Owning a T-rex.

[Doomboy911]

Well I working on my character never really needing a mount. (Most of our campaigns our nearby). Though we may need mounts in the future so in a effort to be at my greatest (and in a attempt to severely over do things)I play to buy a T-rex which apparently are possible. According to ebberon a pterodactyl costs around 800 gp so how much to buy a T-rex?

[Weezer]

I don't have it on me so I can't look it up but the Arms & Equipment guide has costs and training times for lots of the more exotic mounts. I'm pretty sure dinosaurs are covered but I'm not sure. It is 3.0 but none of the changes really matter for mount costs.

[AslanCross]

According to AEG:
Deinonychus: 4 HD. Egg price: 10k; training: 1.5k.
Megaraptor: 8 HD. Egg price: 13k; training: 2k.
Triceratops: 16 HD. young price: 7k GP. training: 10k.

T-rexes aren't listed in AEG, though you could work on it from there. I'd think T-rexes (which have 18 HD) would cost up to about 19k GP.

[Frosty]

Or be a high level druid and find one for free!

[Doomboy911]

Well it says under handle animal that I can train Tyrannosauruses so I figured I'd be able to just own one and that it has to be in one book.They have fiendish T-rex so could I just grab one of those.(Bear in mind I am level two so controlling it will be a massive pain for a bit.

[randomhero00]

I know there are T-Rex's in the Savage Tide setting. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savage_Tide You could find its stats there if nothing else. The mount might even be in the material. I doubt you can get one at level 2 though.

[Doomboy911]

Well I think I'm going to lead the story since we're not doing anything and try to find a place with dinosaurs steal some eggs and just raise them. Or think of something else. Just any ideas on what I should do when I get there?

[KillianHawkeye]

Just any ideas on what I should do when I get there?

Don't get eaten! :smallwink:

[randomhero00]

Are you all elves or long lived races? Wouldn't raising a T-Rex to a ridable age take ~10-15 years? Rather unrealistic for a human.

If you're like me though and don't mind going a little nuts in the story, you could be contacted by a secret conclave of druids that needs help in saving their nest. Turns out they've been experimenting with raising a whole island that time forgot kind of theme if you know what I mean? And that they have been raising and riding T-Rexs as its the only safe way to travel around the island to tend to their dino horde.

After you help them the reward could either be the T-Rex mounts, all trained and of age (much more realistic than just finding an egg and waiting 10 years :P IMO) or you could side with whatever is attacking them, maybe you decide you don't like the druids playing god(s). Betray the druids and take the mounts.

In fact, the twist could be the people attacking them are a holy organization on a crusade against blasphemers! They go around slaughtering the dinos (and the druids) as abominations against their god. Which is also a reason why the druids have had trouble finding adventurers to help them since no one wants to go against holy crusaders.

What do you think?

[Doomboy911]

Couldn't I do handle animal on a dinosaur? Than just train it over a couple of weeks and feed it interns?. Also wouldn't draconic fall under talking to dinosaurs?

[Dragero]

I think Dinos` (like most other animals) don`t speak a language. You`ll need speak with animals to chat with him.

[Doomboy911]

Well I could have our druid take the spell. (Would tongues cover it?)

[jokey665]

Well I could have our druid take the spell. (Would tongues cover it?)


Tongues does not enable the subject to speak with creatures who don’t speak.

Tah-dah. Remember that a T-Rex has an Int of 2, which is not sentient and therefor not capable of speech or rational thought. Creatures with similar intelligence include: Mule, Rat, Camel, Boar.

[Doomboy911]

I can tell this will be a pain tomorrow but all the possibilities are too good to pass up. I actually want to teach one tricks while make the other for combat riding. Now why I'd teach it tricks is just to tell it to fetch an arrow than fire it off at the enemy.

[randomhero00]

Well if you don't want to go as in depth as my story arc just create a druid or ranger npc that trains and sells them.

Dominate Monster if your a sorc/wiz could also work. High level tho...

Persistent metamagic charm animal also maybe

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/handleAnimal.htm

for handle animal

Just to rear a wild animal is DC 15 + HD. I'm guessing a T-rex has a heck of a lot of HD. It also takes 6 weeks just to train it to be rideable.

[Doomboy911]

Well handle animal was the plan all along.

[ShippoWildheart]

How is your campaign supposed to work? I'm very sure people will run away from you at the sight of the T-Rex alone, even if it is the Rule of Cool to have a dino mount. :amused:

[Doomboy911]

Well we'v just finished a campaign so we're open to doing anything because we have no work. I'm taking the time to better my bard by endangering my the rest of the party in a crazy mission. Granted the dino would be weird but I'm just going to put him in the stable or something I have doubts that people are going to have problems with a dinosaur if they do well we have a dinosaur.

[Darrin]

Well I working on my character never really needing a mount. (Most of our campaigns our nearby). Though we may need mounts in the future so in a effort to be at my greatest (and in a attempt to severely over do things)I play to buy a T-rex which apparently are possible. According to ebberon a pterodactyl costs around 800 gp so how much to buy a T-rex?

The T-rex has considerably more HD, so it's not all that easy to compare to a flying mount such as a pteradactyl. The closest you can get to a T-rex in the Eberron Campaign Sourcebook is a Carver, A.K.A., Deinonychus dinosaur for 400 GP. The Deinonychus is a large animal with 4HD, and is somewhat closer to a heavy warhorse stat-wise. A Tyrannosaurus is a huge animal with 18HD that can tear through an Elephant without too much trouble.

Unfortunately, the Monster Manual and other sourcebooks only list market prices for a limited number of animals, and the Tyrannosaurus isn't one of them. Fortunately, in Monster Manual 2 there is a Warbeast template that 1) trains an animal so it can be used in combat and 2) provides a formula to calculate market price based on HD. A 19HD Tyrannosauraus Warbeast (the template provides +1 HD) would cost 1525 GP. I'm not sure if that price includes the training costs.

Hmm. I forgot about the prices for dinos in the Arms & Equipment Guide. As you can see, the price of a Warbeast looks horrendously cheap compared to the dinos in A&EG. If you had to pay for training... a Tyrannosaurus would start out as a wild animal, so you'd need a trainer that could raise it for a year and consistently hit Handle Animal DC 39 (15 + Warbeast's HD), then two more months of training... I guess I can see how something like a Triceratops might require 10000 GP.

A 19HD Huge Tyrannosaurus is a little too much overkill, anyway, and you'd lose access to it whenever your DM threw something at you like a 5' corridor. I'd recommend something a little more manageable, such as:

The Miniatures Handbook has a smaller version of the T-Rex, a "Cave Tyrannosaur". It's a Large animal, 9HD, and has everything on it that you'd need a T-Rex to have. A Warbeast version would be 10HD and cost 850 GP, or just compare it to the cost of a Megaraptor in the A&EG (Mega is 8HD but huge) and use that.

[ShippoWildheart]

Well we'v just finished a campaign so we're open to doing anything because we have no work. I'm taking the time to better my bard by endangering my the rest of the party in a crazy mission. Granted the dino would be weird but I'm just going to put him in the stable or something I have doubts that people are going to have problems with a dinosaur if they do well we have a dinosaur.

Bettering your bard, while in the meantime endangering your party? This is madness! :smalltongue:

[Mattarias, King.]

No, no, no. Y'see, the best way to get a T-rex to be your mount is to wrestle it.

Yes, you heard me. Put it in a headlock and wrestle the beastie to the ground. He'll recognize your superiority and be your loyal mount from that day forward.*

*I a not responsible for any character deaths this may cause. However, it also has a very high chance of making you the most awesome PC at the table for a while. Do not attempt while pregnant, nursing, or if you have less than 10 strength.

[OracleofWuffing]

It's a Large animal, 9HD, and has everything on it that you'd need a T-Rex to have.

...

My T-Rex needs five raptor friends, lazer eyes, twelve handy haversacks, a metric ton of paper, three boxing gloves, a bounce house, twelve barrels of root beer, thirty candles of invocation, and the moon.

For companionship.

:smallbiggrin:

*Book'd*

[absolmorph]

No, no, no. Y'see, the best way to get a T-rex to be your mount is to wrestle it.

Yes, you heard me. Put it in a headlock and wrestle the beastie to the ground. He'll recognize your superiority and be your loyal mount from that day forward.*

*I a not responsible for any character deaths this may cause. However, it also has a very high chance of making you the most awesome PC at the table for a while. Do not attempt while pregnant, nursing, or if you have less than 10 strength.
Why should having 10 strength stop you?

[ShippoWildheart]

...

My T-Rex needs five raptor friends, lazer eyes, twelve handy haversacks, a metric ton of paper, three boxing gloves, a bounce house, twelve barrels of root beer, thirty candles of invocation, and the moon.

For companionship.

:smallbiggrin:

*Book'd*

I am sigging this for making me smile and chuckle at the idea. :smallbiggrin:

[chiasaur11]

...

My T-Rex needs five raptor friends, lazer eyes, twelve handy haversacks, a metric ton of paper, three boxing gloves, a bounce house, twelve barrels of root beer, thirty candles of invocation, and the moon.

For companionship.

:smallbiggrin:

*Book'd*

Mine only needs 1 Raptor, one Drociomimus, and a regular six panel grid.

A tiny woman, tiny car, tiny house, and a tiny elephant are bonuses, not requirements.

[Sinfire Titan]

Check the MM3, it has just what you are looking for.

[Doomboy911]

Alright I'll give it a look. Also if I trained the dinosaur couldn't I teach it to come whenever it hears a whistle and just tell it to wait outside the 5" corridor. Also two things to ask one would the whistle idea work? and can I get armor for him?

[BobVosh]

Just make sure you pay very well for the house training section. Also remember a T-Rex is as far from a dungeon mount as you can get. May have issues in large cities built in typical medieval style. Some "roads" resemble alleys much more closely.

Also speak with animals is the spell you need. Druid, of course. UMD? Item of X/day? Your choice.

Buy him a ring of sustenance. It will be cheaper than food in like 1 year.

[Mattarias, King.]

Why should having 10 strength stop you?

UNDER ten strength probably means your arms will snap off. Feel free to do it at ten strength. The disclaimer is for.. Insurance purposes. That's it. >.>

Chiasaur11: I see what you did there.. :smallwink:

[Blackfang108]

Persistent metamagic charm animal also maybe


Um, persist only works on Personal spells, I thought.

[bosssmiley]

...how much to buy a T-rex?

"What you got?"

Most pet shops don't stock prehistoric apex predators, and bringing one back alive from whatever Lost World area your world has is the stuff of a King Kong-scale capture operation. You might want to look up the old edition rules on subduing and selling off dragons for fun and profit.

Oh, and don't expect to stable it at the local ostlers while you're closing the deal...

Raising it from an egg: you know some dinosaurs are supposed to have been longer-lived (and likely slower to develop) than elephants.
Training it: truck-sized carnivore with a brain the size of cabbage means some substantial modifiers to handle animal checks.
Feeding costs: a couple of cows a day, easy. Plus there's the problem that human-sized creatures (aka: "dino snacks") go down that big saurian gullet nice and easy.

That said, didn't Roger Moore do a Dragon editorial on using a T.Rex as a sidekick/pet once? IIRC he did the "Fetch!" trick by throwing the stick over the enemy.

[Hzurr]

Rules to owning/riding a T-Rex

1) You must be a halfling.

2) Your name must ooze with halfling ridiculousness. (Ex: Patsy Longbottoms)

[Doomboy911]

Well we traveled to a place in eberron which was supposed to have halflings who raised one. We managed to come across one which while the rest of my team was hiding I animated a rope out catching its tail and climb aboard. I found it to have a metal helmet stuck on its head with broken chains attached and some cuts. I climbed to the creatures side and rubbed its belly (yes kind of like a dog) and now it merely follows me around occasionally I push it with handle animal and give it simple tasks but once I level up I'm going to take points in handle and in ride animal and train it. (We just finished a tough bloody campaign so we're not too busy).Now I may be wrong but the DM said the T-rex was about 70 feet tall and had 100 hp. I looked it up now so it has 180 hp but I need to know how tall it really is.

[Alejandro]

Is your PC named Dr. Hammond?

[Doomboy911]

My bard has the name Jack Ovall Trade.Now feet wise how tall would this puppy be?

[Alejandro]

12 to 13 feet tall at the hips, as it will not stand erect, it uses its tail as a counterweight.

[Doomboy911]

Ah thank you his height will have to be 64 since he's gargantuan .Just to ask could I give him to a trainer and come back in about a six weeks and pick him up?