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Lysander
2010-05-08, 10:29 AM
There's a maximum number of undead you can command based on HD. Is there anything similar for animals trained with the handle animal skill? Besides the time spent training/money spent paying trainers and the expense of feeding and housing them, does anything prevent you from traveling with a loyal pack of dozens or even hundreds of animals?

Jack_Simth
2010-05-08, 12:02 PM
There's no specific limit, but there are a few practical limits:

1) It's a Move Action to tell an animal to do a trained trick. Which means you'll only be telling two to attack in most turns (although the Defend trick means that people attacking you are in for a world of hurt, they'll keep attacking on their own once ordered to do so - until the target or the animal is dead, at any rate - and a chained Dominate Animal spell will help with this).
2) Most the ones you can actually purchase are quite fragile at mid+ levels. One Fireball and you have a lot of money down the drain.
3) Most the ones you can actually purchase are quite useless at mid+ levels. They can't hit much.
4) They require food.
5) Unlike hirelings, they don't have a specific exception to being counted in the XP calculation.
6) Each requires their own space to fight. So while you may be able to have three hundred Riding Dogs under your command, only a relative handful of them will actually be able to attack the target.

Person_Man
2010-05-08, 12:29 PM
What Jack said. I would also add that there are practical roleplaying restrictions as well. You can't just walk into town with 100 attack dogs, any more then you could walk into town with 100 skeletons (unless you're planning to destroy the place). Even if you have something as simple as a dinosaur mount, you're going to have to make separate stable accommodations for it unless you're playing in Eberron. Also, you're just inviting the DM to Fireball your pets.

Having said that, I'd see nothing wrong with having a dozen or so trained pets that travel with you. Maybe have a specially outfitted wagon to feed and take care of them. You could also play something like a Totemist/Beast Heart Adept, so that your Wild Empathy would be high enough so that you could find and befriend new pets from time to time.