how much is trained a war mammoth?

[calighis]

i priced it at 4500. A young trained elephant is 1000 in the arms and equipment guide so i figure an adult is probably 1500 now set up a ratio against the price of a horse vs a war horse and use the 1500 for the adult elephant as a base rice and it comes out close to 4500.

Jeezus can these things kill bad guys.
a four man 8th level party took on 7 Lhosks and a 3rd level ranger Lhosk and with the elephants help whooped them.
How do I properly measure XP for the inclusion of such an unusual mount? Normally mounts dont count against XP except this guy is just so tough...
I am really beginning to regret allowing the character's to simply purchase him.
Should have made him earn it.
I told the Barbarian he coudl have it at 4500, but i put a caveat on it that if i were to find that its cost was more he would be responsible for paying it off and that the vendor would consider it a down payment.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Try any of these:

- Count the Mammoth as half a PC, and have the party XP split accordingly. (But then, you should probably also allow the Mammoth to advance with the XP he gains...)
- Deduct XP gained from an encounter by the XP the PC would gain for the Mammoth.
- Add a monster of the Mammoth CR to the encounter, but don't reward XP for it. (Or less? After all, the Mammoth still cost a lot of GP... Maybe the extra GP from the monster can compensate?)
- Don't worry. The Mammoth will outlive his usefulness in a few levels, and in the mean time, everyone has a lot of fun.

 

[calighis]

Just look at these attack options!!!
At level 7/8 there can no longer be any question about who is the toughest member of the party...
It's Stampy the Mastodon.
I think these are the stats we are using.

ELEPHANT
Size/Type: Huge Animal
Hit Dice: 11d8+55 (104 hp)
Initiative: +0
Speed: 40 ft. (8 squares)
Armor Class: 15 (–2 size, +7 natural), touch 8, flat-footed 15
Base Attack/Grapple: +8/+26
Attack: Gore +16 melee (2d8+15)
Full Attack: Slam +16 melee (2d6+10) and 2 stamps +11 melee (2d6+5); or gore +16 melee (2d8+15)
Space/Reach: 15 ft./10 ft.
Special Attacks: Trample 2d8+15
Special Qualities: Low-light vision, scent
Saves: Fort +12, Ref +7, Will +6
Abilities: Str 30, Dex 10, Con 21, Int 2, Wis 13, Cha 7
Skills: Listen +12, Spot +10
Feats: Alertness, Endurance, Iron Will, Skill Focus (Listen)
Environment: Warm plains
Organization: Solitary or herd (6–30)
Challenge Rating: 7
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always neutral
Advancement: 12–22 HD (Huge)
Level Adjustment: —

 

[calighis]

appreciate the sugestions i will ahve to way them out. I'll probably ask the party what option they think is fair.

 

[frankthedm]

Well, costs are supposed to go up exponentially, not laterally.

2 HD of wardog cost 75 gp per hit die
3 HD of warhorse cost 50 per hit die,
4 HD of war horse cost 100gp per hit die.
3 HD of Hippogryph cost 1000gp per hit die. Training adds 1000GP
7 HD of griffon cost 1000gp per hit die. Training adds 1500GP
9 HD of flesh golem costs over 2000gp per hit die.

Anything under 5000 sounds like a steal in comparison to other costed MM critters.

 

[calighis]

Yeah I am slapping myself up the head more than just a little for this one. Basically I was GM Santa Clause again.

 

[Gilladian]

You know, there are other things you can do to help the situation.

Maybe the mammoth gets exposed to a disease and becomes ill. They have to go on a quest to find a cleric with a spell that will cure him (normal cure disease works on humanoids, not elephants?)

Maybe the beastie starts looking at every large hairy object as a potential mate? They realize it is time to find a girl mammoth...

It is only an animal. It should be afraid of things that animals are afraid of. Fire, undead, other freaky stuff may send it on a fear rampage, if the character involved fails an animal handling check.

I'm not saying destroy the usefulness of the monster, but cause it to have other repercussions on the characters' lives.

Also, what do the townsfolk think of this monster? Do they feel threatened when the PCs are around? What are they feeding it? How much does that cost? Where does the food come from? Does it require rare foods or supplements?

Have fun with it! Make it an object of roleplay and quirkiness, so fighting isn't the only reason they remember having the beastie...

 

[Grymar]

Low AC and 100 hps...it is going to be the focus of some attacks due to its size alone. You want to see a panicked party? Make them start to do handle animal checks because four ogres are hacking the mammoth's legs out from under it.

 

[Thurbane]

The Warbeast template from MM2 says 100gp + 75gp/HD for creatures of 4HD or more, so that works out at 1000gp (the template adds 1 HD).

 

[Asen]

Yeah, what type of Handle Animal (or Ride?) checks are you having your party make? If you think a horse gets spooked by battle, then you haven't read anything about elephants. Mammoths would have the same problem.

A war animal's only as good as its master. Your party had better have the ability to keep the beast controlled, or else it'll do what so many historical war elephants did--lose the ability to distinguish between friend and foe.