M is for Mastiff

Mastiff - Dog is man's best friend

Warhammer world is a grim and perilous. Characters can get killed easily if they aren’t cautious or lucky. Players want the best for their characters: good equipment, good characteristics, good career, good skills and so on. Most players will maximize their armor and weapon damage but very few will look beyond that. Game master must encourage their players to tap into another dimension: henchmen and animals. These resources offer a lot of role playing and gaming materiel. Let’s use the mastiff and typical utility dogs as a sample.

If players are looking only for combat, then they should purchase war dogs. They are cheap even if not commonly trade. They could make the difference between life and death. Firstly they are sold trained so not much skills are required to handle them. Upkeep costs is not worse than the one of a horse or armor. Mastiffs fight efficiently and are expendable resources. Same as with dog, they offer all the advantages of their keen sense. Having dogs watching over a sleeping camp is a valuable defensive addition.

Players looking for other aspects can focus on hunting dog, truffle seeker, rat catcher, artist for street shows. Characters can become kennel master or anything related to the breeding and trading of dogs. Option are really endless. If players overlook dogs, game masters should give some animal to any clever NPC. Characters are hunt down, give hunting dog to the party trailing them. Guards can fall asleep, be not really reliable. But for sure characters archenemy will be protected by bodyguards and few of them will be canine handlers. 

Why should game masters let their players have animals? First, they are handled by characters so that’s not much overhead. Owners can track dog progress and manage them as side character. Secondly they offer some options when a party is too weak, having an extra fighting unit is a way to keep some balance. Finally, dogs are just animals, they are more expendable than player character. Game masters can control them for their own good or doom. How does a war dog react to a monster causing fear or terror? Use whatever behavior producing a good story. That’s a middle ground before game master directly controls a character. More options giving different leverage points are always nice to have.

-JMT

Popular posts from this blog

[D&D 5e] Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden 17

The party left the ice fortress to check out the dead body we heard was frozen in the ice halfway up the island. The body was of Nas. It turned out she was still there in spirit, and she possessed Vael. In Vael’s body, she went after the Codicil that Ylenn had her face stuck in. When Vael couldn’t get to Ylenn, Nas possessed Prax instead. Prax also couldn’t get there, as Ylenn cast Hold Person on him, and the rest of the party dragged him away from Nas’ dead body. After he was far enough away, the spirit had to return to the dead body…which Morgan had burned to a crisp. We got the orb containing Professor Scant from Nas’ dead body. We circled the island, looking for the whale or another good way off. We couldn’t find one. Ylenn said she could summon the whale, if we could just last the night. We made a lean-to to sleep in and keep cover from the roc. As an octopus, Morgan was able to get some sail from a sunken ship to cover our lean-to. He also was able to find a huge treasure che...
Read more

Thoughts on Stalwart Adventures 7

We were quite surprised at how we found our new party member, and exactly what race/class he was! I kept hearing there were witches outside of town, so I kept trying to recruit village folk to go adventuring with us, figuring that’s where our new party member would come from. Begrudgingly I was forced to leave town without anyone, only to find the new guy hanging from a tree in a cage.  The DM kept letting Zak try to climb the tree and pick the lock, no matter how badly I failed. Mostly it was to find out how long it took and what zany stuff happened while I was trying, including falling from the cage, and then also standing in Thanin’s saddle while she rode to stand under the cage.  Searching for the dwarf hold entrance, we were reminded once again how out of our element these characters are. I can see the benefit of a stable of rolled up characters, and then choosing the one used to the wilderness for this particular adventure. Zak is an in-town dude. He really needs to snap...
Read more

Thoughts on Stalwart Adventures 3

I think we were all done with fighting goblins. The DM had the pack leader in the next room. He gave himself up and assured us the goblins (and his ogre) would leave us alone. The rest of the night (until the end) was exploring. It’s really good to mix in the exploring after so much fighting. I still need to get better at Find/Remove Traps, as one blasted me pretty good.  I played the character a little more chaotic, and it was kind of fun. Probably not the type of fun that the other PCs feel they can rely on to watch their back, though. The fun thing about chaotic neutral is I can lean into it whenever I’m looking to spice things up. The rest of the time I can be more reasonable and reliable. The cleric held its own again. I really think he may be the best option for fighting the alpha werewolf. We’ll have to talk it over and see what the others think. I know Zak isn’t the best choice! If we can defeat the alpha wolf, it should wrap up this little adventure nicely. 
Read more