1228 Tom Bast

For the discussion of creation and advancement of the aforementioned character

Just wrote up a history that explains where Tom comes from, and how he has some of his abilities.

The history is pretty decent, we have some other issues- first this being a cat we need to make a cat not a person, which is going to include beast qualities as well as magic qualities. There is a cat in the books (I am looking at the Book of Beasts which is a compilation of animals published in different AM books and an unofficial resource), so we should probably start with that.
Also the Abyssinian breed was, according to DNA tracing, bred into existence in the 18th century. I expect you are trying for some kind of Egyptian temple cat?

Yes, I was going for an Egyptian Temple cat. I could go for one that looked like a Mau, or an Abyssinian. I was trying to describe appearance, not breed. What I think he should look like is actually closer to a Savannah Cat, but that has just been created in my lifetime.

I can add in the non-magical qualities of a cat to the description: Ambush Predator, Crafty, Good Jumper, Skilled Climber, Thick Fur. Was there any other additions that jumped out at you?

Changed it to Jungle Cat, that was in Egypt (still is) and put up a picture. Some were mummified along with the African Wildcat. And then domestication happened.

those should suffice- does he have the same base stats as a typical cat?

No, the stats are not the same. I accounted for two increased characteristics in the Virtues. I removed the -4 communication, since he can talk and understand language. Then I increased the rest of the statistics, as follows: +1 intelligence, +2 Perception from +1, +1 Communication from zero, +1 Stamina, and 0 Strength before the reduction due to size.

That's why I asked about the base stats instead of the final stats...
So lets go through how you arrived at those alterations to the stats. Animals get a little fuzzy in the rules...

The base stats for cats are: Cun 0, Per +1, Pre -2, Com -4, Str -7, Sta 0, Dex +3, Qik +4.
They are size -3 which gives -6 to Strength and +3 to Quickness. So the base stats, without size change is: Cun 0, Per +1, Pre -2, Com -4, Str -1, Sta 0, Dex +3, Qik +1.
I changed the Cunning to Intelligence of 0 because that is a free choice for magical animals. Then I changed the Communication from -4 to 0 by giving him the ability to talk and understand language through virtues.
Working off of this base of: Int 0, Per +1, Pre -2, Com 0, Str -1, Sta 0, Dex +3, Qik +1 I then added two Improved Characteristic virtues granting 6xp in characteristics as follows: Int +1, Per +2, Com +1, Str 0, Sta +1.
Then I added back the size change resulting in the following characteristics: Int +1, Per +2, Com +1, Str -6, Sta +1, Dex +3, Qik +4.

Where do you get the +4 or change to zero for com from the virtues for being able to talk and understand language? Gift of speech offers no bonus to the communication stat.

What would you suggest?

He has three different communication virtues. If a talking cat has the same communication ability as a non-talking cat it kinda defeats the purpose of talking.

I wish I had a good suggestion, as it stands the best resolution I see is that you have to add 10 characteristic points to get com to 0.

mostly my issue here is that you seemed to assume an answer without discussion.

Lets start with this:
Cun 0, Per +1, Pre -2, Com -4, Str -1, Sta 0, Dex +3, Qik +1.
by canon the physical stats before size adjustment should add up to 7 points, but here they add up to 6, which is rather odd. Additionally for a played character the sum of all stats should, in principle, come to 7 as well. So we keep the physical characteristic as immutable, the point total for this would be 7 if both presence and com were 0, it doesn't make sense to change com here, so we'll balance it instead with a com of 2 with the speech virtues.

It isn't the value of +4 or shifting to 0 that I specifically have a problem with, it's the hand waving and "well it just didn't make sense so I changed it" that is the issue.

Nope. I make a proposal, I assume nothing. He may be an unplayable character. If you don’t like the idea, I scrap it. What is the level of flaw for a mute person? That could be the bonus for a non mute cat. Your call. That is why I am asking for suggestions.

It didn't come across as a proposal, it came across as an assertion. Lets avoid this in the future. Multiple people have wound up dropping out of the game when they attempted to proceed with this style of "asking" that isn't really asking. If you hit a road bump, ask a question, don't bury your assumption in the character sheet and call that a proposal.

What are the stat totals you suggest? I didn’t really understand what you were telling me, and I don’t want to assume and cause further conflict.

If I understand where you were going with the above, his stats before size changes should equal 7 points. That would be Int 0, Per +1, Pre -2, Com +2, Str -1, Sta 0, Dex +3, Qik +1.

I would propose adding one Improved Characteristics virtue to bring Int up to +1, and Per to +2. The second Improved Characteristic virtue could either justify the Com score being greater than zero or give a positive Str and Sta.

What do you think?

Basically use the stats you had but add an extra 2 to the com stat.

Done.