These are several questions which came up during our game today:
1. Would the bite from a wolf be considered a piercing attack or a slashing attack (It can either puncture or tear with its teeth)?
2. Should I allow an enlarge person spell to work on an animal companion?
3. On the creation of magic items. How do I make it more challenging for a PC to create a magic item (other than just gathering the requisite cash)?
1. I believe bites are all three types.
2. No though it might be different with share spells not sure.
3. Follow the rules make them make the checks in front of you. Don't give them huge amounts of time to spend crafting. Talk to them about removing some of the cost in gold but requiring reagents from approatie sources.
|
2) Bite: B/S/P
It is under: Universal Monster Rules -> Natural Attacks in the Bestiary.
2) No: "Target one humanoid creature", there are specific exceptions (familiars) but animal companions don't figure in them.
Edit: "Share Spells (Ex): The druid may cast a spell with a target of “You” on her animal companion (as a spell with a range of touch) instead of on herself. A druid may cast spells on her animal companion even if the spells normally do not affect creatures of the companion's type (animal). Spells cast in this way must come from a class that grants an animal companion. This ability does not allow the animal to share abilities that are not spells, even if they function like spells."
It still has a range different from "you". Someone argue that each of those requirement is a different thing, so you can cast it if:
" The druid may cast a spell with a target of “You” on her animal companion (as a spell with a range of touch) instead of on herself. "
or
A druid may cast spells on her animal companion even if the spells normally do not affect creatures of the companion's type (animal).
but I disagree with that.
3) Depends on you choices as a GM. You can ask them to gather specific components worth that sum instead of generic cash.
I.e., instead of walking in a magic shop and buying "2.000 gp in armor enchanting components", require them to get the hide of a creature that is hit only by magical weapons.
It would require a bit of extra work, as the hides would become a treasure item, so you would have to assign them a gp value and decrease other rewards by the same value.
I did something similar in 3.5, reducing the XP cost of crafting magic items. appropriates pieces of a creature had a XP value when used to enchant something, up to 50% of the item XP cost. The value was based on the CR of the creature plus some ad hoc modifier.
1. Natural attack info, including damage types. Bite is B/S/P.
2. "Share spells" allows you to cast a spell with a target of "You" on your animal companion, and it works even if the animal companion's type isn't normally compatible with the spell. I do not know whether 'a target of "You"' means 'the target line says "You"' or 'that can be cast on yourself'. Shield is a no-brainer (yes, you can), but I don't know about spells like enlarge person.
3. House rule, basically. The developers have illustrated the intent that making magic items (a) is supposed to be routine in most cases, hence allowing take 10, and (b) is subject to GM discretion. So there's no reason you couldn't decide that, e.g., take 10 is out for your campaign, and they have to go quest for a special ingredient for fancy items, but it'd be a house rule, and you should discuss this sort of thing with any player interested in item crafting before they decide to spend valuable feats on it. That way, there won't be any nasty surprises down the road (unless you agreed that there could be nasty surprises down the road, but we're getting a bit meta here).
2) No: "Target one humanoid creature", there are specific exceptions (familiars) but animal companions don't figure in them.
Better check up on your animal companion text. I'm not sure if enlarge person works, but if it doesn't, this isn't the reason.
Enlarge works fine on an animal companion.
Share Spells (Ex): The druid may cast a spell with a target of “You” on her animal companion (as a spell with a range of touch) instead of on herself. A druid may cast spells on her animal companion even if the spells normally do not affect creatures of the companion's type (animal). Spells cast in this way must come from a class that grants an animal companion. This ability does not allow the animal to share abilities that are not spells, even if they function like spells.
As a result, you can cast spells such as enlarge person on your animal companion.
And before someone says 'but druids dont have enlarge person thus cannot cast it on thier animal companion' other combinations of classes and animal companion do (clerics for example might).
- Gauss
Edit: to answer the OPs original question: Enlarge person can only be cast upon an animal companion IF the person casting Enlarge Person possesses the animal companion class feature. I read this to be that the druid himself doesnt need to be the one but the cleric with both the Strength domain and the Animal domain could. The Wizard in the party could not.
Whether you allow the druid to use a wand of enlarge person is another matter and a grey area I think.
The part that I wasn't sure about was that enlarge person doesn't have a target of "You"; it has a target of "one humanoid creature". While the humanoid part doesn't matter here, I wasn't certain whether the target line literally had to say "You".
Yeah, it's pedantic. I don't know if anybody would actually interpret it that way. I certainly wouldn't, as it would render the type freedom useless (how many spells with target "You" have type restrictions?).
I have always interpreted them as four seperate clauses.
1) Druid can cast personal spells on thier animal companion.
2) The animal companion can receive inappropriate typed spells (humanoid for example)
3) If the druid is not the one casting the spell bypassing #2 only another person with an animal companion can cast the spell. I do not see this as being able to bypass #1.
4) You may not share non-spells (spell-like abilities for example).
#1 is cut and dry.
#2 is also cut and dry.
#3 requires a bit of interpretation as to interaction with #2 but not #1.
#4 requires alot of interpretation as to what defines a non-spell. However, referencing other data would help here. Scrolls, Staves, and Wands all state they are spells thus they should apply but some people might think otherwise hence why I marked them as a grey area earlier.
- Gauss
There are alot of 'target you' spells. Most of them have a range of personal. A few do not. - Gauss
Alter Self, Arcane Sight, Augury, Beast Shape, Blink, Commune, etc etc up to and including my personal favorite: shield. Gotta love shield on a familiar. - Gauss
Actually I requite it to have a range of Personal (like Shield) as a range of "you" don't exist.
Target: you
not
Range: you
Thanks all for the answers, it clears up quite a bit! The enlarge person/animal companion in question here is a sorcerer with a wolf companion. I think I am going to go ahead and allow it based upon the responses.