Topic: Insects == Animals

[Old Man]

Quick question:

For the purposes of Spell Law's (and later) Animal XX spells - do you consider Insects to be Animals. And more specifically, do you consider Monsters or Monstrous Insects to be Animals?

(I recall RMC V having an Insect specific Druid list, perhaps others.)

Ciao,
Old Man

[Marc R]

They fit the definition of animals, in that they are alive, and not "Beings".

I dunno about having minds though, so it'd be a GM call if "m" spells would work on them.

Then again, there are insect specific "m" spells if I recall right.

[Rasyr-Mjolnir]

Personally, I would allow them to be counted as animals so long as they did not have any special abilities.

For example, if you have a giant wasp, that is an animal. If you have a giant wasp that can shoot shock bolts from its stinger, then it is not animal, it is a creature. There have been several threads on the forums regarding oversized natural animals that are alive and/or were alive in the past.

Animal == natural (even giant sized)

Creature == has abilities that natural creatures do not

As for that insect list -  I would rule that that affects only regular sized insects, not giant ones....

[Old Man]

Thanks gentlemen,
Old Man

[Rasyr-Mjolnir]

gentlemen

Who? me?

[Balhirath]

Personally, I would allow them to be counted as animals so long as they did not have any special abilities.

For example, if you have a giant wasp, that is an animal. If you have a giant wasp that can shoot shock bolts from its stinger, then it is not animal, it is a creature. There have been several threads on the forums regarding oversized natural animals that are alive and/or were alive in the past.

Animal == natural (even giant sized)

Creature == has abilities that natural creatures do not

As for that insect list -  I would rule that that affects only regular sized insects, not giant ones....

I agree. Unless the Large animal in question have some enchanted ability, it's a just a bigger animal.
However, you can ofcause always impose a limit on size if you feel like it. (All animal spells have to be of at least 5th (Or whatever level you choose) before they have to power to work on Large/ Super Large animals.)
 

[Marc R]

All spells that affect others, even animals, generally provoke an RR.

So if you used an "animal" spell to control a T-rex, or a Gigantic Spider, they're more likely to resist, but if they fail, you gain control over them.

Sort of like using "m" spells on the 1st level trainee, or the 20th level champion. . .as the reward goes up, the risks of failure go up.

As far as I understand the glossery at the start of SL, it essentially breaks living things into:

Animal: A living creature capable of feeling and voluntary motion, but excluding those characterized as beings.

Being: Any intelligent creature, including all humanoid types, enchanted creatures, etc. Intelligence should be characterized by system and/or Gamemaster.

So it doesn't matter if the animal can turn invisible and shoot lightninbolts out of it's head. . .if it's of the animal kingdom and not sentient, it's an animal. . .

So the large spider in CT is an animal, but the Giant spider is a being because it's listed as being intelligent.

Of course, there are few unintelligent creatures with special powers, but there are a few, like an electric eel is an animal even with it's shockbolt table zap attack.

[yammahoper]

I would allow insects to be summoned, but require some sort of summoning skill check and an appropriate influnce ( a bit of grain to get locust, some honey or nectar for bees, etc).  Of course, I would allow the skill check without the influence but rate it absurd.

I would allow giant versions of insects to be sommoned.  Today I would stat them out in my head real fast and assign level.  In the old days I would have opened C&T and looked up/followed the "making small creatures giant sized" rules that were handily provided.

Unless the spell allows special or magical creatures to be summoned, I would not allow it.  I handle this in my game by giving all such creatures an intelligence higher than animal, usually low int.

lynn