Kriesha's animals

[kgauck]

I suppose fiendish wolves would not be controlable by Reynir's scions. Normally being able to apply a template to a familiar or companion is a feat.

Since there are other animals who are natural, why specifically would a shift away from the wolf be a problem for Reynir?

Keep in mind that for a normal low-level campaign, winter wolves and dire wolves are just too powerful for every one of Kriesha's druids. The most recent druid of Krisha that confronted the party was 3rd level and so not eligable for some of the improved companions. That was a main enemy in the climactic battle. So I don't see dire wolves and winter wolves as a complete solution.

[Green Knight]

What about the wolverine?

[kgauck]

What about the wolverine?

For whom? I have previously used wolverines for Kriesha- they rage.

[dalor]

The reason I would advise against taking the wolf from
Erik/Reynir would be that the wolf has always been
integral to the druids of those gods; the very
bloodline that scions of Reynir carry is tied to that
animal.

A snow leopard or lynx or some such feline would be
something you could use for Kreisha`s animal.
Comparible in size to a wolf and still viable without
the template. A snow leopard is the same animal as a
mountain cougar, but not so big as people think. A
single cougar would tear a wolf apart, but as far as
D&D goes, it could work ok. The Lynx isn`t a bad idea
either...smaller than a wolf, but the "Dire" variety
would work.


Anthony Edwards

--- kgauck <brnetboard@BIRTHRIGHT.NET> wrote:

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> kgauck wrote:
> I suppose fiendish wolves would not be controlable
> by Reynir`s scions. Normally being able to apply a
> template to a familiar or companion is a feat.
>
> Since there are other animals who are natural, why
> specifically would a shift away from the wolf be a
> problem for Reynir?
>
> Keep in mind that for a normal low-level campaign,
> winter wolves and dire wolves are just too powerful
> for every one of Kriesha`s druids. The most recent
> druid of Krisha that confronted the party was 3rd
> level and so not eligable for some of the improved
> companions. That was a main enemy in the climactic
> battle. So I don`t see dire wolves and winter
> wolves as a complete solution.
>
>

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[Sejanus]

Erik took over Reynir's portfolio without much change or opposition, whereas Kriesha has done no such thing considering Azrai. She's in essence carved out her own portfolio, something along the lines of the destructive forces of nature. The winter queen of Narnia and so forth. Thus it could be argued that she's fighting Erik for control of the natural world.
She is winter and death to his growth and balance.

So wolves, as all nature, are caught in a war that quite simply means that where Kriesha has the upper hand in holdings, they turn to her, whereas where Erik has the upper hand in holdings, they turn to him.

The difference is easily marked. Kriesha's lands are cold and forbidding, and her animals dangerous due to lack of prey. Krieshas wolves would be like the tales of old, terrible monsters ganging up on solitary people. Whereas Erik's wolves are more along the lines of "Dances with Wolves" and "Discovery Channel" version wolves, shy but essentially less harmfull to humans than humans are to them.

That's my thoughts on the matter anyway...

[kgauck]

Cats are good. They are cunning and sneaky, often solo rather than pack, and can be scaled as nicely as anything up from the spooky white housecat that always seems to be knawing on a mouse or bird she killed up to white Siberian tigers. Not to mention dire verisons and other upgrade templates.

This seems solved to me.

Another victory for the wisdom of crowds.

Thanks to everyone who offered insight.

[AndrewTall]

On the bloodline point, I would say that there is nothing to stop you expanding the list of totem animals.

Reynir's scions could therefore have affinity to bears instead of wolves, Azrai's totems could include foxes, cats, etc - anything that could be seen as sly, scary, etc. Certain animal totems could run in families (i.e. the Roesone affinity for cats), some scions of Reynir could have affinity to the stag, others the wolf, etc.

This is an easy way to add variation to bloodline abilities without making new ones which could possibly unbalance the game - always a problem with home-grown stuff where game balance issues may not have been fully recognised - as a constant deviser of spells, items, house rules etc I've been caught out some times by combinations, etc, that I hadn't considered.

[palious]

I think that wolves can indeed be used by both Kriesha and Erik. Obviously, or not so obviously, many gods share domains and other aspects. Wolves are just one more. Also, few other animals have such a duo nature as wolves. They are at the same time both timid and vicious, natural and yet there is an air of the supernatural about them. So wolves are an ideal weapon in the arsenals of both a god of nature and a goddess of despair.

[Sejanus]

I agree with the above. It seems somewhat illogical (though not "wrong") to me that animals are clearly divided between deities, while humans pretty much support deities defined by where they live and who they are.
Perhaps there is some BRCS rule about totems that I'm unaware of, I admit that. But I'd personally go for "users choice" over rule-bound totems.

[kgauck]

My problem was not mostly with the same animals serving both Erik and Kriesha. That would be, as others have suggested, no different from humans. The problem was that in a PC Rjurik party, someone is going to be a scion of Reynir with animal affinity, and even a scion with a minor ability get the following benefit:
"Members of the species will never attack him unless they are magically controlled. The scion gains a +4 bonus to any Animal Empathy skill checks involving his totem animal and may use this skill untrained for activities involving his totem animal."

At the major abilities level, the wolves would reguard the character as an ally.

If, at a minimum, the PC gets what amounts to a sanctuary spell with regards to the wolves, and may (+4) be able to empathetically break off the attack on their party, this ability is more like a Rebuke Wolves ability. That's pretty powerful and can really throw a monkey wrench into an encounter. The great power includes speaking, ally status, and basically adds up to Rebuke/Control wolves (not exactly, but more or less) with the possibility that the wolves turn on the Ice Priestess, and what had been a normal encounter becomes a speed bump.

As such, I needed an alternative either to the totem animal of Reynir, so that scions would be controlling bears, or what not, or Kriesha would be running around with some other creature and immune to Reynir's scions turnning their own beasts away or back on them.