IN> Animals in In Nomine

[Jonathan Lang]

I've been putting some thought into how animals should be handled in
In Nomine.  If I were writing the rules for it, this is what I would
do:

Humans can have up to 5 of each type of Force; animals are a bit more
varied, with the maximum number of a given type of Force depending on
the species:

* Most species are restricted to one or two Celestial Forces, at most.
 (Note that an animals doesn't have to have _any_ Celestial Forces;
but most of the interesting ones have at least one.)

* A species' limit on Ethereal Forces depends on how clever the
species tends to be: essentially mindless animals (such as insects)
have no Ethereal Forces, while exceptionally clever species can have
as many as three or four; most species can't exceed one or two.  As
with Celestial Forces, no animal _has_ to have any Ethereal Forces.

* A species' limit on Corporeal Forces exactly parallels the number of
Forces that an Ethereal would need to inhabit an equivalent vessel:
one for rats or smaller, two for cats and small dogs, three for most
dogs, four for large dogs, five for humans and horses, six for
elephants, more for larger creatures.  This would be the _one and
only_ case where a statted In Nomine creature would be allowed to have
more than six of a given kind of Force.

In addition to the above, there are three ways in which humans have
been set apart from animals:

* Body: Animal bodies include a number of features and disadvantages
automatically, with no cost associated with them.  Note that one edge
that humans have over virtually every animal is the opposable thumb:
animals have great difficulty with tool use; this removes a number of
skills from consideration.

* Mind: Animals aren't given to abstract thought; the most notable
effect of this involves their language facility: animals can express
emotions, but they can't convey concepts much more involved than that.
 Conversely, some skills seem to be known instinctively.

* Soul: Animals don't have as much Free Will as humans do; reflect
this by giving every animal an "Instinct".  Instincts would be a
game-mechanical construct with similarities to Dissonance Conditions,
Dreads, Images, and Roles: they tend to constrain the kinds of
behavior the animal is likely to engage in, probably by requiring a
Will roll to act in a manner contrary to them.  Since animals are part
of the Symphony, their actions never cause Disturbance on their own.
This is about the

-- 
Jonathan "Dataweaver" Lang