Playtesting: IG's 'The Making of Heroes'

[OnlytheStrong]

I've killed a black bear before with a level 1 barbarian, only survived because I raged at the right time. A boar is a good idea though.

The only thing with putting the kid in a tree is that he will still be having to go home by himself. I had Aramil suggest going home now, for a couple of "real life" reasons. Scavengers will be coming soon, some of which would rather have fresh meat, if that bear was a cub (which it wasn't, but could be in the table top game), then momma bear will be coming in a hurry, and that if he follows the same path we took coming in, most animals would stay clear of it. Btw, the advice I gave him..... really works. Acting big and tough when a bear is around will usually convince them you aren't food, which is all a person can ask for.

 

[WarShrike]

I don't see how putting the kid in the tree makes it so he has to go home alone. Once the players kill the bear, there's nothing stopping him from coming down.

 

[OnlytheStrong]

Oh, you meant while the bear was alive? lol I misread your post then.... ignore me.

 

[WarShrike]

Heh, my bad for putting it down wrong. I meant when we arrive at the scene, the child should be up in a tree with the bear trying to get at him.

 

[industrygothica]

I've been toying with this idea for a bit. If the PCs decide they want to keep a cub (or two, I guess) there might possibly be a trainer for hire in Bjorah's Cliff. It makes a bit of sense, really, considering that a lot of hunters use animals for assistance.

Of course this training would take time and be quite costly, I'm sure, so they wouldn't have the added benefit of a bear companion right off, but possibly after a level or two and a good bit of gold it could certainly be a possibility.

How much would taming and training a bear cub cost? Since there are two cubs (assuming the party only wanted to keep one), would the trainer give a discounted rate in exchange for one of them?

Secondly, I have a rules question on this subject: Assuming a PC can get a wild animal's attention (wild empathy, perhaps), are ranks in Handle Animal and a successful roll all that's needed (other than the allotted time, of course) to train that animal? Almost seems too easy to me, but maybe I'm missing something.

 

[OnlytheStrong]

Good idea with the trainer. I would say that he would get one helluva price for a bear cub. So it might actually be a fair trade, give 1 and keep 1. I am alittle tired right now since I got like..... 3 hours of sleep, but I will think it over and post again later today, after I rest. Good idea though.

 

[Scott DeWar]

i am just lurking about here, but i saw something that i would like to respond to:

i am not sure what the dc of training a wild animal would be, but i am sure it would not be an easy task...i will research the question at hand of what is needed to train a wild animal when i return from a service call.

 

[industrygothica]

i am just lurking about here, but i saw something that i would like to respond to:

i am not sure what the dc of training a wild animal would be, but i am sure it would not be an easy task...i will research the question at hand of what is needed to train a wild animal when i return from a service call.

You're always welcome to offer input, and I appreciate it. My little corner of this imagined world is slowly starting to take shape nicely, and I think I will be able to present it to my real-life players rather vividly. Each new idea helps it grow a little more as I develop NPCs to further flesh it out, such as the handler it'll take to bring this one to fruition.

I've done a little bit of research myself on this topic. Here's what I've found.

The DC to rear a black bear from infancy (and I think these are close enough in age) is 18. That's a base 15 plus 3 hit dice. Apparently a handler can attempt to raise as many as three of any one given type of animal.

The DC to teach the tricks are as listed in the book.

I guess the main question now is time. How long would it take to rear a wild bear to a sufficient level of domestication? I can't help but think it wouldn't be a quick process, maybe even up to a year. I don't think it'd be an unreasonable requirement that, if the animal is being trained by a hired handler, the PC spend an hour or two a day with the animal learning to control it, as the animal is learning to be controlled.

I think that this would require a significant investment on the part of the PC, forcing him to really consider his decision before he runs out and tries to domesticate every wild animal he sees.

Thoughts?

 

[OnlytheStrong]

I would think that something as potentially dangerous and wild as a bear would require years of training by a handler before he even allows someone else to step in with it. I would think that it would be in his best interest if he requires the person buying the animal to spend a large amount of time with it under supervision. After all, if he just sells the animal and it kills it's owner....... that's bad for business.

Maybe have the PC spend an hour or 2 a day spending time with the animal. Giving it commands, feeding it, etc. Anything that would be able to establish trust and a sense of belonging. Maybe have the trainer slowly work himself out of the picture.

As far as a price........... I have no clue. I would want to make it low enough that the PC's (like my ranger) could afford it, but would have to sacrifice quite a bit of their money for it. I mean, if you wait until like..... 3rd level?? a ranger will just get his own companion. I like having a trainer, so you could potentially have a wizard with a black bear to guard him. Just seems cool.

 

[Scott DeWar]

well, in real life i have seen it take a horse trainer 3 months of working with a (domestic) horse (at the minimal age of 2 years) to get saddle broke just for him...not to mention saddle broke for anyone else like the owner. Now i know that is real life and this is fantasy, so i would have to say the idea of one year would not be a bad thing, just a matter of gp s (and that is not general principles)

First thing i would like to mention is that traing a wild animal requires a dc 20. if the trainer has a cha bonus of +2 that means there needs to be a +8 ranks jsut to take a 10 on training the bear cubs...i would not think that a trainer would try to train a potentialy deadly animal such as a bear unless they could "take a 10" and succeed. that would mean with a +8 ranks, there would need to be a level 5 npc (max ranks = 3 + level). so if a trainer could train the bears there would need to be the price of a level 5 npc.

keeping in mind that the phb (Skills : Handle animal) does say that domesticating a wild animal starts with a young animal, you would do likewise with the horse analagy with the foal being freshly weaned when it is being put into a starting training session.

next thing i wish to point out is a place to work. if you use the dmg II rules for places of business, there would need to be an investment of 1000 for a building and about 8000 for all of the political stuff, possibly as low as 4000 if in a smaller then a town sized area.

if you want to know my source on this, it would be starting on page on 180 of the dmg II.

is this making any sense, or am i just yammering?