I am asking this out of curiosity.
Do the people(NPC's) get rattled when the druid brings a tiger or T-Rex into town or if a summoner brings an eidolon into town?
Why or why not?
I know this will vary from group to group. I am just trying to get more of a feel as to how other people look at this.
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I would think you would have people freaking out. But people will say this is a RPG it doesn't have to make sense and you are trying to ruin someones fun when they bring their pet T-REX into town like its a cuddly little puppy.
In my games it does not fly, you end up with militia trying to take you out or higher level groups trying to kill you off to protect the town.
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Depends on the setting.
We've usually played in established game worlds like Greyhawk, the Realms or Golarion, where our PC Druid / Ranger / whatever isn't the first or only Druid / Ranger / whatever to walk the planet's surface, and the average city-dweller will have seen an animal companion at some point in their life (if not daily!).
Even backwater villages (the kinds of places where druids and rangers are likely to be more common than clerics and paladins) would likely have seen an animal companion at some point, and as long as the its a regional creature, they'll likely have seen it all before, as your PC ranger with bear won't be the first 'Grizzly Adams' to pass through town. (On the other hand, in a village with a major wolf-attack problem, due to local dire wolves, worgs and / or werewolves, even a common wolf companion might lead to an angry mob situation, and heavens protect the cavalier who brings his warhorse into a goblin village!)
Non-local or exotic animals might draw stares, but lack of familiarity could lead to fear or innocent wonder or even mocking, depending on the animal companion. A velociraptor, to someone who hasn't seen Jurassic Park, is a gangly-looking oversized plucked chicken, and might inspire fits of giggling in pointing children.
Eidolons are a mystery. Most settings aren't assumed to have had Summoners and Eidolons running around for the last 10,000 years, getting the locals acclimated to their presence. And Eidolons can look like anything. That's more 'case by case' than animal companions.
In any event, the fantasy setting isn't earth. Druids and rangers, in particular, are a part of the setting, and the people of the setting should be a bit blase about seeing gnarled-looking woodsman wandering into town with a bear or panther or whatever.
It wouldn't make any more sense for them to freak out and run for the torches and pitchforks at the sight of a not-uncommon 1st level class feature than it would be for them to freak out because somebody cast cure light wounds and made an injury go away or for someone in the modern day to freak out because somebody turned on a flashlight or started a car or did something else that, to someone unfamiliar with flashlights or cars, might seem 'magical' or scary.
It really depends on the town and what the companion is, but in our setting I take great care to dress up the fleshcrafted megaloceros as a regular elk and our resident summoner rarely summons her eidolon in town. This is because it is agreed that unless there is a good reason why the town wouldn't mind a t-rex then having one will provoke a response. The response being varied based upon diplomacy roles, overall morale rating, and overall attitude rating. Just bringing in a megaloceros with my character means that its a rare day in hell I can get most people to trade with me.
I don't think it should depend on the town really. or look at it this way. animal companions are not tame animals. why do they get a special exception? does the circus walk around town with their elephants off leash in your world? if the answer is yes then I sure animal co panions are fine. if the answer is no then is likely thier treated like any other large dangerous animal in a city expected to be controlled in some way.
Depends on the companion i think. Wolves and felines are often treated fairly tamely. Where as some of the more exotic stuff and certainly most eidolons would be met with fear. Usually I will discuss this ahead of time with my player or my dm if there is such a creature to be accompanying the character. Because it can also depend on the setting, and on the area in question. A major metropolis in a world that operates under the core rules will likely have dealt with all sorts of crazy creatures.
For instance one of my players wanted to be a Dragon Rider from the super genius games pdf. So I sat down and worked out how said class would (or wouldn't) be integrated into my world. Since I decided there would be a few hundred of them in a large nation like say chelliax, and that the military would use them as messengers and as cavalry, they would be a common enough sight for the populous to be able to deal with.
I would point out how rare it is for PCs to happen across a dude with his pet tiger sitting at the bar of the local village tavern. Also, how would PCs react to a T. rex wandering the village square on market day?
Yeah, but its a little cute T.rex and the tiger is named Hobbes that I feel should exempt them from public scrutiny.
On a more serious note if the group I'm in came across a T.rex wandering the village square there would be a fight on who got to roll handle animal checks first and then much sorrow when it was found to be a companion.
This reminds me of the day I was playing the Conan MMORPG and a demon bumped into me at the blacksmith's shop. I freaked out a started attacking the infernal beast, but alas my efforts didn't seem to have any effect. I was scared and ready to run, but noted that the monster seemed to take no notice of me. It followed a man outside and I tailed them for awhile before I realized that the creature was a summoned companion of another player character. I then sheathed my sword, spat on the ground and cursed this game that allows players to trample and pervert the my beloved world of Hyboria.
How my PC would react would depend on the GM and how common things are in his world. That was a good question thought Lakeside.
I would point out how rare it is for PCs to happen across a dude with his pet tiger sitting at the bar of the local village tavern. Also, how would PCs react to a T. rex wandering the village square on market day?Id keep half an eye on it but that's about it. It's in the middle of town on market day it probably has a perfectly Good reason to be there, now if people were running and screaming that's another matter.
That's...funny. If a band of zombies marched into town I might have to pause and wonder if the city guard is recruiting undead.
The question is, however, as you pointed out, are the villagers running and screaming?
I think what can be taken away from this conversation is that it is completely understandable if a DM determines that people are going to freak out if you bring your strange looking friends out into public places.
Although it is possible that a demonic looking eidolon wouldn't cause people to bat an eye, it is okay for a DM to conclude that it does.
I think what can be taken away from this conversation is that it is completely understandable if a DM determines that people are going to freak out if you bring your strange looking friends out into public places.
Although it is possible that a demonic looking eidolon wouldn't cause people to bat an eye, it is okay for a DM to conclude that it does.
There's no harm in asking the GM prior to entering the town--especially if your character was familiar with the region and/or its people.
Player: Would it be alright for my druid to bring his T-Rex into the city?
Gamemaster: Arcanus is a metropolis populated with a large number of spellcasters. As such much of the populace is accustomed to seeing things even more bizarre than your pet. Provided it doesn't growl and bear its fangs at passerby, or eat someone's child, there should be little trouble.
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Depends on the nature of the town, local culture, attitudes of the people, the PCs, the nature of the animal companions or eidolons, and what the players have done leading up to introducing them to the townsfolk.
Results can vary between panic in the streets, jaded disinterest, or crowds gathering out of curiosity and wonder.
A winged, six-armed, half-serpentine woman with obsidian skin juggling and putting on a light show with her summoner might just be another street performance in Dehrukani.
In other well developed and metropolitan cities, that sight may be one of absolute wonder to adult and child alike.
In...oh...backwards assed Ravengro, reactions will probably be quite different.
And that's just before taking the summoner's actions into account. Those should make a difference, for better or worse.
I think it depends on the town and the critter.
something dog/cat/wolf like. may be ok.
a T-Rex though? I mean.. anyth8ing that big- you are unlikely to be able to pass off I would think. The more fantastical, odd, large, and predatory the creature is the less likely you will be able to slide it through the city without an issue.
Companion or not, I would expect to pay a bond for very large creatures (to ward against building/property damage generally) or out right banning it. "sorry sir, no matter how tame you think that 30 foot tall meat eating lizard is we just can't take the chance.. It'll have to stay outside".
the Eidolon (hereinafter dubbed "Big E") thing.. i dunno. I have a soft spot for them, mainly because they catch so much flak. I'd be tempted to say the same thing really applies. The more normal it looks the easier it would be to get in.. the bigger, odder, and more predatory it looks the less likely you will be able to get it into town.
Even though its a magical world i kind of think like today.
Tigers.. lions.. elephants.. we all know what they are.. they are 'common' enough to be easily identified.. but still- no one lets them just go wandering the streets no matter how tame they are or how skilled their trainers are. A ranger or druid (or wizard) may have a bond with a particular beastie but to the guards and such its just a beast. Most would likely just be asked to stay outside.. and lets be honest- the animals would certainly be happier outside than in.
never ever let them in? no.. but hesitant, unlikely without good reason? probably.
it being a magical world doesn't mean guards have lost their minds :P
-S
You cannot get your t-rex through the narrow streets. Also the guard tell you to f**k off! And, get the ballista Frank.
Somewhere, a politician moves the city a little closer to an anti-magic domain. Nice one guys.
Yawn, sure buddy. Yeah the great interplanar cat-man war. Our kingdom had a few of those...
Canon even. That happens in Golarion a lot ja?
And how did one offended uninvited space diplomat, lead to war? How did he sell the war back to his people. Why? Because he got offended, or met people that didn't like him? Jeez.
I'm kind of surprised by many of the answers, which is interesting.
In my mind, there's a far cry between "having heard of" or "not the first ranger ever" and "being comfortable".
To me it doesn't matter how many rangers have walked into town before with freak creatures, a T-Rex curled up outside the bar is going to be bad for business. The tavern owner isn't going to want it there. It's definitely going to spook the horses passing nearby.
My point is that such a creature in such a place is going to be disruptive. Nobody likes that.
It's inevitable that some town drunk picks a fight with a T-Rex one day and gets visibly slaughtered. People do stupid things. And very visible deaths are going to upset people. I just don't see any setting having NPCs who get truly inured to the sight.
Bears and dinosaurs and eidolons don't belong in cities.
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Bear in mind that our assumptions about animals often have little or nothing to do with the creatures that druids and rangers have as Animal Companion choices.
A 'wolf' gets to be the size of a horse at 7th level. A 'bear' never gets bigger than a pig or badger.
A 'T-Rex' never grows to 'thirty feet tall' (indeed, real world t-rexes are half that height), but will be forever frozen at the size of a horse, which may be scary to someone who is easily panicked (or who lives in an area where dinosaur attacks are common, and druids and rangers and carnivals and animal taming doesn't exist), but it's hardly Godzilla.
Druids, rangers, wizards, witches, summoners, cavaliers, some paladins, some sorcerers, some clerics, some inquisitors, etc. can have animal companions (as freaky as giant vermin), familiars (as freaky as imps and mephits) or eidolons (as freaky as you want them). If a town is so far off the beaten track, and so overrun with talentless schlubs, that they haven't ever seen even a 1st level member of half the PC classes in the book in the last few generations, then let them be whatever level of freakout-prone dumped-here-by-dimensional-rift-and-totally-unaware-they-live-in-a-fantasy- world weirdos you want.
And if they attack in a mob, the wizard can throw a dancing lights cantrip and watch them all scatter in superstitious terror, since these backwater bumpkins *certainly* have never seen magic before.
To the average citizen of Korvosa, where the town guard ride hippogriffs, the sewers have been deliberately infested with otyughs, and imps and pseudodragons have turf wars on the rooftops, a dude with a lizard the size of a horse is just an opportunity to sell the man some nice cuts of meat for his big lizard thingie.
In Cheliax, where *devils* march in the big parades, or Kaer Maga, where troll soothsayers are plying there wares in the market, or Katapesh, where gnoll slavers, riding hyaenodons, show up to market on Thursday with their latest 'catch of the day,' what sort of slack-jawed yokel is going to have a conniption about an oversized cat?
People in worlds crawling with druids and dinosaurs shouldn't be acting like people from the real world, when faced with druids and dinosaurs. They should be acting like people from a world that has druids and dinosaurs.
Not every NPC has to be brave or reasonable or calm (or even curious or intrigued) in the face of something new, but not every NPC needs to be a mewling coward who freaks out the second they are confronted with something they don't see every day, either.
A society ruled by it's most fearful residents seems as unpleasant a place as any Lower Plane one can end up in.
Some good points, but it isn't a world crawling with druids. Those slack jawed yokels you have such a problem with, they are most of the population. Commoners, farmers, townsfolk. Druids are not most of the population, except in small druidic communes--where there isn't going to be restrictions on animal companions, unlike say, a city.
If it is a village, town or city that is not druid controlled, the yokels really might have a problem with monsters, unusual demihumans or horse-sized t-rexs stomping about. Elven prejudice is commonly dealt with in the material, there can also be giant-wolf prejudice or a dislike of lizards that can eat a man.
Now I understand why you want to defend it, you want your fantasy where your druid doesn't have to leave their protection outside, or heaven forbid, it gets locked up and watched by the authorities until the druid moves on. Got some bad news though, while some parts of Golarion are really wild or unusual, if its feudalism/an empire/oligarchic city, and the powers that be and their under-bumkins do not want the "fantasy" monsters and large beasts inside the walls, it is not going to happen without incident. Whatever happens in Katapesh, are you actually in Katapesh?
There is also the matter of power, and the regulation of power, even in non-tyrannies. Do you have a permit for that dinosaur? The church wants to talk to you about your eidolon and whether it is a servant of the old ones. Hippogriffs are only allowed if official mounts and used by a certified ranger of the blargh guard (because the mount is trained locally and the user trustworthy). Your giant wolf appears similar to wolves that attacked the people of the area within recent memory, and is viewed as dangerous. It actually is dangerous if the druid gives the command to attack, so saying the suspicious are "mewling coward"s is not the issue, the danger, power and threat posed by the creature is. Consider without bias, the position of the cityfolk Set, not your druid's position and their view of the world.
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Some good points, but it isn't a world crawling with druids. Those slack jawed yokels you have such a problem with, they are most of the population. Commoners, farmers, townsfolk. Druids are not most of the population, except in small druidic communes--where there isn't going to be restrictions on animal companions, unlike say, a city.
As I said, it's going to vary on location.
If you've got a town full of people who aren't comfortable with animals off their leash, then yes, the druid's going to have to accomodate them.
Similarly, some towns might be freaked out by the sight of men in armor or carrying weapons, and require that all metal weapons and armor be checked at the gate (or, at least, peacebound).
Other towns might have a 'no elves' policy or a 'no slaves' policy or a 'no wizards' policy. Golarion has an entire nation with a 'no clerics' policy. If a bunch of my players want to play divine casters, I won't be setting the game in Rahadoum, because I don't hate them.
But arbitrarily picking one class and saying that their class feature is going to get them in more trouble than another class if they try to enter town, in a world that is full of them, seems like just picking on that class because it's cool to pick on them.
In the real world, we've got rules forbidding tigers in town, and we've got rules forbidding longswords and crossbows in town, too. If you want to apply real world logic to a fantasy world, the druid who has to leave his animal companion outside the city limits is going to be *way* more effective than the fighter who has to leave his armor and weapons at the gate.
And that's just as likely an occurence (entire nations have had laws forbidding non-soldiers from bearing many types of weapons after all), but not one that I care to inflict on my players.
It's a fantasy world. If your class has the ability to cast spells that could burn the entire town to the ground, or is kind of dependent on armor and weapons, or has a companion that follows you around, I'm not going to arbitrarily tell you that you can't use your 1st level class features in the bulk of the campaign. (There might be a few places where they are restricted, but those situations should be, like rust monsters and anti-magic fields, chosen specifically, and not just tossed around the campaign setting like land mines.)
There is something also to be said about appearances. A "wild" looking tiger/dino/ect in town will most likely spark concern but one wearing barding of ridding harnesses will most likely at least identify the creature as a companion/mount of a person. Such creatures are usually trained to keep their insticts in check.
no one says anything about a service dog in a cafe but a dog wondering around taking food off plates would be dealt with.
So, I ought to start with: I never use animal companions. Ever. I take the domain option as a druid, the favored enemy bonus-spamming as a ranger. And I like the IDEA of the Summoner, but find Eidolon rules HOPELESSLY overcomplicated.
I.e., this issue isn't a big one for me. I don't even take a familiar until I have the Improved Familiar feat.
All that said...
Gotta agree with ol' Sutekh ('Set,' for those who don't remember Egypt before the Ptolemies took over and gave everything Greek names). This is a fantasy game.
Yeah, I will probably have a nervous watchman come over and inquire about an animal companion in a city; and you might have to demonstrate your ability to control your 'exotic pet.' But -- assuming you can convince your companion that going into the noisy, stinky, crowded city is worth doing in the first place -- unless you start sicking it on citizens, all you'll really have to deal with is the occasional spooked commoner, or the kid yelling "KITTY!" and wanting to hug/pet/ride your tiger.
Eidolons are a LITTLE more problematic, being obviously fantastic/magical/outsiderish. But again, demonstrate that it's under control and you can probably cart it around town.
Obviously, there will be exceptions -- the village has been ravaged by wargs and you've got a wolf, or a wicked Summoner laid waste to the market last summer, etc. But yeah, I'm not gonna punish a player for having a spiffy pet as a class feature.
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Depends on the world. Even in Forgotten Realms where gods walk the earth and magic is everywhere, you still have trouble walking into most cities just because you are a drow, let alone a t-rex or anything like that.
You really have to out yourself into their shoes instead of looking at the world as a player. Now if your world is accustomed to things like that then go right ahead but don't assume all worlds and cities are okay with this sort of thing just because magic and dragons do exist. There are many many people who would go a lifetime without seeing magic, dragons and anything in between.
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You really have to put yourself into their shoes instead of looking at the world as a player.
That might actually be my problem with this whole topic. I'm not scared of animals, so those shoes don't fit me.
Like most medieval people, I grew up around animals (on a farm), and so I'm kinda used to dealing with large animals that could kill or cripple you with ludicrous ease on a daily basis.
Despite having been bitten by a lion, a mountain lion and a black panther, at various times (all my own fault!), I think the most traumatic animal-related experience I had was attempting to hand-feed an ostrich. Everybody talks about how they can kill someone with a single kick, but nobody tells you how much their beak can hurt... :)
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Set made some good points about some of the fantastic creatures that can be found in cities throughout Golarion, however the original post was not specific to Golarion and other gaming groups' worlds might not be so fantastic.
I myself am not as familiar with Golarion and I would ask if there are places in Golarion that specifically would not be familiar with the exotic creatures PCs often associate with? Would it ever make sense for a DM to conclude that the local people in a part of Golarion are not going to tolerate certain animal companions in their midst? I am asking specifically about animal companions.
I don't want to take a player character's class feature away from them but sometimes it just makes sense. I see dinosaur companions in very much the same light as aquatic animal companions. A dolphin is not going to be able to follow your character into a coastal city so you will have to leave your class feature in the bay.
When it comes right down to it a gaming group has to agree on what kind of setting they are going to play in so players can make choices about their characters that make sense. I believe many animal companions are in the rule books for creative conveinience when making characters for certain settings. In Golarion dinosaurs may make sense in certain parts, apes might make sense in Mwangi, and anything may go in Absalom.
There is no reason why we as a group are forced to accept that every city, town and village will not react to PCs bringing a strange creature into town. We are also not forced to accept that they will.
My general theory is that as long as what you have is a local animal people will react fairly well. They know wolves, they can see this one is tame, so far so good. They know hippos, they can see you've got a miniature pet one, so far so good. But if they've never seen the creature before then they will probably react with at least a bit more suspicion. (Or they may go "Oh, wow, can I pet it?" Or both at the same time.)
Goblin archers on giraffe cavalry.
I don't exactly get the back and forth. For the dm it is a simple question (the player can also try this exercise), is the monster/mount likely to be allowed inside the walls of a settlement, or within sight of the settlement? If no, there will be trouble. After that, if the monster/mount is left outside, is it likely to be attacked by the guard/knights/hunters/monster slavers?
Just thinking how much it would suck to leave the town post-shopping, to discover your unusual pet has been tracked, hunted and killed by ADVENTURERS! Instant party on party fight.
Dinosaur animal companions are like firearms. (Among other animal companions but dinosaurs are a good example.) Firearms are a rare and emerging technology, but with sufficient gold anyone can buy a gun and Gunslingers get one for free.
My point is just because you can have a dinosaur as an animal companion doesn't imply that they are commonplace.
Now firearms are expensive, a reflection of their rarity, and Gunslingers stand to be heavily penalized in order to maintain their 1st level class feature, especially since they can lose it themselves simply by rolling two misfires.
My point here is just because a dinosaur animal companion is someones class feature doesn't mean they shouldn't be allowed to lose it on occasion.
