[Csjarrat]

quite like the idea of having a pet bird that was trained. can use adept powers or magic to control/see through it like riggers do with their drones. we have the animal handling rules in bare bones but nothing else. would be nice if it was in run faster (though not really sure what is outside of the pretty pictures)

[Michael Chandra]

I had 3 people join in for 1 session last month, and for one I designed a business consultant mage with 3 Hell Hounds. They were combat-trained using Running Wild rules but with halved threshold, as a pack, and also had their skills increased. So you had 3 Hell Hounds with the benefits of a TacNet II (as conversion of the sr4-tacnet-like ability of a pack), 3-hit Increase Intuition, Increase Agility and Combat Sense quickened, and +50% on their offensive, perception and tracking skills.

Needless to say, tracking down some escaped paracritters was rather easy with three 15-dice characters teamworking.

Hell Hounds are expensive as hell, but if you can get a few normal guard dogs packtrained, which costs a significant extra amount, and get some custom armor fitted for them, they already can be a nice deterrent.

[firebug]

That guy sounds like a bonafide badass.  Business mage with armored, spell-buffed hellhounds trained for combat and tracking?  Dude.  That'd be worth commissioning a picture of some day.

[adzling]

I believe there is ritual magic in S.G. that allows you to do something close to this I just can recall what it is at the moment.

quite like the idea of having a pet bird that was trained. can use adept powers or magic to control/see through it like riggers do with their drones. we have the animal handling rules in bare bones but nothing else. would be nice if it was in run faster (though not really sure what is outside of the pretty pictures)

[Sendaz]

Who let the Hounds out?

OW!

OW!

OW!




while not ritual, you do have [Sense] Link the spell to link into their senses.

[Sense] Link (Active, Psychic)
Type: M • Range: T • Duration: S • DV: (F ÷ 2) – 1
This variation of the Mindlink spell (p. 199, SR4) allows the caster to tap into one of the target’s senses. Each spell variant of [Sense] Link is designed to target a specific sense (ie. Sight Link, Astral Perception Link, Thermographic Vision Link, etc.) defined by the spell formula itself.

Eyes of the Pack (Street Grimoire pg 106) allow rapid switching between voluntary subjects to sense.

So there is some stuff out there and just a bit of tweaking should be able to give you something to fit your taste.

[Tarislar]

Are you making up those figures or are they from some cannon source?

I find the lifestyle requirements to be a bit odd.  Who says you can't own a dog in a low lifestyle apartment?
I see homeless people with pet dogs on the street.

Overall I think those costs are pretty blown up but I'm curious to know where they are from.

[The Wyrm Ouroboros]

Canon.  Not cannon.  Cannons fire shells at people.  Canon just trips them up.  And Mr. Chandra, I want those stats. 

[BetaCAV]

Pets are only cheap until you need a veterinarian.

Your average street doc is going to be fairly useless, most of the time. They could probably treat a bullet wound on a barghest, if it didn't hit anything important, but most wouldn't want to.
If Spot has nibbled on a patch of Deepweed (for example), and failed an addiction roll, and is now suffering from withdrawl symptoms, they're going to be nearly as clueless as the dog is.

[Lethal Joke]

Pets are only cheap until you need a veterinarian.

Your average street doc is going to be fairly useless, most of the time. They could probably treat a bullet wound on a barghest, if it didn't hit anything important, but most wouldn't want to.
If Spot has nibbled on a patch of Deepweed (for example), and failed an addiction roll, and is now suffering from withdrawl symptoms, they're going to be nearly as clueless as the dog is.

Who leaves drugs that pricey just lying around? Deepweed's 400 a pop.
Still, your point does decrease likelihood of a poor man owning a paranormal attack dog.

[Michael Chandra]

Paranormal pets cannot be afforded by poor men. Not only do they require Middle or High and cost quite a bit as initial costs, combat-trained they likely cost 20x (3~4 Willpower, Against Instincts) as much. And you also need to have them retrained once in a while. Normal attack dogs would be more managable, but vet costs indeed would be big.