The name of the talent/skill, together with the "flavor text" part of its description, it's not important imho: it's just fluff, you can change it to whatever fits your setting. The important bit is in the mechanics, since this is the part that actually matters when you're playing.
True, I get where you're coming from, it could be called "Bonus DB" with explaination provided by the GM. But, recall that there are instances where the "Type" of bonus matters. . . .like you should get an armor/toughness bonus at all times, regardless of if you can move or are aware of the attack, while parry bonus requires a declared opponant, and a quickness DB bonus requires you to be aware you're under attack. . .thus there are actual mechanical variations in play, the TYPE of DB bonus makes the DB apply or not in varied situations, as laid out in the rules.
Chi Defense has a major problem: you need to activate it and doesn't last forever.
I have no problem with the idea that a rabbit, if aware of danger, could make itself really hard to hit, then gets tired, and not so hard to hit (And I've also seen prey animals start their duck-n-cover routine and trip or run into something, or run right into the attacker. . .i.e. fumble/fail to activate).
Giving it to monsters like demons or dragons wouldn't be a great idea imho, I like the fact that their capabilities are beyond mortals' reach.
Agreed here also, but not sure this is the best way to go about it.
For animals and similar foes it could be a good idea, though.
<points at rabbit-chi defense comment above, and dog-parry comment below>
The actual in-game effect of Survival Instinct is that of nullifying one rank per level of opponents' attack skills. No matter how skilled, a PC will be always one step behind when fighting a creature with this talent.
Imho in this sense it works better than a fixed bonus to DB, because of the diminishing returns (giving a straight +5 per level to DB would have caused problems at higher levels,
Again I agree the +5/lv seems too much, I don't see why a human who studies combat constantly is at a disadvantage vs a dog, simply because the dog is an animal. . .animals, if anything, should be at a DB penalty. . .man fights dog with sword, dog's version of "parry" is "bite the end of the stick and take it away" which is counter productive with a sword. . . .with the rare exception of arena bred combat pit animals or long career man-eaters, animals usually "learn" the logic of weapons just before they die, thus failing to actually learn anything. (i.e. I see more logic in "animals take a 1/2 penalty to parry vs weapons", just like an unarmed man would.). . .few animal stories I've ever heard relate to them being hard to hit, far more of a problem is that in their utter ignorance, they kill themselves on the weapon and still maul the human. (Bears, boars, lions will all "Run up the spear" and maul you, inflicting mortal wounds on themselves just to get a couple hits in before they die).
If this is some sort of innate dodginess, it sounds like a Qu bonus, if it's learned dodginess it's Chi Defense, if it's learned combat maneuvering it's parry, and if it's toughness it's an armor bonus. Per my first comment in this post, each of those resolves differently, and applies or doesn't in different situations.
and bonuses like those given by Natural Armor don't scale with level).
How about simply stating that demon hide or dragon scale is "Bonus armor" and granting a higher than possible for a normal natural armor bonus? (hell, just the layer of blubber on a bear or whale will act as padding to a point their armor should be tougher than just their hide).
For this reason, I think that it should reserved to Big Bad Monsters only: common animals and low-level monsters shouldn't have it.
Agreed there. I don't even have any objection to the idea of a DB bonus talent that can be applied to certain monsters to reflect supernatural nastiness of some sort, be it a higher than naturally possible toughness, super quickness, or any other supernatural answer. . .I just object to it applying to a dog on one hand, and to it applying as a level tied bonus rather than just a flat bonus like the rest of the talents you can use to build monsters. . .it should also be tied into the logic more specifically, so you know what counters this bonus, is it quickness, toughness, dodge, what? (In the end, that being the problem with "Generic" DB)
It would also be nice if you could apply it to supernatural monsters that are supposed to be super quick/tough/canny and not apply it to all of them. . .some creatures the concept doesn't seem to have a logical hook to hang on.
Should PCs be able to develop it? I'm still not sure about it, probably it depends on the campaign you're playing...
Agreed, but first it'd need to be laid out as a talent . . .be nice if it was mechanically similar to the other talents too (it only resembles the professional skill bonuses now). . .frankly, I'd say all the talents being allowed or not should "depend on the type of campaign you're playing".
