depends on which type of bear you're talking about. This I'm not sure how to handle but my current thinking is that upon initiation most initiates hunted a Black Bear, so that's what they transform into. If they subsequently, in play, solo hunt, kill, and skin a Brown Bear and then a White Bear, they may progressively stack Transform Self (at additional RP costs) to choose those species (so twice for Brown, three times for White)

Black:

1. STR = x1.5, round up, to reflect the shift from 3D6 to 3D6+6
2. CON = +2, to reflect the shift from 3D6 to 2D6+6
3. SIZ = +3, to reflect the shift from 2D6+6 to 3D6+6
4. DEX = unchanged
5. INT, POW, CHA remain unchanged.

Brown:

1. STR= x2.5, to reflect the shift from 3D6 to 3D6+15
2. CON = +2, to reflect the shift from 3D6 to 2D6+6
3. SIZ = x2, to reflect the shift from 2D6+6 to 3D6+15
4. DEX = unchanged
5. INT, POW, CHA remain unchanged.

White:

1. STR= x3, to reflect the shift from 3D6 to 3D6+21
2. CON = +2, to reflect the shift from 3D6 to 2D6+6
3. SIZ = x2.5, to reflect the shift from 2D6+6 to 3D6+21
4. DEX = unchanged
5. INT, POW, CHA remain unchanged.

Wildday Restriction:

I am undecided if I'm going to keep this, or allow it to be bent somewhat for the cost of additional Rune Points. 

[Whizbang]

I think mythically, Odayla is the White Bear, but I like your suggestion about it being the bear you killed. Problem is that I think this happens "offscreen" during most character creation.

The issue I have with the idea that you just stack 3 spells plus get the skills of a bear is, well, that is hardly "semi-divine" if you compared stats against, say, a real white bear. I would think the incentive would just be to stack your 5-point Bear Strength and Bear Skin and keep the remaining four points for something like, uh, I dunno, 4 Heal Wounds.

Game balance logic is not Glorantha myth logic, but as far as I can tell, Odayla is all about hunting the Sky Bear and we do not know who won so I would think this would ought to be a pretty amazing transformation.

Odayla is a minor god (though I think he is a free part of Orlanth) so, yah, the whole bear thing might be Odayla propaganda and stoned stinky men eating jerky in the woods.