Recognize a specific creature/animal

[brehobit]

Hi folks,
I have a classed worg as an NPC in a game I'm running. The party has encountered him before and he plans on "hiding" himself in with a group of other worgs. He has much better physical stats than a typical worg (+4 over racial average for STR, DEX, and CON). He lacks disguise (and wouldn't use it if he could). How would you rule on PCs:
A) noticing he's the same worg
B) noticing when actively looking to see if he's the same guy.

I'm thinking 1) is spot, maybe with a +2 bonus for 5 ranks of "knowledge nature" and two is search with the same bonus. DC 25 on spot, DC 15 on search?

Other ideas?
Mark

 

[Wolfwood2]

Hi folks,
I have a classed worg as an NPC in a game I'm running. The party has encountered him before and he plans on "hiding" himself in with a group of other worgs. He has much better physical stats than a typical worg (+4 over racial average for STR, DEX, and CON). He lacks disguise (and wouldn't use it if he could). How would you rule on PCs:
A) noticing he's the same worg
B) noticing when actively looking to see if he's the same guy.

I'm thinking 1) is spot, maybe with a +2 bonus for 5 ranks of "knowledge nature" and two is search with the same bonus. DC 25 on spot, DC 15 on search?

Other ideas?
Mark

It should be Spot, but DC 25 seems a little high.

I would start with a base DC of 5 for a trivial task and then add +5 for it being a different creature type. (Assuming they haven't had extensive interaction with this guy. If they've spoken with the worg beyond a brief encounter in battle, I would start it off with a base DC of 0.)

So DC 10. Seems too easy, doesn't it?

However, remember that Spot takes a -1 penalty per 10 feet of distance. So if he's trying to Hide himself within a pack of worgs that are a fair distance away, he stands a good chance of doing so. If he's with a pack getting all up in their faces, much less of a chance at doing so.

 

[AE020704]

Forget Spot, unless your PCs have regular contact with Worgs. I'd call that Know (Nature).

 

[hanniball]

Forget Spot, unless your PCs have regular contact with Worgs. I'd call that Know (Nature).

Being that Worgs are Magical Beasts with 4HD, it would be a Knowledge (Arcana) tjeck DC 14. If this advanced Worg has more HD, adjust the DC accordingly to determine whether or not your PCs possess any knowledge of this particular creature.

Either way...just my 2 cp

 

[Gerion of Mercadia]

I would go with spot DC 15. A base of 10, +5 for unusual creature circumstance, and adjust for distance. For this check, Knowledge, Arcana is synergistic.

If the PC's actively try to recognize this worg - its essentially automatic, because the worg is undisguised.

 

[Pagan priest]

Hi folks,
I have a classed worg as an NPC in a game I'm running. The party has encountered him before and he plans on "hiding" himself in with a group of other worgs. He has much better physical stats than a typical worg (+4 over racial average for STR, DEX, and CON). He lacks disguise (and wouldn't use it if he could). How would you rule on PCs:
A) noticing he's the same worg
B) noticing when actively looking to see if he's the same guy.

I'm thinking 1) is spot, maybe with a +2 bonus for 5 ranks of "knowledge nature" and two is search with the same bonus. DC 25 on spot, DC 15 on search?

Other ideas?
Mark

Just how much interaction has the party had with worgs in general and this worg in particular? If the party has only had a couple of rounds of combat, I would not even give them a roll. If they have had some actual interaction with that worg, and they have had the opportunity to encounter worgs as individuals, then maybe there is a chance that they could recognise the NPC.

One of the old standards of racial stereotyping is "they all look alike to me", which has some basis in fact. If you don't have enough interactions with a group to recognise the significant features that distinguise one individual from the next, it can be very difficult to pull an unfamiliar face out of a sea of similar faces.

 

[Wolfwood2]

I really think you guys are making this into a much harder task than it should be. It's just a common, everyday, observational skill challenge. Not that difficult at all. It certainly isn't going to require a knowledge skill to remember what something you've seen looks like.

This is something your average, schmuck of the street with no Spot ranks and no Wisdom bonus should have a decent shot at accomplishing.

 

[Wolfwood2]

Just how much interaction has the party had with worgs in general and this worg in particular? If the party has only had a couple of rounds of combat, I would not even give them a roll. If they have had some actual interaction with that worg, and they have had the opportunity to encounter worgs as individuals, then maybe there is a chance that they could recognise the NPC.

One of the old standards of racial stereotyping is "they all look alike to me", which has some basis in fact. If you don't have enough interactions with a group to recognise the significant features that distinguise one individual from the next, it can be very difficult to pull an unfamiliar face out of a sea of similar faces.

Look at it this way, what if it were horses instead? Would you expect somebody to have a difficult time trying to recognize a horse they've seen before? What if it were a horse they've seen before under the rather memorable circumstances of it trying to kick their brains in?

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

This is an opposed roll. Whether the classed Worg has the Disguise skill or not, Disguise is the skill most applicable to the situation when attempting "hiding in a crowd". That makes it a spot check opposed by Cha, the attribute Disguise is based on, rather than the Disguise skill itself. Simple. And no reason NOT to keep it just that simple, though naturally there will be situational and other modifiers. A +2 circumstance bonus to the Worgs Cha roll shouldn't be hard to finagle.

 

[Pagan priest]

Look at it this way, what if it were horses instead? Would you expect somebody to have a difficult time trying to recognize a horse they've seen before? What if it were a horse they've seen before under the rather memorable circumstances of it trying to kick their brains in?

Well, in the real world, every tiger has distintive markings. Other animals, like lions or bears do not have such distinctive markings and require more time to learn to recognize one individual from another. Since worgs are not real world animals, there is a very real question as to just how distinctive their markings are. If every worg has fur patterns that spell out its name, or shows a serial number, then it is a very easy task to recognize one from another. If their fur is all one color, and that color never varies across the entire species, then it so difficult as to be almost impossible for any amount of effort short of spending weeks getting to know each and every worg in the forest.