Post/Author/DateTime	Post
SoulLord 04-18-05, 02:42 PM	be it the animal companion of the duid/ranger or the minotaur, ogre, drow player there are some things not well acepted in town. How do you deal with the animal companions for example; without making it too hard for the players? allow the animal into town? Leash and Muzzle them? have the PC pay an insurance fe? SoulLord
snowlynx 04-18-05, 03:23 PM	In my games: The animal companions, being wild animals and all, are gernally okay on their own until the ranger/druid can return for them. They don't go in the town unless they're something the character might actually get away with in town (pet wolf or horse okay, large viper should stay outside.) A nice druid or ranger should probably leave their companions outside of town anyway; they are wild animals, and the city really isn't their favorite place.
SoulLord 04-18-05, 04:11 PM	True and the same could be said on the druid as rather than leaving his animal companion behind to go into the city he stays outside with his companion. Which forces me to deal with either a split party or a bored player..
tiercel 04-19-05, 12:04 AM	Standard Operating Procedure is that animal companions and the like just get left outside the city, their PC goes in with the party (at least during the day to run errands/have city adventures, though they may prefer to camp outside at night), and when the party leaves the city, they collect their companions et al and move on. Unless there are unusual conditions, it is assumed that a trained animal companion can look after itself and stay out of trouble. (Yes, this is the sort of Evil Subplot DMs like to seize on occasionally, but when it is a class feature you want to cut the PCs a little slack.) Of course, if your party has Leadership followers and cohorts, animal companions, familiars, improved familiars, boguns, homonculi, commanded animals and plants and elementals, charmed monsters, and so on, you have to inject a certain level of DM sanity into the Wonderful Traveling PC Menagerie Experience.
MinusInnocence 04-19-05, 12:20 AM	The type of animal should be taken into consideration, as snowlynx advised. A wolf doesn't seem like a huge stretch, especially if it stays at the character's side and he can rein it in with a word when trouble arises. But a gorilla or something equally exotic will just attract negative attention, and a crowd might make the animal nervous. Of course, rangers aren't one-of-a-kind. This is D&D! The concept of someone actually having a personal relationship with a non-sentient creature is only foreign to the most isolated, xenophobic 1st level Commoner. If someone said, "I'm a druid, trust me," I would be like "Oh ok, well as long as it doesn't break anything or ravage the townsfolk, the snake can come in."
Snytherion 04-19-05, 04:29 AM	The fact that it's D&D only goes so far... It largely depends on what kind of world you're running. In my world, magic is a mystery and wild annimals are scary to the population of towns. Wolves are for instance by no means accepted in town. They are REALLY large and feral looking dogs!! under command of a hippy that looks like a walking bush!! He will be kindly asked to leave his *pet* outside... But as it's a wild annimal he will be fine, especially if the druid goes through any trouble at all to explain it to the annimal. If he just forgets him then the annimal might be hurt, and if he is regullarly forgotten then he shuns the druid. It is stated that the druids friends are annimals first, a druid with an annimal companion can be a royal pain in the butt for the rest of the party, since he worries about his annimal...
Solidcobra 04-19-05, 05:59 AM	It all depends on the campaign. If you're of the "see, nobody in the whole universe has ever heard of a druid but you guys" school (like Snytherion), yeah, the pet's staying in the wilderness. But if you're in a normal D&D game, druids really aren't THAT rare, i'd let them have some proof of their claims (turning into a wolf/casting a druid spell/showing some druid badge of honor or whatever) to let their animal into the city. Of course, anything it destroys in there is the druids to pay for.
Carn Vandoril 04-19-05, 08:19 AM	Usually I let it depend on the scale of a settlement. Once the party entered a very large city, this city had wildlife residents (not cages, but farmlike) for extraordinary animals. exm: a Griffon stable. familiars are always close. druids and rangers usually let the companions roam the land around the village or city.
CzarGarrett 04-19-05, 09:50 AM	I tend to take the idea that animal companions and stuff, so long are they aren't too big, will be able to follow the druid/ranger/etc into the city. Dogs, rats, hawks- they're all small enough to walk along side the character. Cougars, tigers, bears- far too large. They'll hide off in the woods a fair distance from the city so they're not killed by scared farmers.
Snytherion 04-20-05, 08:20 AM	gee soliscobra, I would get the idea that you do not agree with me and wish to make your point by sarcastically thrashing my view ;) :D
psionichamster 04-20-05, 09:24 AM	well, there needs to be a bit of accountability on the part of the DM's NPC-guards/watchmen/whoever is enforcing this no-beasts policy are the lvl 1 warrior (usual guards of a small-medium town) gonna tell the 8' tall horned dude with a greataxe he can't come in? how about the plant-looking elf-guy, with a 6' long viper hanging around his neck and shoulders? or a halfling ranger RIDING his wolf-companion? if there's a blanket ban of wild creatures in the city/town/etc, i could see this escalating into "i flamestrike the guards" rapidly...worse, some summons (bears are really good at eating peasants) to put them in their place. now, this is from my experience, but PC's don't like being challenged and not having any recourse besides agree or leave... plenty of my characters would do things like go invisible, shapechange, charm the guards, or the like if this is gonna be a hassle for you as DM to run, i would suggest not really enforcing it... sure, the rules are there on the books, and the druid/ranger/beastmaster will likely get strange looks and more attention from the authorities than he may like, but the plebes at the gates are NOT gonna offer their lives to someone running with a wolf/polar bear/snake big enough to eat them and their kids. on the other hand, if your guards are like evercrack or morrowind guards, with no regard for their own lives (or no "life" to have regard for, just a stat block...) then sure, spend them to get that dangerous bear out of the city. as far as monstrous PC's ... that's their burden. i NEVER allow drow in my campaigns, (although that may change in Eberron, ...) and usually don't allow monstrous characters. IF they want the good (the stats/powers/whathaveyou) of the strange race, they're taking the bad, too. prejudice, hatred, fear, and ignorance should be expected, no matter where you go namaste, the hamster