Norrathians: Additional Information Concerning Pets

It is important to remember that all pets are NPCs. They are not under the direct command of the caster who summoned them. Though all pets accept the authority of their master, it is not always possible for pets to understand or comply with its master’s commands.

During play, pets will usually be handled by the player of the pet’s master. This reflects what the master wishes the pet to do. There will be times, however, when the GM will step in and change how the pets comply with the wishes of the master, and there may be times when pets act on their own volition.

Elemental and Undead Pets

Elementals or undead creatures (magician elemental pets and necromancer or shadow knight skeletal pets) are capable of performing any action that takes no more than one round to perform, not including movement. These creatures may never take 10 or 20.

Elemental and skeletal pets may be commanded to drop items being worn, wielded, or carried, one item at a time. Donning and removing armor takes twice as long, and drawing or dropping weapons takes a full-round action instead of a move equivalent action. Any objects being carried by a pet elemental or skeleton when it is destroyed are also destroyed. Elementals and undead creatures are only capable of wearing appropriately-sized armor or shields and wielding weapons light enough to be lifted by the creature.

Elemental and skeletal pets cannot perform most special actions in combat. They can charge, resist and break out of a grapple, and perform the Aid Another action. They cannot bull rush, disarm, feint, initiate a grapple, overrun, sunder, throw weapons or use ranged weapons, or trip.

Pet Proficiencies

Pets are never proficient with ranged attacks, and may never become proficient with the archery or throwing weapon types.

Elemental and skeletal pets of at least type 1 are proficient with all simple weapons and all shields. Starting at type 2, the caster may designate one new proficiency for the pet when casting the summoning spell. The list of proficiencies is standard for the setting (1H blunt, 1H slashing, piercing, 2H blunt, 2H slashing, and light, medium, or heavy armor). Because of this, pets of type 9 are proficient with all armor and melee weapons.

Skeletal Damage Reduction

Skeletal companions are listed as taking half damage from slashing and piercing weapons. Change this to Damage Reduction. Each type of skeletal pet receives the normal DR listed, but the key adds “bludgeoning” to the normal bonus required. That is, a foe attacking a type 7 skeletal pet with a +2 longsword would have to get past 10 points of DR in order to do any damage. But, if he were using a +2 mace, the skeletal pet would get no DR at all.

Animations

An animation may only attempt to break out of a grapple, and attack opponents threatening its master. Animations may be given secondary weapons to replace the shield, and they may be given different shields to wield, but the sword may never be replaced as it is intrinsic to the essence of the creature. Animations can never take direction, and can never release a weapon or shield that it holds – replacing a held item or unsummoning an animation results in the items held by the animation to simply wink out of existence.

Warders

Because warders are animals, they may perform any action that animals are able to perform. Younger warders are not very intelligent and will need to be taught tricks just as any other animal would, and directed to perform these using the Handle Animal skill. Warders may be taught unique tricks (training DC 20) for performing specific attacks:

• Confuse: Aid another to grant an ally +2 attack
• Distract: Aid another to grant an ally +2 AC
• Charge: perform a Charge attack
• Grab: initiate a Grapple against a target or disarm a target
• Break: perform a sunder attack against an indicated object
• Trip: perform a Trip attack if the warder does not have this ability
• Push: perform a Bull Rush against a target
• Sneak: attempt to sneak

Some beastlords may teach their warders more specialized commands that involve very specific tactics. Example – Drown: grapple the foe and drag it under water, then hold it there as long as possible.

A beastlord’s warder knows two bonus tricks per Intelligence score, which don’t count against the normal limit on tricks known and don’t require any training time or Handle Animal checks to teach.

Warders with Intelligence scores greater than 3 learn some commands by heart. For each point of a warder’s Intelligence score that is greater than 3, beastlords may select 4 tricks that the warder always obeys without Handle Animal checks being required. These commands are given as a free action, requiring no skill check.

For example, a type 5 warder has an Intelligence of 7. This allows the warder to learn 35 tricks (7 Int x 3 normal tricks + 2 x 7 bonus tricks). Because the warder’s Intelligence score is 4 points higher than 3, it knows 16 commands by heart.

Special Attacks

Warders need not be commanded or handled for them to perform their special attacks. These are completely at the discretion of the animal, and will be performed when the opportunity presents itself. For example, tiger warders will always Rake if they have the opportunity, and scaled wolf warders will Rage as soon as they take damage, whether the beastlord master likes it or not.

---

EQrpg: Norrathians