Animal Psi
Numina · Vampire
Rather than telepathy or direct control, Animal Psi is the ability to communicate with animals, reading their emotional state and intent, and asking them to do things. The animal doesn’t have to agree, but the psychic has a much better chance of getting an animal to follow her instructions than almost anyone else. At each level, the psychic can both better understand what an animal is thinking, and can issue short commands to the animal.
Animal Psi works best on higher mammals — creatures believed to possess nearly human-level intelligence, such as chimpanzees and dolphins — and trained lower mammals, such as dogs, cats, rats, and horses.
To affect other animals the psychic must take a penalty to his Animal Psi dots per the table below — with Animal Psi ••, he can read the current emotions of a higher mammal, but only read the basic intent of a wild lower mammal.
| Penalty | Animal Type |
|---|---|
| 0 | Higher mammals, trained lower mammals |
| -1 | Wild lower mammals, trained birds (reduce penalty to 0 at Animal Psi •••) |
| -2 | Wild birds, trained reptiles |
| -3 | Wild reptiles |
| -4 | Any other animal |
System
Roll: Perception + Animal Ken (difficulty 7)
Modifiers: Per type of animal, as described above
Cost: None
Duration: Can communicate for one minute per success.
Animal Psi Levels
• Read Basic Intent/Communication: The user can read an animal’s basic intent, such as knowing whether it will attack or flee, and can both talk to the animal and understand what the animal “says” in return.
•• Read Current Emotions/Simple Command: The psychic can read an animal’s current emotional state, such as knowing whether an animal is attacking out of anger or hatred or hunger. The psychic may also give a simple command that the animal is compelled to follow, which can be no more than six words long.
••• Read Wants and Needs/Complex Command: The psychic can read an animal’s wants and needs without needing to ask, knowing that an animal wants him to follow or to stay away. The psychic can also give a complex command, usually in the form of two simple commands strung together (“Follow that man, and then come back to me.”) The animal will continue to follow the commands for the duration of the power.
•••• Anticipate Instincts/Borrow Memories: The psychic can anticipate an animal’s complex instincts, knowing how it will react in response to events that haven’t yet occurred. He may also borrow the animal’s memories, finding out what the animal has seen, heard, or smelled over the past six hours.
••••• Mental Communion: The psychic can send his senses along with the animal, nudging the animal to go where he wants it to, and perceiving with all of its senses — a dog’s sense of smell, or a hunting bird’s eyesight. When using this power, the psychic is entirely unaware of his surroundings.