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[HOE] Re: Losing edges
Horace Black wrote:
> One of my player's character recently lost their
>animal companion, a dog named Bama. The dog was shot
>up by some cyborgs and then the templar tried to stop
>his bleeding and botched, killing the dog off. They
>buried Bama in the woods only to be awaked in the
>early morning by scratching sounds. They discovered
>that Bama had dug his way out and with filmy eyes, a
>permanent limp and an oozing wound he was still living
>(as a harrowed). Well needless to say this didn't sit
>to well with the party so they voted and put Bama down
>for good.
> my question is should the character be able to find
>another animal companion (he did pay the points
>initial) or should he have to gain the edge again?
>Let me know what you guys think.
Most of the responses so far say something to the effect of "Yes -
he's paid the points so he should get a replacement."
Now, maybe I'm a complete bas***d, but I say no. You spend your
points and you take your chances. If a player builds a two-fisted
character and loses an arm, should he get an arm back to keep his
edge? Or an eagle-eyed character who has one eye poked out? Maybe
an even batter example is the Belongin's edge - if someone uses it to
get a semi and it gets blowed up real good, getting a replacement
should be a real chore.
I'm not saying you should rule out the chance that he'll find and
train another animal companion. I am saying that this should be hard
work - it should require the character to have animal handling:
whatever the new companion will be. It should require a serious time
investment - both to train and to find an exceptional enough animal
that it can become a companion.
I guess I'm pretty stingy when it comes to giving the players
freebies or replacements. For example, when a player wants to take
the appropriate Veteran (Weird or Wasted) edge for either game, I
make the player build the character, spending all but the Veteran
points _before_ I make the draw on the Veteran table. My reasoning
is that the character will have developed to a certain point before
becoming a veteran - this is reflected by the initial points they get
to spend. Whatever happens on the veteran chart is a result of
getting the extra points - their character didn't know it was going
to happen to them when they chose an initial career and the skills
that go with it. I've had a two-fisted gunslinger lose an arm on the
Veteran draw. The player was slightly disappointed, but understood
my reasoning ahead of time and used it as a roleplaying opportunity.
Hank