Animal Barding

[Mercule]

I've got a player who wants studded leather barding for his wolverine. I just can't see it. Am I wrong to deny him?

 

[BigFreekinGoblinoid]

My friend insists on dressing up his dog ( a boston terrier ) in sweaters and even down vests. It rarely gets below 50 degrees here in the day all year round... Now THAT is wrong. I will say that it doesn't seem to hamper the little guys movement though...

 

[jefgorbach]

Dont see anything wrong with the idea of providing his little furry friend with some extra protection, after all it was done for war dogs/horses IRC and modern pets are routinely outfitted with "cloth armor".

However I imagine (and suggest ruling) the animal needs both time to adjust and training to move unhindered in anything above cloth armor.

 

[Rothe]

I can't see it working like armor would on a person. You need a certain minumum thickness to help stop a dagger thrust etc. On a small creature it just becomes too encumbering. Now if it is thinner it will still provide some protection agianst threats at the wolverine's level, badgers, rats, etc.

Why not a magical band around a leg or a collar that provides an AC bonus, not enough cash?

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Why not a magical band around a leg or a collar that provides an AC bonus, not enough cash?

The collar idea works, just reword some of the text from the Amulet of Natural Armor for flavor.

 

[Ed_Laprade]

Dont see anything wrong with the idea of providing his little furry friend with some extra protection, after all it was done for war dogs/horses IRC and modern pets are routinely outfitted with "cloth armor".

However I imagine (and suggest ruling) the animal needs both time to adjust and training to move unhindered in anything above cloth armor.

That sounds about right. And I've seen doggy plate armor.

 

[Peni Griffin]

You could try rewriting the wolverine to reflect what they're really like...

Sorry, I (and my animal-loving friends) can't read the animal stats in the MM without making disparaging remarks about the level of natural history knowledge at WOTC.

Yes, allow barding, and also magic item use (cf the Magic Item Compendium for which slots are available for which animals) but if your players is really interested in making his animals more survivable and useful in the kinds of situations that PCs get into, you may find yourself needing some way to advance the animal other than the simplistic rules in the MM. I'm trying to work up something based off of the Noble Steeds concept, which permits PCs to donate xps to their animals and give them classes, feats, and skills (tricks). The thing I'm having most trouble with is HP advancement. If you advance a companion animal the same way you do a PC, you rapidly find yourself in situations where a kitten can go toe-to-toe with a tiger, and even by D&D standards that's pretty silly. There's also the factor that you can't expect a DM to work up classes suitable for every possible animal type ahead of need; and of course the stupid MM write-ups make all animals the same intelligence, which doesn't allow you to teach even a dog a normal number of tricks. What you need is a different scale. Animals have a different style of intelligence, more concrete and less abstract; and social animals have different capacities than solitary ones and I am in serious danger of going so far past the OP you can't even see it from here so I'll stop now.

 

[MarkB]

I can't see it working like armor would on a person. You need a certain minumum thickness to help stop a dagger thrust etc. On a small creature it just becomes too encumbering.

Do you also reduce the effectiveness of armour for halflings and gnomes?

 

[Fishbone]

Good point. Wolverines are many times bigger than all small races in Dungeons and Dragons. Look at the height and weight for gnomes, about 30 pounds. 30 pounds isn't jack, toddlers weigh 30 pounds.