Need Ideas for Dealing with a PC Who is Raising a Dire Piglet

[Jay R]

Yesterday my players had an encounter with Dire Boars, and after it was over, one Dire Piglet, about 5-6 feet long, came out of the bushes. Fiona, our Druid, decided to raise it.

Yes, she grew up on a farm, and has Animal Handling.

So how long does it take before it’s a Dire Boar, how much can you train a Dire Boar, and what trouble can it bring the party in the meantime?

[Bartmanhomer]

Yesterday my players had an encounter with Dire Boars, and after it was over, one Dire Piglet, about 5-6 feet long, came out of the bushes. Fiona, our Druid, decided to raise it.

Yes, she grew up on a farm, and has Animal Handling.

So how long does it take before it’s a Dire Boar, how much can you train a Dire Boar, and what trouble can it bring the party in the meantime?
That's cute. To answer your question I'm not entirely sure. But I'm sure other member will be more helpful in answering your question. :smile:

[Saintheart]

Let's just start catgirl-killing arguments by extrapolating from nature, accepting the risk that somewhere amongst creating its incredibly tight and robust rule system WOTC probably threw a "Dire Animal age categories" table in there.

Wild Boars take about 1 year to mature to adult size (https://a-z-animals.com/animals/wild-boar/).

Since Dire Boars are Animals and not Magical Beasts, probably the best guess is that they're basically oversized boars that accordingly have a massive caloric intake in order to go from 6 to 12 feet long and weigh up to 2,000 pounds or so in under 12 months. That implies a seriously big appetite which has to be satisfied daily. Piglets don't wean for 2-3 months, so the druid's got to find some way to synthesise or outright obtain dire boar milk for it to live at least a while. The caloric intake is significant: A 50 kg (110 lb) boar needs around 4,000–4,500 calories of food per day, though this required amount increases during winter and pregnancy, with the majority of its diet consisting of food items dug from the ground, like underground plant material and burrowing animals. Transposing that to a dire boar that's already 6 feet long at piglet size means you need one hell of a big source of nutrition per day for it to develop normally.

They burrow, they have to be socialized, they eventually will get adolescent and therefore harder to control, and they won't shut up, meaning stealth with a wild boar around is going to be a lot trickier. There's a few DM screwjobs available in there.

[Doctor Despair]

how much can you train a Dire Boar,


Rear a wild animal -- 15 + HD of animal

So it's a DC 22 to rear a dire piglet and make it a domesticated animal, being taught tricks and whatnot. You can presumably take 10, so with +3 cha, a masterwork tool, and 7 ranks, you're golden.

[rel]

your monsterpig is hungry
your monsterpig has eaten a commoners food stand
your monsterpig has eaten a commoner
your monsterpig has attracted an angry peasant mob
your monsterpig has wrecked up the local tavern
your monsterpig has gotten in a fight with the wizards pet bird
your monsterpig has flattened a pig farmer and released all their pigs

[Saintheart]

your monsterpig has eaten your tent
your monsterpig has eaten another PC's tent
your monsterpig has found truffles
your monsterpig cannot find truffles
your monsterpig thinks a bulette is its mother
your monsterpig has gone wandering into a dragon's den
your monsterpig has eaten a treasure
your monsterpig has been freed by fey animal liberationists
your monsterpig is thought to be the avatar of the local goblin tribe's god

[Daisy]

Wilderness adventure: food is hard too come by, everyone is suffering, then the chaotic neutral party members suddenly realise the monsterpig is made of meat. Lots and lots of delicious, lean, tasty meat...

[remetagross]

First, can I put this opening post into my signature, because the words "dire" and "piglet" set side by side are I think a world-class first time that deserves to be recorded :smallbiggrin:.

Then, your player must be commended for her creativeness, and I think while throwing an obstacle or two to the party because of the dire piglet, you should take care not to have your player feel she is being punished by her act of heart. Let the dire piglet solve an issue or two at the same time it creates one or two new ones: it's so cute the baroness pressures her husband into giving the party that safe-conduct that they need. It befriends the riding dog of the evil halfling bandit chief during the next ambush and the leader is thrown off saddle. Etc.

[eBarbarossa]

First off, everything that Saintheart said is a good guideline here and can give you lots of ways to make play interesting.
I wanna add:
On the upside: boars are very intelligent, so teaching it tricks and sociable behaviour should be relatively easy, especially for a druid who can speak with it and stuff.
On the downside: boars are very intelligent, so it'll be getting out of your restraints and into trouble like you wouldn't believe.

As for the caloric intake: goodberry is your (druid's) friend, even though lil' piggy should still learn how to forage.
Boars are very social creatures, so it'll probably be good friends with your group soon. This doesn't mean that friendly bites couldn't cost your sorcerer a finger or something, but it will be a PLAYFUL maiming, not an angry one.

Mechanics wise, you could use a dire boar statblock with lower stats at maybe half a year and gradually have it gain the remaining attribute points until it is grown. Maybe even throw in an extra trick or two, if the druid makes a point of caring for and training with it the entire time.

[Telonius]

You are one ridiculous bard away from re-enacting The Black Cauldron. :smallbiggrin:

[pabelfly]

your monsterpig has eaten your tent
your monsterpig has eaten another PC's tent
your monsterpig has found truffles
your monsterpig cannot find truffles
your monsterpig thinks a bulette is its mother
your monsterpig has gone wandering into a dragon's den
your monsterpig has eaten a treasure
your monsterpig has been freed by fey animal liberationists
your monsterpig is thought to be the avatar of the local goblin tribe's god

Whenever monsterpig is not in the scene, all the other characters should be asking where's monsterpig.

[Kol Korran]

"That will do dire piglet, that will do." :smallwink:

[Jay R]

This stuff is gold. Thanks, everybody.

Fiona (the druid) has named the dire piglet. She said, “The Piglet’s full name is Ozzymandias, Pig of Pigs and Boar of Boars. But he’s going to have to grow into it, so Ozzy will do.”

I’ve decided that Ozzy is about 3½ months old, and already weaned. [Why? According to Wikipedia, the mating season for wild boars is November to January. The gestation period is 133-140 days. That puts birth around May 1. And it’s mid-August in the game.]

It will be close enough to full grown that the Dire Boar stats will apply at age ten months. [Male wild boars leave the sounder at age 8-15 months, based in part on how much food there is. They are wandering through forests; that’s great for an omnivore. So 6½ months from now it will (or will not) be properly trained.]

Fiona has Animal Handling +6 at present; she can’t guarantee the Animal Handling yet. I’ve told her that she has a wild animal until she can make the roll.

What would be a tool for rearing a boar that can be made masterwork for a +2 bonus on the roll? She’ll have to order a custom-made one, of course. Nobody’s currently making things to rear Dire Piglets with.

You have provided me with a lot of good ideas. She’s also going to have to protect it from most people they meet. They are in the middle of a civil war with a major food shortage, and a six-foot piglet is a lot of bacon.


First, can I put this opening post into my signature, because the words "dire" and "piglet" set side by side are I think a world-class first time that deserves to be recorded :smallbiggrin:.

Thanks for asking. Feel free. I can control who can use my words. Or I can post them to the Internet. I was never naive enough to believe I could do both at once.


Then, your player must be commended for her creativeness, and I think while throwing an obstacle or two to the party because of the dire piglet, you should take care not to have your player feel she is being punished by her act of heart.

Agreed. I have already commended her by telling the party, "Fiona was up at daylight, trying to rid the world of injustice. As a result, she now has a pig."

I've also told her, "In the meantime, he squeals a lot, runs around a lot, and tries to eat nearly everything. You may not be able to keep Ozzy from challenging creatures you meet, or investigating interesting sounds or smells. I won’t use him to kill the party, but I will sometimes use him to put you in difficult and threatening situations. Difficult and threatening situations are a DM’s stock in trade."


Let the dire piglet solve an issue or two at the same time it creates one or two new ones: it's so cute the baroness pressures her husband into giving the party that safe-conduct that they need. It befriends the riding dog of the evil halfling bandit chief during the next ambush and the leader is thrown off saddle. Etc.

Oh, of course, This thread exists to crowd-source the Dire Piglet shenanigans


You are one ridiculous bard away from re-enacting [I]The Black Cauldron. :smallbiggrin:

More than you know. The party wizard is a teen-aged enchantress. She's also half-Fair-Folk. But the bard is no Fflewdder, and we have no Gurgi.

[Bullet06320]

my first thought was fresh bacon



"That will do dire piglet, that will do." :smallwink:

and that was said in my head in shrek's voice



What would be a tool for rearing a boar that can be made masterwork for a +2 bonus on the roll? She’ll have to order a custom-made one, of course. Nobody’s currently making things to rear Dire Piglets with.

special made adjustable harness. leash, muzzle maybe, saddle even so you can ride it once its grown

[Cygnia]

With a dire piglet will bring LOTS of dire poo. And Pig poo sticks to EVERYTHING.

[AnonJr]

This whole thing has me thinking of my aunt, whom I love dearly, who has what was supposed to be a miniature pig as a pet. She named him Rasher (as in "a rasher of bacon"), and fed him enough that he was not miniature. He preferred to go his own way, often moving furniture around (causing the old, blind dog bump into furniture that wasn't there before).

She finally stopped letting him roam around the inside of the house when some of his grapes rolled under the fridge, and the pig tipped said fridge on it's edge to get said grapes, and then walked off. Fortunately no fridges were toppled in this experience.

She also caught a ****-ton of flak from the town for having a pig instead of a "normal" pet. They brought all sorts of nuisance court/citation issues.

Also, my uncle (her oldest brother) was visiting, and made sure that when she came home the pig was locked in the closet while he was cooking a ham. :smalltongue:

Not sure if any of that helps...

[Solauren]

Possible problems I can see (i.e NPC interactions)

Hungry locals deciding to try to capture the boar for food - How do they keep the innocent villagers from eating Ozzy?

Small child charges at the boar to hug it, because it's cute. The boar thinks it's under attack. Child is not hurt seriously, but now the locals think he's dangerous.

Ozzy getting jealous of other animals the druid talks with.

Have you ever some animals in the summer? Now give it hair to keep stuff stuck to it.
Random encounters become more frequent. Either they are trying to drive out Ozzy, or trying to eat him.

Dragons and similiar see the group as 'Humanoids with a side order of bacon'

Local druids don't realize it's the group druids buddy, and use spells to make it attack the group and run off.

Local noble of rank thinks the boar is a-boar-able (be sure to include the pun), and demands Ozzy be handed over as a 'gift'.

Whenever near a farm with pigs or similiar, Ozzy 'falls in love', possibly smashing right through the fence to spend time with his new ladies.

Ozzy develops a liking for the smell and taste of alcohol. He doesn't care how he gets it either.
Drunks with jars? Knock them over and drink.
Bar that's open? Go in, knock over tables and chairs.
Cart full of kegs? Jump onto the driver, knock him off and ride off when the horses bolt.
Local monks brew it? Charge in like a demon and chase them out.

Ozzy, seeing the rest of the 'family' using weapons in combat, one day picks up an axe by the handle and charges into battle. Rumors start that the group is training 'combat boars', and people start demanding them for themselves. Druids start trying to free him.

For some reason, he chews up two swords to be notched and serrated, and starts carrying them around everywhere. He sounds like he's nuts whenever he tries to talk.

He develops strange habits, including trying to sleep in trees, under the tents while people are in them, and diving down every hole he can find that's big enough.

Ozzy starts stealing stuff in the market. Stuffed toys, cloth, small children....

[Pugwampy]

Yesterday my players had an encounter with Dire Boars, and after it was over, one Dire Piglet, about 5-6 feet long, came out of the bushes. Fiona, our Druid, decided to raise it.

Yes, she grew up on a farm, and has Animal Handling.

So how long does it take before it’s a Dire Boar, how much can you train a Dire Boar, and what trouble can it bring the party in the meantime?


Well if you want the player to have fun with the Dire Boar. Its going to have to mature in about 4 or 5 sessions .
every session you need to remind druid to feed her dire piglet . You could RP that it eats waaay more food than any normal animal and Players will need to set aside gold or time to gather enough food
You can set up a story adventure or encounter caused by the naughty piggy . DM can god mod pets a bit if players fail handle animal .
Might want to suggest the druid makes the dire boar her animal companion if she wants full control of it .


You might RP the village NPC,s might not be very happy having a dire boar .

[Saintheart]

Hungry locals deciding to try to capture the boar for food - How do they keep the innocent villagers from eating Ozzy?

Looks like meat bacon's back on the menu, boys!

[wilphe]

Nobody’s currently making things to rear Dire Piglets with.


She won't be the first Druid to have done so, so somebody will have some institutional knowledge to tap into


Someone needs to write "That's some pig" in spidersilk however, maybe the drow, maybe an aranea


Possibly also needs to attract attention from a superstrong stone monument delivery guy, his tiny dog and diminutive sidekick, maybe also a no-talent bard and grunts of the local Evil Empire. Fortunately their druid can be helpful if approached.


Also not allowed to lead farm animals in revolt and then rule them as a more terrible Queen than the Farmer ever was


Should certainly not be contacted by members of the Local Organised Crime for assistance in disposing of dead bodies.

[Saintheart]

We may as well continue with the jokes and suggest the Druid encourages monsterpiglet to take a couple of ranks in Perform (Sing).

[Bohandas]

the dire piglet must be paired with a dire bear

[Cygnia]

the dire piglet must be paired with a dire bear

And a dire tiger with Pounce.

[Bullet06320]

and a dire owl and an emo donkey, plus kanga and roo


make them all awakened and you have an adveturing party

[RNightstalker]

Dragons and similiar see the group as 'Humanoids with a side order of bacon'


A side order of bacon is never a problem!


Looks like meat bacon's back on the menu, boys!

I'll give it a whirl: "Dire pig, Dire pig, does whatever a dire pig does"...


With a dire piglet will bring LOTS of dire poo. And Pig poo sticks to EVERYTHING.

Dire farming with Dire manure?

[remetagross]

I HATE dire manure.

[Pugwampy]

My one player wanted a rust monster pet . :smallbiggrin:

[pabelfly]

My one player wanted a rust monster pet . :smallbiggrin:

"Oh, the rust monster just wants to hug the player in plate armor."

[wilphe]

and a dire owl and an emo donkey, plus kanga and roo


make them all awakened and you have an adveturing party

Or a pantheon

https://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/madlands/

[Lvl 2 Expert]

Transposing that to a dire boar that's already 6 feet long at piglet size means you need one hell of a big source of nutrition per day for it to develop normally.

A pint of milk with a squashed goodberry mixed in twice per day, building up to just 8 hoodberries as an adult?

It's not as strong and universably applicable a spell as it is in 5e, for one you need to find (or grow?) fresh berries for it to work. But that would still be my first thought as the druid player.



Dire farming with Dire manure?

Just what I needed to plant these dire beans.

[Elkad]

I can control who can use my words. Or I can post them to the Internet. I was never naïve enough to believe I could do both at once.

How do we teach the rest of the world this...



Agreed. I have already commended her by telling the party, "Fiona was up at daylight, trying to rid the world of injustice. As a result, she now has a pig."

Were my wizard in your party, my rat familiar might immediately acquire a new name, and take up diving in trash cans for half-eaten caramel apples, cotton candy scraps, and the occasional unhatched egg.


On the subject of Dire Boar encounters.
Some decades ago my halfling rogue was on guard duty. Rest of the party is asleep. Dire Boar heading into the camp. I judged the situation hopeless on my own, yet I'm aware of the need to both wake my party, and buy them time to put their boots on and find their swords. I'm focused on stealth and never being the guy in the front of the fight, but if I hide and let it go by, it's going to one-shot the wizard rolled up in his blankie.

So I screamed "BACON BACON BACON!" at the top of my lungs, won initiative, and delivered a charging sneak attack with a confirmed crit. Which didn't really help me not get knocked into the negatives almost immediately anyway, but did mean the party had time to get up, win the fight, and staunch my bleeding at -9.

"BACON!" has been a battle cry used by players at my table ever since.

[RNightstalker]

Just what I needed to plant these dire beans.

It's safe to assume those caught dire toots right?!:smalltongue:


How do we teach the rest of the world this...




Were my wizard in your party, my rat familiar might immediately acquire a new name, and take up diving in trash cans for half-eaten caramel apples, cotton candy scraps, and the occasional unhatched egg.


On the subject of Dire Boar encounters.
Some decades ago my halfling rogue was on guard duty. Rest of the party is asleep. Dire Boar heading into the camp. I judged the situation hopeless on my own, yet I'm aware of the need to both wake my party, and buy them time to put their boots on and find their swords. I'm focused on stealth and never being the guy in the front of the fight, but if I hide and let it go by, it's going to one-shot the wizard rolled up in his blankie.

So I screamed "BACON BACON BACON!" at the top of my lungs, won initiative, and delivered a charging sneak attack with a confirmed crit. Which didn't really help me not get knocked into the negatives almost immediately anyway, but did mean the party had time to get up, win the fight, and staunch my bleeding at -9.

"BACON!" has been a battle cry used by players at my table ever since.

You had me at "BACON!!" I might have to use this at the game Friday night.

[Pugwampy]

yet I'm aware of the need to both wake my party, and buy them time to put their boots on and find their swords.

Thats my kill things in the forest game type . Players camp in the forest . The player on guard duty is fully armoured and anyone asleep either has light or no armour equipped .
They choose who is on watch at what time . I roll to see when my monster attacks . I suggest all players who use medium or heavy armour get an extra set of leather armour to use as PJ,s .

They sleep with their boots on and swords close by

[Cygnia]

Restful Crystal is my pally's very bestest friend when she has to camp in the wild.

[Elkad]

Thats my kill things in the forest game type . Players camp in the forest . The player on guard duty is fully armoured and anyone asleep either has light or no armour equipped .
They choose who is on watch at what time . I roll to see when my monster attacks . I suggest all players who use medium or heavy armour get an extra set of leather armour to use as PJ,s .

They sleep with their boots on and swords close by

And yet the bare feet metaphor still holds. Asleep, no light source, no buffs, and prone is a nice debuff stack. Not a good way to start a fight.

Had I waited for it to pass by and took the backstab, the difference is when I dropped, it would have been in the camp. By charging, I bought space. Space my party needed.

That wasn't even a conscious choice. I just reverted to my own real life outlook. When in an ambush or other hopeless situation, run straight at it. I spent about a half-second analyzing the situation, found no good options.
Me:"I charge" DM:"what?" Me, leaping from my seat and dual wielding 2 pencils. "BACON BACON BACON!"


Incidentally, this is the same rogue who several sessions later and proud of his new invisibility, was sneaking across a battlefield to stab the BBEG. Our wizard, not knowing where he was, included him in the area of a fireball. Rogue blew all his saving throws and died. Still invisible.

We had the resources to rez me, and definitely would have at least liked to recover my gear, but they didn't find my body. I was starting to really like the little guy too.

[RNightstalker]

Rogue blew all his saving throws and died. Still invisible.

We had the resources to rez me, and definitely would have at least liked to recover my gear, but they didn't find my body. I was starting to really like the little guy too.

Wouldn't the invisibility wear off?

[Remuko]

Wouldn't the invisibility wear off?

When the duration ended yeah. They could have just waited and when the duration wore off his body would become visible and they could rez him.

[Elkad]

Perpetual, from a ring.

(Yes, I know that depending on your rule interpretation, you might have to keep reactivating it in 3.5. We weren't playing that way. On=invisible, until you break it by hitting someone or taking it off.)


And I had a long-established habit of wandering off from the party to do my own thing for hours at a time, so it was a while before they missed me.

[Bullet06320]

Incidentally, this is the same rogue who several sessions later and proud of his new invisibility, was sneaking across a battlefield to stab the BBEG. Our wizard, not knowing where he was, included him in the area of a fireball. Rogue blew all his saving throws and died. Still invisible.

We had the resources to rez me, and definitely would have at least liked to recover my gear, but they didn't find my body.

several characters later, your walking through a field and trip over something, upon investigation, you discover a badly decomposed corpse that's invisible

[Remuko]

Perpetual, from a ring.

(Yes, I know that depending on your rule interpretation, you might have to keep reactivating it in 3.5. We weren't playing that way. On=invisible, until you break it by hitting someone or taking it off.)


And I had a long-established habit of wandering off from the party to do my own thing for hours at a time, so it was a while before they missed me.


the official invisibility ring I can find, doesn't say its continuous, so yeah it's not even an "interpretation" imo that it needs to be reactivated. it has the normal invisibility duration. if you all weren't playing that way that's fine but its your houserule(s) that caused the issue in the scenario then.

[Elkad]

the official invisibility ring I can find, doesn't say its continuous, so yeah it's not even an "interpretation" imo that it needs to be reactivated. it has the normal invisibility duration. if you all weren't playing that way that's fine but its your houserule(s) that caused the issue in the scenario then.

It wasn't a conscious choice initially, we just used 1e rules for the ring, because nobody looked. Nobody wrote it down as a houserule. I only realized it was activation/duration instead of "until you hit someone" when Vaarsuvius was trying to trade for the grandfathered version in the strip. Long after this game.

That's happened with MANY things over the years. People just instinctively switch to cold iron to do double damage to Ghasts, and nobody checks vs the 3.5 rulebook. Etc

We played 1e/2e for better than 30 years before we switched, so a lot of habits just carried over.

[Remuko]

It wasn't a conscious choice initially, we just used 1e rules for the ring, because nobody looked. Nobody wrote it down as a houserule. I only realized it was activation/duration instead of "until you hit someone" when Vaarsuvius was trying to trade for the grandfathered version in the strip. Long after this game.

That's happened with MANY things over the years. People just instinctively switch to cold iron to do double damage to Ghasts, and nobody checks vs the 3.5 rulebook. Etc

We played 1e/2e for better than 30 years before we switched, so a lot of habits just carried over.

That's understandable.

[rel]

On the subject of Dire Boar encounters.
Some decades ago my halfling rogue was on guard duty. Rest of the party is asleep. Dire Boar heading into the camp. I judged the situation hopeless on my own, yet I'm aware of the need to both wake my party, and buy them time to put their boots on and find their swords. I'm focused on stealth and never being the guy in the front of the fight, but if I hide and let it go by, it's going to one-shot the wizard rolled up in his blankie.

So I screamed "BACON BACON BACON!" at the top of my lungs, won initiative, and delivered a charging sneak attack with a confirmed crit. Which didn't really help me not get knocked into the negatives almost immediately anyway, but did mean the party had time to get up, win the fight, and staunch my bleeding at -9.

"BACON!" has been a battle cry used by players at my table ever since.

I'm surprised your GM let you get a sneak attack in the dark.