D&D 3.5 Need Help with Riding Dogs!

[wegga77]

Hey Guys! I'm creating a level 1 druid and need some help with my companion if you all don't mind. I want to pick the riding dog and everywhere I look it says to make sure they are trained in war so that they can use the trip ability, as a wolf does. This sounds great and all, but I can't find any info on exactly what "trained in war" means.

From what I understand you can train a riding dog for fighting which includes 3 tricks, which are attack, own and stay. And I guess training a dog is different from teaching it a trick.

But would I just need to teach the dog the attack trick and that would give it the ability to trip? I don't see anywhere to train the dog in "war".

Also, how do I go about hooking my dog up with some armor?

I appreciate any help. Thanks!!

[Dming For Noobs]

Having a war dog "trained for war" just means it follows the MM entry for war dog. Without it, your companion is horrible. With it, it becomes a lot more fun. Just ask your DM if it is. If not change your compnion.

As for Armour, it is double the cost, and the same weight as normal armor of that type. However, unless your dog can get proficient, it will suffer the non-proficiency penalty

[eggynack]

I think that they automatically come trained for that purpose. More specifically, riding dogs are trained in combat riding, without your input, which seems to be the closest equivalent. It seems to cover all of the tricks you'd desire for warfare, so it works out alright. The rules for riding dog armor can be found here (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/equipment/goodsAndServices.htm#bardingMediumCreatureandLarge Creature), and as DMing For Noobs says, it costs double what it otherwise would.

[wegga77]

Thanks for the reply gents!!! This Riding Dog thing seems to be pretty damn powerful. It's better at attacking than my own character.

So ideally I could choose a Riding Dog and either it comes combat ready or that I trained it before I came to the party?

So this is a list of animals available to choose as companions at first level. Does this list look right to you guys?

Badger
Camel
Dire Rat
Dog
Riding dog
Eagle
Hawk
Light Horse
Heavy horse
Owl
Pony
Snake
Wolf

[eggynack]

It seems about right, though there might be some splat book stuff that I'm currently unaware of. Honestly, I don't look all that hard for alternatives, because riding dogs are so much better than any other option. You are correct that the riding dog is going to be superior at attacking in comparison to your druid, and it will likely actually be a superior melee combatant to a dedicated melee guy, at least at first level. Such is the power of having 2 HD at first level. The riding dog isn't really superior to you as a whole though, cause you have ridiculously powerful first level spells, like entangle and impeding stones (City, 66). Druids are pretty crazy at first level. Also at every other level.

[wegga77]

I kind of like the idea of a hawk, but the riding dog seems to good to pass up.

I did just checked with my DM and he's good to go on this.

Thank you guys for your input. It's greatly appreciated!

[Gwendol]

The wolf is not a bad alternative: a bit faster, but not as physically strong. The birds are good scouts.

[Morphie]

See if you can train the dog to be a warbeast, it's a template in Monster Manual 2 that's really good: +1 hd, +10 ft. of movement, + 3 Str and Con, +2 Wis and some bonuses (tp?) on skills. All in two months of training.

[Gwendol]

A riding dog is trained for war and therefore can't acquire the warbeast template.

[Morphie]

By default, the dog isn't trained for war, so if you train it to be a warbeast, it gets both things at once. But this is up to the DM, I would allow it but there might be some who probably won't.

[eggynack]

It depends on how you define "trained for war". It seems possible that it is as I said, and combat riding is the thing that provides that designation. That would mean that riding dogs actually do have that status by default. It's a pretty odd and ambiguous set of rules, in any case.

[Gwendol]

Warhorses and riding dogs are trained for war and are explicitly not allowed targets for the template.