Steve Jackson Games - Site Navigation
Home General Info Follow Us Search Illuminator Store Forums What's New Other Games Ogre GURPS Munchkin Our Games: Home

Go Back   Steve Jackson Games Forums > Roleplaying > GURPS

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 12-02-2022, 07:44 PM   #11
David Johansen
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Default Re: using Intimidation on a Bear / Cat / Dog

I'm thinking looking big and growling or roaring would work on most dogs and cats upto maybe the size of a cougar. Try it on a bear and you'll die.
David Johansen is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-02-2022, 10:24 PM   #12
ericthered
Hero of Democracy
 
ericthered's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: far from the ocean
Default Re: using Intimidation on a Bear / Cat / Dog

Quote:
Originally Posted by David Johansen View Post
I'm thinking looking big and growling or roaring would work on most dogs and cats upto maybe the size of a cougar. Try it on a bear and you'll die.
Noise in general works better, I think. The classic thing to do is bang your cookware together. It works on black bears, less so on grizzlies.
__________________
Be helpful, not pedantic

Worlds Beyond Earth -- my blog

Check out the PbP forum! If you don't see a game you'd like, ask me about making one!
ericthered is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 12-02-2022, 11:20 PM   #13
Fred Brackin
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Default Re: using Intimidation on a Bear / Cat / Dog

Quote:
Originally Posted by David Johansen View Post
I'm thinking looking big and growling or roaring would work on most dogs and cats upto maybe the size of a cougar. Try it on a bear and you'll die.
A number of breeds of domestic dogs just don't care how big an intruder looks. It's bred into them (or even just is natural pack instinct) that their job is to summon reinforcements as loudly as possible. Some breeds will proceed directly to the attack being utterly sure that reinforcements are already on the way.

This might be the place to have tried your Animal Handling default and tried to convince the dog that you aren't an intruder you're just a new friend who's brought him num-nums. You probably do need num-nums to pull this off.
__________________
Fred Brackin
Fred Brackin is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-03-2022, 02:33 PM   #14
Donny Brook
 
Donny Brook's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: Snoopy's basement
Default Re: using Intimidation on a Bear / Cat / Dog

My sense is that any animal that deliberately confronts humans has overcome generations of intimidation to do so.
Donny Brook is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-03-2022, 03:54 PM   #15
Plane
 
Join Date: Aug 2018
Default Re: using Intimidation on a Bear / Cat / Dog

Quote:
Originally Posted by David Johnston2 View Post
I'd rule that zombies don't have the same fear of death that living animals do, and so that rule doesn't apply to living IQ 4 beings.
Zombies without fear probably need to buy that with Fearlessness or being outright Unfazeable but I'm not sure if all zombies would be designed that way.

It is made part of the Inexorable meta-trait, for example.

But 117 words it like there may be zombies who lack this:
affects only zombies that have IQ 6+ and neither Indomitable nor Unfazeable
So it seems like you get some degree of indomitable/unfazeable (whatever resists the intimidation skill) inherently to IQ 5 though I'm not sure why (maybe something to do with language?)
__________________
what this forum is
(17 March 2020 forum rules from Hackard)
Plane is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-03-2022, 03:55 PM   #16
Pursuivant
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Default Re: using Intimidation on a Bear / Cat / Dog

Quote:
Originally Posted by Donny Brook View Post
My sense is that any animal that deliberately confronts humans has overcome generations of intimidation to do so.
Or has a compelling reason to protect its life, territory, young, etc.

Intimidation should work on any terrestrial creature that's suffered due to humans being the planet's top predator species for the past 100k+ years. You're just taking advantage of the animal/bird/whatever's instinctive "two-legs bad" fear response.

It might NOT work on prehistoric beasts where that wasn't true.
Pursuivant is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-03-2022, 08:49 PM   #17
Inky
 
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: UK
Default Re: using Intimidation on a Bear / Cat / Dog

It also seems to be a known thing with populations of animals that just haven't encountered humans for a few generations, such as the notorious Arctic terns on the Farne Islands, which also seems to be a stay-away-from-my-nest scenario. (Although the terns do encounter humans fairly often, but not hostile ones, since it's a nature reserve... so they've got used to the idea that you can bully humans).

You possibly could scare them off if you really tried, just due to being so much bigger than them. The rules for Intimidation do already cover that - you get a bonus corresponding to your Size Modifier minus the subject's. (When dealing with animals, it might be appropriate to give a penalty if the subject can fly and knows you can't!)
__________________
Looking for online text-based game at a UK-feasible time, anything considered, Roll20 preferred. http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread.php?t=168443
Inky is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-04-2022, 08:55 PM   #18
Pursuivant
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Default Re: using Intimidation on a Bear / Cat / Dog

Quote:
Originally Posted by Inky View Post
(Although the terns do encounter humans fairly often, but not hostile ones, since it's a nature reserve... so they've got used to the idea that you can bully humans).
This is also true for other types of commensal wild animals who know that humans they encounter can't or won't fight back, like urban populations of monkeys or seagulls. If you've got something that they want Intimidation might get them to back off temporarily, but not for long.

Last edited by Pursuivant; 12-06-2022 at 05:37 PM.
Pursuivant is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-05-2022, 01:44 AM   #19
Phil Masters
 
Phil Masters's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: U.K.
Default Re: using Intimidation on a Bear / Cat / Dog

Quote:
Originally Posted by Pursuivant View Post
Or has a compelling reason to protect its life, territory, young, etc.
Having been menaced by a muntjac deer only the other day, I can only agree. It had a kid, so it just ignored its disadvantage in size.

(Which said, even if it had been better at Intimidation, it not only took penalties for small size, but also for being outnumbered and the fact that its kid hadn't read the manual yet and followed along behind it to see what the fuss was about. Muntjac kids sometimes seem to have the survival instincts of a soap bubble.)
__________________
--
Phil Masters
My Home Page.
My Self-Publications: On Warehouse 23 and On DriveThruRPG.
Phil Masters is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-05-2022, 02:20 AM   #20
Prince Charon
 
Prince Charon's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
Default Re: using Intimidation on a Bear / Cat / Dog

Quote:
Originally Posted by Phil Masters View Post
Having been menaced by a muntjac deer only the other day, I can only agree. It had a kid, so it just ignored its disadvantage in size.

(Which said, even if it had been better at Intimidation, it not only took penalties for small size, but also for being outnumbered and the fact that its kid hadn't read the manual yet and followed along behind it to see what the fuss was about. Muntjac kids sometimes seem to have the survival instincts of a soap bubble.)
My guess (after finding out that there are over a dozen species of muntjac deer, most of them in East and Southeast Asia) is that you encountered a pair of Reeves's muntjacs, a deer small enough to be seriously threatened by a large house-cat.
__________________
Warning, I have the Distractible and Imaginative quirks in real life.

"The more corrupt a government, the more it legislates."
-- Tacitus

Five Earths, All in a Row. Updated 12/17/2022: Apocrypha: Bridges out of Time, Part I has been posted.
Prince Charon is online now   Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
animals, intimidation, zombies

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Fnords are Off
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 03:09 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.9
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.