Second mount in a game...

[nosig]

I know this may have been covered in other posts, but my search foo is not so good I guess.

I have a question about the limit of one combat animal per PC in a game.

If I have a character that owns two riding dogs (yeah I know, I made a list of things to buy and bought them twice in two mods), I realize that I can only bring one with my PC dureing an adventure. But can I loan the second one to another player? My PC is a halfling, my wife is also now starting a halfling and I thought it would be cute to loan her a riding dog till she could afford one for herself. But this brings up a possible problem (highlighted in the following questions):

1) Can a PC loan another PC a mount/combat animal?

2) If one mount gets injured/dies, can PCs switch mounts around?

3) if a PC owns more than one mount and stables them in town where the adventure is running (Absalom for example), and the one he is using gets killed in the first encounter, can he get the second from the stable (depending on time in the mod, say there is hours between encounters and easy access to the stable)?

Thanks for your input!

[Benicio Del Espada]

I'm not aware of any rule limiting the mounts you can have. Animal companions, special mounts, and such, sure, but you can have as many pets as your GM can stand, otherwise.

There's nothing keeping you from sharing an extra mount, or running to get your backup if the first one eats it, as long as there's time. Druids, cavaliers, paladins, and rangers have different rules for having a companion animal, but regular mounts can be used by anyone.

[Andrew Christian]

Benicio Del Espada wrote:

I'm not aware of any rule limiting the mounts you can have. Animal companions, special mounts, and such, sure, but you can have as many pets as your GM can stand, otherwise.

There's nothing keeping you from sharing an extra mount, or running to get your backup if the first one eats it, as long as there's time. Druids, cavaliers, paladins, and rangers have different rules for having a companion animal, but regular mounts can be used by anyone.

You can only have one combat oriented animal at any given time during a scenario. That means if you are a Wizard/Druid and you had both a familiar and an animal companion, you could not use both in combat in any given encounter. This rule also applies to pets you would purchase at the store.

Buying two dogs so that you have one stabled in case one dies would be ok in my book, as long as there is someplace safe to keep your 2nd dog.

Loaning it out to another character? Especially one that can't afford one yet?

Seems to me like that would be a bit of a loophole to exploit to get around the fact you start the game with 150gp.

Granted, you can feed your consumables to your party members. And the dog would never be written on your wife's character sheet.

Just leaves a questionable taste in my mouth is all.

[Benicio Del Espada]

I should have realized this was about PFS. Oopsie...

[godsDMit]

Andrew Christian wrote:

Loaning it out to another character? Especially one that can't afford one yet? Seems to me like that would be a bit of a loophole to exploit to get around the fact you start the game with 150gp.

I dont really see a difference between this and loaning the use of a spare weapon or armor, charge from a CLW wand, potion, etc. Besides that, its not like they will get to direct the animal as a free action. It's going to be a move action to do it, with a chance (especially at lower levels, where the dog would be worth having around) of the HA check failing, and the dog standing around, wagging it's tail.

On the other hand, Im inclined to say that no, you cant lend it out. It recognizes you as the master, and therefore would follow your commands, not someone elses. If you wanted to get around that, HA checks are always able to be made, but the DC might need to be slightly higher, again since the other person wouldnt be the actual owner.

[ThornDJL7]

Andrew Christian wrote:

Benicio Del Espada wrote:

I'm not aware of any rule limiting the mounts you can have. Animal companions, special mounts, and such, sure, but you can have as many pets as your GM can stand, otherwise.

There's nothing keeping you from sharing an extra mount, or running to get your backup if the first one eats it, as long as there's time. Druids, cavaliers, paladins, and rangers have different rules for having a companion animal, but regular mounts can be used by anyone.

You can only have one combat oriented animal at any given time during a scenario. That means if you are a Wizard/Druid and you had both a familiar and an animal companion, you could not use both in combat in any given encounter. This rule also applies to pets you would purchase at the store.

Buying two dogs so that you have one stabled in case one dies would be ok in my book, as long as there is someplace safe to keep your 2nd dog.

Loaning it out to another character? Especially one that can't afford one yet?

Seems to me like that would be a bit of a loophole to exploit to get around the fact you start the game with 150gp.

Granted, you can feed your consumables to your party members. And the dog would never be written on your wife's character sheet.

Just leaves a questionable taste in my mouth is all.

I personally don't see it as a loophole. I have an extra mount, we can get to point B that much faster mounted, borrow the mount since you can't afford one.

[Doug Miles]

1) Yes, as long as it is returned to your PC at the end of each scenario

2) Yes

3) Yes

Non-advancing animals like standard riding dogs and horses are helpful at the lower tiers of the game, but they start dying fast once you hit tier 4-5. It isn't going to unbalance the game to have a fallback mount that you loan to another PC. Just be careful that it doesn't turn into a puppy mill.

[ThornDJL7]

Doug Miles wrote:

1) Yes, as long as it is returned to your PC at the end of each scenario

2) Yes

3) Yes

Non-advancing animals like standard riding dogs and horses are helpful at the lower tiers of the game, but they start dying fast once you hit tier 4-5. It isn't going to unbalance the game to have a fallback mount that you loan to another PC. Just be careful that it doesn't turn into a puppy mill.

Didn't you refer to them as speed bumps once?

[TwilightKnight]

"Ownership" doesn't matter in this case because we're not talking about a companion animal. And assuming that the animal in question is a trained riding dog (150gp), then it is trained to function as a mount.

Of course, the issue becomes that in order to use a trained animal in combat, or get it to perform any of its tricks, you must make a Handle Animal check. Granted the DC is only 10, but it does require a check and counts as a move action in and of itself. Considering that most characters, at low level, will have, at best a +4 to the check and likely much less, I would not recommend riding an animal into combat.

Using it out of combat should be fine. I would even allow you to take 10 on the check, so as long as you do not have a negative Charisma, you would auto-succeed. No taking 20 though, failing the check cold cause you to be thrown, so there is, arguably, a penalty for failure. YMMV.

[nosig]

wait, isn't it a Ride skill check to use a mount in combat? not a Handle Animal.

In loaning a mount to the fellow halfling - I am not expecting her to get into combat (not my wifes style of play - I don't expect her Orical to be in melee more time than it takes her to move out of melee).

In loaning a guard dog (IE extra riding dog) to another player, I might pass one to the Wizard with the command "protect" - or even have the wizard give the command outside of combat (prior to a fight, wizard takes 20... eventurally the dog gets the idea).

[nosig]

Andrew Christian wrote:

You can only have one combat oriented animal at any given time during a scenario. That means if you are a Wizard/Druid and you had both a familiar and an animal companion, you could not use both in combat in any given encounter. This rule also applies to pets you would purchase at the store.

Buying two dogs so that you have one stabled in case one dies would be ok in my book, as long as there is someplace safe to keep your 2nd dog.

Loaning it out to another character? Especially one that can't afford one yet?

Seems to me like that would be a bit of a loophole to exploit to get around the fact you start the game with 150gp.

Granted, you can feed your consumables to your party members. And the dog would never be written on your wife's character sheet.

Just leaves a questionable taste in my mouth is all.

I resently loaned a Hat of Disguise to another character - my PC bought it and used it a few adventures, but now has a Headband, so I can't use it. It became very important, as the other player used it to change his appearance and it "smoothed" an encounter. Does this leave a questionable taste in the mouth? (not picking at you or anything - I try really hard to avoid issues during play. If an action would upset some Judges - I tend to avoid doing them).

[hogarth]

nosig wrote:

I resently loaned a Hat of Disguise to another character - my PC bought it and used it a few adventures, but now has a Headband, so I can't use it.

I have a pleasant surprise for you -- in PFRPG, "head" (for hats, helmets, etc.) and "headband" are separate slots!

[nosig]

hogarth wrote:

nosig wrote:

I resently loaned a Hat of Disguise to another character - my PC bought it and used it a few adventures, but now has a Headband, so I can't use it.

I have a pleasant surprise for you -- in PFRPG, "head" (for hats, helmets, etc.) and "headband" are separate slots!

oh really? shesh, just when I thought I knew what I was doing....

Oh - got to go look up slots again...

OH! and thanks!

[Starglim]

nosig wrote:

wait, isn't it a Ride skill check to use a mount in combat? not a Handle Animal.

That's correct, though in this case, it's not required, since a riding dog is brave in combat like a war-trained horse (p. 162). It isn't otherwise trained for combat.

[nosig]

Starglim wrote:

nosig wrote:

wait, isn't it a Ride skill check to use a mount in combat? not a Handle Animal.

That's correct, though in this case, it's not required, since a riding dog is brave in combat like a war-trained horse (p. 162). It isn't otherwise trained for combat.

ah... does that mean my halfling, riding a dog, can't have the dog attack (Attack with mount ride check)?

[Starglim]

nosig wrote:

Starglim wrote:

nosig wrote:

wait, isn't it a Ride skill check to use a mount in combat? not a Handle Animal.

That's correct, though in this case, it's not required, since a riding dog is brave in combat like a war-trained horse (p. 162). It isn't otherwise trained for combat.

ah... does that mean my halfling, riding a dog, can't have the dog attack (Attack with mount ride check)?

I just checked that the dog is trained for riding and this doesn't include the Attack trick, so you need Handle Animal, DC 25, full round action, to get the dog to attack. The good news is that the dog can learn three more tricks if you take the time to train it further.

If the dog attacks, you can make a DC 10 Ride check to get your own attacks at the same time. If the rider attacks and the dog doesn't, this is just riding a mount, which doesn't in itself require an action or check.