In the monster manual, it states that if you get it as a hatchling, you can raise a wyvern much easier but how long would that take? It doesn't state how old they can live and how long it takes an egg to hatch, so is there any obscure rule or something on the age of Wyverns? It seems like a pretty big oversight to mention you should get hatchlings but not mention how long it takes for them to mature. I'm not really using it, but I was just wondering if there was something somewhere on this topic.
[RPG] How long would it take to raise a Wyvern
dnd-5emonstersmount
Related Solutions
1. Get a cheatsheet into each player's hands.
You know that godsend player, the one who always has the notecards? Key thing there: the notecards.
You've spoken to the group, and they got upset, but you know they cared enough to get the books in the first place. It's entirely possible that they do just forget, or maybe they're having a difficult time with the rules and don't know how to articulate it. Even if they read cover to cover (and maybe they already have), there's a lot of information to parse and remember, especially for new players. Even veterans forget rules sometimes! Still, fumbling through the book for basic rules is not time-effective. My solution is to create a cheatsheet. This has helped me as both GM and player.
Figure out your most commonly used rules. Type up these rules and print a copy for each player. Try to condense them as much as you can. Strip them to their bare bones so players can find the information they need at a glance. Also, since you'll be distributing the same page to everyone, concentrate on rules that everyone uses. I'll discuss character-specific rules later on.
It's just more practical for you to make the cheatsheet. If they don't have the rules down yet, they probably don't know which ones are the most important. You likely have a better grasp, and you're also the one who wants more efficiency. The best way to ensure that this happens is to do it yourself, and then the whole group will be on the same page.
For character-specific rules, though, it's best if the players do it. This spreads the effort around. Plus, you can use this as an opportunity to help re-familiarize your players with their mechanics. Sit down with them and help them make index cards or type notes from the book. Point out nifty features and answer any questions.
Assure them that it will make their lives way easier, because it will. They probably don't like book-fumbling either. They'll also be more likely to use their character's features if they're always right in front of them in an easily-digestible format. It's hard to achieve your full potential if you don't know where to find it. The key thing is to emphasize how useful it will be for them (in character and out) if they do this, not how much worse things will be if they don't. Make it about them and their potential fun, not your frustration, to avoid further souring.
It's awesome that the Battlemaster Fighter took the initiative, though. If this is something he enjoys doing, you could enlist his help! I'm this player in my own groups, even when I'm not GMing. I love having a cheat sheet, so if I'm making one anyway, why not share? At the least, use his notes as an example (if he's okay with it).
2. Make use of existing resources.
Cheatsheets you make will be the best-tailored to your needs. That doesn't mean you shouldn't use ready-made tools on top of that. People often share their own tools if they think they're especially useful. If you need something specific, search the web to see if it already exists. There's no guarantee that what you find will be useful -- again, you know your own needs best -- but it never hurts to try. If you hit gold, that's time and effort saved.
For instance, here are some form-fillable initiative cards that provide a quick reference of initiative order and PC skills, traits, and actions; here is a larger, longer version of a similar concept. Here's a site that generates spell cards. ENworld has many sheets available. It only took me a few minutes to locate them by searching "5e spell cards," "5e initiative cards," and "5e character sheets," respectively. You'll be more successful if you already know what you need, but you can still try searches like "5e game resources" and "5e player print outs" if you're looking for tools in general.
TL;DR
In dnd-3.5e riders needn't bother training most intelligent creatures that can serve as mounts.1 Instead, a rider makes Diplomacy skill checks to negotiate with the intelligent mount about what the mount will do while the rider's aboard. An intelligent mount's loyalty is gained through role-playing as one would gain the loyalty of any NPC. And, as an NPC, an intelligent mount has whatever feats the DM gives it.
Training a wyvern
The Arms and Equipment Guide is a dnd-3e source, and some of its information on mounts is superseded by the Dungeon Master's Guide for dnd-3.5e. That Dungeon Master's Guide on Intelligent Mounts says
Mounts with Intelligence scores of 5 or higher [like, conveniently, the wyvern (Monster Manual 259)] are more like NPCs than they are like traditional mounts. As a result, characters must use Diplomacy checks to negotiate what the mount will and will not do (see Influencing NPC Attitudes, page 72 of the Player’s Handbook). Once the character and mount reach an agreement, they still must train together. Training time is as given under the Handle Animal skill (page 74 of the Player’s Handbook). Intelligent mounts may insist on special care, such as a hireling devoted to that specific mount, special food, or even a share of the party treasure. (205)
Following the rules for the skill Handle Animal, a trainer takes 3 hours each day for an uninterrupted 3 weeks then makes a Handle Animal skill check to train the wyvern for the general purpose combat riding (DC 67). Success means that if the trainer takes another 3 hours each day for another uninterrupted 3 weeks that the wyvern will gain the general purpose combat riding. Failure means that the trainer must start anew if a trained wyvern is still desired.
Let me explain that DC 67. According to the Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, and Monster Manual, there's really no way to train a wyvern. The Dungeon Master's Guide would have a dude—a really persuasive dude—convince a wyvern to serve as his mount then, despite the absence of rules for doing so, have that same dude and wyvern train together… never explaining what that means.
So, if a trainer lacks the feat Dragon Trainer (Races of the Dragon 98-9)—which makes this DC 20—, a trainer must resort to the Epic Level Handbook's rules for Handle Animal (41), which set the DC for "[t]rain other creature" to 60 plus the creature's Hit Dice. And, while those rules are included in the System Resource Document, they weren't updated by the 3.5 revision.
(Further, the Epic Level Handbook sets the time required to train the other creature to 2 months, which a DM may fairly rule increases the time it takes to train a wyvern for the purpose combat riding to one year. That is, it normally takes 1 week to teach a creature a trick but 2 months an other creature… so if every week is instead 2 months, 6 weeks for the general purpose combat riding works out to a modified 12 months. In my experience, rarely does an adventurer enjoy this amount of time off.)
What training a wyvern yields
The Dungeon Master's Guide is unclear on why exactly a wyvern mount must be trained. The Rules of the Game Web Column "All about Mounts, Part Five" on Intelligent Mounts says
According to the Dungeon Master's Guide, a mount with an Intelligence score of 3 or higher acts like an NPC ally rather than a mount. Riding such an ally works much like riding an aggressive mount in battle (see Part Two)…
It's 5 or higher, but we'll let that slide… and, anyway, I tend to agree with Williams here: the cutoff shouldn't be Intelligence 5 or higher as per the DMG but 3 or higher, the cutoff between just instinct and what we consider intelligence. Anyway, so you know, "All about Mounts, Part 2" on "Aggressive Mounts in a Battle" says
A character could ride a mount that isn't cowardly in battle, but still isn't trained to carry a rider into combat.… If you find yourself in a battle while still astride your mount/ally, you and your improvised mount still act on your initiative number. You must attempt a Ride check to direct the mount's actions, which is noted in the section on unruly mounts. [That section says that, in short, the rider takes a move action that provokes attacks of opportunity to makes a Ride skill check (DC 20). Success means that the rider directs the mount.] If you fail, the mount might stick around to fight. If so, the mount moves where it will, but you still can't take any other action in the same round that you made the failed check (you spend your time just staying on).
On Intelligent Mounts continues, saying
…except that you don't have to make a Ride check to act while riding. (If your mount carries you willingly, the ride is smooth enough so your actions aren't restricted.) [This is, I think, supposed to be the Ride skill check fight with warhorse (DC 10) that, if failed, means that either rider or mount can attack but not both.] You also cannot make a Ride check to control the mount's actions, but you can make a Diplomacy (or possibly a Wild Empathy) check to get the mount to accept your direction. If you do, your mount acts just like a mount trained for combat riding.
Even if you cannot (or do not choose to) direct your mount's actions, you still can ride along, making your own initiative roll and possibly delaying until after your mount acts….
(Emphasis mine. Note that I reference the Rules of the Game articles here—despite controversy—because other information on mounts is largely unavailable in the dnd-3.5e corpus. While dnd-3e tended to treat even intelligent mounts like uncomfortably acquiescent slaves, dnd-3.5e's more nuanced view tends to treat intelligent mounts like the intelligent and independent creatures they are, and this series of articles in the only place I've found that details the mechanics of that relationship.)
So, in short, after spending 6 weeks to a year training the wyvern for combat riding, it seems as if the wyvern still keeps its limited wits about it and still tends to do what it wants unless its rider convinces it otherwise, making training an intelligent mount at all, ultimately, a pointless exercise.
The wyvern's loyalty
The wyvern is an NPC. A rider that wishes to earn its loyalty earns it the same way she would any other NPC's loyalty—a sheep costs 2 gp (PH 112)—, and rearing a baby wyvern from infancy will probably make it more loyal than normal. Exactly how the wyvern reacts to the rider's overtures is up to the DM.
The wyvern's feats
As an NPC, the DM designs the creature, picking its feats and skills and, if it possesses the nonelite or elite arrays, assigning its ability scores. If it gains class levels, the DM picks those, too. A creature that raises a wyvern typically has no say in the wyvern's choices.
1 The Intelligence 10 giant eagle (Monster Manual 93), Intelligence 5 griffon (139-40), Intelligence 6 howler (Int 6) (154-5), Intelligence 10 giant owl (205), and Intelligence 10 pegasus all require training before they'll bear a rider into combat. What happens when a rider tries to ride them into combat anyway is unclear, but I suspect they—through no fault of their own—behave like Aggressive Mounts in a Battle (see above).
You may also be interested in this question about quickly training creatures, this question about training nonanimals that possess Intelligence scores of 1 or 2, and this pathfinder question that discusses for dnd-3.5e the history of the difference between domesticated and nondomesticated animals.
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Best Answer
This is one of those things on which D&D bows to the DM's authority over their world. D&D has provided the creature, but not all the details of its life cycle, ecology, mating habits, regional variations, history, origin, etc. ad nauseum. Different editions have given more or less detail on these aspects of creatures, and this is the level of detail 5e has settled on.
So, in a phrase, "ask your DM," since it will vary according to what the DM wants for their setting. In one setting wyverns might be like reptilian mayflies who live only a year and die every winter, while in another setting they can live thousands of years, and in a third setting they have a lifespan similar to cats, etc.