Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Jopustopin 11-13-07, 02:20 AM	Could a druid get her riding dog animal companion to swim through pitch blackness thirty feet underwater? I was thinking the only way this could happen would be if she/he casted the spell speak with animals then succeeded on a diplomacy skill or Wild Epathy check
Mysteria 11-13-07, 09:28 AM	What commands (tricks) does her animal companion know?
mvincent 11-13-07, 02:11 PM	Could a druid get her riding dog animal companion to swim through pitch blackness thirty feet underwater? I was thinking the only way this could happen would be if she/he casted the spell speak with animals then succeeded on a diplomacy skill or Wild Epathy checkThe handle animal skill would normally be used for this. Diplomacy would be for higher Int creatures. Also, speak with animals probably wouldn't be needed if the druid was going with the dog.
Slimgauge 11-13-07, 02:23 PM	Yes, sounds like a "Handle Animal: Push" skill use. From the online SRD (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/handleAnimal.htm) “Push” an Animal To push an animal means to get it to perform a task or trick that it doesn’t know but is physically capable of performing. This category also covers making an animal perform a forced march or forcing it to hustle for more than 1 hour between sleep cycles. If the animal is wounded or has taken any nonlethal damage or ability score damage, the DC increases by 2. If your check succeeds, the animal performs the task or trick on its next action. From the accompanying chart, Pushing is a DC25 check.
Jopustopin 11-13-07, 03:09 PM	Yes, sounds like a "Handle Animal: Push" skill use. From the online SRD (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/handleAnimal.htm) From the accompanying chart, Pushing is a DC25 check. Thanks man this is perfect.
Slimgauge 11-13-07, 03:46 PM	You're welcome. Don't forget the Druid/Ranger is going to get a plus because it's his companion. Again, from the SRD, a bit further down under "Special" A druid or ranger gains a +4 circumstance bonus on Handle Animal checks involving her animal companion. It also sounds like if the Handle Animal check is made, this riding dog is going to be making a swim check. Again from the online SRD (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/swim.htm). Hope he isn't barded, because Swim checks are subject to double the normal armor check penalty and encumbrance penalty. Swim (Str; Armor Check Penalty) Check Make a Swim check once per round while you are in the water. Success means you may swim at up to one-half your speed (as a full-round action) or at one-quarter your speed (as a move action). If you fail by 4 or less, you make no progress through the water. If you fail by 5 or more, you go underwater. If you are underwater, either because you failed a Swim check or because you are swimming underwater intentionally, you must hold your breath. You can hold your breath for a number of rounds equal to twice your Constitution score, but only if you do nothing other than take move actions or free actions. If you take a standard action or a full-round action (such as making an attack), the remainder of the duration for which you can hold your breath is reduced by 1 round. (Effectively, a character in combat can hold his or her breath only half as long as normal.) After that period of time, you must make a DC 10 Constitution check every round to continue holding your breath. Each round, the DC for that check increases by 1. If you fail the Constitution check, you begin to drown. The DC for the Swim check depends on the water, as given on the table below. Calm water is DC 10. A normal riding dog has a str of 15, so it'd get +2 to the swim check. Its normal speed is 40, so it can swim 20 as a full action. Its con is 15 so it can hold its breath for 30 rounds (3 minutes, impressive for a dog). So a dive 30 feet down and back up would take at least three rounds (one full and one move down, one move and one full back up) plus whatever dwell time it spends 30 feet down. As an animal companion, it may have improved stats, adjust accordingly.