Wild wolf animal companion

#1

Hi gang, In our last table session where we play with modified ICRPG rules in order to play the game much more like Critical Role style of role playing… one of our players managed to charm/befriend a young female dire wolf which spent time with her and the group over a few days during the session. I played the wolf’s role through that session but would like to hand the reigns over to the player going fwd. The wolf’s father died and was very large so I’m thinking this female will too grow large. Perhaps not as large as her father was but still… damn big… like maybe double the size of a German shephard perhaps? Or do you think it should be larger? That would be question numero uno… what do you think a high fantasy female dire wolf should look like?

Next question… How should their relationship evolve? Should the player have to continuosly role to charm/befriend on a regular basis or perhaps after X amount of successful rolls, they are just now friends and trust one another? After all… this dire wolf is young still so it can learn to trust its partner. I hesitate to say “master” as I think this should be more of a buddy thing instead of ruler/servant in order to make the game more interesting. So… how do you think this relationship should be handled from a GM’s viewpoint. What kinds of checks should the player do to keep the dog and just how far will that animal go to protect her?

Lastly… actual stats. Should this animal have say… 3 different stats. One for now as “young”. One for a few months from now as it moves into “young/adult” and say a 3rd set of stats for say… a yr later when it is a mature fully grown beast? What do you recommend those stats be? What kind of specials if any should it have maybe? Perhaps the pc got lucky and this is an above average dire wolf? Or it’s trainable?

Love to hear a ton of idea’s on this so I can glean from them and flesh out something for our next session in the new yr.

Thanks in advance, you guys rock!

-Scotty

Player options in HOURS and DAYS
#2

My opinion is “no”, at least to that particular question. I think once the PC has passed a CHA check and any related EFFORT then the NPC actually becomes part of the PC’s LOOT items with no need for constant re-checks.

@GmGrizzly has some interesting thoughts on using NPCs/Companions as LOOT in ICRPG you might find helpful with a few of your questions:


And I tend to agree with and follow his ideas in my games. Although I’ve only had one game with one companion so far.

#3

THIS!

My group have several Companions using GM Grizzly’s rules as written and it’s working WONDERS!
Testify!

#4

I’ll throw in my recommendation of @GmGrizzly’s “Companions as LOOT” concept. It’s served me well for a few different animal companions.

I think you’re idea of having different stats to reflect the companions physical growth is great. I also added the concept of “Friendship Levels” to an NPC - relationships could have 3 levels, Acquaintance, Friend, and Trusted. Basically, after the initial “befriending” stage, if you continue to interact and help the companion, you can gain a friendship level, and this opened up more Action options for the companion.
I’ve only done that part once for a fox a player was REALLY attached to and wanted to roll-play with, so I added the levels to reward/facilitate this. Sounds like it might be helpful for your dire wolf.

Actions I created for the Fox:
Acquaintance Level Action: Distract, Near. Pull the attention of one enemy. Use your speed to lead them away.
Friend Level Action: Sense Danger, Far. Can smell if enemies are nearby. (Rolling a ‘1’ = ambushed by 1D4 exceptionally clean enemies…) :smile:
Trusted Level: work with player to either add another action or enhance a current one.

#5

Good idea’s man. She can speak with the dang thing when she cast speak with animals which makes things interesting. The idea that at certain levels of friendship, the creature does things is useful. She can ask, but the wolf may not listen depending on where they are at which is pretty much their relationship right now. Hanging out, trusting but still leary and not at the “I’ll risk my tail for any of you” stage. But that may change down the road. I think I will look for opportunities for the pc to “prove” itself to the animal before the animal accepts another level of friendship between them. PC puts themselves in harms way to protect the animal or feeds the animal first before themselves and so forth.

#6

Definitely!!! It’s super awesome when you can work personal stuff like that into the game!

A neat thing you might consider is at a higher friendship level they no longer have to cast ‘speak with animals’ to talk to it. They develop a mental link or just understand each other to where the spell isn’t necessary. That could feel pretty special…