I would like to know what each one actually does. If you have the animal friendship spell, do you need any animal handling?
[RPG] Difference between Animal Handling Skill and Animal Friendship Spell
animalsdnd-5eskillsspells
Related Solutions
The 5e rules don't specifically speak to this situation, in the Handle Animal rules or the MM entries for the riding horse, draft horse, and warhorse. But they like leaving a lot to the DM's discretion in 5e, so that's not entirely unexpected.
Yes, it's entirely reasonable to require Handle Animal checks with mounts or other animals not trained for war to get them to ride near monsters, I think that fits the definition of "risky maneuver" about as perfectly as one could. The world's full of people who took a spill off a horse when a snake spooked it. In earlier editions you'd find notes like "Horses can be trained for war but otherwise are skittish around battle."
Hold the phone...
The 20 is a failure. Gricks are not “Animals.”
A grick is of the type monstrosity and thus is not an animal. Animals have the type beast.
Monstrosities are monsters in the strictest sense — frightening creatures that are not ordinary, not truly natural
MM, p. 7
Beasts include all varieties of ordinary animals.
MM, p. 6
(And those are the hazards of arguing with your DM.)
Connecting the Dots
The game terms are well-defined. Just to connect the dots, here’s a little formal proof:
- The Animal Handling skill works specifically on animals
- “All varieties of ordinary animals” are beasts
- Monstrosities are not beasts
- Monstrosities are therefore not animals (in game terms)
- We can conclude Animal Handling does not work on monstrosities
The only point to argue, in my opinion, is how much of a loophole the word “ordinary” creates. I would argue not much, as the phrase “all varieties” is expansive.
Taming does not equal Domestication
Some have argued that a “tamed monstrosity” is equivalent to a “domesticated beast” (domestic beats being explicitly called out as valid targets for animal handling). But taming and domestication are different things:
Domestication should not be confused with taming. Taming is the conditioned behavioral modification of a wild-born animal when its natural avoidance of humans is reduced and it accepts the presence of humans, but domestication is the permanent genetic modification of a bred lineage that leads to an inherited predisposition toward humans.
-Wikipedia, Domestication
Please note, in this Wikipedia article, “animal” is not a game term.
(Also see CGP Grey’s Zebras vs. Horses.)
A goblin might tame a monstrosity; a drow might tame a slave. Taming them doesn’t make either an domesticated animal.
A word on alignment
All the ordinary animals/beasts in the Monster Manual have an alignment of unaligned — “they don’t make moral or ethical choices, but act on instinct.” (MM, p.7) Grick are aligned neutral, not unaligned. Thus, although they have low intelligence, their minds are different than those of animals.
What about monstrosities that are trainable?
Some monstrosities, such as griffons and hippogriffs, can be trained as mounts. That’s because a specific rule says they can be (under the stipulations set out by those rules).
How could the goblins train this untrainable grick in the first place? Well, that is a decision made by the DM in question. In previous editions of D&D, goblins were known for training all sorts of monsters. In any case, it is not really relevant to the rules analysis here.
Skills checks that could never succeed
Why would a DM call for a skill check that could never succeed, such as an Animal Handling roll on something that can’t be swayed by animal handling? That would be done whenever doing otherwise would give away information to the players (via a little inevitable meta-gaming).
For example, if a druid tries to call a cat over to him, the DM may call for an Animal Handling check (of course). If the cat is actually a polymorphed wizard, the skill check could never succeed. If the druid rolls a 20 and still fails, then that is a hint to the players that something may not be as it seems. If they roll poorly, they may think they simply failed. So there is still a point to the roll.
A Note on Monster Types
It’s worthwhile to get familiar with monster types listed in the front of the Monster Manual. These are not fluff descriptions — they impact game mechanics in lots of ways. See my answer here.
Related Topic
- [RPG] Can you use the Animal Handling skill to command a creature after using Animal Friendship on it
- [RPG] Do creatures charmed by Charm Person/Animal Friendship attack your allies
- [RPG] Does Animal Friendship work on a Wild Shaped druid
- [RPG] Animal handling vs persuasion while using speak with animals
Best Answer
We can look at the SRD for answers.
Animal Handling
Animal Friendship
Animal Handling allows you to influence an animal's behavior when the animal is either domesticated, or is owned by you. If it isn't domesticated or owned by you, according to the book you can only try to intuit its intentions. RAW, you can't use animal handling to calm down an attacking bear in the wild, but a successful animal handling check might tell you whether or not it wants to eat you or is just defending its den.
Animal Friendship can be used on any animal regardless of its background or pedigree. You can absolutely use this spell on the wild bear you meet out in the woods, and if it's successful then you can convince the bear that you mean it no harm (even if it previously thought you did). This is different than Animal Handling because if the bear thought you meant it harm, a successful Animal Handling check would not convince it otherwise.
As to whether or not you need Animal Handling if you already have Animal Friendship, keep in mind that spells cost resources and can only be used a certain number of times a day. You don't want to have to cast a spell every time you ask your horse to charge into battle or every time you want to put barding on it. Also, RAW Animal Friendship doesn't tell you anything about the animal's intentions, so if you ever find yourself in a position where you want to know an animal's intentions, you'll want Animal Handling in addition to Animal Friendship.