just what IS a dire animal anyway?

[Malathyre]

I don't have any of the D&D books, any edition, and I've never really played the PnP game. From a game mechanics standpoint, I understand that a dire animal is better at combat than it's regular counterpart, usually being tougher, stronger, more dextrous, whatever. Conceptually, however, what is a dire animal? Do regular animals grow into them in time?

Also, I play a druid in Avlis and have a wolf as an animal companion. I noticed that it gets both Hide and Move Silently as skills...yet I haven't actually figured out how to make my wolf go into stealth mode. Is there actually a way? Otherwise, why give them the skill points?

Is there a way to make henchman go into stealth mode, too, in the SoU official campaign?

Thanks in advance!

[Manuel the White]

From a definition standpoint, one outlet describes it this way
dire:
Evil in great degree; dreadful; dismal; horrible; terrible; lamentable.

As far as what they are in DnD terms, I have heard some say that they are possessed or even undead. Not sure about that though.

[Vanor]

Conceptually, however, what is a dire animal?

Dire animals are more primitive and ferel versions of 'normal' ones. Think of a sabertooth tiger vs a normal tiger. They're bigger, more agresive, stronger, ect... That description comes from the 3e books.

But they are generally speaking also more primitive and less inteligent. So again think of them as almost being prehistoric versions...

I haven't actually figured out how to make my wolf go into stealth mode. Is there actually a way?

There is I think a command to make a follower go into stealth mode in the radial menu, how well this works is beyond me. Stealth is also part of the AI but I'm not sure if that every worked right or not.

[storminj]

I have a Druid with a panther companion and have tried every way concievable to get it to go stealthy and it won't. I also cannot get it to use any of its special abilities that it has beyond sneak attack. Something is broken or ignored in the druid companions.

[Malathyre]

Let me just say thanks again for all of your responses, they are much appreciated.

I have a Druid with a panther companion and have tried every way concievable to get it to go stealthy and it won't. I also cannot get it to use any of its special abilities that it has beyond sneak attack. Something is broken or ignored in the druid companions.

I have tried every conceivable way I can think of, too, without any success. With mages, I know the familiar can be possessed, so that if at no other time, at least during possession stealth and detect modes can be used. Seems like there ought to be a way to tell your companion/henchmen to do this without having to possess...please note I am picking on the NWN engine here and NOT Avlis or any of the custom content in it, which, btw, I love.

Separate question: Since several were kind enough to define a dire animal in D&D terms, is the Avlis definition roughly the same? In an RP kind of way, I was thinking of having my character's animal companion eventually become a dire wolf as it got older, but I wasn't sure if this was possible (wouldn't be if dire animals are a separate breed, as has been suggested already). Obviously, I could just have my character choose a new animal companion with a different name, but I thought it would be more fun to keep the same one and have it "change" over time by eventually picking the dire version...if this is cheesing, just say so and I'll forget all about it.