Taming a Nightmare

[silverkyo]

So I had a fighter who wanted to be the most renowned and feared fighter in the world, and currently he does mounted combat. One of his things was he wanted to tame a fearsome beast like a Nightmare to use a mount, to show how strong he was that a mighty beast like that obeys him. My question for you guys is if you know of any specific spells or magic items that could help him on his quest outside of straight animal handling (which is an option, he has the proficiency to control his mount, but I'm looking for other ideas)

[JBento]

Nightmares aren't animals, they're fiends. You can't Animal Handle one, the things are as smart as people. At best, he can bribe, intimidate, or otherwise coerce the Nightmare to let him carry him, or get a Dominate spell or something like that.

Note that with any option other than bribe and unless the fighter is a thoroughly evil bastard, the Nightmare will probably resent servitude and either turn on him in the middle of the fight or, at the very least, hightail it (and with its ethereal stride ability, there's little that can be done to prevent that).

May I suggest a dinosaur instead? An allosaurus, triceratops or t-rex are actually beasts and two of those three are actually more powerful than the nightmare (or, at least, have higher challenge ratings).

[Plus1Sword]

Personally, as JBento pointed out, I'd explore other options first. There are tons of them. But if your cavalier is hellbound on a nightmare then I'd use that as an opportunity to make an item. Whip of demon-binding +2 or some crap like that that binds the Nightmare(or possibly other fiends relative to the player's levels) to his service as long as it's possession. I'd also treat it like that low-level charm spell. They're in service, and they're your friend, but once the jig is up they know they were magically forced to do it.

[GiantOctopodes]

Agreed, a Nightmare is not a beast. It's a fiend. It cannot be tamed, but you can offer an evil sacrifice of sufficient value when summoning it from the depths of the lower planes in order to garner its loyalty, which is what the demons, devils, and other creatures of exceptional evil do in order to obtain one as a mount. That or create one themselves by torturing a pegasi while removing its wings in the dark rituals that birth a Nightmare.

If the player in question is not unspeakably evil, it's probably not the best choice for a mount. A Pegasi, one which hasn't been maimed and tortured, is both a classic mount and a statement that its rider is a creature of good, just as much as a nightmare is a statement that its rider is a creature of evil. A Wyvern is incredibly awesome as a mount, and can be raised from an egg in a display of your mastery of animal handling, your discipline, and apparently your poison resistance :smallbiggrin:

If you really want a Nightmare, a figurine of wonderous power (obsidian steed) seems like the perfect fit, even forcing it to (mostly) obey your orders, regardless of your alignment and without needing to engage in dark rituals, etc.

[Ninja_Prawn]

Sounds like a hilarious buddy comedy: Hero McLegend and his (ig)noble steed, Cloaxohru the Nightmare! I imagine it kind of like the dynamic between Toru and Fredrika in Chaika the Coffin Princess, but more extreme.

Just because fiends are evil, doesn't mean they can't ever fight alongside goodly heroes. You could conceive of all sorts of reasons why it might be a mutually-beneficial alliance. They could be fighting a common enemy, or trying to spy on / sabotage each other, or bound together by a magical Geas.

[GiantOctopodes]

Sounds like a hilarious buddy comedy: Hero McLegend and his (ig)noble steed, Cloaxohru the Nightmare! I imagine it kind of like the dynamic between Toru and Fredrika in Chaika the Coffin Princess, but more extreme.

Just because fiends are evil, doesn't mean they can't ever fight alongside goodly heroes. You could conceive of all sorts of reasons why it might be a mutually-beneficial alliance. They could be fighting a common enemy, or trying to spy on / sabotage each other, or bound together by a magical Geas.

Certainly possible. Just remember this: "A nightmare can be summoned from the Lower Planes, but unless a worthy sacrifice is offered to it as food upon its arrival, the nightmare displays no special loyalty to the creature it serves". And by a worthy sacrifice, I'm pretty sure they don't mean expensive oats. So even if it is fighting along side you, unless you satiated its dark hunger, it has no particular loyalty to you. Also note the Obsidian Steed (which is just a nightmare in figurine form) has a 10% of ignoring your commands if you're goodly aligned, and if you mount it while it's ignoring your commands, it dumps you on the plane of Hades. I don't find it unreasonable that a normal Nightmare would pull the same kind of chicanery if and when possible.

Also, fiends (much like celestials) have their alignment as an inimical part of their nature. They are *always* evil. So though it's certainly possible to have circumstances in which a goodly aligned individual has a Nightmare as a mount, I'm just saying it's maybe not the best choice of mounts.

[-Jynx-]

First and foremost its your campaign. So you can bend the rules a bit (ie the monster int level, alignment issues etc.) especially if this helps keep someone happy, and fits thematically in your story.

As for the how? You could give him some ritualistic quest. Maybe he needs to gather x amount of items (maybe one is fiends blood for example) then take them to an alter in (insert dangerous location) upon doing so a nightmare is constructed/summoned already bent to his will.

[djreynolds]

Everyone hates how powerful wizards get... Until he makes you a gift for completing a dangerous mission and losing that halfling thief and dwarven fighter in your party to the lava pit.

All jokes aside, a mission is great. A good way for your DM to flex his creative muscles and come up with something.

[djreynolds]

Think an Alexander type mission, he was famous for taming his horse.

[Ninja_Prawn]

Think an Alexander type mission, he was famous for taming his horse.

Man, they had low standards for fame in ancient Greece.

But then... plus ça change :smallsigh:

[Inevitability]

I believe there's some information on how nightmares are created. Why not do it yourself? Just find a pegasus, torture it to near death, do unspecified evil stuff to it, and hopefully you now have a loyal nightmare mount.

[Kadzar]

I'd say some special magical saddle, bridle, horseshoes, etc. is in order. Something that, when placed on such a fiend, makes it rideable by a non-evil character without requiring sacrifices. Then they somehow have to actually find a Nightmare and manage to get the item(s) on the creature in the first place.

Gods help you if some brave stablehand ever works up the courage to try removing your mount's riding tack. :smallbiggrin:

[FabulousFizban]

**** mechanics. this sounds like it could be a great opportunity for a character arc. If he dominates or coerces the fiend into being a mount, he is sowing the seeds of his own destruction. If they are working towards a common goal, they can ally for as long as their goals coincide. If he befriends it, well then he is the sort of person who befriends fiends and that should have its own consequences, but it could form the basis of a potent and lasting partnership.

Story. Story. Story. Have fun with it. Make up your own rules for how a mortal could earn the service of such a creature.

[Doug Lampert]

**** mechanics. this sounds like it could be a great opportunity for a character arc. If he dominates or coerces the fiend into being a mount, he is sowing the seeds of his own destruction. If they are working towards a common goal, they can ally for as long as their goals coincide. If he befriends it, well then he is the sort of person who befriends fiends and that should have its own consequences, but it could form the basis of a potent and lasting partnership.

Story. Story. Story. Have fun with it. Make up your own rules for how a mortal could earn the service of such a creature.
+1.

This doesn't need any mechanics beyond maybe the occasional charisma check. What it needs is a reason why the two are working together.

Taming a Nightmare by force &/or intimidation, maybe, try it and find out.
Allying with one, maybe, try it and find out.
Win a contest with seven years of service as the stake, maybe, try it and find out.
Redeem one by showing it the error of its ways, maybe, try it and find out.
Find one that thinks the weak should serve the strong and convince it that you are stronger (probably by killing its current demonic and evil rider), why not? Try it and find out?

[Coidzor]

Step 1. Be a badass.

Step 2. Put a want ad in the infernal classifieds. The exact particulars of how one does this will vary from plane to plane.

Slaughtering one's enemies and making a name for one's self will tend to attract attention, though.

[twas_Brillig]

3e introduced a kind of shadow elemental called the ecalypse. (wiki (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plane_of_Shadow#Ephemera)) to tame one, you had to endure its best attempts to throw off while hurtling across the planes. It always kind of reminded me of the hellrides from the Amber books. That sidesteps the alignment issue, and gives you a neat skill challenge to top off an adventure, at the cost of some homebrewing to decide on its stats.