so one of my players has a loth-cat a would like a force power that's a mix between battle meditation and imbue, it would only work on non-sentients and would allow the force user to augment the primary and secondary stats of the creature, as well as giving non-verbal commands that the creature would follow.

is there anything already in game that does these things as a single action?

As Hermits and Pathfinders already have a means to communicate with animals, I would just rule that those to Force powers can be used to communicate with the bonded creature. I've tried customizing powers to consolidate features for specific characters in the past and it rarely worked out well. I'm not saying it wouldn't but it's generaly easier to see how the existing powers can work with you. Imbue can easily enhance your loth-cat companion (or at least I would allow it as a GM) and if you are already communicating with the animal via other talents then I would allow Battle Meditation to work on the companion as well.

For non-verbal commands, the Pathfinder must spend 75 XP to purchase 'animal bond' and 'mental bond' the latter of which allows them to use an action to communicate with the creature at long range (presumably non-verbally) as well as share the creatures senses (vision and sound). Plus they have to buy the Pathfinder or Hermit specialization. So if I were going to allow a player to do this in another way, I'd want to make sure it cost at least this much to get there. This doesn't even include boosting the creatures stats.

Edit: Also, if the PC was going to convert their congenial loth-cat into a 'battlecat' they would need to loft their saber into the air and say "By the power of Grayskull..."

9 hours ago, VadersMarchKazoo said:

For non-verbal commands, the Pathfinder must spend 75 XP to purchase 'animal bond' and 'mental bond' the latter of which allows them to use an action to communicate with the creature at long range (presumably non-verbally) as well as share the creatures senses (vision and sound). Plus they have to buy the Pathfinder or Hermit specialization. So if I were going to allow a player to do this in another way, I'd want to make sure it cost at least this much to get there. This doesn't even include boosting the creatures stats.

Edit: Also, if the PC was going to convert their congenial loth-cat into a 'battlecat' they would need to loft their saber into the air and say "By the power of Grayskull..."

so i think your subtly trying to say that this effect is already in the book but just to make sure can you take that message, tie it to a brick, load it into a cannon, and aim at my face

also

I'd say tell your player to suck it up and purchase the Battle Meditation and Imbue powers, and then simply choose to only use those to boost up his pet rather than his allies.

As Varlie said, there's already talents in the Hermit and Pathfinder specs that allow for augmenting a character's pet in various ways, so already there's an in-print option to do just that.

Sorry if this comes across as rude, but it sounds like the player in question is trying to cheese the system just for the sake of being a power-gamer.

51 minutes ago, Donovan Morningfire said:

I'd say tell your player to suck it up and purchase the Battle Meditation and Imbue powers, and then simply choose to only use those to boost up his pet rather than his allies.

As Varlie said, there's already talents in the Hermit and Pathfinder specs that allow for augmenting a character's pet in various ways, so already there's an in-print option to do just that.

Sorry if this comes across as rude, but it sounds like the player in question is trying to cheese the system just for the sake of being a power-gamer.

your being blunt and i have no problem with that

On 9/11/2018 at 10:00 PM, Stormbourne said:

so i think your subtly trying to say that this effect is already in the book but just to make sure can you take that message, tie it to a brick, load it into a cannon, and aim at my face

also

Sorry, I wasn't so much trying to 'throw the book' at you but rather point out that the animal bond (etc) talents are pretty expensive. The advice that I've been given is that it's OK if the players come up with creative ways to do things but they shouldn't be allowed to shortcut or undermine existing rules and talents. So if you or they want to come up with a different approach, that's cool, but these other talents are a useful barometer for how much it should cost them (XP wise) and how powerful they should be.

Another suggestion: What if they just hook their loth-cat up with some cybernetics?

On 9/10/2018 at 1:06 AM, Stormbourne said:

so one of my players has a loth-cat a would like a force power that's a mix between battle meditation and imbue, it would only work on non-sentients and would allow the force user to augment the primary and secondary stats of the creature, as well as giving non-verbal commands that the creature would follow.

is there anything already in game that does these things as a single action?

You say your players, but I'm pretty sure its you who wants this...

48 minutes ago, TheShard said:

You say your players, but I'm pretty sure its you who wants this...

oh you know me so well. he said dryly

i am running a campaign now and one of the more RPG veterans asked if she could have a cat familiar (she always does) which i okayed, then she asked if there were ways to enhance the loth-cat mid combat to which i directed her to imbue and battle meditation, but she wanted something more specific that would only take one turn. the thing she specifically asked for was if shecould make the cat bigger and all the other benefits that a larger size would grant

now if you read my other thread you would also know that another player, a SW vet, actually created a entire new force power and asked if i could cost it for him.

you seem to be forgetting that it is the roll of the player to push the standing rules and the roll of the GM to ensure nothing every breaks, that tension is what brings enjoyment to both sides and when one or the other wins it's no longer fun for anyone

On 9/12/2018 at 9:35 AM, VadersMarchKazoo said:

Another suggestion: What if they just hook their loth-cat up with some cybernetics?

Exploding Tookas! ?

On 9/13/2018 at 2:35 AM, VadersMarchKazoo said:

Another suggestion: What if they just hook their loth-cat up with some cybernetics?

Are cybernetics allowed to do that?

If they are a loth-cat can only have 4 max.

13 hours ago, Stormbourne said:

Are cybernetics allowed to do that?

If they are a loth-cat can only have 4 max. 

I think so (I assume you mean a max brawn of 4). They could do two sets of cybernetics legs to get to a brawn of 4 but a loth cat can only have 2 cybernetics since it's based on (initial) brawn. Or they could just do one set of limbs (brawn 3) and then use the second cybernetic implant to do a brain implant. In this case, I'd probably custom build this to allow for basic commands to be sent to the creature. Or, rather than a 'mod' you could just say that the brain implant allow basic commands to be sent remotely but they don't get the +1 Int- so it's an alternative to the one in the book rather than a modded version.

1 hour ago, VadersMarchKazoo said:

I think so (I assume you mean a max brawn of 4). They could do two sets of cybernetics legs to get to a brawn of 4 but a loth cat can only have 2 cybernetics since it's based on (initial) brawn. Or they could just do one set of limbs (brawn 3) and then use the second cybernetic implant to do a brain implant. In this case, I'd probably custom build this to allow for basic commands to be sent to the creature. Or, rather than a 'mod' you could just say that the brain implant allow basic commands to be sent remotely but they don't get the +1 Int- so it's an alternative to the one in the book rather than a modded version.

Alchemy is the way to go, use that night sister mojo.

1 hour ago, Eoen said:

Alchemy is the way to go, use that night sister mojo.

Well shes going to do that anyway cause she is a nightsister

2 hours ago, VadersMarchKazoo said:

I think so (I assume you mean a max brawn of 4). They could do two sets of cybernetics legs to get to a brawn of 4 but a loth cat can only have 2 cybernetics since it's based on (initial) brawn. Or they could just do one set of limbs (brawn 3) and then use the second cybernetic implant to do a brain implant. In this case, I'd probably custom build this to allow for basic commands to be sent to the creature. Or, rather than a 'mod' you could just say that the brain implant allow basic commands to be sent remotely but they don't get the +1 Int- so it's an alternative to the one in the book rather than a modded version.

I was more talking about bio feedback system im abit iffy about allowing +1 brawn cybernetics to increase the cybernteics limit

I don’t think the brawn bonus increases the cybernetics limit. Otherwise you could keep adding this infinitely. Base brawn is 2, so capped at 2

1 minute ago, VadersMarchKazoo said:

I don’t think the brawn bonus increases the cybernetics limit. Otherwise you could keep adding this infinitely. Base brawn is 2, so capped at 2

bio feed back system (+2 cybernetics, doesn't use one itself) giving it a max of 4

Oh. Gotcha. Biofeedback regulator. From special modifications. I forgot about that

We had a similar query recently and I believe then that it was another case of people not using what was in the game. Fairly sure youve gotten that now though. Did you decide on what to do about it?

29 minutes ago, Luahk said:

We had a similar query recently and I believe then that it was another case of people not using what was in the game. Fairly sure youve gotten that now though. Did you decide on what to do about it?

Well if they want imbue or battle meditaion effects that they use those powers but i do have a idea for turning a loth-cat from a small anoyance to a major hinderence

36 minutes ago, Stormbourne said:

Well if they want imbue or battle meditaion effects that they use those powers but i do have a idea for turning a loth-cat from a small anoyance to a major hinderence

Why not just start with a bigger cat.

2 minutes ago, Eoen said:

Why not just start with a bigger cat.

Two reasons this is the start of the game and i don't want to make them reliant on the npc, and she asked for a cat while holding the house cat

3 minutes ago, Stormbourne said:

Two reasons this is the start of the game and i don't want to make them reliant on the npc, and she asked for a cat while holding the house cat

There is the option of the character having a juvenile version of a larger cat.

created power around this idea at the empower topic