Capturing and Training Monsters

[Ralif Redhammer]

That's a really elegant and simple solution!

I have to say, when a PC bought a war elephant in an older campaign, it got tempting to just off the thing and be done with it. But, I did not.

My suggestions for players, to avoid DMs killing off your pets (unless you're a ranger), is to apply for non-combat benefits, or come up with a creative benefit (that makes them more like a magic item, such as 1/combat providing advantage, that makes it easier to manage what they're really offering you and avoid having to deal with separate initiative, attack rolls, etc.).

 

[Eltab]

One player in my Yawning Portal group keeps Raising Undead and using them as allies in fights. Or, he would IF we could figure out the tactics to make them effective. The zombies / skeletons either clog doorways we need to get through, or they get left behind in mobile fights.
He also was less than happy when we got mobbed by skeletons and I Turned Undead … including ALL of his...

If we ever get out of these dungeons and can set up a proper ambush in a roomy space, I think the zombies / skeletons can come to shine.

 

[Eltab]

when a PC bought a war elephant in an older campaign, it got tempting to just off the thing and be done with it.

Only if I can make a guest appearance (as a member of Team Rival) and do the Legolas-and-the-Oliphaunt thing as it goes down.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

"That still only counts as one!"

Only if I can make a guest appearance (as a member of Team Rival) and do the Legolas-and-the-Oliphaunt thing as it goes down.

 

[Derren]

And lets not forget that when you are talking about intelligent monsters it is not training but enslavement, breaking the will and all the stuff with is usually not alignment compatible with the normal adventure party.
You can of course raise them from birth if the opportunity arises, but that takes an awfully long time to pay off and might alignment wise not much better than slavery when you only raise them to be child soldiers.

 

[Fauchard1520]

And lets not forget that when you are talking about intelligent monsters it is not training but enslavement, breaking the will and all the stuff with is usually not alignment compatible with the normal adventure party.
You can of course raise them from birth if the opportunity arises, but that takes an awfully long time to pay off and might alignment wise not much better than slavery when you only raise them to be child soldiers.

What about natural allies though? I'm thinking friendly NPCs like that intelligent gelatinous cube from Out of the Abyss.

 

[Eis]

I read a really fun account of a party that had a dog somewhere online....if they didn't account for the dog the DM would roll randomly and so the dog would get into all kinds of shenanigans sniffing at the crotch of the king's guard or chasing the inn's cat around....that sort of thing

so I gave my party a dog....thinking I would do much the same and they would be amused by it.....they love the dog....that isn't the problem.....the problem is that I forget about the dog and so never remember to roll for it wandering off to roll in midden heaps or whatever

they usually leave it back at their keep though.....they realize the risk of it dying

 

[Mad_Jack]

I had a party way back in the day that kept talking about having a dragon as a pet...

Eventually I got tired of them whining about it and caved in - with the caveat that the dragon was an intelligent being who was going to do his own thing, i.e., was going to be roleplayed by me...
(Dragon DMPC FTW!!! lol)

Several weeks of game-time later, they find a dragon in a bottle - an adult gold dragon trapped in a pocket dimension... The idiots try to smash the bottle, and when that doesn't work they just give up and keep the dragon in the bottle.

Eventually, they learn that they can communicate with the dragon and ask it questions. So now they have an ancient source of wisdom to consult.

The one question it never even FREAKIN' ONCE occurred to them to ask the dragon?

Yeah, you guessed it.