Animal Powers (FiD)

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Main Page is Powers Animals are an important part of mystic experience.

The entire domain of living creatures is governed by the animal power. Humans and other social folk are a special case, governed by Mind instead, and plants are not animals, but other than that, all natural creatures are considered animals.

You will often have a particular animal, and your relation to other animals is colored by the totem. Wolf totem is respected and feared by other animals, sheep totem is liked and regarded as harmless, and so on.

Animal attacks create phantom animal features such as teeth, claws, antlers, or horns to attack with. You can do things like grab, tackle, or knock back.

Animal spirits exist with all kinds of weird powers, often reminiscent of tribal society myths. Naturally animal creatures include all natural animals, including those that can be affected by elemental powers by virtue of living in that element. Animals with power abilities related to other powers are tied to that power, not the animal power.

Animal Power Effects Table

Action	Basic No minimum 3 Stress	Advanced Minimum 2 Dice 5 Stress	Master Minimum 4 Dice 7 Stress	Apex Minimum 6 Dice 13 Stress
Attune	Perceive You can detect animals and animal powers.	Dismiss You can force animals that are native to another plane of existence to return to that plane, or to end the operation of an animal power.	Summon You can summon animals and animal spirits. This is generally an unwilling servant unless they are of your totem. A summoned animal will obey one command from you and this can be extended.	Gate You can create a portal that allows travel to and from the animal spirit realm.
Command	Beast Command You can speak to animals, allowing you to use the command action normally on them. You cannot understand them using only this power.	Beast Master You and allies can communicate with animals. When commanded by you, animals act as if trained to perform what you are ordering them to do.	Animal Authority You can give commands to animals, as if you were their superior. This does not remove existing loyalties, which can lead to conflicts.	Enslave Animals You can permanently bind creatures to service. Unless affected by other powers, they will stay in one location and act according to your instructions, like very loyal and literal-minded goons.
Consort	Animal Mask You can give yourself or your outfit cosmetic animal traits. This can mask your identity or create a fabulous look.	Animal Shape You assume the form of an animal or human-animal hybrid. Add 1d to one action and subtract 1d from all actions covered by an attribute except if you just raised one of them.	Animal Transformation You can use Animal Shape on a willing or helpless creature. This can be a curse, it can be broken but it is not easy. You can easily break the effect.	Wild Hunt You can transform a large number of willing or non-sentient creatures and give them a simple instruction, typically someone for them to hunt.
Finesse	Ride You can ride any animal capable of carrying you and all animal-powered vehicles, even if the animal is not trained.	Fine Claw You can use the power as a fine and potent close-range attack, similar in effect to a fine potent dueling sword or pistol, or you can give your friends the Ride ability for the duration of a score.	Control Animal Allows you to assume control of an animals body like a string puppet. If the animal trusts you, this control is very fine indeed, allowing that animal to do what is normally beyond its intelligence.	Storm of Fangs Your power manifests like a storm of fangs, suppressing the effect of multiple opponents and acting as a fine potent weapon.
Hunt	Scent You can track by scent, similar to a well-trained tracking dog.	Fine Pounce You can use your power to attack at range, phantom animals attacking or flying claws and teeth, similar in effect to a fine and potent rifle.	Annoy Animals You can irritate animals, causing them to buck and make noise.	Pack Pounce You can use your power to attack similar to a fine and potent grenade. This allows you to fight many creatures in the same area, but there is a risk of collateral damage.
Prowl	Camouflage You assume the camouflage pattern of an animal, effective concealment in environments where any animal could hide.	Beast Stride You can use the movement capabilities of animals, to climb like an animal, and move through herds or packs of animals.	Pack Prowl You can bring allies along when you use Camouflage and Beast Stride.	Roaming You and allies can teleport from one animal den to another. This is regional travel, you stay within the same city or region.
Skirmish	Ravage You can use the power as a close-range attack, similar in effect to a melee weapon or pistol.	Potent Ravage Same as Ravage, except the attack is fine and potent.	Pack Attack Your power creates distractions and obstructions that prevents the enemy from benefiting from numbers and otherwise works as a fine potent weapon.	Onslaught Your power strikes out in all directions, attacking all enemies in a wide area.
Study	Animal Analyze You can identify animals and objects relating to animals.	Animal Lore You know the powers and abilities of something you analyze with Animal Analyze.	Pedigree You can read the past events of an animal or animal product. This includes previous owners and how the animal has moved around as well as significant scenes.	Omniscience You research every animal in a wide area. This is easy to do where you are, more difficult at range. You can then use hindsight on some of these targets.
Survey	Sense Animal You can sense animals and animal remains at a distance. You can gain the senses of a chosen animal.	Beast Perception You can tap into the perception of an animal you know is there and perceive as if you were at that animal. A dog's perception focuses on scent, a cat's on hearing and the ability see motion even in the dark, and so on.	Pet Perception Choose a location or creature. You gain a sensor at the nearest animal, which is often close enough to perceive the target, especially if the target has an animal pet.	Wild Sense You perceive from all animals at once over a wide area. As long as you concentrate you retain this perception and can report what you see to others.
Sway	Read Animal You can read animal communication, which allows you to understand their motives and what they are about to do and to avoid provoking them.	Animal Tunges You and allies can communicate with animals. You can also influence folk to be lustful and competitive.	Program Animal You can post suggestions in the mind of an animal, which will be triggered under conditions you specify. Common suggestions are to steal something, attack someone, or ignore some event. This is a subtle power, but easier to spot once triggered.	Domesticate You change the personality and motivations of animals. This power is permanent, but blatant. The target remember their past, but regard it as unimportant compared to their new motivations.
Tinker	Animal Crafts You work with animal products like leather, bone, teeth, sinew, and horn as if you had the appropriate tools and protective devices. Items you work with can have small parts made of other materials, such as metal eyelets or synthetic thread.	Animal Shaping You can shape materials that manifest your power as if they were of clay.	Beastcraft You can create objects made from animal parts out of nothing, or transform an object from one material to another as long as you know the power required for both the starting and final form. This can create complex tools, such as fine and potent items.	Wild Fabrication Similar to Beastcraft, but you mass produce objects, even a set of different objects. You can also make something large, such as a vehicle or building.
Wreck	Mangle You can jimmy organic materials either made of animal products, or that animals could reasonably destroy. Noisy and leaves a twisted object in place. Can be used to attack in melee.	Decompose You can apply the effect of reducers like bacteria and insects like woodworms. Still slow but powerful. Works as a fine potent sledgehammer in combat.	Wildwarp Similar to Mangle, but destroyed targets silently disappear or are reduced to a fine dust.	Obliterate Similar to Mangle, but over a large area. This can level a city block, empty a canal system of water, raze a city wall, and similar massive destruction.

Expanded Animal Powers

Expanded descriptions of effects that differ significantly from Typical Powers.

Prowl

Sneak, move, and perhaps even fly or teleport with the stealth and agility granted by Prowl.

Camouflage You assume the camouflage pattern of an animal, effective concealment in environments where any animal could hide.

You get your pick of mammal whose coloration you borrow.

Beast Stride You can use the movement capabilities of animals, to climb like an animal, and move through herds or packs of animals.

Again, you get to pick which mammal you imitate.

Pack Prowl: You can bring allies along when you use Reconnaissance and Maneuver.

All your allies get the same mammal coloration or movement. They still use their own Prowl action.

Roaming You and allies can teleport from one animal den to another. This is regional travel, you stay within the same city or region.

The animal den you start and end in need not be of the same type of animal, but if it is the same, it improves your position.

This takes you to places you are familiar with. Both effect and position is worse unless you know where you are going, which means it is great for escapes but less so for intrusion into an enemy's territory that you are likely to be much less familiar with.

Tinker

Manipulate, shape, and create objects imbued with your power to suit your needs. When used with long-term projects, powers can often substitute for missing resources such as tools or raw materials, but that is all it does until you can start using Fabricate.

Animal Crafts You work with animal products like leather, bone, teeth, sinew, and horn as if you had the appropriate tools and protective devices. Items you work with can have small parts made of other materials, such as metal eyelets or synthetic thread.

This mainly substitutes for tools, up to a small workshop. You can cure leather and make it hard as if boiled in oil. You are also protected from the effects of working with the often caustic and toxic chemicals involved in these crafts.

Animal Shaping You can shape materials that manifest your power as if they were of clay.

You can now do more than normal craft could do. This speeds things up and allows more extensive modification.

The position depends on how quiet your workplace is and how much time you have to work with. The effect determines the effectiveness of your construction, but also how long it will last. Devices that are more powerful are harder to contain, and thus wont last as long. Most shaping will only be good for a single scene, but if your effect surpasses that required for the effect you want, you can stretch the effect until the end of the score.

Beastcraft You can create objects made from animal parts out of nothing, or transform an object from one material to another as long as you know the power required for both the starting and final form. This can create complex tools, such as fine and potent items.

This is two distinct effects. The first allows you to create animal matter out of nothing. This is raw matter and needs to be shaped and refined to be of much use. You can create meat for consumption.

The second can only be used if you know multiple powers. You transmute material connected to one of your powers into animal matter. The result will maintain its form as if affected by the Shape ability. The advantage of this is that you can transform a complex object and it will retain its form and function as far as its new material allows. This can transform something like a sword from metal to bone, and it would still be a functional sword. A door could be changed from wood to wool, which can be easily broken down.

Wild Fabrication: This is similar to Beastcraft, above, but you mass-produce objects, even a set of different objects. You can also make something large, such as a vehicle or a huge tent.

Pretty self-explanatory, this is Create on a larger scale. This is useful for equipping a large band or building something large out of nothing. When doing long-term projects that involve building or crafting, you can use Fabricate to gain great effect, even under what normally be poor conditions, but this has the usual stress cost.

Wreck

Destroy, dismantle, and obliterate animal matter.

Mangle You can jimmy organic materials either made of animal products, or that animals could reasonably destroy. Noisy and leaves a twisted object in place. Can be used to attack in melee like a sledgehammer.

Just as crude as it sounds. You destroy animal matter and strike with the force of a sledgehammer in combat. As usual, Wreck may be at an advantage or disadvantage compared to Finesse and Skirmish, depending on the situation.

Decompose You can apply the effect of reducers like bacteria and insects like woodworms. Still slow but powerful. You can also create a bone club that works as a fine potent sledgehammer in combat.

You can slowly rot any organic matter by attacking it with bacteria and worms. This is slow, so more of a long-term project. It is also subtle, so if you do make a long-term project of it, you can create a back opening in a wooden wall to exploit in a score, giving you +2d on the engagement roll.

Wildwarp Similar to Mangle, but destroyed targets silently disappear or are reduced to a fine dust.

The real difference here is that wrecking things is now silent when you have the right power. You also leave less traces, as what you wreck disappears. This can also be used to get rid of animal evidence.

Obliterate: Similar to Mangle, but over a large area. This can level a tent camp, disarm a host of troops armed with organic weapons, and similar massive destruction.

Rather straightforward, this just scales things up.