Mules! -- Huh! -- What are they good for?

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Do you ever use mules or pack animals in D&D? I think in 28 years of playing D&D, I've maybe used one once. In contrast, when they were available in Dungeon Siege (a wildly underrated CRPG, IMO!), I loved them.

I'm thinking it's time to change that.

Are there any problems with pack animals in dungeons that I should be aware of? Any issues with them otherwise? Should I be sweet-talking my DM for a magebred mule instead or something?

 

[Baron Opal]

Absoultely nothing!

I don't think I used them very much either. They always were eaten, fireballed, &c. We got a bag of holding or a haversack asap, or a plucky hireling if we were in a lower-magic world. Hirelings can climb ropes and paddle canoes as well as carry stuff, mules can't.

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

They're vulnerable to pathos through collateral damage, and require someone's attention to deal with.

Of course, the latter is easily solved by one of the followers taking them along, but dungeons that require lots of manuevering may be...tricky...for them. (Not all, but some)

Brad

 

[FreeXenon]

Same here, they are very prone to death and the advantage that they provided (carrying stuff) now becomes a liability. They attract things such as wyverns, griffons, hippogriffs. They can be the first thing slain or taken via raiders.

Once you get past 2nd or third level we definitely try to avoid them.
I have a first level halfling bard and the pony is a very necessary part of the 'character'.

Ever seen a pony bolt in the middle of an orcish raid, while its rider, an halfling, screams "CRUMPLE!!!"?

 

[MrFilthyIke]

I love using pack mules, most of my characters have one.

 

[Nahat Anoj]

Are there any problems with pack animals in dungeons that I should be aware of? Any issues with them otherwise? Should I be sweet-talking my DM for a magebred mule instead or something?

Depending on how you want to approach it, you might want to use The Wild Cohort feat and stat up a mule as an animal companion. Otherwise, at high levels, the mule will be toast.

 

[Warren Okuma]

Do you ever use mules or pack animals in D&D? I think in 28 years of playing D&D, I've maybe used one once. In contrast, when they were available in Dungeon Siege (a wildly underrated CRPG, IMO!), I loved them.

I'm thinking it's time to change that.

Are there any problems with pack animals in dungeons that I should be aware of? Any issues with them otherwise? Should I be sweet-talking my DM for a magebred mule instead or something?

1) Mules are meat. Meat can be eaten. They are useful. You should name your mule ration N.
2) If you really want a pack animal summon one.
3) Or take leadership awaken it and take it as your follower. A coupla levels of Barbarian will do wonders.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Depending on how you want to approach it, you might want to use The Wild Cohort feat and stat up a mule as an animal companion. Otherwise, at high levels, the mule will be toast.

Did that ever make the transfer from the Web to a book? That's a pretty potent feat.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Do you ever use mules or pack animals in D&D? I think in 28 years of playing D&D, I've maybe used one once. In contrast, when they were available in Dungeon Siege (a wildly underrated CRPG, IMO!), I loved them.

I'm thinking it's time to change that.

Are there any problems with pack animals in dungeons that I should be aware of? Any issues with them otherwise? Should I be sweet-talking my DM for a magebred mule instead or something?

If it's too big to carry, it's probably not worth it. At least that's the way I picture it. I don't believe I've ever been in an adventure where I was forced to carry something heavy. Also there are Bags of Holding, which are much more useful.

Mounts are fragile (low hit points/AC/saves), don't move well in dungeons (for the most part, the rules don't make it difficult for a mule to walk up a set of steep dungeon stairs, and doesn't even require a Handle Animal check, but you picture them having trouble in there) and they take up time in terms of feeding, handling and in combat.

Things only get worse if you don't have the right skills and need to hire a team of "mulers" ... more fragile NPCs to make things more complicated and worse, they talk and think, and might not want to enter dangerous areas like horrid deserts or dangerous dungeons. (You can force the mule into a dungeon, but it's not nice to the mule.) Intelligent NPCs might deliberately target mules or "mulers" in hit-and-run attacks just to make things difficult, sort of like a desert spellcaster using Corrupt Water to spoil water supplies and potions. The PCs really shouldn't be carrying more than, well, what they can carry.

In fact, if you summon a pack mule, you might only be making things worse. In addition to the usual damage, they can be caught in an area dispel and "killed" that way, causing all your possessions to drop. This can be a problem if you're crossing a bridge across lava, or in the middle of combat, or if you have fragile possessions, etc.

 

[Thunderfoot]

Looks like most of you would have problems in my worlds then. Mounts and pack animals are absolutely necessary in order to carry the required gear over long distances. I see a lot of Bag of Holding references, where are getting these handy items, if your DM is giving them to you, that's his fault, if you are buying them, well, let's just say that Wal-Magic doesn't exist in my world.

Ok, true, if I were playing according to the suggestions in the PHB and the DMG, I would see no reason for mounts of any kind. Fly spells are faster, Teleports faster still and you don't have to feed either of them. However, part of the purpose that DMs used to have was challenging players to think, instead of just handing out treats like a kindergarten teacher. I blame the public school systems and their, everyone wins attitude.

But seriously, in certain situations, yes, mules and mounts are awesome, in others, I would rather have a very large pack or maybe a Radio Flyer and some rope.