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Drynwyn
2011-01-14, 05:06 PM
My players in a game I DM just tamed a Collosall monstrous centipede. (or at least mademit's attitude helpful). That is ridiculous.
Yay wild empathy!

Pink
2011-01-14, 05:26 PM
A centipede is vermin, not an animal or a low intelligence magical beast. Wild empathy shouldn't work on it.

Drynwyn
2011-01-14, 05:41 PM
Wild Empathy had a -5 modifier applied. Also, he used handle animal to actually do the training (which allows non animal training at a -2 penalty.) Fortunately, they understand enough to not take him with them in quests.

Ragitsu
2011-01-14, 05:53 PM
That is ridiculous.

In the same system where self flight is possible without any "realistic" motive power, or apparatuses?

CockroachTeaParty
2011-01-14, 06:04 PM
So you have a pet centipede the size of a subway train. Now what?

You can't exactly take it to the Duchess' Grand Ball, can you? Actually... you can. Maybe you should.

Greenish
2011-01-14, 06:31 PM
Wild Empathy had a -5 modifier applied. Also, he used handle animal to actually do the training (which allows non animal training at a -2 penalty.) Fortunately, they understand enough to not take him with them in quests.Wild Empathy doesn't work on vermin, at all. Only on animals and magical beasts.

Handle Animal allows training non-animals with 1-2 int at +5 to DC. However, vermin are mindless, and thus untrainable (without certain feats/PrCs).

But hey, it's cool that you allowed it, it makes for a badass mount/base.

AslanCross
2011-01-14, 08:46 PM
Note that a creature with no Intelligence score might not actually be helpful in the way the PCs would think. I think at most it will pull heavy loads for them, but I wouldn't let it fight for them at its own peril.

Forged Fury
2011-01-14, 09:40 PM
Without certain feats/PrCs.
Yay, Child of Winter!

Greenish
2011-01-14, 10:01 PM
Yay, Child of Winter!Child of Winter doesn't do it (that only works for spells that normally affect animals).

I was thinking of Vermin Trainer from DotU.

Claudius Maximus
2011-01-14, 10:08 PM
Yeah as mentioned above this is not possible by RAW without some exceptional ability.

But if you are letting it happen it would be cool. Things to do with your pet giant centipede:

-Ride on your party's very own all-terrain train.
-Let everyone use your all-terrain train. Charge them in livestock.
-Dispose of all those pesky corpses.
-Never run out of poison to immobilize your prisoners.
-Dispose of all those pesky immobilized prisoners.
-Portable bridge!
-Put all of the magic boots on it. All of them. Science must know what happens.
-Get some Marvelous Pigments and pimp it out. Racing stripes, flame decals, ballista installations, the works.
-Cast Air Walk on it and enjoy your new airship.

Forged Fury
2011-01-14, 10:13 PM
Child of Winter doesn't do it (that only works for spells that normally affect animals).
Read the first paragraph under the Benefits again closely. Particularly the end of it. I also took your post out of context as I was referring to Wild Empathy, not Handle Animal, although a case could be made...

akragster
2011-01-14, 10:16 PM
That is ridiculous.If you wish to get rid of it, you could set up a situation where the centipede sacrifices itself to save its masters.

For example, have it snatch a trapped object from the PCs and run off, die fighting off a horde of mooks, tackle a powerful enemy off a cliff, etc.

Perhaps it finds a herd of Colossal Centipedes and rejoins them, perhaps it becomes protector/hero of a small village.




Or you could let the party have a colossal centipede, so that their coolness pales in comparison to their new vermin friend.

Greenish
2011-01-14, 10:28 PM
-Put all of the magic boots on it. All of them. Science must know what happens.There are some excellent magic items that only work on mounts, though whether you can put horseshoes on an centipede might be questionable.

Read the first paragraph under the Benefits again closely. Particularly the end of it.Right you are, my bad. Reading it more closely, I should even say that allows for Handle Animal.

Greenish
2011-01-14, 10:30 PM
Or you could let the party have a colossal centipede, so that their coolness pales in comparison to their new vermin friend.Do you know what's more cool than a colossal monstrous centipede?

The people riding on it.

AslanCross
2011-01-14, 11:02 PM
Yeah as mentioned above this is not possible by RAW without some exceptional ability.

But if you are letting it happen it would be cool. Things to do with your pet giant centipede:

-Ride on your party's very own all-terrain train.
-Let everyone use your all-terrain train. Charge them in livestock.
-Dispose of all those pesky corpses.
-Never run out of poison to immobilize your prisoners.
-Dispose of all those pesky immobilized prisoners.
-Portable bridge!
-Put all of the magic boots on it. All of them. Science must know what happens.
-Get some Marvelous Pigments and pimp it out. Racing stripes, flame decals, ballista installations, the works.
-Cast Air Walk on it and enjoy your new airship.

Sheer genius, this post contains.

CockroachTeaParty
2011-01-14, 11:38 PM
Sadly, monstrous centipedes are one of the weakest colossal creatures.

If you're looking for something a tad bit hardier, go hunting for megapedes.

Keld Denar
2011-01-14, 11:55 PM
They have AMAZING grapple modifiers though. Truely epic modifiers compared to their CR.

OracleofWuffing
2011-01-15, 12:13 AM
Get some flea, spider, and scorpion friends.

Just watch out for elves with frightening rods and toadstools.

Whoo, I'm old school.

FelixG
2011-01-15, 01:36 AM
Yeah as mentioned above this is not possible by RAW without some exceptional ability.

But if you are letting it happen it would be cool. Things to do with your pet giant centipede:

-Ride on your party's very own all-terrain train.
-Let everyone use your all-terrain train. Charge them in livestock.
-Dispose of all those pesky corpses.
-Never run out of poison to immobilize your prisoners.
-Dispose of all those pesky immobilized prisoners.
-Portable bridge!
-Put all of the magic boots on it. All of them. Science must know what happens.
-Get some Marvelous Pigments and pimp it out. Racing stripes, flame decals, ballista installations, the works.
-Cast Air Walk on it and enjoy your new airship.

+1 internets for you

Darrin
2011-01-15, 12:26 PM
Yay, Child of Winter!

Drow of the Underdark has the Vermin Trainer feat and rules for using Handle Animal with vermin. This WotC article (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/re/20040705a) also has some rules about druids taking vermin as animal companions.

While the RAW is fairly clear on this, I don't have any problems with allowing Handle Animal or Wild Empathy to work on vermin with a penalty. A Colossal giant centipede as a pet kinda has Rule of Cool written all over it.

Forged Fury
2011-01-15, 01:37 PM
While the RAW is fairly clear on this, I don't have any problems with allowing Handle Animal or Wild Empathy to work on vermin with a penalty.
The Child of Winter feat states:
"A mindless vermin is considered to have an Intelligence score of 2 when dealing with you and can be charmed, calmed, or targeted by wild empathy or similar abilities"

Handle Animal states: "You can use this skill on a creature with an Intelligence score of 1 or 2 that is not an animal, but the DC of any such check increases by 5. Such creatures have the same limit on tricks known as animals do."

So there isn't a RAW problem if you have the feat. Wild Empathy is a little murky, since the rules for it only accommodate animals and magical beasts. I think RAI was intended to allow it to be used on vermin without penalty.

*.*.*.*
2011-01-15, 02:12 PM
stuff

Brain...overloaded...by win....:smallfurious:

Pink
2011-01-15, 03:52 PM
So there isn't a RAW problem if you have the feat. Wild Empathy is a little murky, since the rules for it only accommodate animals and magical beasts. I think RAI was intended to allow it to be used on vermin without penalty.

I might disagree with the RAI part. (most) Vermin have no intelligence score, it's not a matter of them being stupid or not, they're supposed to live purely on instinct and such. A feat to do so is reasonable, but again, rule of cool to do it with penalties also works. Basically, if fun was had, great.

Forged Fury
2011-01-15, 05:04 PM
I might disagree with the RAI part. (most) Vermin have no intelligence score, it's not a matter of them being stupid or not, they're supposed to live purely on instinct and such.
By RAI, I was referring to the interaction between the Child of Winter feat and Wild Empathy. The feat says you can use Wild Empathy on vermin, but not whether vermin are treated as animals or magical beasts, the two legal targets of wild empathy. So it's up to interpretation on how that works.

Handle Animal is different in that the skill description specifies you can use Handle Animal on other creatures as long as they have an Intelligence score of 1 or 2, but take a penalty. Since the feat allows you to treat mindless vermin as having an intelligence score of 2, at worst you're able to do it but may suffer a penalty since they fall under the category of other creatures that have an intelligence score of 1 or 2.

Personally, I think the intent was to allow a Child of Winter to treat a vermin as an animal for all intents and purposes (including wild empathy and handle animal).

Pink
2011-01-15, 05:44 PM
Ah, apologies, I misunderstood you then.