The Handle Animal description talks about rearing a wild animal or magical beast, as in raising it from infancy, but does anyone know if there are rules regarding taming an animal/monster that's not an infant?
I ask because my druid (who has a special affinity for bugs) recently went looking for an ankheg, having heard that they could be trained and used as mounts.
My plan had been to find a nest, take three eggs and rear the hatchlings as per the rules, but research indicated that ankhegs take one year to mature, and the DM indicated that the entire campaign could be over in a year in-game. How he decided to handle it was to capture an adult ankheg and then tame it, which led me here.
What I've been able to find with a general search is that taming an adult monster is a thing...
Cinder Wolves (CR 2 with 2 HD) require 6 weeks and a DC 25 check (DC 20 in very hot conditions).
Trollhounds (CR 3 with 4 HD) require 4 weeks and a DC 25 check.
Owlbears (CR 4 with 5 HD) require a DC 30 check to tame an adult (no time frame provided).
...But I haven't been able to find a system for it. Does anybody know of any rules on this subject?
Wild empathy is exactly what you need (Which I still think needs a +3 class skill bonus). Once you have improved it's disposition to friendly you can then start teaching it tricks.
Wild empathy is exactly what you need (Which I still think needs a +3 class skill bonus). Once you have improved it's disposition to friendly you can then start teaching it tricks.
That thought did occur to me, but generally Wild Empathy acts like Diplomacy, and attitude shifts effected via Diplomacy generally last for 1d4 hours, although it does say the GM can have the effect last longer.
So I could change a creature's attitude and teach it tricks, but would I then have to make a Wild Empathy check every day just to get it to listen to me?
In addition, this only works for animals and magical beasts, and there are other creatures an adventurer may wish to train. For instance, Dungeon Denizens Revisited gave me the idea of taming and training a rust monster, which unfortunately is an aberration, and as such Wild Empathy has no effect on it.