Aww, it's just a lightning bug...

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Mack
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Aww, it's just a lightning bug...

Unread post by Mack »

Recently picked up Secrets of Atlantis, and I'm enjoying the new tattoos.

But I had this amusing combo come to mind: Animal Tattoo of a Wasp, with the Breathing Lightning enhancement. You'd get a wasp that flies at 25mph and has a 3D6 SDC zapper with a 60ft range. (Good luck trying to shoot a wasp that's 50 feet away and moving.)

I've got this image in my head of a T-Man quietly giggling to himself as he watches his little buddy wreak a little chaos throughout a CS encampment.
"Totally worth the two tattoos I had to get..." :fool:
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eliakon
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Re: Aww, it's just a lightning bug...

Unread post by eliakon »

Mack wrote:Recently picked up Secrets of Atlantis, and I'm enjoying the new tattoos.

But I had this amusing combo come to mind: Animal Tattoo of a Wasp, with the Breathing Lightning enhancement. You'd get a wasp that flies at 25mph and has a 3D6 SDC zapper with a 60ft range. (Good luck trying to shoot a wasp that's 50 feet away and moving.)

I've got this image in my head of a T-Man quietly giggling to himself as he watches his little buddy wreak a little chaos throughout a CS encampment.
"Totally worth the two tattoos I had to get..." :fool:

This amuses me greatly. And is indeed most giggle worthy.
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Re: Aww, it's just a lightning bug...

Unread post by Curbludgeon »

That's a best-in-role animal combo.

I've never really paid much attention to animal tattoos. Since almost all the dedicated tattoo O.C.C.s (and some of the Rifter ones) start with two it might be fun to think of possible options. One thing worth noting that has to be inferred from the book's comparisons to weapon tattoos is that if an enhancement tattoo is received at the same time as the animal/monster tattoo it enhances, the combo only counts as 1 tattoo for the 6 simultaneously active limit. A consequence of this is incentivizing finished animal/monster combos during character creation.

The two big questions for animal tattoos at the table are: Can s.d.c. animals not native to Earth be made into tattoos? and How are cetaceans handled?

The main roles for animals as I see it:

Sentry: dogs are good, whisker coyotes are better, fatal sensitivities could be exploited e.g. mining canary
Personal Mount: Horses are almost as good a sentry as dogs. Needs mdc barding and a saddle (and 47 PPE) to be viable in occasional combat. If there were sdc dinosaurs this might be a good place for them.
Pack Mount: Elephants come to mind. An possible enhancement is a howdah for large animals/monsters. I figure it could cost maybe 3x as much as a saddle, and would count as one for any prerequisites.
Extra pair of hands: Earth primates of various sizes
Air support: this is hindered somewhat by the lack of mindlink between animal and tattoo user, but with psionics aerial surveillance is possible. See below.
Being unnoticed: Mack's Bee with a Breath Weapon is as good as that gets.
SDC combat: This is of lesser value. Useful for hunting or intimidation.
Underwater support: "Animal Characteristics: The magic animals act like the creature illustrated in the tattoo in every way, and possesses all the abilities that the real animal would have." If that holds for cetaceans, then with a little Ocean Magic they become the best choice in most categories. Honorable mentions go to the Lemurian Aquatic Lemur and the Picasso Magic Fish.

I would dearly love to hear other examples. What is the largest SDC animal in Rifts, for example?
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Mack
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Re: Aww, it's just a lightning bug...

Unread post by Mack »

Curbludgeon wrote:The two big questions for animal tattoos at the table are: Can s.d.c. animals not native to Earth be made into tattoos?

Considering that True Atlanteans are prolific dimensional travelers, that seems like an easy "yes."

Curbludgeon wrote:and How are cetaceans handled?

GM call, but I wouldn't allow the casting abilities.
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