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ShortQuests -- Pocket Sized Adventures! An all-new collection of digest-sized D&D adventures designed for 1-2 game sessions.

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="jgsugden" data-source="post: 1300209" data-attributes="member: 2629">Yes and no. Sense from the 'easy to play' category. It often leads to anti-sense in the 'real world in a fantasy setting simulation' category. A DMs job is not only to process the rules, but to handle situations where the rules do not currently venture. The interaction between PC and animal companion is, to an extent, the same as any interaction between PC and NPC in the game. The rules can cover certain aspects of it (handle animal checks, wild empathy checks, diplomacy checks, etc ...), but in the end, the DM has to decide when the situation goes beyond the rules.There is a reason to invoke complicated, subjective comparisons to real-life training times: it adds to the realism. Some players really like that aspect of the game. Some people say you can't win in D&D. I say you win every time someone has more fun. If a player wants to have his animal do something really complex and it will add to his fun if he can find a way to get it done, I'll stretch the rules as far as reason will allow to increase that player's fun.D&D can be played with most interaction covered by a dice roll. Instead of role playing out the exchange between the merchant and the PC, you could just have the PC roll a diplomacy check to see how well he can negotiate a price without ever role playing the interaction.Similarly, you can break down interactions with animal companions into the handle animal rules, or you can expand upon them when it furthers the story or enjoyment of the game.The rules are never more thean a framework. We, as DMs, must exapnd upon them when necessary.In other words, if a druid tells me he wants to have his badger climb down the throat of a deceased T-rex, sniff out a golden loaf and return with it, I'm not going to say, "No!" Instead, I'll say, "Put on your pants! Then tell me how you plan to go about instructing your badger in the fine art of T-rex Belly Diving." Then I'll figure out how long it will take (after he puts on his pants).</blockquote>

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