Turning, Rebuking, and Commanding Animals and Plants

Saeviomagy · Dec 17, 2002

The turn/control plant feat seems to me to be quite powerful - I've seen a large number of plants which I would just love to have availiable as companions, as they're significantly more powerful than almost any of the animals.

candidus_cogitens · Dec 18, 2002

Saeviomagy said:
The turn/control plant feat seems to me to be quite powerful - I've seen a large number of plants which I would just love to have availiable as companions, as they're significantly more powerful than almost any of the animals.

Interesting . . . I had the opposite impression. There aren't that many plant creatures in the Monster Manual. And some of those aren't very mobile.

I'd rather have the animal control feat, because you have a broader range of possibilities, even though it would not be quite as unique as commanding animals.

nharwell · Dec 18, 2002

Well, I emailed the Sage asking for clarification regarding the hit dice limit for Animal Control vs. Animal Friendship. The last time I sent him a question it took a week or so to get a response. I'll post as soon as I get a reply...

candidus_cogitens · Jan 26, 2003

Okay, my third level druid now has Animal Defiance and Animal Control. What I now realize is that it's a little bit odd, from a roleplaying perspective, to treat some animals as beloved friends while taking full mental posession of other animals, as though they were devoid of spirit. The way I have tried to rationalize it is to only use animal control on the baser types of animals, like snakes and rats, while granting more dignity to the more intelligent and charismatic creatures like bears and foxes. There's no rule saying druids have to have equal respect and fondness for all types of animals, right?

The only problem with this approach is that it significantly limits my options. Fortunately, there are a range of snakes of various HD, which could be quite deadly.

By the way, I only recently noticed that several cleric domains grant the ability to command creatures of various types, including plants, fire creatures, earth creatures, etc. That could be a lot of fun!