http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aI4q8JH36HA/TayWDqS1pQI/AAAAAAAABGY/90N0ioPhfsg/s1600/The-Elder-Scrolls-V-Skyrim_2011_04-18-11_005.jpg shows us pretty good evidence of that there will be pets in the game. perhaps it will only be dogs, but we'll have to wait and see. The dog from that picture looks pretty domesticated, not like an animal you would find in the. IMO Domesticating an animal should go something like this if it were ever added:

STAGE 1: The Approach
-you leave out some food for a wild animal to get.
-each piece of food makes the animal trust you a little more.
-eventually the animal starts following you around
STAGE 2: Building your Relationship
-It still isn't nearly fully tamed though, and it might start to wonder away from you
-it will follow you around as you kill things, feasting on your fallen foes, only helping when he feels he needs to defend himself.
-walking into a village or town might scare the animal at this stage.
STAGE 3: Having a pet
-after enough time following you around it will help you fight your enemies.
-the animal starts to hunt for you, bringing you food (depending on the animal you tamed)
-soon enough the animal is considered your tamed pet.



As for permanent Daedric minions, yes definitely. but summoning them should cause a penalty to the summoner (possibly health decrease, or having your health tied to the daedra (every 10 points of damage he gets, you get 2 or something)).

Same goes for Necromancers who want to raise some dead, but because the undead are relatively weak singularly, you should be able to raise a few with no penalty (or a small penalty and no penalty with a perk)

Yeah, I would love to do all of those

Yes, but only id lets say the conjurer summons a scamp it costs 100 mana from your pool and will only get back if it dies or you unsummon. Otherwise it would be way overpowered. Same for undead the ammount of minnions is limited by your own mana pool.

it would be silly to tame a mammoth

Yes, Other, other.

The Animal thing sounds pretty cool.

But with the Daedra and Undead: There should be a penalty, maybe a permanent magicka decrease? It would make sense, because it takes magicka to use spells and summon things.You'd have to actively keep your power on the minion, otherwise they would just die out.

would it be silly, or would it be awesome? The only problem would be mammoths walking around cities. it would probably be a problem.

I think todd howard said in an interview that giants kind of use mammoths as pets.

but yeah no, I agree that maybe mammoths shouldn't be tamable.

Why would you even try to tame a mammoth unless you can ride it?

once again this proves why minecraft will always be superior to any TES game....ever. they had tameable wolves in the 1.5 patch. you can even make them sit and stay.

SPOILER - new Vegas - 2nd dlc -


There's a side quest to help big Horner and at the end you can claim a calf as your own. But it just mindlessly follows you and can't be told to stay, which is all you really need, a petting/feed and a meeer' here n now but it was completely unresponsive even tho the game has fully working followers and you interact with it in the mission?? It's a head doer...

I vote yes on 1 normal pet and 1 unusual pet, only one at a time. Plus maid should be hierable to work in your house, how ever [censored] they are, just there outline brings a less lonesome tone to your housing.

• Other:
  Ideally the success of this should hinge on the specific PC's skill in husbandry and a combination of their stats (and different stat combinations for different species of animal.
  Example:Strength ~ For some creatures, success could only happen if they were physically imposing enough, while for others, success only comes to those not so physically imposing).
  
  
• Other:
  Daedra should constantly test their captors, and break free when they can. The test could be such that the Daedra's level adds to their chance to break free, while the PC's level and casting skill subtract from the chance, and possibly even have spells that subtract as well, while in effect.
  
  The results could mean that the Daedra has little or no chance of breaking control, but the odds change under stress, check happen more frequently in combat, and the PC might forget to boost their control with a spell during the fight (or have it wear off unexpectedly and/ or have the bad luck to have them unexpectedly succeed in wresting control from the mage; and likely at a very inconvenient time).
  It could also mean that the mage might actually succeed in binding a very powerfull one, but can be assured that they will break the control soon, and unpredictably.
  
  *Even after all this... there could be the option for the creature to simply "like" the mage or consider them useful; especially if they are particularly evil.
  
  
  
  
• Other:
  Same goes for Undead as for Daedra; except that they should never "Like" their captor; with the exception of vampires and/ or Lich? (and even then, they would not like the control).

I did a big post on the need for the ability for permanent Daedra summons a while back, as you know, so you know I devoutly support that.