So i had a bit of a question how do you guys handle pets in ICRPG
For the most part my problem with allowing a pet in the game makes one player have a stronger action economy then the other players. But i love having pets in games and i think it makes for a great game component. So i want to fix this, and maybe with some of your guys help we can develop a way that pets can be welcomed at the table without feeling like a gimmick for extra moves.
My first thought is Pets take up 2 loot slots when creating the character, and this is for a pretty “basic” pet, like a raven or a dog that would have only 1 HP. Pets with 10 hp take up 3 slots, say a wolf or a large cat. Unfortunately this doesn’t address the action economy portion of the game.
Which leads me to part two, pets only get 1 action in the turn, they can move OR attack, pick up OR run, but never both like a player can. This unfortunately still leaves players with pets with 1 more action than those without.
This leads me to my next problem, pet stats, do they deserve stats? should they have a modifier on their rolls at all, which i tend to lean more into “pets are loot, they give YOU a bonus, but don’t have their own capacity to roll checks”
For example; me and my dog are going to attack a creature; bump the dice up by 1, if i’m using a weapon (d6), now lets use a d8, and this can be easily modified by pet type, a BEAR would have a better block then a BIRD, so maybe the bonus is a d10 now, while still adding your normal weapon bonus.
My other thought is COMMANDS; a player can use their turn to COMMAND the pet, and the pet can roll (its own stats?)(the players stats?)
Maybe pets would roll hard if their master is K/O’d
How do you guys handle when players want pets, how do you manage action economy? I’d love to hear your thoughts, I really dont want players to need an entire extra stat sheet for a pet, and i’d love to keep them as loot with a simple bonus like (hunting dog - tracking is always easy) But lets hear those takes!