How To Get Rid Of An Animal Companion That Somebody Trained In Dnd 5e

The Handle Animate being Guide

"Animals are such agreeable friends - they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms" - George Eliot

Templates
There are a number of useful templates your animals can have. I intend to focus on the ones that have rules for how a player can aquire them, and also ones that apply specifically to animals. Y'all can technically have a half dragon horse, but who wants to think virtually how that happened?

Warbeast (MM2 p. 217)
The crown gem of templates. It grants a plus three to Str and Con and a plus 2 to Wis. You also proceeds some other HD, plus 10 to motility speed, plus 2 to ride checks, and proficiency in lite, medium, and heavy armor.

The thing that makes this template really stick out is the fact that you can apply it to any of your creatures all by yourself. Information technology just takes two months and a successful handle fauna cheque (DC 20 +the animal's Hard disk)

This template tin also be applied to vermin. This does not make any sense nonetheless, considering it is based on training and vermin have no int score. I don't know what you would do with a vermin, since they can not learn tricks or be commanded. You can't even push them with a push employ of handle animal, considering they are non animals.

Magebred (EbCS p. 295)
A template from Eberron. It gives an animal a plus two increment to natural armor. The brute also gets a plus four to one physical stat (str, dex, or con) and plus ii to the others. Int, if not two, is increased to two. You likewise accept a plus 2 bonus when commanding a magebred animate being and the animal takes a week less to learn a pull a fast one on (minimum one week). You lot besides gain your pick of one special quality (movement plus 10, plus 2 to natural armor, or plus four to survival checks for tracking purposes) and one feat (must be Alacrity, Athletics, Endurance, Improved Natural Assault, or Multiattack). Applying the magebred template doubles the brute's cost.

On paper, magebred will about always be a bad pick. 2 warbeast fleshrakers cost the same equally ane magebred warbeast fleshraker and can definitely out fight the magebred one. In actual games, however, this may not be the case. Even if your DM does not put some kind of cap on your creatures because it takes an average of half dozen hours to resolve combat because of all the creatures you accept brought in, you volition eventually observe yourself in such a situation where the boxing field is pocket-size and fewer, tougher creatures are ameliorate than a horde. I heartily recommend this template, the multiattack alone makes it worth information technology.

Magebred also does not entail an increase in CR, which will be helpful if your DM puts some sort of CR limitation on what you tin can acquire.

Horrid (EbCS p. 289)
Another Template from Eberron. It can only exist applied to dire animals. It gives a plus v bonus to natural armor, plus four to con, an acid damage bonus to the animal's primary attack (1d6 per four Hard disk drive), immunity to acid, the feat: Improved Natural set on to all of its Natural Weapons, and it heals iii times normal hitpoints from a good night'southward sleep. On the other hand, handle animal checks on a horrid animal are four higher (meaning information technology will take a 14 to go it to perform a trick it knows) and its alignment becomes neutral evil. This seems to mean that in enjoys pain things, then expect some major problems if you try to take one into boondocks. I don't know of anyway for a player to become a horrid animal, short of just randomly finding one. An evil animal trainer with horrid animals could be a nice roleplay option.

Chimeric (MM2 p. 206)
A template from the MM2. It basically involves magically crossing the animal with a goat and dragon. The fauna gains the magical beast type and a 10HD. It gains a new caprine animal butt (1d8) and dragon bite (2d6) natural attack. Natural armor improves by 6 and it gains a 50 foot fly speed (poor maneuverability). Str increases by 4, dex by i, Con by 4, and int by 2 (so we are not longer using animal handling on it). It has a jiff weapon useable every 1D4 rounds based on the type of dragon it is combined with. Also gains the aroma ability and multiattack feat.

There does non seem to be anyway to apply this as a PC, which is a shame because it can produce effective flight and ranged animals, both of which are difficult to find.

Titanic (MM2 p.219)
A template from MM2 that increases the size of a medium brute to gargantuan and gives them 25 Hard disk, among other bonuses. The ways it becomes an epic level beast. There are no rules for applying this, and I do not see a DM assuasive it, so I will not bother covering it.

Acquiring Animals

We accept gone over how to railroad train and control animals, but how does one become about acquiring them? There are several ways to this, some class dependent and some not. Let usa accept a look.

Animal Companion
An Animal Companion is a special class feature given to the druid. The ranger and certain PRCs besides get i (with some differences) but I will refer to them in conjunction to druids, much every bit the rulebooks do. If one of the PCs has an beast, this is probably the reason. The druid's animal companion comes from a limited listing, and is determined by the druid's level. A druid can control their animal companion as a free activity and handle their animal companion as a move action (instead of move/command push/standard), and receives a plus 4 bonus when doing so. A druid'south creature companion besides receives bonus feats and stat points as the druid increases in level. A druid can release their animal companion and also supercede them if it dies. They can have an alternating companion but the new animal companion receives bonuses as if the druid was at a lower level. So if a druid trades their wolf for a fleshraker they volition give information technology bonuses equally if they were a first level druid. See the druid section of the Histrion's Handbook for the complete details. A druid'due south beast companion may exist enhanced through the Natural Bond feat (CV), the Exalted Companion feat (BoED), and the Coordinated Strike feat (RotW, also works with special mounts). Prestige Classes which improve an Creature Companion include the Arcane Hierophant (RotW) and the Beastmaster (CV). The Beastmaster course as well allows the druid to have more than one animal companion.

My thoughts : The Animal Companion is a actually absurd grade feature for a druid. Information technology takes a free activeness to handle and that allows it to be easily used past whatever sort of druid, whether her focus is crowd command, healing, melee, or something else. It is actually most useful for a melee wildshaping druid. With the share spells characteristic, information technology can have all of the buffs that the druid bandage on her herself. It was really powerful back when wild shape changed your type, and you lot could use animal growth to brand you and your companion melee monsters.

An animal companion is corking and will brand a stiff addition to your forces. However, equally far as acquiring an army of powerful beasts goes, nosotros can do better with other mechanics.

Wild Cohort
Wild Cohort is a feat that allows classes that exercise not ordinarily receive an animal companion to obtain one. It can exist found hither: http://world wide web.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/re/20031118a

A Wild Cohort is weaker than an ordinary fauna companion. Its stats increase at a slower rate and take a lower maximum. Information technology will not proceeds the Multiattack and Improved Evasion feats, nor the share spells special power. A PC with the Wild Cohort feat can control their animal companion every bit a costless action and push information technology as a move action, only different the druid they receive only bonus of 2. It gains tricks slower and can only obtain 6 bonus tricks. The fauna companion granted by Wild Accomplice is three levels behind the druid for the purposes of alternate animate being companions. So a 7th level Wild Accomplice Character tin merely have an animal at the 4th level, like a fleshraker, instead of a seventh level, like a tiger. Feats and classes which enhance a regular animal companion likewise enhance a Wild Cohort creature companion. Classes which already have an animal Companion can take Wild Accomplice to gain some other. A grapheme cannot have two Wild Cohorts.

My thoughts : A weaker animal companion. This is squeamish to have, just it is not optimum to build an entire character around this feat. Wild empathy, affairs, and purchasing will provide stronger animals and many more of them.

Special Mounts
Upon reaching 5th level, paladins gain a special mount. 1 per 24-hour interval, the mountain tin can be magically chosen to whatever location in a full round activeness and stay with the paladin for twice their class level in hours. The mount gains several benefits, including increased stats and special abilities. The mount is considered a magical beast, although it gains Hd, BAB etc. as a normal beast.

Special mounts should not be treated as animals. They begin with an intelligence of 6 and tin reach an intelligence of 9. Paladins cannot teach their mounts tricks (the mount'southward int is also high) and should control their mount via empathetic link or spoken words (free activeness).

The DMG gives guidelines on how paladins can change their normal heavy warhorses for more impressive creatures (Note: my copy of the DMG seems to exist missing function of the table. Specifically, the role which tells what level a new type of special mount becomes available. Does anyone else accept this problem?) It works similarly to a druid gaining an advanced fauna companion. At the DM'south selection, a paladin can brand an appropriate accomplice his special mount, merely the accomplice should be given a plus 2 ECL modifier. The Dracomonicon gives rules on how a paladin tin acquire a dragon as their special mountain.

My thoughts : The best way to optimize a paladin's mount is the Supermount method. (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.p … 372&page=1) If y'all do non desire to get that way for some reason, such every bit non wanting to be Halfling, a pretty effective mountain would be to utilize your accomplice as your special mount. A level xx paladin can have an ECl 16 mount with full paladin bonuses.

Other Special Mounts
The Algandar (sp?) Griffonrider PRC gains a griffon every bit a mount. The mountain will progress as the class gains levels, but a player can substitute their paladin special mount progression instead.

My thoughts : It has been a long time since I had my hands on Unapproachable East. I will try to become my easily on a re-create of it and accept another look at this class. Griffons, even without special abilities, brand awesome pets however.

Leadership
The leadership feat allows one to gain a cohort of no more than two less than the leader's level. Leadership can exist used to gain mounts and magical beasts, provided that they have an INT score greater than or equal to four. The odds are that you will have to make a handle animal check to train the cohort, such as with griffons for instance, simply subsequently that y'all should command the cohort with regular speech. The Dracomonicon has a special dragon cohort feat, which allows you to have a dragon cohort that is 3 ECL higher than you would through the regular leadership feat. Cohorts can make constructive mounts; provided that the cohort is willing (they office like NPCs).

My thoughts : Leadership is a skilful fashion to get a nice mount for your character. If your goal is to use animal handling to its best advantage however, you are improve off with a bard, marshal, or buffing mage equally your cohort. Whatever of these can improve your ability to handle animals and/or the animals' combat ability and will probably be more effective than one more beast. The pocket-sized army of followers yous proceeds can be used to take care of your animals.

Dragon Leadership
Like to Leadership, but you lot exercise non proceeds followers and you can only proceeds a dragon off a certain tabular array on p. 139 of the Dracomonicon. On the plus side, the dragon counts equally three ECLs lower.

My thoughts : A given if yous want a dragon mount. It tin can exist a prissy footing for a paladin mountain using the cohort as a special mount rule.

Dragon Steed
This feat from the Dracomonicon allows one to take the services of a dragonnel as a mountain. The feat says it replaces your special mountain, which I accept to be WotC'due south crazy way of maxim yous use your special mountain abilities to it, not that your special mount class feature disappears.

My thoughts : I tin't recommend this feat. The dragonnel is a fine mount, but a fully trained dragonnel costs only ten,000 gp, and the price will be less if you purchase information technology as an egg or heighten it yourself. It does not seem to gain experience, and will eventually accept to be replaced by a improve mount. Taking Dragon leadership can probably score you a dragonnel with course levels.

~~Animal Friendship~~
A spell which I believe existed in 3.0 but I cannot currently find a copy of. Surprisingly, it in not fifty-fifty listed here (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/20050110x) Can anyone help me out hither?

Mooncrow: taken out in three.v and replaced with the Brute Companion Class Feature.

Creature Control
This feat from Masters of the Wild gives yous the ability to control or rebuke animals just as an evil cleric tin can command undead. It requires the animal defense feat (ability to plough animals, aforementioned book) and the speak with animals and animal friendship spells.

My thoughts : Information technology lists as a prerequisite a spell that I can non seem to find anywhere. It is not updated for 3.v. Probably junior to other methods anyhow.

Wild Empathy
Wild Empathy is a characteristic of certain classes such every bit the druid. It works similarly to a diplomacy check, but the roll is equal to a D20 plus the character'due south druid level (or other wild empathy grade) and charisma modifier. A druid tin also affect magical beasts in this way, but with a negative modifier of minus four. Several PRCs advance wild empathy and the animate being lord gives a bonus when dealing with a called type of brute. Most wild creatures start out as unfriendly, and information technology seems to take at least a friendly disposition to brand them ready for training, so a DC 15 cheque must be made. The animal however has to be trained after this check is made.

My thoughts : This is a adept basis for your army. You volition have a hard time making that check in the beginning, but as time goes past it will be incredibly like shooting fish in a barrel. The services of a marshal will assist in the mean time. You lot can proceeds magical beasts from this method and train them if they have an int of ane or 2. This includes some very excellent creatures such as the hydra

Finding the animal you desire to charm should not be too hard. In Masters of the Wild, information technology gives rules for finding an animal companion. This was in the old days of iii.0, when a druid had to leave and expect for an animal companion, instead of just praying in a field and having Elhonna Fed Ex him one. Information technology says on page 34 that it should just take a few days and some simple skill checks.

Diplomacy, however, makes this method seem suboptimal, since affairs can
exercise everything that Wild Empathy tin can, and so much more. It likewise does not have a magical beast penalty or tie you to specific classes. Use this method if you can't spend the skill points, don't want to be an incredibly smooth talker, or your DM will not permit diplomacy work this way.

Diplomacy
Intelligent creatures tin be influenced by the affairs skill, provided that the player can find someway to communicate with them, and several of these tin can be constructive mounts or additions to an army of trained animals. Oddly enough, in Races of the Wild under training an elven hound (p.190), it states that the hound can exist moved to begin training later on a successful diplomacy cheque if the diplomat can speak with them, such as with the Speak with Animals spell. That gives us the precedent of allowing animals and magical beasts to exist convinced to begin service with the diplomacy skill.

My thoughts : Diplomacy is a great skill to have. It synergizes well with animal handling (both are cha based skills). All information technology takes to start converting animals is a simple outset level druid spell, which should exist like shooting fish in a barrel to larn. Read any diplomancer thread and y'all can see how like shooting fish in a barrel it is too crank this skill upwards to insane levels and how much it can practise. Fifty-fifty if your DM does non allow the more crazy uses of diplomacy, similar convincing an opposing BBEG to join your cause, he should have no trouble with using information technology to influence animals, because it is really not similar asking your sworn enemy, or even a random human, to abandon their own life goals and join your quest. Most buyable magical beasts require a diplomacy check, and if you lot intend to fill out your regular army with things like griffons, you will need this skill.

On the other paw, at that place is good reason to remember that this should not be allowed. Using affairs in this way is based on one passage on page 190 of Races of the Wild. The case also involves the spell Speak with Animals working on magical beasts, merely it really should not. Some DMs may rule that this is precedent of the fact that sometimes authors become crazy and non that 1 can diplomance their way to an animal army. If anyone knows of another location in the books where it says that diplomacy can affect non-intelligent creatures, or that Speak with Animals works on magical beasts, please post.

Purchasing
There are several animals and magical beasts that are available for purchase throughout the Monster Manuals and other books. The reward to this is that yous do not have to actually get out and observe the fauna you desire, the disadvantage is that you take to pay. You lot tin likewise buy one that has been already trained, and be set up to bring together the adventure immediately, simply that costs however more than money. Special mounts, such every bit griffons and pegasi, have their own prices associated with them. In the MM2, under the warbeast template, prices are listed for a war trained version of any animal. The formula is 50 gp per HD for an animal 3HD or lower or 100 gp plus 75 gp per HD for an beast that has more than and so iii HD. Notation that yous nigh also pay 75 gp for the Hard disk gained by war grooming a beast. It is implied, but not stated, that warbeasts accept the gainsay riding set of tricks.

My thoughts : This is my preferred method. It gives you the price of whatsoever animal in whatsoever book, and information technology is amazingly inexpensive if you buy warbeasts. The case they give in the MM2, a warbeast rhino, costs 775 gp. That is the toll for a nine Hard disk creature. Information technology is only barely more than than the cost of total plate armor. A Fleshraker costs 475 gp. A Tyrannosaurus Rex costs ane,525 gp. This is simply the all-time style to become. Yous do non have to look an obnoxious amount of time, you practise non have to promise to run across these things when you wander the wood, you only take to pay an easily affordable price and you are in business.

You lot tin besides acquire a number of other magic beasts from the various books. I volition list the improve options amongst these in another update. They cost more, merely they generally come up with intelligence, which will help you lot greatly.

Many magical beasts have options as to when you can buy them. A griffon can be bought as an egg (three,500 gp), or as a young griffon (seven,000 gp). You lot may want to buy ane as an egg and then that you lot tin can save some cash. Unfortunately, 3.5 does not seem to give age/growth information for monsters. That means that no 1 knows when that egg is going to hatch, or how long afterward that information technology takes a griffon to grow large plenty to fight. Ask your DM how long he thinks information technology should have, and base your determination of that.

Animal Rearing
The handle animal skill allows a PC to rear a wild animal. Information technology requires a handle animal check (DC equals animal Hard disk drive plus 15). The description says "that rearing an creature ways to enhance an animate being from infancy and so that it becomes domesticated." (PH. 75). D&D iii.five does not seem to listing creature ages or rear times, which makes this a problem. I have come up with 3 possible interpretations of how this should work.

1st estimation: Google it. D&D does non requite us the fourth dimension it takes for an creature to abound from infancy to adulthood, then nosotros volition acquire the information ourselves from the ever useful Google (how did nosotros survive without this)?

Problems with this method: Offset of all, there are several animals with ages we can not brainstorm to gauge. Like the dire ones, or the dinosaurs, or the fabricated upwardly ones. I suppose you could have a judge by looking at a similar fauna. Fifty-fifty when we look at animals that exist, this method is problematic. According to the Baylor University Baylor Bear Plan, the Northward American Black Bear takes about five years to grow from infancy to adulthood. Unless yous take a party of well-nigh immortal characters, like elves and warforged, the party is probably not going to concord to have 5 years off from adventuring so that yous tin teach that blackness carry cub you found to terminate peeing on the rug. Even if we actually stretch the age categories, and define weaning equally the cease of infancy and sexual maturity as adulthood, you lot are notwithstanding talking a minimum of a year and a one-half, and it requires you to take found a bear who is both a late bloomer and a fast grower.

2nd estimation: Screw it. The books had lots of spaces where they could have listed a time that it should accept to rear a creature. They chose not to practice so. Other animals or magic beasts that can be bought young have no listed differences in stats. Just option up your baby black bear, and send it directly into battle with the aforementioned stats as an adult. The book even says you can teach it tricks at the same time every bit you are rearing information technology. If it knows the tricks, information technology will follow your commands, and you do non even have to end the rearing process.

Bug with this Method: Information technology basically means that the rearing part of the skill is pointless and meaningless. Considering that i is allowed to train magical beasts and so long as they have an INT of one or 2, and that they are apparently unrearable, this may be the actual intent.

tertiary interpretation: 3.0 it. 3.0 for the almost part did seem to mention things like rearing times for animals. Nether epic uses of the skill, which is still 3.0, nosotros tin can see a rearing time of one twelvemonth for all magical beasts. So we can simply apply the i yr time period to those animals without a listed rearing fourth dimension.

Problems with this method: Kickoff of all, we have found ourselves with the same playability problems that we had in the first interpretation, that not quite so astringent. Second, the table presented also just says "variable" for vermin, which are in many ways closer to animals than magic beasts, implying that using the magic fauna rearing fourth dimension for animals in incorrect. Lastly and nigh chiefly, the rules for training animals have changed significantly in the transition from 3.0 to iii.v. In three.0 it took ii months to teach an brute a trick. In 3.five it takes 1 week. This seems to indicate that the designers idea that training animals took too long and should be faster, and that may mean faster rearing times also.

My thoughts : Either accept your DM dominion 0 the unabridged thing or do not use it. The official rules are at best incomplete.

Source: http://minmaxforum.com/index.php?topic=1300.0

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