JadeVib

In 2e days, our cleric had some kit or something that gave him one free use of Speak With Animals a day. And he never got a chance to truly use it. So, at the end of every day, he'd cast it on one of the draft horses pulling the group's wagon. And they'd have a conversation.

I played the horse as rather intelligent, if horsey in his view on life. He kept trying to offer oats to the cleric, and would always speak of "leaving his mark" on the world (he was determined to "plop" on every road in the world). He was a very fun character that started as a reaction to a player's sudden whim.

Eventually, I made the mistake of having the horse get caught in a wild magic zone (it was in the Realms, the one time I ran a game there) and having this speak with animals effect become permanent. It sucked because it a) once again made the PC's power useless and b) made the Horse NPC more frequent, and therefore, less fun.

Still, my favourite NPC ever was a talking animal.

Also, I'm a fan of talking familiars - which are written right into the game, after all! But I'm thinking they don't count for this question?

Finally, I use talking animals rarely, but always to good effect. During STAP, there's a bit that revisits The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan that I expanded upon. I added the talking crayfish and hermit crab "Gods" from the original adventure, and that was a lot of fun. One of the high points of the AP.

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