So a Ranger and his bear walk into a tavern...

[Dannyalcatraz]

And who knows, maybe the profitability of taking care of exotic "pets" can lead to a steady stream of adventurer gold, and may even expand their business model to cater to them.

"Pimp my Rhino", anyone?

 

[haakon1]

I restrict the list of pets to "ordinary" animals, like dogs and cats and horses. Harsh, I know, but unavoidable: the public doesn't know about monsters and magic, and if they did, they would be horrified. As the character advances in level, I advance the Hit Dice of the "ordinary" creature as per the rules, or I allow the player to add a template (using level adjustments to get the equivalent druid level.)

When the template or Hit Dice advancement says that the creature would gain a size category, I add all of the size bonuses and penalties due to size (AC, ability scores, attack, damage, etc.) but I don't actually make the creature larger. And I hand-waive any cosmetic changes that might make the creature look disturbing or "special."

Nice. In my campaigns, it's actually never come up, because we've played a low levels and have had only one druid and a handful of rangers. The rangers have often been "customized", to be more like an AD&D ranger and less like a 2e (Drizzt) or 3e ranger. That is, they "trade out" the signature ranger features -- two-weapon fighting, favored enemies, and animals -- for normal fighter feats. This means, essentially, that they are a slight variant on Fighters -- more skill points, fewer feats, with a wilderness/scouting focus as opposed to a "hold the line" focus. Works for us.

As for the druid, he chose a wolf, and I've just assumed people would treat a "tame" wolf as they would a large dog -- not really noticing it.

And the wizards have usually NOT taken familiars; I think people see it as a hassle/distraction rather than a a benefit. The one wizard who has one has a crow, which really doesn't stick out either. I assume it's perched somewhere nearby when they are in town and not using it.

 

[haakon1]

Then you see a group of guys armed to the teeth with shiny, dangerous looking weapons, one or more looking like every stereotype you've ever heard about "Point at you and vaporize you" guys. One of them looks like a monster itself, it's definitely Strange, and is also carrying weapons, also swaggering next to these guys. With them is some sort of wild animal.

. . .

You are going to get the hell out of the way. You are going to mind your own business, and likely just leave the room entirely.

Because I know if I saw a group of Hell's Angels pull up, all with holstered guns, one of which had a hyena foaming at the mouth on a chain leash, I wouldn't go for the cops, I wouldn't put up a fuss, I'd find a hole to crawl into and hope they didn't notice me.

Obvious YMMV. In my campaigns, the adventures are nearly always heroes, fighting off threats to the community. Sometimes, they do it on their own initiative for their own reasons, but often they do it for a local community leader/prominent citizen, or are asked to do it by the national government.

They are less a biker gang -- hostile vagrants who terrorize the communities they visit -- and more like Special Forces.

So my PC's are more likely to get free room and board (paid for by whoever hired them) at the inn, reasonable ability to buy local resources, and even volunteer (meagre) aid from the locals.

The locals are more often awed and respectful -- like this weekend, when the PC's dragged a dragon carcass back to town -- rather than fearful or hostile. The "trouble" from the locals tends to be in the form of locals assuming they have Wish-like powers (e.g., can you make my son smarter), kids wanting to tag along, locals asking for help with problems that are too easy for the PC's but time consuming, that sort of thing.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Obvious YMMV. In my campaigns, the adventures are nearly always heroes, fighting off threats to the community. Sometimes, they do it on their own initiative for their own reasons, but often they do it for a local community leader/prominent citizen, or are asked to do it by the national government.

They are less a biker gang -- hostile vagrants who terrorize the communities they visit -- and more like Special Forces.

Heroes though they may be, you may still be a bit leery of housing a bunch of guys toting automatic weapons and high-explosives...or their fantasy equivalents.


(Aside: While typing this post, I made a typo that made me chuckle. A letter transposition and a double-strike on a key turned "fantasy" into "fatnassy"...which my mind then read as "fat 'n' assy.")

 

[Plane Sailing]

How do you handle stuff like this?

In the campaigns that I run, the players understand and self-censor their options. They recognise that they can't take their cave bear/other animal companion into town, so they leave it in the woods outside the town. There is an unspoken agreement that they don't stir up trouble by trying to take it with them everywhere and I don't stir up trouble by rolling for wandering monsters for their animal friend left out in the wilds.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

IOW, "Stay here, Pooh, my furry friend, and I'll bring you back a pot of hunny when I come back from the city."

 

[caudor]

IOW, "Stay here, Pooh, my furry friend, and I'll bring you back a pot of hunny when I come back from the city."

A line like that would work great for a bear, but I have a feeling the party's Minotaur would be displeased.

[Nostrils flaring with indignation]

 

[Ambrus]

"okay, this guy was wearing full plate! You know he's gotta have some cash, and he wasn't carrying anything when he left. Let me just get this lock and ah gods how did a rhino get in there?!?!"

"ugly one-horned mule!"

 

[coyote6]

"ugly one-horned mule!"

The dreaded Fuglyspiked Donkeyhorse, eh?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

A line like that would work great for a bear, but I have a feeling the party's Minotaur would be displeased.

[Nostrils flaring with indignation]

For the Minotaur, you take the same approach they did in Star Trek when Spock was going to a planet where his ears would stand out...

You put a hat on him.