Ordering minions via tells

[Brodnur]

I had a thought a minute ago. And yes, it did hurt a little What I was wondering, was would it be possible to give orders to minions via tells, providing you are wearing the amulet of communication, or some equivilent item. I think the rp would be great for the Ranger class in particular. For example.

Ranger Joe whistles shrilly.
Ranger Joe's horse, Meg, trots in from the southeast.
Ranger Joe mounts Meg, the ranger horse.

Something like that, but it'd work for all classes as well, but I was primarily thinking of it being some sort of ranger or druid skill when I considered it. Ideas or improvements on this, anyone?

[Harroghty]

Tell might be a bit much (see: "Animal" language debate in another thread), but I think that yelling might be more appropriate. My dog will come if it hears me call or whistle. Maybe if your pet is within yelling distance (and you have sufficient skill to convince it) then you can beckon it back?

[Selveem]

Yeah, but even still Yell distance is crazy far. Especially in the overmap. I can yell from one corner of the map to the opposite.

I've lost my mount a few times; it'd be nice to have something like this, but at the same time with the distance that yell can cover, I don't want that to be a unspoken privilege to be an irresponsible owner and start yelling/whistling all over Waterdeep to get my mount back.

Even then, that doesn't mean all mounts are intelligent enough, care enough, or even possess the facilities to find you.

Besides, who would name their horse Meg?

[Brar]

Whistles... perhaps use something similar to the view range for that, there could be a whistle command for animal empathy guys and using a real whistle or similar pet calling device for others?

Just random thoughts, really.

Brar

[Lysha]

The only thing about the yell idea is the potential for spam. If it doesn't work the first time, I can only imagine some people trying again and again and again to get it fight. This thought makes me cringe. Continued yelling gets on my nerves, and I'm worried this would add to it.

Perhaps there may be a better alternative? Maybe another command? What about of a combination of feat and command, like Call Minion?

Besides, who would name their horse Meg?

Ranger Joe, obviously.

[Selveem]

I, too, get annoyed by excessive yelling (or other non-involved echoes, for that matter). I think there's already too many 'specialized' feats on FK that have limited code use. If it's going to be implemented, I say:
put it as part of handle animal,
include a coded command like whistle that can only be heard from within 4 room's distance,
call it a day.