09-27-2017, 11:01 AM | #1 |
Join Date: Aug 2017
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Waterfowl: Amphibious or Racial Swimming Skill?
I'm statting up a swan maiden character and I honestly cannot decide whether her swan form should have the Amphibious advantage or a few points in Swimming as a racial skill. Furthermore, I can't figure out which would be more appropriate for waterfowl as a whole. And if amphibious is more appropriate, how should it be represented that underwater swimming doesn't come as naturally for most waterfowl? (Diving ducks being an exception.)
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09-27-2017, 11:17 AM | #2 |
Join Date: May 2007
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Re: Waterfowl: Amphibious or Racial Swimming Skill?
I would lean towards amphibious. A duck can, for example, stay on the water indefinitely without risk of tiring out and drowning. Moreover, while a dabbling duck is not overly graceful in the water, my impression is that it isn't much more graceful when walking about on dry land.
A creative solution, of which I may not have considered all the implications, would be to give dabbling ducks Walk on Liquid (refluffed as "Float on Liquid") so they can hang out on the surface all day unimpeded, but need to make swimming rolls like anyone else if they want to dive [EDIT: and suffer the usual non-aquatic penalties to skills while doing so].
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09-27-2017, 11:42 AM | #3 | |
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: New York City
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Re: Waterfowl: Amphibious or Racial Swimming Skill?
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09-27-2017, 11:51 AM | #4 |
Hero of Democracy
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: far from the ocean
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Re: Waterfowl: Amphibious or Racial Swimming Skill?
Personally, I'd aspect it. Walk on liquid is more costly than amphibious, and for good reason. Walk on liquid lets you tap dance on the water. Or you could aspect amphibious to "surface only". either way I'd charge [5].
Actually Amphibious (Surface only -50%) [5] sounds like a good fit.
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09-27-2017, 12:49 PM | #5 |
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Portland, Oregon
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Re: Waterfowl: Amphibious or Racial Swimming Skill?
Wouldn't swimming be more a skill you add to your normal form whether or not it has appendages for swimming? Humans do not get Tactics just from having a brain, do they?
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09-27-2017, 02:39 PM | #6 | |
Join Date: Jul 2008
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Re: Waterfowl: Amphibious or Racial Swimming Skill?
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It does seem a bit questionable to give racial skills for gross anatomy, though. On the other hand, something like a biomod that gave innate buoyancy control doesn't conveniently map to any Advantage I can think of, but wouldn't be too unreasonable to treat as a Swimming bonus, perhaps with a limitation.
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09-27-2017, 05:25 PM | #8 |
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
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Re: Waterfowl: Amphibious or Racial Swimming Skill?
No, but we get Walking from having legs. On the other hand, a person with no legs might need a skill to learn to walk on their hands, probably Acrobatics.
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09-27-2017, 09:47 PM | #9 |
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Portland, Oregon
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Re: Waterfowl: Amphibious or Racial Swimming Skill?
Yes but a human's walking is default(walking 20 miles a day for a whole week would be closer to walking skill). If someone changes to a swan their skills would not be what a humans skills would be if they were equiv to the default skills of a swan. They would be the default skills of a swan.
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09-28-2017, 06:23 PM | #10 |
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Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Forest Grove, Beaverton, Oregon
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Re: Waterfowl: Amphibious or Racial Swimming Skill?
Most modern humans are rather sedentary all things considered, so using our "default" walking isn't really comparable in my opinion.
I'm a lazy nerd, but have no problem walking all day aside from horrible boredom. I'm too oblivious to safely wear headphones outside. Our species lack of instinctive swimming is odd for a mammal, but not so much for a primate.
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