Practical Use of Handle Animal?

[Zombulian]

Hey everybody. Handle Animal has always been one of those skills that didn't seem entirely worth it to me. You can optimize plenty of skills to be incredibly effective, but most of the time you're using Handle Animal it's for your Companion or Wild Cohort, and with the set DC's for teaching tricks that you then never have to think about again, I'm wondering how maxing Handle Animal is ever helpful.
Sure you have your Bubs the Commoner builds and their ilk, but those require very specific circumstances and a lenient DM to even get into gear. Sure you could raise 3 Battle Titans, but where are you getting them? How long is it going to take to raise them anyway?

tl;dr
Does anyone know of any sources that make this more practical? Like maybe market prices for infant animals or aging rules for them? I want a character who trains animals as a side gimmick, but I'm having trouble seeing it as useful.

[Dimcair]

For time I assume your DM will decide that, maybe an age is given in the bestiary or how old they become.

I can only give you owlbears. They have a market price and if you trained them it is higher. Source: Bestiary (Pathfinder)

[Urpriest]

For time I assume your DM will decide that, maybe an age is given in the bestiary or how old they become.

I can only give you owlbears. They have a market price and if you trained them it is higher. Source: Bestiary (Pathfinder)

Not a PF thread. But plenty of 3.5 monsters have prices for young, which can then be reared and trained, and if you're cool with 3.0 sources Arms and Equipment Guide broadens the list substantially.

[Dimcair]

Not a PF thread. But plenty of 3.5 monsters have prices for young, which can then be reared and trained, and if you're cool with 3.0 sources Arms and Equipment Guide broadens the list substantially.

I did not know that. Out of interest: how did YOU know?

The OP didn't specify any system did he?

[Zombulian]

I did not know that. Out of interest: how did YOU know?

The OP didn't specify any system did he?

I mean. There's a PF tag I could have put, and this is a 3.0/3.5 board. I still appreciate the info though.

Ur Priest: I own the A&E Guide so that is pretty helpful, though it still doesn't help with the time required :/ and unfortunately it still leaves a majority of animals from the MM out.
Consequentely o'master of monsters, I have another question. Would an animal that survives adventures with me gain xp and level?

[supersonic29]

Unless I've forgotten from reading the skills originally or missed something skimming over the text for handle animal again, nothing limits the number of animals you can successfully raise as your own/train for a purpose. Because of this, if you manage reliable handle animal checks of like 15+, you could raise an army of attack dogs which have a price in the Players Handbook, so a DM would be hard-pressed for a reason to stop you. Beyond that I'm sure you could pick bigger/badder animals as you level and with the right class (dragon shaman or marshal?) extend some buffs out to them. Also in a less niche/dumb kind of setting I'm sure you can prevent encounters with animals by counter-ordering them or calming them down, similar to wild empathy.

[Urpriest]

I mean. There's a PF tag I could have put, and this is a 3.0/3.5 board. I still appreciate the info though.

Ur Priest: I own the A&E Guide so that is pretty helpful, though it still doesn't help with the time required :/ and unfortunately it still leaves the training time out.
Consequentely o'master of monsters, I have another question. Would an animal that survives adventures with me gain xp and level?

Many monsters give training times, if not rearing times. A few, like the Pegasus, say that they can be reared on similar time-frames to real-life earth animals. And specific tricks always take a week, as per the Handle Animal description.

In order to gain XP and level, you need an ECL, which is a stat that LA -- creatures like animals lack, so that wouldn't work.

As for knowing this wasn't PF, the mention of Wild Cohort seemed to indicate a 3.5 context.

[Zombulian]

Many monsters give training times, if not rearing times. A few, like the Pegasus, say that they can be reared on similar time-frames to real-life earth animals. And specific tricks always take a week, as per the Handle Animal description.

In order to gain XP and level, you need an ECL, which is a stat that LA -- creatures like animals lack, so that wouldn't work.

Yeah I was afraid of that. Oh well, thank you.