[MH] A couple of questions

[kirbwarrior]

Originally Posted by PK

So yes, the were-eagle is large, as hinted at by its impressive ST! But not 6' tall -- its SM comes from its wingspan, not height as with a human. If it's flying high, this shouldn't be an issue. If it's just hanging out on the ground, most people will think, "Wow, I've never seen a wild eagle up close. I didn't realize how huge they were!" Experts (e.g., anyone with Animal Handling for birds or Veterinary) should get a roll to realize something is weird, as with any lycanthrope.

SM0 is 6ft. Wingspan is (at least) twice your height. If the eagle has a 6ft spread, it would be SM-2.

Talent helps with any rolls; cripple checks, power blocks, etc.

[PK]

Originally Posted by kirbwarrior

SM0 is 6ft. Wingspan is (at least) twice your height. If the eagle has a 6ft spread, it would be SM-2.

I didn't say it had a 6' wingspan. I said that its SM was not derived as a human's would be, and thus the statement about the eagle "being 6' tall" was incorrect. A SM 0 bird will have a wingspan between 10' and 12' across, but its actual body will vary -- it doesn't use the same proportions as a winged human would.

If we assume wingspan is about 3x the length of the bird (appropriate for some eagle species), we can envision a SM 0 were-eagle with a 10' wingspan and a body length of about 3.5'. Such an eagle would be extremely large, but not so large as to necessarily cause a panic. It would provoke the kind of responses I mentioned above.

Finally, I'd like to note that going to SM -1 and SM +1 were-animals will not break anything in a MH game; it will just add complication. In a world where some of the foes have nonzero SMs, having to also keep track of PCs shifting between different SMs was simply something I wished to avoid. If you and your players are experienced and like the extra crunch, go ahead and mix up the SMs for your lycanthropes.

[kirbwarrior]

Originally Posted by PK

If we assume wingspan is about 3x the length of the bird (appropriate for some eagle species), we can envision a SM 0 were-eagle with a 10' wingspan and a body length of about 3.5'. Such an eagle would be extremely large, but not so large as to necessarily cause a panic. It would provoke the kind of responses I mentioned above.

Bumping that to 12' and 4' still gives us a relatively small being for SM 0, considering that 4.5' is the max of SM -1. Or would this eagle only be able to fit in spaces an SM 0 creature could? Makes me think this bird is pretty fat (considering the SM rule on p19).

(not that I require the bird to be of any size, I would just rather that, if the bird is supposed to be SM 0, that it follows the rules of being SM 0. If I wanted the bird to be smaller, I'd deal with the rules of SM -1)

[Peter Knutsen]

Originally Posted by PK

That sentence is saying that the GM shouldn't allow unrealistically broad Talents, not Talents with skills useful in combat. In other words, the GM shouldn't let players build a 15/level Talent that encompasses 25 different useful Ninja skills -- that's too good of a deal and makes no sense as an inherent talent.

Several existing Talents include combat skills; see GURPS Power-Ups 3: Talents for a complete list.

Skill Talents as supernatural powers, e.g. as per the suggestions in GURPS Fantasy, ought to be able to range more widely.