What Do You Do with a Dog in a Dungeon?

[Michael Hopcroft]

The title pretty much says it all. I'm not talking about a wizard's familiar or a druid's companion. I'm talking about a typical, loyal dog that accompanies its master on adventures. He may be well-trained to help his master, but he doesn't have anything not present in the normal run of canis familiaris.

 

How can he help the adventurer? What does the adventurer have to do to keep him intact? What are the special demands on both when they go delving?

[Escafarc]

Re: What Do You Do with a Dog in a Dungeon?

 

If talking about a untrained dog it would still have a better sense of smell and hearing. But the dog could be trained to track/find a number of different items. And of course a dog can also be trained as a watchdog and a war-dog. Larger breeds could also be used as small pack animal. One last thing it could be use as a bed warmer oh yeah it's always good to have an extra food source

[Ragnarok]

Re: What Do You Do with a Dog in a Dungeon?

 

I agree with Escafarc on the enhanced senses. You could have a bloodhound tracking scents or you could have a pointer alerting the party to nearby foes.

 

Anyone play Torchlight? A dog like that could be very useful indeed...

[Nolgroth]

Re: What Do You Do with a Dog in a Dungeon?

 

"Here Spot! Go take this loot to town and trade it in for gold!" or "Here Spot. Eat this fish and become something spectacular."

 

From the OP, I would consider the second one out of the question. The first would require three things; a) an intelligent, well-trained dog, a lucky dog in order to get back from the dungeon unharmed and, c) a town full of honest merchants that would be willing to do "trade" with a mutt. It's a cute idea for less serious gaming, but I doubt it would be good for most dark and moody games.

 

The ideas about scent tracking, guarding, and biting bad things are all valid. It could also be used to carry light loads. In a variation on the Torchlight theme, it could be used to ferry messages between two groups of players by using its keen senses to navigate in dark places. Depending on the breed of dog, digging might also be a useful feature.

[lemming]

Re: What Do You Do with a Dog in a Dungeon?

 

You can look up what K-9 units in police and military units are trained to do. There will be a lot of overlap.

[Curufea]

Re: What Do You Do with a Dog in a Dungeon?

 

In the Western Shores, presumably if in a dungeon, then its commited some crime not punishable by death - which for an animal is highly unusual. Either that or the local authorities had no handy way of restraining the dog (maybe it was rabid) but did have an empty cell in the dungeon.

 

So, the way to look after a dog in a dungeon is to give it fresh water daily and food - and occasionally take it outside to walk in the sunlight.

 

The way it helps an adventurer is by not getting locked up in a dungeon in the first place.

 

It doesn't help in delving because a) it can't mine and it would require a special harness to go down mine shafts.

[Patriot]

Re: What Do You Do with a Dog in a Dungeon?

 

Put a ring of regen/+20 from death on the dog. Slay and eat the dog every evening, in the morning he will be goood as new

[Ragnarok]

Re: What Do You Do with a Dog in a Dungeon?

 

Put a ring of regen/+20 from death on the dog. Slay and eat the dog every evening' date=' in the morning he will be goood as new[/quote']

 

 

Then you will gain Hunted: PETA

[Curufea]

Re: What Do You Do with a Dog in a Dungeon?

 

Then you will gain Hunted: PETA

 

That's okay - PETA would die of starvation within 1 generation in any fantasy medieval setting.

[Teflon Billy]

Re: What Do You Do with a Dog in a Dungeon?

 

Kill it for the XP and loot the body?

 

TB

[Ragnarok]

Re: What Do You Do with a Dog in a Dungeon?

 

Kill it for the XP and loot the body?

 

TB

 

Don't forget to skin it and sell the hide in town.

[Hugh Neilson]

Re: What Do You Do with a Dog in a Dungeon?

 

A lot depends on the power level of the game. I don't think much of the dog's survival chances in a mid to high level D&D game. It probably gets sent ahead to set off any traps, which will likely only work once per dog.

 

In a game where hit points don't rise rapidly, or area effect attacks are not so common, a dog could be quite helpful. Watchdog, wardog and tracker are all mentioned above. Dogs are pack animals, so it seems reasonable it could be trained to harry the master's opponent from another angle, benefiting from and granting bonuses for forcing the target to fend off attacks from different angles. Even a well-timed bark from the shadows could be highly beneficial under the right circumstances.

[Alibear]

Re: What Do You Do with a Dog in a Dungeon?

 

I reckon an attack dog would be quite handy for a lone adventurer or man in the wild. If nothing else it would allow him to get some sleep knowing the dog would alert him to possible danger.

 

Against normal type foes it might help stop him being overrun by several foes.

[Dino]

Re: What Do You Do with a Dog in a Dungeon?

 

If I remember the rules to Talisman correctly, you can have the dog take your place in the dungeon so you can continue adventuring. Also, when you need to feed two of your followers to the vampire, the dog and the jester count!

[Lord Liaden]

Re: What Do You Do with a Dog in a Dungeon?

 

Why not ask the GM to allow your dog to gain Experience over the course of an adventure, as you can do with Followers in general? If a human can learn the skill to survive and destroy ever more powerful opposition, why not a dog? Real-life canines can be trained for battle as well as many other useful skills, and cinematic dog protagonists are often nearly "supercanine."

 

Medieval war-trained hounds often wore protective gear. One might even design magic items specifically for animals. (Of course a potion of Growth or Invisibility would be just as helpful to a dog as to a human.)

[Alibear]

Re: What Do You Do with a Dog in a Dungeon?

 

Perhaps you could train a dog to sniff out magic. A dog who cold do that would be worth his weight in swords +1.

[Lucius]

Re: What Do You Do with a Dog in a Dungeon?

 

(Of course a potion of Growth or Invisibility would be just as helpful to a dog as to a human.)

 

I think that would be setting specific. In this world, a beneficial medicine for one species can poison another. There's no reason alchemy might not be as complex and unpredictable as biochemistry.

 

That's okay - PETA would die of starvation within 1 generation in any fantasy medieval setting.

 

Not necessarily "any." If the setting includes such elements as "Create Food" spells, enchanted plows that work by themselves and don't require "enslaving" oxen, or weather and fertility control magic, for example, it may be possible for a community to feed itself without "exploiting" animals.

 

Barring such fantastic elements, a PETA like group might face famine and a population crash, but I think they'd more likely be exterminated after declaring a holy war to try to force everyone ELSE into their own extremist ideology.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

Who's going to keep the palindromedary from exploiting me?

[AnotherSkip]

Re: What Do You Do with a Dog in a Dungeon?

 

Lucious, its too late, the Palidromedary is allready exploiting you.....

 

FOR YEARS!!!!!!

 

Hmmmm... Keeping the Dog in on piece could be difficult. pratially need a Vet to allow it to survive...

[Curufea]

Re: What Do You Do with a Dog in a Dungeon?

 

Not necessarily "any." If the setting includes such elements as "Create Food" spells, enchanted plows that work by themselves and don't require "enslaving" oxen, or weather and fertility control magic, for example, it may be possible for a community to feed itself without "exploiting" animals.

 

Barring such fantastic elements, a PETA like group might face famine and a population crash, but I think they'd more likely be exterminated after declaring a holy war to try to force everyone ELSE into their own extremist ideology.

 

True - but I don't know of anyone who has invented a world so fantastical that the PETA lifestyle would actually work

[Ian Mackinder]

Re: What Do You Do with a Dog in a Dungeon?

 

True - but I don't know of anyone who has invented a world so fantastical that the PETA lifestyle would actually work

 

... Except for the fantasy world that PETA zealots live in, of course.

[Ninja-Bear]

Re: What Do You Do with a Dog in a Dungeon?

 

If talking about a untrained dog it would still have a better sense of smell and hearing. But the dog could be trained to track/find a number of different items. And of course a dog can also be trained as a watchdog and a war-dog. Larger breeds could also be used as small pack animal. One last thing it could be use as a bed warmer oh yeah it's always good to have an extra food source

 

I agree with Escafarc. A well trained dog could be very useful in a dungeon. The only problem I see would be maybe needing a harness to lower or raise the dog in tunnels.

[Lawnmower Boy]

Re: What Do You Do with a Dog in a Dungeon?

 

Hmmmm... Keeping the Dog in on piece could be difficult. pratially need a Vet to allow it to survive...

 

It shouldn't be that hard. Your cleric will just have to take a few Heel spells.

[Alibear]

Re: What Do You Do with a Dog in a Dungeon?

 

I'm gonna try and furget that dreadful pun.

[torchwolf]

Re: What Do You Do with a Dog in a Dungeon?

 

A dog can be very handy when you run into those skeleton hordes.

Just say "Fetch!" and point.

[Alcamtar]

Re: What Do You Do with a Dog in a Dungeon?

 

Trained dogs are standard equipment in our D&D games. Watchdogs when you need to rest, guard dogs to keep the goblins away from the wizards, and of course they serve well as auxiliary fighters -- especially if you outfit them with spiked leather armor and name them "grip" and "fang". ;-) If you get a St Bernard, put a healing potion in that little barrel under his collar. Because, you know, they always have one of those.

 

Dogs are useful for dealing with pesky minor critters that you don't want to bother with - giant rats, kobolds, etc. A dog adds to your PRE attacks when trying to persuade people do leave you alone. You can reward your dogs with dead rats and stirges... and as we all learned from NetHack, if you feed your little dog someday it will become a BIG dog. :-D

 

Getting a dog is also handy if your wizard's cat familiar is always taking naps and shedding on your blanket. 'course then a dog is shedding on your blanket, but at least you annoyed the wizard.

 

What you don't want is a talking dog. If you don't know why, you haven't seen the movie "Up". rofl. (but now I want to play a talking dog...)