Equipment for Animal Companions

[Exquisite Dead Guy]

We've got a druid and a ranger that both have wolves for companions. As our group has no traditional tank fighter we tend to use them quite a lot in combat. I'm about to take up a collection to get them some equipment.

My question is: what exactly can they use? I'd like to get them some form of light weight armor/barding that won't slow them down too much (leather most likely - especially for the druid's wolf). My co-DM has mentioned magic collars, but do wolves (or other quadrapeds for that matter) have any other "magic item slots"?

Thanks.

 

[Cabral]

If you have savage species, I believe it goes into this a bit, including some nifty non-standard items (Naga arms to make your wolf a greatsword wielding ... uhm ... wierdo )

 

[Stalker0]

Look in the phb for barding, the rules for those will work for animals. Keep in mind that animals have to be taught to wear armor, its a trick that you can teach them.

 

[Rath the Brown]

Check out the bottom of this article for suggested animal item slots:

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/re/20031125a

 

[Klaus]

Here's the list, reposted for ease:

Animal Item Slots

Although it's easy to imagine an animal benefiting from magic equipment beyond a simple saddle and a suit of barding, fitting a mount's physiology to the list of item slots available to characters is not an easy task. Try the following variant list of item slots for quadruped animals (and other monsters when appropriate).

One skull cap or helm
One pair of lenses or goggles
One collar
One saddle blanket or vest
One saddle or jacket
One belt or strap worn in front of or over the haunches
One pectoral or harness worn over the chest or shoulders
One pair foreleg bracers
One pair of foreleg shoes or mitts -- hoofed creatures wear shoes and creatures with paws wear mitts
Two rings -- creatures with toes wear rings on the toes and creatures with hooves wear "rings" just above fore hooves
One pair of hind leg shoes or mitts -- hoofed creatures wear shoes and creatures with paws wear mitts

Note that magical clothing (gloves, belts, boots, robes, cloaks, bracers...) resize to fit their wearer (which is why an ogre can put on a halfling's belt of giant strength). So a character with lots of magical clothing that polymorphs into an animal will become a very fashionable, fully dressed animal.

 

[StormCrow42]

For animals that aren't specifically trained or trainable to wear armor, you can pick from (in order of price) padded or leather barding, masterwork studded leather barding, or mithril chain [shirt] barding, all of which carry no armor check penalty and therefore can be worn without effecting the animal's skill or attack rolls.