All right... If any event pointed out the importance of telling animals apart it was this one. :o)
Can anyone from plot help me out? What is the the proper call to have NPC's let us know the species and age of the creatures they're playing? Do you need to be a Hunter/Herder to make the Diagnose call? Do you have to touch the creature with a packet before being able to call it?
Thanks!

-Brose

I am reasonably sure I can field this one ex cathedra.

Steve's question is part of a larger problem created by The Isles: Asylum's (TIA) 'Accelerant Based' rules system.

The short answer is: No, by the letter of the current TIA rules, you can not divine what type of creature a given beastie is. If it is not obvious, I would like to apologize for my part in the confusion. Monster Camp as a whole tries _very_ hard to maintain makeup, costuming, and mannerism for all NPC roles.

The long answer is a great deal more complicated.
TIA, is (as I mentioned) BASED upon the Accellerant Rules System. If you've seen their base document (it is incoroporated into the rules set of every game using the system, including ours) you will notice that it is a sparse skeleton largely concearned with the 'big picture' of Rules of Etiquette, Trait types, and Effects.

There are no skills in the core system.

While it might have been intended that TIA have some way to 'diagnose game' or 'expose beastie', etc., there presently is none. No one has stepped forward to attmept to research one, either.

While this is not the proper forum to do so, I propose that the relevant skills (Hunter/Herder, Tracking, School of Land, etc) be upgraded with the ability to touch a packet to any non-humanoid creature and call 'diagnose family' or 'diagnose species', both of which all NPCs at TIA have.

School of Man could also be upgraded to include 'diagnose tribe' under the same conditions, and so on.

In short, I agree with Kendra - who cleverly answered quicker than I could. Must be all those evil codes we send her. :)

But to clarify further, the animals and psionic beasts seen during TIA 2009 were:

Coydo (only event 4) (As Brose has recorded)
Dire Wolves (New in 2008; Ranvir-related)
Ebrevoor (As Brose has recorded)
Faulkier (As Brose has recorded)
Maros (As Brose has recorded)
Merekkit (As Brose has recorded)
Merekath, Summer, Autumn, and Winter Castes (New in 2008.)
Fae: High (New in 2008)
Fae: Low (New in 2009)
Fae: Troll, Bridge New in 2009)
Fae: Troll, Mountain (New in 2009)
Spiders, Crystalweb (New in 2008)
Spiders, Mean (As Brose has recorded)
Spiders, Meaner (As Brose has recorded)
Spiders, Meanest (New in 2009)
Ursuja (As Brose has recorded)
Varkus (New in 2009.)
Waul (New in 2009.)
'Werewolves' (New in 2008; Ranvir-related)
Zeethra (As Brose has recorded)

We're not mentioning War Zeethra, but they DO exist. No Spider drawings, please. (Ick!)

Character creation, of course! I should have looked there first! :) This simply stresses the need for a re-write and proper edit.

However, I maintain my position that the skill Steve asked for does not exist save for your suggestion (which would constitute a change). I do not feel that the diagnosis of damage or vitality (which requires 30 seconds of RP and a packet-touch) giving different levels of information is the same as determining the difference between a wolf and a coyote, except to one who is closely familiar with them. While anyone can tell the difference between a hangnail and a compound fracture, telling the difference between a bad headache and a concussion requires training.

To be fair, though, the NPCs shall henceforth be instructed when Info tags for them are not available with info to give in response to 'I examine you'.

Also in Character Creation, but I knew this one, many seem not to:
'Inflict to Dead by Hunting,' 'Inflict to Dead by Mining,' or 'Inflict to Dead by Herbalism' are the calls to skin, mine, or pick - each requiring 10 seconds of RP.

I agree that Diagnose (though it takes 3 seconds) is not really the appropriate call here, esp. since Diagnose is aimed at Traits. There's no such thing as 'Diagnose Species' or 'Diagnose Family' -- that would only get a response if you had a trait 'Species' or a trait 'Family', not a trait for a specific species or family. Scholar-based stuff, ideally with tags, would be better.



Expose is not what you want here. Expose requires the target to cry out if they have the specific trait named. Crying out would be a little weird if a critter is unconscious, it gives no more info than Diagnose, and it doesn't work if the target is Dead (as a recently-killed critter might well be). Diagnose still works, but scholar-based examination would be even better.

-Kendra

Thats really expensive for a non-renewable pool. I think it would be more of a mental skill (yeah I know boo for low mental people) I mentioned expose, as it would be something that is trait based and doesn't slow down combat. In a non-combat or after combat situation diagnose to a downed critter is more appropriate, plus it allows for more open ended conversation. But isn't identifing creatures/people/things that may be a bit difficult to via costuming what expose was meant to do while not slowing down combat or game play with open ended exposition?

Hunter, the refining skill, is really about turning animal corpse products into useful refined materials. And from a game balance perspective, it is extremely useful already, and not hellishly expensive. Everyone who has it almost certainly gets to use it every event if they choose to.

Knowledge/recognizing critters is something akin to Tracking. Maybe it should be covered by Tracking, also a mental skill, which also has the problem of not getting very much use.

The notion of 'a hunter' covers a whole lot of related skills (tracking, and actually being able to kill a critter in the first place!) which are not actually part of the Hunter/Herder production skill.

School of Land is only a level 4 skill. Just as a good hunter presumably needs to have some physical stats in order to hunt successfully, it's not ridiculous that the hunter would benefit from a knowledge ability related to hunting sources and the local area, or from the help of someone else with that knowledge.

-Kendra

As for the 'age' issue, I think the call "Diagnose Adult" could easily be added to the list of allowed calls for the skill 'Diagnose' and a simple 'Yes' or 'No' would be an acceptable response. Of course, as with all Diagnosis, this would have to be done with a willing/unconscious/dead target and a packet touch.

Dwayne

As for the 'age' issue, I think the call "Diagnose Adult" could easily be added to the list of allowed calls for the skill 'Diagnose' and a simple 'Yes' or 'No' would be an acceptable response. Of course, as with all Diagnosis, this would have to be done with a willing/unconscious/dead target and a packet touch.

Dwayne

Oh, and Diagnose doesn't have to be done on a willing/helpless target.

-Kendra

'Killing' is a relative thing.

When you've brought down a critter with uncalled damage they will not die unless hit again with called (numbered) damage or hit with a 'death stirke.'

It is just my personal opinion that the maturity level of a critter might require closer examination than standing dozens of feet away and looking at it. Though, in some cases it might be patently obvious, a line must be drawn somewhere.

Dwayne