A Guide To pack animals

Wiki > Ultima Online Wiki > Gameplay > A Guide To pack animals

General Information

There are, at this time, three creatures in game that may be used by all to carry items. These are the Pack Horse, the Pack Llama and the Giant Beetle. Each of these creatures are capable of bonding with their owner and will therefore recall with the owner, negating the need to cast gate spell. In addition necromancers are able to summon a horde minion which can also be used to provide extra carrying capacity for its owner.

Note: Pack animals which have items in their packs are not subject to auto-stable and will remain in game if their owner is logged out. Pets left in this way will lose loyalty rapidly and may become wild, at this point their ‘pack’ and all items in it will fall to the ground and decay unless recovered by the owner

Pack Horses and Llamas

You may buy a pack horse or pack llama from any animal trainer, the vet and some ranchers. The carrying capacity of a pack animal is 1600 stones, horses and llamas both require one follower slot.
Animal trainers and vets can be found at the stables, also a vet can be found at ‘Britannia Animal Care’, North West Britain. Look for Ranchers at the farms and in Farmer’s Markets. NPCs do not buy back pack horses (or llamas).

Giant Beetles

Giant beetles spawn in the solen hive and must be subdued before they can be tamed. It is therefore usual to purchase these from players, they can sometimes be found available for purchase on stalls at the Magincia Bazaar. The main difference between pack horses, pack llamas and giant beetles is that the beetle may be ridden by its owner. However carrying its owner has an impact on its function as a pack animal. This pet can log out with its owner, provided the owner is riding it. A giant beetle can carry 1600 stones if not ridden. With approximately 525 stones it can be ridden at running speed, between 525 and 1600 stones it can be ridden, but will not move above walking speed (your mount is too fatigued). Requires one follower slot.

Pet Loyalty

Pets lose loyalty when neglected. Feeding it and commanding it to follow you will both increase its loyalty, leaving it out of sight will decrease it. Note: Immediately after feeding a pack horse it will “loose” whatever its current command is, always re-issue the command after feeding.

A neglected pet may go wild, however all is not lost. Any pet you have owned you will be able to retame with no taming skill. Immediately after retaming your pack horse, before you give it any commands, feed it!

Bonding and Resurrection

Anyone can bond with a pack animal (or any animal with a minimum taming requirement of 29.1 or below, regardless of their skill level in taming. The main benefit of owning a bonded pack animal is that you can recall with it instead of having to gate it everywhere. Other than that, if a bonded the pack animal dies, it can be resurrected by a player with sufficient lore and veterinary skill or an npc vet.

Dead Packy

The first thing to bear in mind is, the packy’s corpse is going to disappear a lot faster than a player-character’s would. You can loot it, but chances are you can’t carry the loot, so you can only realistically place all you can’t carry in a bag on the ground. That means other players could take the contents, but it’s a better option than hoping to get back with a resurrected pet before the corpse decays.

How do I stable a pack horse?

Stabling a pet is fairly straightforward. You simply go up to a stablemaster in a stable, tell them “stable” or “stall” and the targeting cursor will come up. Click on your pack horse and, provided its pack is empty, it will disappear, the cost of this is 30gp which will be withdrawn from your back pack or bank box.

To re-claim your pet say ‘claim (petname)’, alternatively ‘claim list’ will give you a list of pets currently stabled from which you may select one. Using the word ‘claim’ alone will give random pets to the maximum of your control slots. It is not necessary to return to the same stable, you can claim your pets from any stablemaster. For detailed information on stabling pets, see the stabling information in the Tamer’s guide.

Packy and Monsters

A pack horse that has been given an ‘all stop’ ‘all stay’ or ‘guard’ command will respond when targeted, autodefend, and usually die. A pack horse that is under the ‘all follow me’ command will ignore an approaching monster, giving you time to beat a hasty retreat.