Cat Balance [Archive] - Wizards Community

Cat Balance [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Alynn
03-10-05, 02:13 AM One of my players is my wife, and she has a black and white cat familiar (which is a remake of a cat we have irl) one of this cats little quirks is it likes to sit on my wife's shoulders, my wife can even walk around and the cat will stay balanced on her shoulders.

She wants her familiar to do the same thing, so I began to think about it some and I'm wondering to myself what exactly would the balance DC's for this be, I'm thinking combat should be all but impossible, however since this is her familiar, I'm almost inclined to think that the feline could "read" or even anticipate how she would move in combat, and thus keep her footing. I don't have her cats stats in front of me, but I believe she's got a heck of a dex score. I'm always accomidating for things such as this that really don't affect game play much, just adds personality to her character ("How will we know Tari when we see her?" "She's the only one in town with a cat sitting on her head, you can't miss her.").

But there is that whole game mechanic thing I have to work out...
Draco Strang
03-10-05, 02:57 AM I would allow your cat/wizard to do this without penalty. It doesn't really add any major mechanics to the game, but instead seems to be purely flavor.

She shouldn't have to make skill or ability checks for something as mundane as this. After all, they are pretty attuned to each other, as per the familiar/wizard relationship.

Go for it.
Sildatorak
03-10-05, 03:00 AM According to the SRD, a cat has a balance check of +10. If we assume that shoulders are between 2 and 6 inches wide and count as sloped (at least during combat) you're only looking at a DC 17 check. Since you have to fail by 5 or more to actually fall off, the cat would need to roll a 3 or higher to stay balanced. If you want to give the cat a +2 circumstance bonus for its empathic link, then it would be impossible for it to fall. No matter what happens, though, it will be considered flat-footed since it doesn't have 5 or more ranks in balance.

The realism check says that the DC should probably be higher than 17 for the cat to stay balanced, but I think the style consideration outweighs that this time around. Let her have her familiar perch on her shoulders, it can serve as a starting point for some good rp.
tackleberry
03-10-05, 11:09 AM certain numbers would need figuring out in order to address certain situations (if the wizard falls, what happens to the cat etc) but purely for a really great roleplay flavour, i dont think the rules are that important to sweat too much over!
clarkvalentine
03-10-05, 11:13 AM No no no, don't roll for this sort of thing. This is pure flavor. Just let her familiar do it.
Bane
03-10-05, 01:21 PM How often does someone with a familiar actually get into melee combat, anyway?
clarkvalentine
03-10-05, 01:24 PM How often does someone with a familiar actually get into melee combat, anyway?

And even then, (assuming the wizard wears a hooded robe) you could say the cat slips into the robe's hood, where it can easily hang on. There's a million ways to fudge this.
Maniacal_Cackle
03-10-05, 01:34 PM Also, the cat could simply hop off for combat, after all, is the cat really going to want to stay on top of someone who is having a sword swung at them? I agree completely that the rules don't need to come into play for this one, it is my opinion that rules should never hinder roleplaying.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Alynn 03-10-05, 02:13 AM	One of my players is my wife, and she has a black and white cat familiar (which is a remake of a cat we have irl) one of this cats little quirks is it likes to sit on my wife's shoulders, my wife can even walk around and the cat will stay balanced on her shoulders. She wants her familiar to do the same thing, so I began to think about it some and I'm wondering to myself what exactly would the balance DC's for this be, I'm thinking combat should be all but impossible, however since this is her familiar, I'm almost inclined to think that the feline could "read" or even anticipate how she would move in combat, and thus keep her footing. I don't have her cats stats in front of me, but I believe she's got a heck of a dex score. I'm always accomidating for things such as this that really don't affect game play much, just adds personality to her character ("How will we know Tari when we see her?" "She's the only one in town with a cat sitting on her head, you can't miss her."). But there is that whole game mechanic thing I have to work out...
Draco Strang 03-10-05, 02:57 AM	I would allow your cat/wizard to do this without penalty. It doesn't really add any major mechanics to the game, but instead seems to be purely flavor. She shouldn't have to make skill or ability checks for something as mundane as this. After all, they are pretty attuned to each other, as per the familiar/wizard relationship. Go for it.
Sildatorak 03-10-05, 03:00 AM	According to the SRD, a cat has a balance check of +10. If we assume that shoulders are between 2 and 6 inches wide and count as sloped (at least during combat) you're only looking at a DC 17 check. Since you have to fail by 5 or more to actually fall off, the cat would need to roll a 3 or higher to stay balanced. If you want to give the cat a +2 circumstance bonus for its empathic link, then it would be impossible for it to fall. No matter what happens, though, it will be considered flat-footed since it doesn't have 5 or more ranks in balance. The realism check says that the DC should probably be higher than 17 for the cat to stay balanced, but I think the style consideration outweighs that this time around. Let her have her familiar perch on her shoulders, it can serve as a starting point for some good rp.
tackleberry 03-10-05, 11:09 AM	certain numbers would need figuring out in order to address certain situations (if the wizard falls, what happens to the cat etc) but purely for a really great roleplay flavour, i dont think the rules are that important to sweat too much over!
clarkvalentine 03-10-05, 11:13 AM	No no no, don't roll for this sort of thing. This is pure flavor. Just let her familiar do it.
Bane 03-10-05, 01:21 PM	How often does someone with a familiar actually get into melee combat, anyway?
clarkvalentine 03-10-05, 01:24 PM	How often does someone with a familiar actually get into melee combat, anyway? And even then, (assuming the wizard wears a hooded robe) you could say the cat slips into the robe's hood, where it can easily hang on. There's a million ways to fudge this.
Maniacal_Cackle 03-10-05, 01:34 PM	Also, the cat could simply hop off for combat, after all, is the cat really going to want to stay on top of someone who is having a sword swung at them? I agree completely that the rules don't need to come into play for this one, it is my opinion that rules should never hinder roleplaying.