2 Unusual Modes of Locomotion, How to Price?

[Cowrie]

For a couple of different settings, I'm working on two races that have an unusual mode of locomotion that I'm not quite sure how to stat up/price.

Race 1 is capable of boring through wood with it's own teeth and a special enzyme in its saliva. I'm undecided as to how fast this process works, but at most we're talking a rate of movement equivalent to one or two levels of Slow Tunneling. Would this be Slow Tunneling with the fact they move through wood instead of dirt and rock being a special effect, or something different? Additionally, I see the tunnels they make in wood as naturally being more stable than those described under Tunneling. How would I represent that?

Race 2 is adapted to walk on top of floating plants, like a jacana bird. It can be supported by dense mats of medium-sized plants water lettuce or normal-sized lily pads, or by a single giant lily pad, but will fall through small plants like duckweed. Unlike a jacana, it's not a especially skillful swimmer, so it does not have Amphibious. It has considerably less utility than Walk on Liquid, though maybe a Specific limitation on that advantage would be appropriate. I'm not really sure what would be the best fit for this. The race with this ability is close to human size, so it's not just a feature of their SM, which could potentially be argued for the jacana.

[talonthehand]

Originally Posted by Cowrie

For a couple of different settings, I'm working on two races that have an unusual mode of locomotion that I'm not quite sure how to stat up/price.

Race 1 is capable of boring through wood with it's own teeth and a special enzyme in its saliva. I'm undecided as to how fast this process works, but at most we're talking a rate of movement equivalent to one or two levels of Slow Tunneling. Would this be Slow Tunneling with the fact they move through wood instead of dirt and rock being a special effect, or something different? Additionally, I see the tunnels they make in wood as naturally being more stable than those described under Tunneling. How would I represent that?

Race 2 is adapted to walk on top of floating plants, like a jacana bird. It can be supported by dense mats of medium-sized plants water lettuce or normal-sized lily pads, or by a single giant lily pad, but will fall through small plants like duckweed. Unlike a jacana, it's not a especially skillful swimmer, so it does not have Amphibious. It has considerably less utility than Walk on Liquid, though maybe a Specific limitation on that advantage would be appropriate. I'm not really sure what would be the best fit for this. The race with this ability is close to human size, so it's not just a feature of their SM, which could potentially be argued for the jacana.

I'd keep number 2 simple - Walk on Liquid with an accessibility modifier based on how common those plants are.

[Anthony]

Passing through wood could be tunneling, or it could be permeation (Tunnel), with some hypothetical 'tunnel only' limitation (probably -40%). The stability of tunnels is a feature of the thing you're tunneling through.

Race 2 might have the Light Walk skill (plus a rules exemption perk that lets them ignore the TBaM requirement), or a special advantage (possibly a form of Terrain Adaptation).

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by Cowrie

Race 1 is capable of boring through wood with it's own teeth and a special enzyme in its saliva. I'm undecided as to how fast this process works, but at most we're talking a rate of movement equivalent to one or two levels of Slow Tunneling. Would this be Slow Tunneling with the fact they move through wood instead of dirt and rock being a special effect, or something different? Additionally, I see the tunnels they make in wood as naturally being more stable than those described under Tunneling. How would I represent that?

Tunneling is good but I would definitely add a limitation for wood only as its much more limited that RAW Tunneling. As for stability I would call that a feature of the medium tunneled through. Wood will be more stable than dirt or loose rock.
For a small tunnel I probably would not worry about stability at all.

Originally Posted by Cowrie

Race 2 is adapted to walk on top of floating plants, like a jacana bird. It can be supported by dense mats of medium-sized plants water lettuce or normal-sized lily pads, or by a single giant lily pad, but will fall through small plants like duckweed. Unlike a jacana, it's not a especially skillful swimmer, so it does not have Amphibious. It has considerably less utility than Walk on Liquid, though maybe a Specific limitation on that advantage would be appropriate. I'm not really sure what would be the best fit for this. The race with this ability is close to human size, so it's not just a feature of their SM, which could potentially be argued for the jacana.

If they are dense enough to support the weight I would call it a feature.
From the description I would probably just go with Terrain Adaptation.
That means anyone with the right size and weight could try it but they are better at it. Could be the way the legs are built, practice or both.
However if no one else their weight could do it than go with Walk On Water with a hefty limitation. How much depends on how common they are.


EDIT:
I thought about Permeation with tunneling but I think its more expensive. Wood is base 40 points.
Light walk is a good idea that could make them more interesting.
I would still use Terrain Adaptation too though.

[Cowrie]

Originally Posted by Refplace

Tunneling is good but I would definitely add a limitation for wood only as its much more limited that RAW Tunneling. As for stability I would call that a feature of the medium tunneled through. Wood will be more stable than dirt or loose rock.
For a small tunnel I probably would not worry about stability at all.

Normally I'd agree about wood requiring a limitation, but the setting this race is from is a literal world tree, and wood there is a more common substrate than soil. So, in their world, it's not remotely limiting. Not to mention, Slow Tunneling is already pretty cheap.

Originally Posted by Refplace

If they are dense enough to support the weight I would call it a feature.
From the description I would probably just go with Terrain Adaptation.
That means anyone with the right size and weight could try it but they are better at it. Could be the way the legs are built, practice or both.
However if no one else their weight could do it than go with Walk On Water with a hefty limitation. How much depends on how common they are.


EDIT:
I thought about Permeation with tunneling but I think its more expensive. Wood is base 40 points.
Light walk is a good idea that could make them more interesting.
I would still use Terrain Adaptation too though.

On the end of the spectrum of the giant lily pads, they're just better. On the end of the densely matted water lettuce or normal lily pads, a member of a different race with the same mass would fall through, at least if standing. Like jacanas, this race has crazy-long toes to spread their weight out. While I like the idea of Light Walk, that brings up the issue of whether specialized anatomy can bestow a skill that doesn't need learned. As for Terrain Adaptation, that sounds good at first, but certain varieties of water plant "terrain" that other races couldn't traverse do give this race penalties to footing, so I'm not sure they actually qualify.

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by Cowrie

On the end of the spectrum of the giant lily pads, they're just better. On the end of the densely matted water lettuce or normal lily pads, a member of a different race with the same mass would fall through, at least if standing. Like jacanas, this race has crazy-long toes to spread their weight out. While I like the idea of Light Walk, that brings up the issue of whether specialized anatomy can bestow a skill that doesn't need learned. As for Terrain Adaptation, that sounds good at first, but certain varieties of water plant "terrain" that other races couldn't traverse do give this race penalties to footing, so I'm not sure they actually qualify.

Terrain Adaptation could be used for a lot of different things. Ankle deep water, snow, heavy overgrowth, shifting sand, etc.
It is really cheap while being more than a perk and could justify the limb adaptation your talking about. Does not mean it has to work on all plants or pads. Its pretty cheap compared to a limited version of Water Walking.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Cowrie

Normally I'd agree about wood requiring a limitation, but the setting this race is from is a literal world tree, and wood there is a more common substrate than soil. So, in their world, it's not remotely limiting. Not to mention, Slow Tunneling is already pretty cheap.

Yes if the ground is always wood there, then Tunneling should be full cost.

While I like the idea of Light Walk, that brings up the issue of whether specialized anatomy can bestow a skill that doesn't need learned.

Sure, it can. Saying that a race has a racial skill at DX or whatever isn't any different from giving it any other trait for whatever reason. You can even rewrite it completely as an ability:

Water Plant Walker

5 points

Your broad feet and long toes allow you to walk on the surface of floating water plants that otherwise wouldn't support your weight. Make a DX roll when trying to cross such a surface. This roll is unmodified for a dense mat of medium sized plants like water lettuce, but up to -8 for sparser coverage, and large plants or extremely dense growth give up to +6. If you succeed you can move at 1/3 Move across the surface without falling in. You also leave no tracks and get +1 to Stealth while doing this.

Statistics: Unusual Training (Light Walk only on water plants) [1]; Light Walk at DX [4].

As for Terrain Adaptation, that sounds good at first, but certain varieties of water plant "terrain" that other races couldn't traverse do give this race penalties to footing, so I'm not sure they actually qualify.

Terrain Adaption does not allow you to walk on surfaces that a human wouldn't even be able to attempt even with a penalty (and if it did then Walk on Liquid would be overpriced) so it doesn't seem to be appropriate here.