Mules! -- Huh! -- What are they good for?

[Imp]

You know, as one of those low-magic-campaign-runners, it's not that common IME for adventurers to have mules with them – on the initial expedition. Deserts they stick to horses or camels, jungles they've usually got or hired a guy good enough to hunt for the group. A mountainous trip maybe might call for a mule or three. Now, after they've secured the site and come across the big heavy treasures they can't pick up themselves, that's where the mules come in, on the return trip.

 

[airwalkrr]

My Savage Tides character has a mule, along with a vast assortment of other hirelings to do dirty work. The mule unfortunately died upon our arrival in the Isle of Dread and he's been looking for another one since. The other hirelings are getting quite perturbed at having to carry all our loot around.

 

[Klaus]

In an old Dragon Magazine (1990, iirc), they were reviewing a bunch of minis, and one of those was a dwarf with tons of equipment. The text said "the party couldn't afford a mule, so they hired a dwarf instead". That line always cracks me up.

 

[grimslade]

Say it again.

Mules are very necessary to my characters. They provide cover. I had a GM that loved to keep a tally of how many pack animals of mine he slaughtered. I began by naming them "Target" "Meatshield" and "slob". Eventually I just called them by number. Lucky number 7 lived a whole 2 mods.

 

[hong]

I had a mule in Neverwinter Nights 2. Its name was "Qara".

 

[Bad Paper]

Forge of Fury spoiler

When the party IMC got held captive by the roper, only the fighter was free. He bargained for their lives by offering one of their donkeys.

"Mmmm! Donkey! I haven't had donkey in ages"

 

[hong]

When the party IMC got held captive by the roper, only the fighter was free. He bargained for their lives by offering one of their donkeys.

"Mmmm! Donkey! I haven't had donkey in ages"

Please tell me no ass jokes were harmed in the making of this bargain.

 

[painandgreed]

Use mules all the time, particularly at low levels. Low levels the mules typically have as many or more hit points than the party and make good "bullet sheilds". They carry all the stuff that would fit in bags of holding if the party could afford them. You upgrade to horses if you need speed on long travels. They typically can't go in a dungeon and get left outside, usually with henchman or hireling. I liked the idea about low level wizards using them for cover.

Bring an extra one or two for when the DM decides to attack them. Eventually, other methods of carrying goods and transportation take over around the time they simply become quick targets.

 

[KB9JMQ]

We almost always have mules to start with. But once you circle the mules (wagons) to fight an ambush they are then dried into jerky and become rations

 

[Warren Okuma]

Read up on the CBI -- China-Burma-India campaign of World War II. You'll see a lot of pictures of Merrill's Marauders (US precursor of the Special Forces) and the Chindits (British mixed unit of India, British, etc. troops) using mules on narrow jungle tracks. Their mobility was all about mules and air drops.

Mules + jungles = dead in days? Nope.

Check this out if you're interested: http://www.qmmuseum.lee.army.mil/WWII/mules_of_mars.htm

Half true, because in an African jungle, they die like flies because of a fly, specifically the disease called Nagana that the Tsetse fly carries. If Nagana is in any jungle or a Nagana type disease the mules, camels, and horses will die like flies.

Mules + jungles = dead in days? Yup. In Africa.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagana

Heathen! Next you'll be asking what you do with a ten-foot pole.

Yeah, throw it away, and use an 11 foot pole so you have a 3 space reach, rather than two.