[wylie]

after the Gator shaman reference from the Seattle mission, I realize there is not gator totem in 4th ED.

I am wondering, in Missions, are players allowed to tweak totems? in case of Gator,  I would use Mountain, have +2 summon water spirits instead of earth, and use the rest of the writeup as is, just put Gator in place of Mountain.

I looked over the FAQ for Seattle season 4, and the only reference I found said the totems in the core book & Street magic were allowed

thoughts?

[Bull]

Unfortunately, no.  You can rename a totem if you find one that fits your purpose, but unfortunately allowing players to create their own or tweak the actual stats/benefits of an existing one are outside the scope of Missions.

That said, I agree.  Lack of Gator Shaman is a crime.

[Kot]

Why? Mentor Spirit rules are basically a modular construction. You take two +2 bonuses for Spell schools, Spirit types, or skills, and balance it with a Drawback. Maybe making a quick Mentor Spirit creation table would be in order? It's a good idea for a bonus material.

[Bull]

Because they're not all quite that simple, and not everyone will agree what a balanced drawback is. 

[Ten-Hex]

Wha?

Street magic, p. 181. Crocodile. It's very easy to port into an urban Gator mentor spirit concept.

[wylie]

Mountain reads more like previous editions: once he decides on an action, it takes a willpower test to change

Crocodile wants to be paid, in some form or fashion

I can deal with renaming the totem, if a player wanted to

I agree, the disadvantage can be hard to make balance for both the GM & player
GM: some way to limit/ mess with the player
Player: some way to get something for free.

[Wolfboy]

why not just use the previous edition version just change the +2 to the dice rather than the roll result same on the downside, make it minus 2 dice instead of minus 2 to the roll

[lurkeroutthere]

Because it's easier to say no modifications and house rules then get into an endless loop of keeping track of what modifications and house rules are allowed. Does it suck when things you want to use are disallowed? Sure, but it keeps overhead down.