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<blockquote data-quote="Pielorinho" data-source="post: 55204" data-attributes="member: 259">MOTW has some interesting and relevant advice:They suggest allowing that stats be rolled -- but that the DM should do the rolling.&nbsp; I think they also suggest that a high animal handling score may allow a PC to pick out the best animal in a&nbsp; group, but I don't remember exactly ohw that works.&nbsp; At any rate, the druid's player shouldn't get to see the animal's stats until the druid has spent several weeks or months around the animal -- until that point, the druid doesn' t know the animal well enough to know what its stats are.&nbsp; Of course, that means more work for you as a DM; unless you want the extra burden, you may be better off just fiating that only standard-stat critters are available.They suggest that advancing a creature's HD can be done through a daylong ritual that costs 200 XP.&nbsp; This is an interesting idea, but I don't like it very well:&nbsp; I think the ritual's XP cost should scale, in the same way the XP cost for leveling up a PC should scale.&nbsp; I'll suggest to my DM that the cost be 25 XP times the creature's current HD.&nbsp; To advance a 1HD creature to 2HD would cost 25 XP; to advance an 8HD creature to 9HD would cost 150 XP; and so on.&nbsp; That makes it less arduous on low-level druids, and more arduous on mid- to high-level druids.As for speak with animals decreasing the time it takes to train an animal, this seems to me like a no-brainer.&nbsp; Once an animal likes you and considers you her leader, one of the biggest hurdles you face as a trainer is conveying to the animal what you want her to do.&nbsp; Speak with animals is invaluable in this respect.Ultimately, consider the advice in MOTW:&nbsp; the companion animal is a core class feature of the druid and the ranger.&nbsp; You should make utilizing this class feature no more difficult for the ranger than you make using martial weapons be for a fighter.I don't see most of this player's requests as wheedling:&nbsp; it sounds like he's looking at his abilities and trying to figure out how they work and how he can get them to work for him.&nbsp; The additional weapons request is a little wheedlific, but the rolling for stats, advancing creatures, and training them through speaking with them are pretty obvious questions to ask.Daniel</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Pielorinho, post: 55204, member: 259"] MOTW has some interesting and relevant advice: They suggest allowing that stats be rolled -- but that the DM should do the rolling. I think they also suggest that a high animal handling score may allow a PC to pick out the best animal in a group, but I don't remember exactly ohw that works. At any rate, the druid's player shouldn't get to see the animal's stats until the druid has spent several weeks or months around the animal -- until that point, the druid doesn' t know the animal well enough to know what its stats are. Of course, that means more work for you as a DM; unless you want the extra burden, you may be better off just fiating that only standard-stat critters are available. They suggest that advancing a creature's HD can be done through a daylong ritual that costs 200 XP. This is an interesting idea, but I don't like it very well: I think the ritual's XP cost should scale, in the same way the XP cost for leveling up a PC should scale. I'll suggest to my DM that the cost be 25 XP times the creature's current HD. To advance a 1HD creature to 2HD would cost 25 XP; to advance an 8HD creature to 9HD would cost 150 XP; and so on. That makes it less arduous on low-level druids, and more arduous on mid- to high-level druids. As for speak with animals decreasing the time it takes to train an animal, this seems to me like a no-brainer. Once an animal likes you and considers you her leader, one of the biggest hurdles you face as a trainer is conveying to the animal what you want her to do. Speak with animals is invaluable in this respect. Ultimately, consider the advice in MOTW: the companion animal is a core class feature of the druid and the ranger. You should make utilizing this class feature no more difficult for the ranger than you make using martial weapons be for a fighter. I don't see most of this player's requests as wheedling: it sounds like he's looking at his abilities and trying to figure out how they work and how he can get them to work for him. The additional weapons request is a little wheedlific, but the rolling for stats, advancing creatures, and training them through speaking with them are pretty obvious questions to ask. Daniel [/QUOTE]

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