Wild Empathy: won't animals get to attack you for 10 rounds free?

[Emirikol]

Got a player who's actually using his wild empathy ability (ranger).

It says 1 minute. Does that mean that a hostile animal can attack him for 1 minute (give or take a little according to the rules) before he gets to make his roll?

Please help.. got an upcoming game.

Jay

 

[Jack Simth]

Pretty much.

It's why you use it on things that are merely uncooperative, rather than out to kill you already. Plus the DC is lower.

So you convince a herd of bison that's suspicious of your presence to let you walk among them. You Spot the crock in the water and take a minute at the water's edge before entering. You don't try it once the Lion is already Pouncing (unless the lion won't pose an actual threat over 10 rounds, and you're doing it for the RP value).

 

[Sejs]

You've got a cobra that's already coiled up, hood fully extended, and staring right at you. It's not attacking, but its behavior is clear that it is not cool with you being where you are.

As long as you hold your ground, don't make it advance stages from 'back the hell off' to 'I am biting you now', and you can easily get a minute to calm it down via Wild Empathy.


Also, bear in mind that since Wild Empathy's handled like a Diplomacy check, you'd probably also be able to rush it down to a full round action by taking a -10 on your roll.

 

[Nifft]

Yep yep, not much good if they're Hostile already. Unfriendly or Indifferent are the attitudes you should aim to change.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Doug McCrae]

You could use it on hostile animals in a zoo.

 

[frankthedm]

It says 1 minute. Does that mean that a hostile animal can attack him for 1 minute (give or take a little according to the rules) before he gets to make his roll?

Yep. 10 rounds of biting and clawing on the ranger.

And remember animals, especially dire animals, in a D&D world have little to no reason to hold back on their attacks. In our world animals avoid getting hurt because wounds heal slowly and infection is a danger with every wound. They prance, growl and grandstand with the goal of avoiding a bloody confrontation. Those creatures that were too aggressive died off long ago. They may have killed thier foe, but their wounds claimed them later.

In a D&D world, this is not the case, creatures heal very fast. In a D&D world the animal that fought until it was nearly unconscious and killed it’s prey /rival, does not die of infection form it’s open wounds, but rather will have all it’s wounds healed in just a few days. This will produce creatures that do not give warning responses, they just charge if the numbers or size is on their size.

Hell, Unless the DM chooses to limit poisonous creatures to a set amount of poison, no venomous serpent should ever sit there with it's hood open. There is little reason not to strike then leave.

BTW
Wild Empathy (Ex)
A druid can improve the attitude of an animal. This ability functions just like a Diplomacy check made to improve the attitude of a person.


A rushed Diplomacy check can be made as a full-round action, but you take a -10 penalty on the check.

 

[Agamemnon]

Isn't that more than a little metagame-ish? The way I prefer to see it is that the fact that the rules don't make intuitive sense regarding some aspects of the world is a lamentable state of affairs, but one that shouldn't warp the entire scope of the game world so that it better conforms to the rules.

Even with a cleric standing next to them with regenerate, people in my D&D world will object to having their legs chopped off.

 

[Imp]

Yeah, that's pretty silly, and also (if we're playing extrapolate-the-entire-world-from-the-game-mechanics) the predator sorta leaves itself open to getting dinged out by the next deer it tries to eat, and it's gotta eat while it's healing. If it's relying on the meat from its big kill, it's gotta defend it from other predators/ scavengers while it heals up. I don't think going all out is that great of a strategy.

 

[Vorput]

Even with a cleric standing next to them with regenerate, people in my D&D world will object to having their legs chopped off.

I don't know... if they'd grow back, it'd be a cool thing to experience! Painful... but it'd make a great bar story! Plus, you could keep your legs, get em stuffed, and do all sorts of crazy things...

 

[Emirikol]

It's only effective on one creature too, so to be a "bison walker" you'd really have to have some free time right?

Jh