Planehopper wrote:We can make them stay, walk or run in follow, attack, hide, bash, search, disarm, or unlock. I could be forgetting things. It seems that as we control all of these aspects of their being (mechanically) that controlling their emotes or even so much as personality and voice isn't much of a stretch.
Which is why I said, for me, Familiars are the only semi-NPCs that are to be RP'd, in-character-like.
The reason we can control a familiar is (mechanical) semantics. It is because the wizard can literally possess your familiar. As opposed to a druid, who's companion shares a strong bond but does not include possession. I think this is covered in one of the manuals, or the tutorial (I forget where it was covered, almost positive it was covered somewhere.)!
Think of it like this: Would your (PnP) DM let you control it? If so, you can emote through it in RP.
Would your DM let you control your animal companion, or would they control it? Likely, you would control it. You can emote through it. Your animal companion is also an important part of playing druid, ranger, and/or cleric (animal domain) after all.
Would your DM let you control your summoned creature, or would they control it. Again, likely you would control it. You can emote through it. Not to mention, depending on the context, this can have varying degrees of importance. For example, Thaumaturges make bonds with their outsider allies in a similar manner to animal companions.
Would your DM let you control a local peasant you met? No. That is not very likely at all. It is not a character who exists in the story as a consequence of something a character did, or something that a character can do. That is what we would call "godmodding".
Its all a trap, anyway. Like I mentioned, the absence you of RPing is still RPing anyway.
If I went up to your red dragon companion and started endlessly poking it and it didn't try to nip my character (at the very least), you are RPing that red dragon as a character who is totally ok with being endlessly annoyed by lesser scaleless ones.
Also, I am curious. If that is the case, who RPs them? Do DMs RP them? Do DMs determine what an animal companion's personality is? I've done this in my bio before, and have had it approved. Is that my character, or are the DMs approving it for their own use? Do they consult it before using my animal companion?
Have there been cases of DMs possessing player's summons and animal companions to use during events? When has this taken place?
If its just another NPC, how come I can control it? How come I can't control other NPCs?
The answer of "the player doesn't RP their animal companion/summon" ends up raising up way more question than the opposite.
I have been RPing my dragon companion for well over a year now. Inside and outside of DM events. Never once had an issue from another player or DM about it.
– "Play Your Sheet"
– You are required to play what is on your Character Sheet. For example, no roleplaying of another race if it does not appear on your Character Sheet. In-character (IC) lying and misinformation about your Character's skills, profession and morality is fair and acceptable, but roleplay which does not reflect the Abilities, Feats and Skills that exist on your Character Sheet, is not acceptable.
The rule needs an amendment in favor relative to the cohorts.
Rules serve a purpose, AoS. Quoting the rules endlessly won't provide anything to your argument, it just makes it look like you can't see past anything than what is written (I.E. the purpose of the rules). An explanation or a rational on your interpretation of this would, on the other hand, be more beneficial to this thread.
That aside, there are two rules that have been brought up with respect to this issue. Play your character sheet, and godmodding.
The purpose of the rules as a whole are to both enhance RP, and ensure that any RP is equitable and fair to all players on the server.
The purpose of play your character sheet, is to ensure that you can't just make up whatever you like on your character sheet. It is to keep players in check, essentially, and make sure that the abilities that are reasonable for one to possess are there, and the abilities that one shouldn't possess aren't there.
The purpose of the godmodding rule is to ensure that players can't just RP through any NPC willy-nilly. One can see how problematic, for example, RPing through a Duke would be. Even having multiple DMs RP one NPC can create issues (an NPC can have a different personality depending on the DM). This limits the expose of that issue to just the DM team, and ensures that the world acts in a realistic (for d&d) fashion. This also ensures the players treat the game world as if it were living and breathing (not drawing weapons infront of guards).
RPing your animal companion, or your summon, doesn't violate the main purpose of the rules, nore the purpose of either of the two above mentioned rules. The NPCs don't have any extraordinary abilities on their character sheet, and so players won't be able to do just anything that the NPC would be able to. There are no issues on that front, it would seem.
Aside from looking at how this coincides with the rules themselves in spirit, I believe that the animal companion is itself on your character sheet in the form of a feat. For summons, your spellbook is part of your character sheet. And so, in a similar fashion to animal companions, they too are on your character sheet.
Added to that, there is the fact that up until this point, most players DO RP their animal companions and summons. Some more diligent ones even place integral summons or their companion into their bio with its own entry. So, there is the matter of respecting the playerbase with this issue as well. Suddenly disallowing this would be a huge slap in the face for quite a few players, and it would also raise issues of possible pre-existing RP.
Nachti wrote:And djinnis cant grant wishes. Only the nobles can and these arent ingame. Things like wishes are always dm-executive.
Thanks for clearing that up, Nachti. How about the Ghaele Eladrin's killer glare? From the lore I've found, it implies all of them have this ability though it's not currently available on their sheet in game.
Summon Planar Cohort is a feat on the thaumaturgist's character sheet. Making it speak/emote/whatever is a natural extension of that fact, certainly no less than Summon Familiar or Summon Animal Companion, if indeed you're really going to chase the Play-your-sheet line of argument
Nachti wrote:And djinnis cant grant wishes. Only the nobles can and these arent ingame. Things like wishes are always dm-executive.
Thanks for clearing that up, Nachti. How about the Ghaele Eladrin's killer glare? From the lore I've found, it implies all of them have this ability though it's not currently available on their sheet in game.
Even if I add it, Summons have to follow pvp rules aswell.
Youre not suppost to roleplay it against other players.
I have role played the personality of my Wolf/Dragon companion since the begging and i honestly don't see what the fuss is? Something like a named Planar Cohort (the ones you need names for) i could see an argument against playing it because you don't know its personality, but as for cohorts like dragons and animals..hell even vampires i don't see what the fuss is all about.
Reiker Vexx - "Fortune favors the bold"
Cyrus Raviin - "Veritas Credo Oculos"
a summon, cohort or companion is not your character. if it were a PnP situation, your DM would control what they do and how they act and respond to actions around it. you are not controlling it when you tell it to stay or attack or guard. you are asking and are never refused. i have RP'd my summon or companion before. and because there can not be a DM present everywhere all the time, i shrugged it off as what needed to be done when it was needed. RP should not be generated toward these NPCs just as we do not generate RP toward NPCs at the FAI or BG. you should not poke a dragon NPC. that is a waste of time as the only ones that can react to that are those observing unless a DM is around and can take control of your summon.
plain and simple. the companions, cohorts and summons have there own personalities and are not an extension of your character. you just had the ability to call it forth for your direction.
I don't see RPing them having a personality to be an issue. It's been done for years with animal companions and familiars.
As long as it isn't lore breaking and done decently. If some player does things they shouldn't, then take a screenshot and send it to DMs. No need for all the players who RP them correctly to be 'punished' over it.
I have given some of the outsiders my character calls forth regularly their own personality. It doesn't mean they'll always support my character and I'd be up for a DM to make things a little difficult if it ever came to it.
What I don't like is a DM controlling my familiar or summon/called creature without asking me first... Multiple personality disorder is a little awkward to explain away.
Power is the most persuasive rhetoric. Friedrich von Schiller
