Guard Dog

[HumbleLioness]

i currently have my party joining an army they have been recruited but one of the players has been refused due to her small stature (whisper gnome) what the party dont know is that they are currently being recruited for the big bad of the campaign and somewhere along the line the "big bad" was deserted by a whisper gnome and has thus put out a missive that all short people are traitors and not to be trusted hence being refused.

now heres where an idea came to me, the lieutenant (pleaded to by his son for her to join) said he would get back word from his uppers as to what to do

first i thought outright refusal and he knows no more on why, other than their standard equipment wont fit and she will be in danger. her challenge being then to somehow follow the party in a sneaky manner. but then i figured, its been a while since the betrayal and most of her kind (the wisper gnomes) have since been killed off the order might be a bit more leniant (she has found out she is the last of her kind from a very wise old dragon who said itself was in a similar situation)
as a safe guard she would have to be issued a guard dog. one that would watch over her and if she went missing could find her without hesitation and now we get on to the actual problem,
the player can easily hit the recommended handle animal for her class (factotum lvl 3) for this dog to be of no negative effect, what could i do to get around this problem and have the dog be her alpha?

[atemu1234]

Make it an axiomatic dog. That way it's got an intelligence score of 3, so it's unlikely to be swayed by handle animal checks. Diplomacy checks, on the other hand...

[Morphie]

You could also give the dog the warbeast template, +3 con and Str and +2 wis and some skill bonus to Ride are always cool to have.

[Honest Tiefling]

Give an Imp the ability to take on the form of a dog?

[ArqArturo]

Iron Defenders can also be an interesting choice for guard dogs.

[Slipperychicken]

What if they just issue a guard-person instead? Or require her to remain escorted at all times?

After all, stupid dogs aren't always the best at uncovering plots made by those crafty, mischievous shortfolk :smallbiggrin:

[HumbleLioness]

What if they just issue a guard-person instead? Or require her to remain escorted at all times?

After all, stupid dogs aren't always the best at uncovering plots made by those crafty, mischievous shortfolk :smallbiggrin:

unfortunately people dont have scent and my party likes to ask a bunch of questions, though she will also be closely watched, a dog would be simple and could find her in a pinch.

[HumbleLioness]

Make it an axiomatic dog. That way it's got an intelligence score of 3, so it's unlikely to be swayed by handle animal checks. Diplomacy checks, on the other hand...

does the INT of a creature raise handle animal checks or would it be that it wasnt necessarily an animal any more?
i do like this idea. the "dog of dogs" as we have a human paragon in the party this would be thematically appropriate. ^_^

[Slipperychicken]

does the INT of a creature raise handle animal checks or would it be that it wasnt necessarily an animal any more?

Both, actually. Raising the intelligence of an animal to 3 or higher typically makes it a magical beast (although an intelligent animal is by definition no longer an animal (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/typesSubtypes.htm#animalType)). Thankfully, you can use handle animal on other creature types (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/skills.htm#handleAnimal), including magical beasts, for an inflated DC.

[Honest Tiefling]

Why not have the best of both worlds, and issue a guard 'dog' that is really a druid or other class with access to wildshape.

[HumbleLioness]

Why not have the best of both worlds, and issue a guard 'dog' that is really a druid or other class with access to wildshape.

hmnn too easy, the players would meta that far too quickly.
a druid (compared to the party who started in a no magic village, they are slowly discovering it) would make them start to feel a bit less like the heros especially if i go the "cold hearted dog turned stalwart companion" route, after a due amount of time of course before defending her to the death. wouldnt feel as "good" if it turned out to be some druid who could also heal etc

im loving the axiomatic and warbeast templates at the moment and will have to read up a bit more on those and possibly combine them.
managed to find a joke "giant dog" on my searches with special attacks such as :

Dog Breath (Ex): Any creature made the target of a lick is covered in dog spit, and must succeed on a DC 15 Fortitude save or be nauseated for 1 round, gagging due to the effects of the animal’s breath.

but ill hold off on that much cheese for now ;)

[atemu1234]

Both, actually. Raising the intelligence of an animal to 3 or higher typically makes it a magical beast (although an intelligent animal is by definition no longer an animal (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/typesSubtypes.htm#animalType)). Thankfully, you can use handle animal on other creature types (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/skills.htm#handleAnimal), including magical beasts, for an inflated DC.

Wording makes it only if it has an intelligence score of 2 or less.

[Kol Korran]

If you have the Eberron books, than I second the Iron Defender from the ECS, who might be possibly upgraded as per the rules in MoE. A construct dog might be tougher to trick or befriend, and will only answer to some "master" who comes to give it more orders. It might be quite simple, depending on how much magic you have in your campaign. They are very easy constructs to build.