Weights of Animal Companions

[glass]

Hi folks,

I have a player asking me how much his allosaurus companion weighs. Since a full-size allosurus is huge and weighs 10000 lb, which suggests that a medium one should be 10000/8/8 = 157 lb.

I can't fault his logic, but 157 does seem to be light. I'm fine with it, but it is for PFS so I don't want to give bad advice.

Search does not turn anything up to the contrary, so what do people think?

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glass.

[thewastedwalrus]

Eh, if his companion is medium sized, 157 is about right, and the idea to divide by eight twice is basically as good as it will get. There aren't any rules i'm aware of that deal with altering the weight of creatures other than enlarge and reduce person, and it doesn't come up very often, so that seems fine.

[Wheldrake]

Offhand, I'd double that figure. Make it 300 lbs. DM fiat.
157 is too low, and the original figure is a ballpark figure anyway.

[glass]

Wheldrake wrote:

Offhand, I'd double that figure. Make it 300 lbs. DM fiat.

glass wrote:

but it is for PFS so I don't want to give bad advice

GM fiat is not really a thing in PFS, so unless I can find some rule precedent one way or the other I'll guess have to go with the 157.

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glass.

[Dave Justus]

His number is reasonable. The math he used is sound and it gives a result that is certainly in like with other medium quadrupeds. If he is planning on frequently doing something that counts on that weight (like expecting to carry the dino in a backpack or something) I'd check with the GM first, but for putting on a character sheet in case it is needed I would consider that fine.

[Nefreet]

Theropods had hollow bones, and a baby Allosaurus probably wouldn't weigh more than an average human.

157 is a good guess, though it's no more official than guessing 300. Luckily GMs in PFS have the ability to make a call and move on with the game, especially when crossing unknown territory such as this.

Edit: even the 15ft long ornithomimus, also a theropod, only weighed 300lbs.

[glass]

Thanks everybody. I should mention that the reason he want to know the weight is that he want to know if it will fit in a Type 1 bag of holding (to get it across gaps, up ladders etc).

157 lb it is (which equates to "yes").

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glass.

[Shamira]

It still needs to fit through the entrance of the bag of holding, which I can image would be a bit more difficult?

Also, I'm not sure if 30 cubic feet is enough to hold a medium sized creature (which technically occupies a 5*5*5 = 125 cubic ft).

Also the poor Allosaurus would need mittens and boots to prevent it's claws from tearing the bag of holding from the inside out. Maybe even a muzzle to prevent it from chewing on the inside of the sack?

That's not even speaking about the airflow that needs to be taken care off.

[Drake Brimstone]

You are dropping it 2 size catagories so the divide by 8 twice is the only rules in the book that approximate it. (Via Reduce Person)

Don't bother looking up the real creature for help though. a Real one averaged 39-43 feet in length and scientific estimates put their weights anywhere from 2,200 lbs. to 8,800 lbs. Making them bigger but lighter then they are in Pathfinder.

[glass]

Shamira wrote:

It still needs to fit through the entrance of the bag of holding, which I can image would be a bit more difficult?

Also, I'm not sure if 30 cubic feet is enough to hold a medium sized creature (which technically occupies a 5*5*5 = 125 cubic ft).

Also the poor Allosaurus would need mittens and boots to prevent it's claws from tearing the bag of holding from the inside out. Maybe even a muzzle to prevent it from chewing on the inside of the sack?

That's not even speaking about the airflow that needs to be taken care off.

I do not think the volume of a problem (according to Google, an average human has a volume of about three cubic feet and an allosaur is not going to be that much more voluminous (125 ft is the volume of its fighting space, not the volume of the creature itself - hopefully it is not going to be getting into any fights in there!)

According to the PRD, creatures can survive in a bag of holding for 10 minutes before they suffocate, so that's fine, and the neck of the bag will be a squeeze but not an impossible one. Going to need a Handle Animal check to get it in there though.

Good point about the claws, though. I don't think an allosaurus is going to go chewing on things that don't look or smell like food, but don't think they can retract their claws.

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glass.