[3.5] Magical Beasts/Wild Empathy

[Thurbane]

Hey all,

I'm looking to give the ranger in my party more chance to use her Wild Empathy.

What are some Magical Beasts that she would use her WE on? Party is four 8th level characters: so if she can use the ability to avoid combat with some level appropriate enounters, it would be neat.

Party is in a desert at the moment, if that helps.

Also, are there any items that boost or offer different uses for WE? I know there are some feats and PrCs that do this, but an item based option would be preferable.

Cheers - T

[rel]

How about a bulette? CR and environment should match and I believe they are only int 2.

[Luccan]

How about a bulette? CR and environment should match and I believe they are only int 2.

Temperate hills, but otherwise pretty close. Works especially well if the ranger is an elf or dwarf. The rest of the party wants to kill the monster, but the ranger befriends it because it doesn't want to eat them.

[Fizban]

Bah, if there's anywhere a landshark should make a lick of sense it's the desert. Ashworms are only CR 2, but they move in herds and have a nasty sting Burrowing creatures in general make excellent random encounters, since they don't suffer from the problem of being killed at range before they're even a threat (which should award no xp).

Ye olde spawn of tiamat include a bunch of magical beasts, some of which are 1-2 int. The stormlizard and firebelcher are both CR 6.

There aren't many magical beasts of decent CR that don't have more than 2 int. Considering you can use Handle Animal to rear dragons (IIRC), I don't see why magical beast wild empathy shouldn't work beasty stuff (say, things that can't talk) with a bit more int. That would open up Dunewinders at CR 10. You might have better luck templating an animal, or just using an animal for that matter- there's still plenty of dinos and dire animals that work at 8th.

Note that since wild empathy functions as diplomacy, and diplomacy requires a minute or a -10 penalty, you're going to need a setup where the monster is not currently hostile.

[ShurikVch]

For items:
Beastfriend Collar (Dragon #356) +4 competence bonus on Handle Animal and WE checks; +5' to Share Spells range, and within that range you can exchange places with your animal companion or familiar (5 rounds between each use); 17500 gp
Nature's Draught (Complete Adventurer) gives +1 alchemical bonus on WE checks for 12 hours; 50 gp
Temple of Three touchstone site (Sandstorm) +6 on Handle Animal and WE checks for snakes and snake-like Magical Beasts; Higher-Order Ability - Summon Monster VI (fiendish giant constrictor snake)
Trappings of the Beast (Complete Champion): wearing the whole set of items - armor, cloak, and ring - gives you +5 competence bonus on wild empathy checks; 52175 gp total



For Magical Beasts, there are:

Basilisk (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/basilisk.htm) CR 5

Monster Manual II
Cloud Ray CR 16
Rampager CR 12

Monster Manual III
Ironclad Mauler CR 9

Sandstorm
Chekryan CR 4, "Organization: Solitary or colony (2–5)"

Book of Exalted Deeds
If you're OK with swarms, then:
Apocalypse Frog Swarm CR 4
Deathraven Swarm CR 20

Dangerous Denizens: The Monsters of Tellene have Basilisk, Salt and Thunder Lizard - both are CR 5, and inhabit Warm desert and Temperate and warm desert

Dungeon #110 [Polyhedron #169] and Dungeon #111 [Polyhedron #170] are have Dark Sun-related stuff; there are Rasclinn (CR 3), Fordorran and Lirr (both CR 4), Dune Reaper, Drone (CR 5), Sand Howler (CR 6, #110[169])

Article about Far Realm in Dragon #330 have Cranial Encyster (CR 3) and Kaortic Hulk (CR 8); their Environment is "Any"

[Talar]

Depending on optimization levels a purple worm could work maybe? Its the first monster that jumped to mind since one time when I was running a druid I tried to use WE on a purple worm and the DM ruled it wouldn't work (some members of the party just attacked on sight ignoring me, I rolled a nat 20 too)