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WinceRind
2010-11-16, 11:21 PM
Is there a way to train your animal to either attempt to pin the target (Assuming it has the ability to do so, which isn't all that likely in most cases, although I'd imagine some kind of an ape, monkey, or something with a lot of tentacles should easily be able to do so) or to perform a coup de grace attack?

The Attack trick from PhB only talks about straight-up attacking, and Hold and Stalk tricks from Complete Adventurer do not clarify it enough.

The Hold trick only talks about grappling and doesn't say if your animal can pin something if it has the ability to do so, and the Stalk trick, while it can be interpreted as having the animal attempt to coup de grace a resting or otherwise fairly helpless target, almost certainly doesn't mean that.

So... is there a way to issue your animal a command to execute someone if they're in the right condition? Should I assume that being trained to Attack is enough?

I had a crazy idea for a character that handles animals, possibly ??/beastmaster, to have a somewhat feral personality and hunt as a pack with his animals, unarmed. The idea would be trying to pin a target with the character and have one or multiple of the animal pets perform a coup de grace on it. I understand that this isn't a sensible tactic in most cases, but I need to know if one can do so by RAW.

Thanks!

Darrin
2010-11-16, 11:48 PM
The "Pin" trick can be found here (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/re/20031125a). DC 15.

A&EG p. 75 has a "Disable" trick, as in keep attacking until target is incapacitated or stops resisting. Dragon #323 has a trick called "Circle" (DC 15) where an animal tries to keep a target within a certain area, and attacks if the target tries to exit that area (readied action to charge/attack, I would guess).

I'm not sure I understand how an "Execute" attack would be any different than a "Attack" command. Given the scenario you describe, I would think you'd give a "Pin" command to one animal (your best grappler) and order the other animals to "Attack". However, there's a chance any melee attack on one of the grapplers will hit the wrong target.

I'm not aware of any way to tell an animal to use a coup de grace attack. I don't think it'd be all that hard to come up with a new trick for that, though. Just assign a DC, probably 20 or 25. I don't think it will work with a pinned target, though. Pinned = immobile, but not helpless.

WinceRind
2010-11-16, 11:51 PM
The "Pin" trick can be found here (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/re/20031125a). DC 15.

A&EG p. 75 has a "Disable" trick, as in keep attacking until target is incapacitated or stops resisting.

I'm not sure I understand how an "Execute" attack would be any different than a "Attack" command. Given the scenario you describe, I would think you'd give a "Pin" command to one animal (your best grappler) and order the other animals to "Attack".

I'm not aware of any way to tell an animal to use a coup de grace attack. I don't think it'd be all that hard to come up with a new trick for that, though. Just assign a DC, probably 20 or 25.

Sweet, thanks. I only have access to the Complete- books and the basic stuff, I'd never find this otherwise.

Guess I'll have to come up with my own "execute" trick =/

Darrin
2010-11-17, 12:06 AM
Sweet, thanks. I only have access to the Complete- books and the basic stuff, I'd never find this otherwise.

Guess I'll have to come up with my own "execute" trick =/

I'm not sure coup de grace will work in the situation you describe. Coup de grace only works on helpless creatures, and pinned = immobile but not helpless.

ShriekingDrake
2010-11-17, 12:54 AM
Is there a complete list of published tricks anywhere?

Coidzor
2010-11-17, 01:23 AM
Is there a complete list of published tricks anywhere?

I don't believe so, since the handle animal guide (http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19871522/The_Handle_Animal_Guide) only deals with them briefly and is the only link I've seen brought up in this context so far.

AFAIK, they're scattered between the Arms and Equipment Guide(3.0), Complete Adventurer, the PHB, the Wizards' article series that brought us wild cohorts (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/re/20031125a), and a couple of issues of Dragon Magazine like 323.

Might be some others in more splat books though.