Spell: Train Animal

[Umbral Reaver]

In the local game I run, the party's ranger just got his animal companion. And then he looked at how long it takes to train. The campaign might be over before then.

So I think I am going to create a spell. I don't think it's unreasonable, and means the effort is still put in without having to handwave it all.

Train Animal

School Enchantment (mind-affecting); Level druid 1, ranger 1, cleric 2
Casting time 1 hour
Components V, S
Range touch
Target one animal
Duration instantaneous
Saving Throw Will negates (harmless); Spell Resistance no

This spell requires an hour-long ritual with the animal, which must be at least friendly to the caster. The spell does not affect an animal that is an animal companion or cohort (or similar) not belonging to the caster.

At the completion of the spell the animal learns one trick it does not know, as long as it does not know its maximum number of tricks. If the animal can learn no more tricks, the spell fails to no effect.

[Rezdave]

Masters of the Wild had a 0-level spell named Animal Trick that instantly taught the animal one new trick. I don't have it handy, but I think it was of limited duration but allows tricks in excess of the normal maximum.

I think your spell is fair. It's basically magical "speed training".

However, I thought it only took 1 week to train an animal. Surely he can afford that time. We had a Ranger train her animals on-the-road between adventures to heel, fetch and so forth.

FWIW,

Rez

[Sigurd]

I'd be really careful about spells that replace skill checks. You have to preserve skills in the game or the setting loses something.

Sigurd

[Rezdave]

Sigurd wrote:

I'd be really careful about spells that replace skill checks.

What ... like see invisibility instead of Perception or find traps instead of Search? How about fabricate instead of Craft? Legend lore instead of Knowledge?

I still see no problem. Only issue might be level ... since a Ranger with a Wisdom bonus gets the spell at the same time as a Companion (or a Druid gets them both together regardless) there is no reason to ever train naturally.

2nd Level across the board might be in order, since it is permanent training. Otherwise, a 1 week duration that coincidentally matches the time required to train the animal by mundane methods (but does not obviate the need for the Skill Check from the handler to help the creature "remember" the training).

Sorry if any of my info is off, but I'm going from memory and 3.5 here, not PF.

R.

[Sigurd]

Rezdave wrote:

Sigurd wrote:

I'd be really careful about spells that replace skill checks.

What ... like see invisibility instead of Perception or find traps instead of Search? How about fabricate instead of Craft? Legend lore instead of Knowledge?

yes

Careful doesn't mean don't do it. I think the player might feel more connected to an animal after multiple successful checks.

Sigurd

[Umbral Reaver]

It takes one week per trick. If a trick group is being taught, the animal only learns them at the end of the training.

For combat, that means six weeks of an animal that doesn't know what to do, and one check at the end that may fail and mean it takes another six weeks.

My campaign is a race against time that may conclude within a month or less.

Edit: If you still want the skill check, say the spell does not freely teach the trick but lets you make the handle animal check as if one week of training had passed.

[Rezdave]

Sigurd wrote:

I think the player might feel more connected to an animal after multiple successful checks

Agreed. When our latest campaign started I allowed a Ranger to trade her 2nd Level Combat Style for an Animal Companion, since her (the Player's [i]and/i] character's) interests lay more in this area.

She definitely became very attached to her animals (Companion and otherwise) and training them was a key part of this. The party in the early days was taking a lot of long-overland journeys back and forth between a remote village and the larges city in the region, thus each trek potentially meant a new trick for someone. It was fun and personalized the animals a lot.

Umbral Reaver wrote:

My campaign is a race against time that may conclude within a month or less.

Edit: If you still want the skill check, say the spell does not freely teach the trick but lets you make the handle animal check as if one week of training had passed.

I wouldn't call that a "campaign" so much as a "story arc" :-)

Still, the check is a good balance. Alternately, give it a 1-week duration (mentioned above) with the opportunity at the end (via check) to "remember" permanently.

One other option to consider is the idea that the "ritual" can only be used 1/week, so he can cast for 1 trick and mundane train another in a given week. At the end of the month that is potentially 8 tricks (or up to 2 failures for a typical 6-trick package). Such a system gives the Companion a bit of "character growth" and progression while making the order of the tricks a bit of a strategic choice for the PC.

Ideas ...

Either way, I think the concept is fair enough, especially under the circumstances.

R.

[Umbral Reaver]

Each weekly session covers half a day to a day, with three to four encounters plus lengthy noncombat scenes, so people tend to level every other session.

I call it a campaign because by the end of it the party may be nearing or at level 20, having started at 1.

Okay, so it might take two in-game months. I may fudge things to allow some bits of downtime.

[Set]

Umbral Reaver wrote:

Train Animal

School Enchantment (mind-affecting); Level druid 1, ranger 1, cleric 2
Casting time 1 hour
Components V, S
Range touch
Target one animal
Duration instantaneous
Saving Throw Will negates (harmless); Spell Resistance no

This spell requires an hour-long ritual with the animal, which must be at least friendly to the caster. The spell does not affect an animal that is an animal companion or cohort (or similar) not belonging to the caster.

At the completion of the spell the animal learns one trick it does not know, as long as it does not know its maximum number of tricks. If the animal can learn no more tricks, the spell fails to no effect.

You could require the caster to make the usual skill roll, only using the spell to speed up the process. This would retain the basic effect, without removing any need to spend points on the skill.

If you fail a check, you can't attempt the spell on that animal again until you've gained a level, which, it sounds like, will pretty much be 'next session or two' anyway.

The animal will only be able to learn the usual number of tricks, this spell just makes it happen faster, and allows one to 're-train' an animal, to swap out tricks quicker.

[Umbral Reaver]

Train Animal

School Enchantment (mind-affecting); Level druid 1, ranger 1, cleric 2
Casting time 1 hour
Components V, S
Range touch
Target one animal
Duration instantaneous
Saving Throw Will negates (harmless); Spell Resistance no

This spell requires an hour-long ritual with the animal, which must be at least friendly to the caster. The spell does not affect an animal that is an animal companion or cohort (or similar) not belonging to the caster.

At the completion of the spell, the caster makes a handle animal check as if one week had been spent training the animal to learn a single trick. If the check is successful, the animal learns the trick as if it had been trained normally. This may not grant the animal tricks beyond its maximum number of tricks. If the check fails, the animal cannot be affected by this spell for 24 hours.

Enlighten Animal

School Enchantment (mind-affecting); Level druid 3, ranger 2
Casting time 1 standard action
Components V, S
Range touch
Target one animal
Duration 1 minute/level
Saving Throw Will negates (harmless); Spell Resistance no

For the duration of this spell, the animal knows all the tricks that can be taught by the handle animal skill. This does not change the attitude of the animal toward the caster.

[Kaisoku]

Enchantments are for influencing or controlling behavior. I could see what you are going for with that, but I might go more the route of the Awaken spell and make this Transmutation.

Basically, the spell temporarily changes their mental powers so that they can learn faster, or simply implants the knowledge directly into them.

.

Otherwise, I love it.

To those thinking "why have the handle animal skill in weeks at all", keep in mind anyone else not a ranger or druid will still need to train that horse, riding dog, etc, to be useable in combat or as a mount, etc.

I currently have a player that recently got their hands on a tamed jumping spider, and is having it trained to be a mount in combat. This spell would mean it'd be ready immediately, instead of having to basically wait until they've leveled past the point of caring anymore.

I think I will be stealing this... immediately. Thanks!

[Marc Radle]

Wow, your characters will be reaching level 20 within a few months of game time? Sounds like an interesting game ...

Keep in mind that the bonus tricks are already known and require no training time:

From the PRD:
The value given in this column is the total number of “bonus” tricks that the animal knows in addition to any that the druid might choose to teach it (see the Handle Animal skill for more details on how to teach an animal tricks). These bonus tricks don't require any training time or Handle Animal checks, and they don't count against the normal limit of tricks known by the animal. The druid selects these bonus tricks, and once selected, they can't be changed.

[Umbral Reaver]

Yep. I know about that.

As for the game time, those two or so months may take a couple of RL years to get through.