[3.5] Hide my Fleshraker

[turko]

Hi everyone.

After a long time my group decided to play again.I'm playing a druid, we just reached 4th level and I got my Fleshraker companion.

The problem is we're often going to cities and my DM won't let it pass the gates. I know I can use Aspect of the Wolf but it won't last long enough. Is there a spell or item I could use and is affordable at this level, so I could go in the cities with it?

I already googled a lot but could't find anything helpful.

Thanks!

[Greenish]

Cover it with feathers (if it isn't already) and claim it's a dire turkey.

[mregecko]

Cover it with feathers (if it isn't already) and claim it's a dire turkey.

I lol'd. Hard.

[Coidzor]

Well, I'd start by asking the DM why he's so set on not allowing it into cities and as a result disrupting the game by forcing you to focus on finding ways to get it into cities until you're powerful enough to laugh at the idiots who would seek to make an enemy of you when all you want to do is stimulate the economy.

Then I'd get a wagon and work out a way to make sure that the DM didn't want to bother with search and seizures and customs agents at every town you came to or at least that the more rogue-ish and smugglery of the other PCs chipped in, since once you're smuggling a medium-sized creature(and I think you can probably shrink it down to small for long enough to get through the gates and it can squeeze into a smaller space anyway) there's all kinds of things you could smuggle in the space necessary for such anyway.

[AsteriskAmp]

Enlarge it and ride it, claim it's part of your culture.
If the Talenta halflings get free pass, so do you.

Alternatively hat of disguise, or if you feel particularly miser abuse the lack of commoners knowledge of any sort actually (they'd need a knowledge (nature) check to even know what the hell it is) and tell the DM they can't actually even possibly know what it is; and pass it for a rare breed of horse.

[Daftendirekt]

Well, I'd start by asking the DM why he's so set on not allowing it into cities and as a result disrupting the game by forcing you to focus on finding ways to get it into cities

:smallconfused: I hardly see it as the DM being a disruptive douche. It's pretty standard in my group for the druid's companion to stay outside the city (unless it's a dog or a horse... which it never is). Tigers and bears and dinosaurs aren't exactly welcome in most cities.

[turko]

I don't think he's being a douche and I kind of agree in not letting a dinossaur go inside a city.

So far we just went inside cities for diplomacy reasons, but I'm pretty sure the next time in our campaign there will be some sort of battle.

Hiding it in a wagon won't work since he will always search it.

I'll talk to him about using the hat of disguise. I just had an idea too, using a cage to transport him, but with some kind of magical lock, that would open with a command word.

[Coidzor]

:smallconfused: I hardly see it as the DM being a disruptive douche. It's pretty standard in my group for the druid's companion to stay outside the city (unless it's a dog or a horse... which it never is). Tigers and bears and dinosaurs aren't exactly welcome in most cities.

If druids are a thing, then it becomes a question of verisimilitude. If dinosaurs are just ported in directly from the body of 3.5 canon then canonically trained dinosaurs are also a thing, which leads to some more difficulties with verisimilitude. Trained animals have had exceptions made for them for ages in the real world cultures that DMs and D&D like to steal wholecloth from, so a trivial investment would get around such, so the DM wouldn't have a need to continue to press suit unless he was just deadset on being persnickety.

At the end of the day, if the DM makes an issue out of something, then, usually it's because the DM wants (http://www.giantitp.com/articles/tll307KmEm4H9k6efFP.html)to make an issue out of it, regardless of whether the DM thinks they have a perfectly good reason. Or, indeed, has even thought about it.


Hiding it in a wagon won't work since he will always search it.

And you don't think he's being deliberately disruptive? :smallconfused:

If you can't keep your bedroom and study from being searched when you should have some measure of diplomatic immunity, then how can you have a coherent world structure if he's still going to try to pull that once you can singlehandedly destroy cities?

[Vaz]

Hide it in plain sight? Pretend you've captured it, and you're big game hunters from the City-so-far-away-you-can't-have-heard-of-it, twinned with No-really, claiming it for their zoo.

If you ever don't get your own way, you could always threaten to release it.

Of course, it's not too good an idea if it's a recurrent city.

"Well bless my braces, we've gone in circles, old boy!

Again!"

[Newoblivion]

If the entire adventure is in a city then you have a problem. If only the dawntime of the game is in cities then you don't have a problem.

[Darrin]

You're doing it wrong:

1) Buy the fleshraker a pillbox hat and sequined vest. Buy yourself an organ grinder. If need be, buy a license to panhandle or busk from the local authorities.

2) Teach the fleshraker the Perform trick. Handle Animal check DC 15.

3) If anyone challenges you, pull out your organ grinder and direct your fleshraker to dance. Obviously, it's not an exotic wild animal dripping with fangs and claws and murder, it's Entertainment!

[turko]

You're doing it wrong:

1) Buy the fleshraker a pillbox hat and sequined vest. Buy yourself an organ grinder. If need be, buy a license to panhandle or busk from the local authorities.

2) Teach the fleshraker the Perform trick. Handle Animal check DC 15.

3) If anyone challenges you, pull out your organ grinder and direct your fleshraker to dance. Obviously, it's not an exotic wild animal dripping with fangs and claws and murder, it's Entertainment!

That's a good idea, and I think it's something my DM would really like.

[ShriekingDrake]

Try Aspect of the Wolf from the Spell Compendium. Better a wolf on a leash than a fleshraker. Be sure to call your wolf, "Lassie".

Edit: I completely blew past that you'd considered this. Sorry about that.

[Greenish]

I know I can use Aspect of the Wolf but it won't last long enough.
Try Aspect of the Wolf from the Spell Compendium.It's considered good form to read at least the first post of the thread before replying. :smallamused:

[ShriekingDrake]

I just missed it.

It is considered good form not to be me.

[Alleran]

You could always try and maximise the Escape Artist check it has with whatever shenanigans are necessary. Beat a DC 80, and you could hide it in all sorts of places.

Alternately, a Disguise Self hat.

[Kazyan]

You're doing it wrong:

1) Buy the fleshraker a pillbox hat and sequined vest. Buy yourself an organ grinder. If need be, buy a license to panhandle or busk from the local authorities.

2) Teach the fleshraker the Perform trick. Handle Animal check DC 15.

3) If anyone challenges you, pull out your organ grinder and direct your fleshraker to dance. Obviously, it's not an exotic wild animal dripping with fangs and claws and murder, it's Entertainment!

...Why is the silliest suggestion in the thread also the most reasonable?

[AsteriskAmp]

You're doing it wrong:

1) Buy the fleshraker a pillbox hat and sequined vest. Buy yourself an organ grinder. If need be, buy a license to panhandle or busk from the local authorities.

2) Teach the fleshraker the Perform trick. Handle Animal check DC 15.

3) If anyone challenges you, pull out your organ grinder and direct your fleshraker to dance. Obviously, it's not an exotic wild animal dripping with fangs and claws and murder, it's Entertainment!Give him a pearl of speech and make him take ranks in Profession (Buttler).

http://i1230.photobucket.com/albums/ee492/araveugnitsuga1/OoTS_Avatars/FenundBritFleshy_zpsd395b864.png

[ShriekingDrake]

(Having been sure to read each post a bit more carefully this time. . . ) To, at least, get past the guards, you could cast Tree Shape on your companion and make him into a log that, if asked, you'll be sculpting into a canoe or into shrub/bush that you put into a pot to sell, if asked. At 4th level he'll be in that form for 4 hours. Cast 3 times that 12 hours. He might not like it, though.

[TheTick]

Pearl of Speech? Just use Perform(Ventriloquism)! Dress up dino and throw your voice. Extra bonus points if you sound like Sokka as Wang Fire in Avatar: The Last Airbender.

[Invader]

It seems like your DM is being unreasonable. In a world where Druids, wizards, demons, dragons, beholders, alternate planes of existence and floating cities are a reality it seems like a Druid, someone part of a group of people commonly known for their attunement with nature and animals, wouldn't cause that much of an uproar in a large city if he's with a large lizard.

[Grod_The_Giant]

Alternatively hat of disguise, or if you feel particularly miser abuse the lack of commoners knowledge of any sort actually (they'd need a knowledge (nature) check to even know what the hell it is) and tell the DM they can't actually even possibly know what it is; and pass it for a rare breed of horse.
Heh. I like it.

[Sception]

It's common practice in games I've played for a lower level druid's companion to fend for itself in the wilds outside the city during visits to civilization. If it's just downtime visits, then the druid often stays with the animal and eschews the city entirely, letting other party members conduct trading for her.

If the campaign is an urban themed campaign, then any druid is typically an urban themed druid, taking animal companions appropriate to the urban environment. It is a blow to your power, but you're still a druid, and as such you've still got two class features - full spellcasting and wild shape - that are each individually more powerful than most classes in the game, so...

If the campaign is not overwhelmingly urban themed, but important session stuff has to happen in the city, then it's time to try and get the weird companion in.

If the party is on a diplomatic mission, this generally includes letters of recommendation, that include notes for such oddities as non-standard character races and unusual animal companions that traditionally resolve the issue.

If the characters are lower level, the party face can try to smooth things over with a diplomacy check and a small bribe to secure a permit from the officials at the city gate, though the process may have to be repeated elsewhere, particularly wherever you're looking to stay overnight.

If the characters are mid or higher levels, then the druid and her companion are typically famous enough to be automatic exceptions. Who would turn away Gwendolyn of the Leaves, and her legendary companion Growregh, Saviors of the Southern Wild? And the grander, more cosmopolitan, or even extraplanar cities higher level adventurers might visit aren't going to find something as mundane as a giant turkey or scaly horse that unusual, anyway.


Of course, even a trained wild animal is still going to be nervous, uncomfortable, and potentially quite dangerous in an urban environment, and leaving the beast to the wilds while you conduct your urban business may remain the most logical choice. Again, you're a druid, going for a session without the fleshraker isn't exactly going to render you unable to contribute when you can still turn into a fleshraker yourself, while casting spells as well.

[turko]

(Having been sure to read each post a bit more carefully this time. . . ) To, at least, get past the guards, you could cast Tree Shape on your companion and make him into a log that, if asked, you'll be sculpting into a canoe or into shrub/bush that you put into a pot to sell, if asked. At 4th level he'll be in that form for 4 hours. Cast 3 times that 12 hours. He might not like it, though.

That`s a good one too, altough it has to be a large tree, but i could use a cart and keep it around.

[AsteriskAmp]

A slightly evil alternative is have the fleshraker always have human parts for munching; and tell the guards you either remain with him or aren't liable for his actions. And courteously remind them the fleshraker will do everything on his power to get back to you, and we wouldn't want any city wide fleshraker banquet which finishes with a tear jerking hug with the druid atop a pile of dead merchants on the city square; some of their corpses partially dissolved by venomfire.

[killem2]

A flesh raker is only a medium creature, can't you reduce animal, to small, which it seems to be only 3.5 ft tall, 37 lbs. (unless rolled stats some how it can be small)

Only as big as a larger dog.


is it the size or just the fact it is a reptile that is the problem? Or both?

[turko]

A flesh raker is only a medium creature, can't you reduce animal, to small, which it seems to be only 3.5 ft tall, 37 lbs. (unless rolled stats some how it can be small)

Only as big as a larger dog.


is it the size or just the fact it is a reptile that is the problem? Or both?

I don`t think my DM would allow it to go in if it was of small size, the problem is the exotic carnivorous animal...

[Person_Man]

Put on a pair of dark glasses, hook him up to a harness, and say that it's your seeing eye Fleshraker.

Wear a really long trench coat and stand on his shoulders. It may be a cruddy disguise, but they'll still have to make a Spot check vs your Disguise check to see through it.

Give him a bottle of air and put him in a portable hole.

[killem2]

I don`t think my DM would allow it to go in if it was of small size, the problem is the exotic carnivorous animal...

*takes cover*

Staff of Polymorph?

:smallbiggrin:

[ShriekingDrake]

That`s a good one too, altough it has to be a large tree, but i could use a cart and keep it around.

That's what I was thinking, as well. Cart signals mild mannered merchant, perhaps.

[Spuddles]

:smallconfused: I hardly see it as the DM being a disruptive douche. It's pretty standard in my group for the druid's companion to stay outside the city (unless it's a dog or a horse... which it never is). Tigers and bears and dinosaurs aren't exactly welcome in most cities.

Dogs are, though, as are war horses, camels, and elephants. I feel that in a setting with the handle animal skill as RAW, big animals in cities would be much more common than you would expect.

[Story]

After all, even a level 4 commoner can have trained CR16 dinosaurs.

Edit: Oops, it's a Commoner 3\Marshal 1. I guess the poor single classed Commoners will have to content themselves with weaker dinosaurs

[Spuddles]

After all, even a level 4 commoner can have trained CR16 dinosaurs.

It's actually rather interesting from a campaign building stand point. If humanoids with class levels are as rare as the DMG supposes they are, and nasties like Frost Giants, Beholders, Dragons, as well as hoards of Orcs, goblinoids, Gnolls, and weird stuff from MMV are all common enough to have "ecologies", then the best way to defend your hut/village/city/nation is (ab)using handle animal. It's the easiest RAW way for very low CR creatures to have access to very high CR monsters.

Magical Beasts & Exotic Animals should probably be far more common as trained beasts of war/defense in D&D campaigns.

[Story]

What I'm wondering is why training isn't more common. Even a single rank in Profession gives you may more than the supposed average laborer wages.