PC as an animal in GURPS

[chrisjapow]

I wanted to model a human-intelligence animal as a PC to play in GURPS. I'm a newbie to this system (and to these boards) so if I say something silly please bear with me.

The idea was a creature that could communicate psychically to other PC's - in this case, a crow. I spent some time looking through the books and came up with a decent advantage/disadvantage list that would handle the character pretty well. Obvious disadvantages would include cannot speak, no fine manipulators, short lifespan, and because it's a bird it would have low strength and low basic move. advantages: flight (winged), piercing attack for a pecking attack, claws for scratching attack, night vision, plus some psychic powers and a high IQ for this particular character (he's smarter than most humans). I estimated a size modifier of -4.

While doing this I got to thinking about other aspects of such a character that may well be either advantages or disadvantages. For example - items and equipment. I decided my particular character was lightly kleptomaniac with a predilection for shiny objects (though not a full-blown klepto, I just took it as a quirk). Apart from that, an animal would have no use for items. I took dirt broke as a disadvantage but - what about food? A crow doesn't need "money" to sustain himself. He just goes out and finds food. He's never going to wield a laser cannon or use a sonic screwdriver but not being burdened by possessions is in many ways a good thing. He doesn't need to pay for shelter, he just makes a nest. And so on. I wondered how such a thing would be handled under GURPS. Is there a trait for "doesn't need possessions" and would that be an advantage or disadvantage, or a mix of both? A scavenger trait, for example? It's not a learnt "skill" like hunting, more of a different physiology. Able to consume carrion and insects, etc.

Another issue would be social status. Obviously a crow would have no "status" in society however this can be a good thing or a bad thing. Generally people have less respect for an animal's life than for a human and won't accord what is essentially a vermin species with great respect. However an animal with human intelligence could get away with a huge amount. Animals will never be tried for a crime and if no one suspects he's acting on behalf of the PC's he could, for example, steal things, attack people and watch people with no repurcussions whatsoever. as bart simpson said - no one suspects the butterfly! [or crow]

Sorry for the essay. What do people think!