New Mechanic (Summons/Pets Ownership)

Hey, I'm Rxlr, some call me Arex, some Rx, Vech calls me Rixler... dont do that.

I’m here to introduce an idea and, hopefully, a mechanic Frost will implement in the future, the concept is simple, yet I understand how hard it may be to code this into reality.

Now onto the idea itself, I call it “Miniature Ownership”, the main objective is to make having summons/pets easier, both for the GM and for the players.

Some of you may have experience in the past, moments where you wanted a pet to do something and the GM didn’t really had the same in mind or in the worst cases you delay the session because you were PM’ing the GM over and over with answers to is questions about how your pet/summon should behavior, with that in mind I came up with the concept of being able to give a player “Partial Ownership”.

The method is simple to understand by both veterans and new players, adding an option to miniatures with the objective of sharing ownership with another player.
This would mean both the Player and the GM could move the pet/summon around the mat and create interactions such as RP for the pet/summon.

Of course, some rules would have to be established, like not rolling with the pet/summon values that the miniature wouldn’t have, example: If a dog has 3 might, the player shouldn’t roll might based actions with 10 dice. Of course, as a community I believe being reasonable and following directions from the GM would be the easiest thing to achieve, and if not the GM could always revoke ownership.

This is the “mechanic” I present here today, please leave some feedback and of course, this is only a fleshed out idea, so mechanics that would make this simple are appreciated as well.

+1 Its Gud

Yeah, this would probably be a good idea. But who's going to code it?

When suggesting entire mechanics, please always bear in mind that the site only has one developer, who works a full time job and does this as a side project.

It's probably much less work if players just tell the GM where they want the minis of their summons to go, and then the GM moves it.

I’m pretty sure I suggested this idea a while back somewhere else in the forums. So, needless to say, I support this idea.

Pets/Summons are actually rather ease to do and use (IMHO). So let me explain and maybe offer some help to do this at the table.

= I have players move their mini to the place they with the pawn to be moved to, then move their mini back.
= Depending, often it makes little sense that your pet would perfectly do what you wish, as being an NPC but loyal, it would follow your lead and commands (That you express through chat).
= GM's can let you roll for (and as) your pet by writing little macros or letting you insert the Pet's stats into your traits. You would simply roll either a copy pasted /roll command, or click on the traits and use no main trait.

The mechanic you are talking about is nothing new or special. (sorry)What you describe is simply allowing pawn/token access to me editable. Roll20 has such details and editable features implimented because of is UI design and because of its structure. An example is you can allow a player to move a {torch} token object or set it as static on the map (Unmoveable).

Fabletop does not have "Dungeon clutter" such as tables, torches, or non square spaces. (though I like to use the {ball} object as a drinking cup) and is limited in its pawn number. (Though there is some way to get around the limit, I think?) Having a lot of clutter, or for that matter a lot of pets and summons, restricts the rest of the pawn count for encounters and NPCs.

I've had people want to have the /as command to rp as their pet, but thats a different topic. Solution to that is just /msg the gm what you would generally like.

I agree with Dare's post on this issue.

I'd actually argue that it's often more realistic for players -not- to have command of their pet or summon. Animals are wild and unpredictable by nature. A player's own action can help to guide it, but often these creatures have a will of their own. Having the GM control the pet or summon instead of the player directly can help convey this unpredictable nature.