Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Howie23 02-08-07, 01:30 PM	Is the clarification about the number of tricks on purchase changing anyone's take on animals, specifically warhorses, combat riding, and/or war training? Or is this pretty much business as usual for most folks? David
Britt 02-08-07, 01:31 PM	The riding dog trip attack is on my list to investigate.
Jay_Ibero_911 02-08-07, 01:33 PM	The riding dog trip attack is on my list to investigate. Thank goodness. Though I recently switched to riding a reduced rhino anyway, I'd love some closure on the issue. It's not like it's even a powerful ability except for the first few levels.
Howie23 02-08-07, 01:44 PM	The current draft is that mundane animals are purchased explicitly with one trick per point of Int. For dogs, horses, mules, warhorses, etc., that is 2 tricks on puchase, with Handle Animal skill checks required to train further. Language about "extra" tricks is gone. One of the two tricks for an attacking animal now must be Attack to get the animal to attack. No exception is made for warhorses and riding dogs to imply that they are purchased with Combat Riding. Handle Animal for training is usually a DC15 or DC20. Non animal companions remain untrainable for most PCs (or take a large number of TUs and possible failures). On the plus side, retraining now means you can rebuild your cavalry to include Handle Animal. Given that the 1 trick/point of Int is a house rule, how about extending the house rule to cover the purpose of the animal. Make warhorses/riding dogs trained for Combat Riding; make horses and mules trained for Riding or Work, all upon purchase; etc.
JamesMaissen 02-08-07, 03:39 PM	How about allowing people to HIRE animal trainers instead of having to do it ourselves? If I want to purchase a fully trained animal, why shouldn't I be able to? -James
rogerd 02-09-07, 06:14 PM	Omit the wording about purchased animals coming trained with 1 trick/INT point. I suggest the following wording: Tricks Tricks or purposes must be selected from the lists in the PH, CAd, RS and RW. Once per adventure you may teach an animal a trick or train an animal for a purpose following the rules in the PH. This costs 1 TU per week of training. Training an animal for a purpose completely replaces all tricks known. You may not take 20 on this check. (Section on Magic Items) Purchased Animals A light warhorse, heavy warhorse, warpony or riding dog begins with the Combat Riding purpose and are considered "trained for war". A guard dog begins with the Guarding purpose. All other animals begin with the player's choice of the Heavy Labor purpose or the Riding purpose. Animal Companions Animal companions come with the maximum number of tricks allowed by their INT. [continue with existing text] I believe this wording to be unambiguous and it makes sense. It allows non-Animal Handlers to buy useful animals, and it follows all core rules for animals. It clarifies the "trained for war" ambiguity and hence resolves the trip and barding proficiency questions. Campaign documentation can override any of this, as per SOP. Roger
Jay_Ibero_911 02-09-07, 06:41 PM	Omit the wording about purchased animals coming trained with 1 trick/INT point. I suggest the following wording: I believe this wording to be unambiguous and it makes sense. It allows non-Animal Handlers to buy useful animals, and it follows all core rules for animals. It clarifies the "trained for war" ambiguity and hence resolves the trip and barding proficiency questions. Campaign documentation can override any of this, as per SOP. Roger Just a clarification on your clarification: It doesn't remove the abiguity of the what constitutes "trained for war", but rather bypasses that necessity entirely by simply stating they ARE. Definately an improvement I'd say. There's still the matter of whether, by core rules, being trained for war includes armor proficiency...