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My RoRL party (while travelling from Magnimar to Turtleback Ferry in the opening sequence of Hook Mountain Massacre) randomly encountered a roc. They're all 6th level and a pretty impressive combination of fly, wild empathy, handle animal, ride, speak with animals, and charm animal, and after some inspired rolling they managed to befriend and tame the beast.
So, here's an array of questions about this:
1) Can they, legally, even have this creature as a potential mount? The PFSRD roc entry states "[U]nfortunately for druids seeking animal companions of legendary size, an animal companion roc is limited to Large size—still large enough for a Medium druid or ranger to use the flying beast as a mount."
2) Assuming they can, how many PCs should be able to ride the thing? It is "is 30 feet long from beak to tail", and has "an 80-foot wingspan and weight of up to 8,000 pounds", and is strong enough to "carry off elephants and other big animals" (with a STR of 28).
3) In the spirit of the moment I let them have a master craftsman in Ilsurian make them a masterwork saddle for the roc, priced at 2500 gold pieces. One of the party has Craft Wondrous Item, and they were debating various interesting spells to imbue on the saddle. Cast your vote! (I found myself wishing for a Mass Feather Fall, but it looks like it isn't in the spellbook.)
4) For RoRL DMs/players who've finished the AP:
Thank you!
Two riders MAX, assuming size H or larger.
If still size L then its one.
The Roc will need to be trained etc, then hit them up with the food bill each day, as well as the care maintainence and upkeep etc.
A cow daily will start to add up.
Will be an expensive option long term.
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Two riders MAX, assuming size H or larger.
If still size L then its one.
The Roc will need to be trained etc, then hit them up with the food bill each day, as well as the care maintainence and upkeep etc.
A cow daily will start to add up.Will be an expensive option long term.
Thanks for the quick response!
Roc is gargantuan in size. If they were to cast, say, permanent enlarge animal on it, would it be able to take on more than 2 riders?
Hey, thank you for bringing up chow. How much should it cost per week to keep the roc fed? (I'm not even sure how much a cow, uh, costs :-)
Assuming you are kind enough to simply say its a cow a day then they are up for 15gp as a daily rate, and will have to always ensure they have a steady supply (which has its own issues).
On top of that there would be other costs of care etc, and the problem of what to do with the thing when they are in a dungeon (I swear I parked my Iroc outside!?)
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/equipment---final/goods-and-services
Mass Feather Fall is an easy candidate for a PC researched spell. There should be a mention of this in the spells section.
Mass Feather Fall is an easy candidate for a PC researched spell. There should be a mention of this in the spells section.What do you mean "mass"? It's already one target per level. They just all need to be within 20 feet and Medium or smaller.
Didn't check the book, assumed there was some problem with it from the original post.
With regards to food...
Custom ring of sustenance on one of it's talons, or as a collar. No more needing to feed it a cow a day.
Yeah that is certainly a solution - 2500gp.
The logistics of what to do with the creature day to day (try stabling THAT at an Inn) or while they are down a Dungeon will lead to other challenges.
As long as they are prepared to get do the work for the benefit then the capacity for flight is not too groundbreaking.
They may still have to have people on foot (ie escort missions) and a whole range of other variables, but from time to time they will simply be able to go from A - B without encountering sidetreking 'random encounters' (which apparently just make the game more complex for the GM! :p )