Wait, really? Why would they ban a mule? Their really not that strong and you can't even use mounted combatant with them unless you choose a small race.
Wait, really? Why would they ban a mule? Their really not that strong and you can't even use mounted combatant with them unless you choose a small race.
It stemmed from a previous campaign. I wanted a miniature giant space hamster named Boo for my ranger and when the DM said no to the hamster I included in my backstory a mule named Boo and the DM ended up hating the mule. My character did come from an area where mules would be used and he would have raised animals from birth
my obvious first thought was a wolf but in the end I decided to take a horse. after this I began multi classing my guy with soldier until I became a cavalier. as we were storming a castle filled with orcs I decided to leave my horse at the campsite.........BAD IDEA a dragon surged up from the caves and burnt the tents to a crisp..... ); R.I.P. Blue Jay *sobs*
I have a halfling Ranger with a giant frog companion that he rides around on. I like the idea of being able to hide behind my mount while it swallows and controls bad guys. He is the frog knight.
In my Ravnica campaign, I'm playing a 3rd level Golgari goblin ranger that was just reincarnated as a green dragonborn (the RP of this is so much fun!). I've got a giant lizard named Booger...cause, ya' know, goblins...
13th Level Beastmaster, had a Giant Spider (deceased), now a Flying Snake. Now that they auto-dodge I can use the snake to lock down enemies that I want to keep away from me (AoO is +11 to hit, 3d4 poison + 6 magical piercing, ave 13.5 Dmg). If they’re focused on someone else, I use flyby to give myself advantage. AC is 22 with Mage Armor I picked up from Magic Initiate, so with dodge that means even an Adult Red Dragon will only hit 42% of the time.
My favorite companion is the giant wolf spider, mine is named Trapper.. Playing a Stout Halfling with the mounted combat feat is pure rpg fun. My character primarily uses a Heavy crossbow for the insane range and crossbow specialization definitely helps. Being able to get In optimal sniper positions on the back of the spider at 100ft range is just awsome. Both the ranger and spider can stealth very well. Webs can be useful in all sorts of situations. Being able to ride along cavern ceilings or on the sides of cliffs etc.. let’s you keep out of melee range or simply find advantageous positions. The spiders bite/poison is situationally useful (as I tend to keep at range). Makes for great bounty hunter missions. Incapacitate the target with poison and wrap it up in a webbing cocoon. The spiders web sense is great for setting up perimeters around campsites and such. Coating your arrows/bolts with the spiders poison in advance is extremely useful. The 40ft movement range is much further than my Halflings 25ft. Being able to force enemies to target my ranger instead of the spider is great. A fun/pain in butt rpg experience is commissioning very unique barding for the spider. In survival situations the spiders webs can make for great small game traps to get food and hides. Also having a companion/mount with blindsite and Darkvision is just gravy. All in all the spider is my personal favorite.
Later on the group got access to Wyverns. DM surprised me with one brought way down to our scale (6 HD at level 6, no sting). Been fun. We mostly use the PHB ranger but for Beast Master we borrow a lot of the starting from the UA Revised. (Increasing HD, Saves, Skills)
I created a Primal Companion brown bear (perpetually a cub) named Snuffles. he was a gift from my character's deity. Of course, have to check with DM about use because it's a 1.5 foot tall cub with the stats of a full grown wolf... but Snuffles is great.
I always ask my dms for Diseased giant rat and its always denied. I guess a dc 10 save or restricted healing is too much even with the abysmal save.
I really like the flying snake. The flight is huge for survivability. the poison is relatively consistent damage and blind sight is great for emergencies.
one of my cherectors (cant spell) had a boar (it actually looked like a big chubby pig with tusks but no fur) and i gave it a gimmick where if you give it belly rubs it would fall asleep so one day we were fighting goblins and it poked my pig boar in the belly so it fell asleep
I run an NPC ranger (L20) that started as a 1e ranger and got a number of companions back then. He is a world walker but has been in FR for @130 yrs now and has a suite of “pets” that, with one exception, are the lineal descendants of the original beast companions: 2 giant Lynx (Bob and Cat), 2 Dire wolves (Raug and Durkano) and a mountain lion (Leo). The one exception is a brass dragon (Skylord) that was originally a wyrmling but, following the years and the use of a 2e staff of withering is now an adult. He changes shape between that of a dragon and a palomino horse and serves as both a companion and a mount. Very little gets past this crew when they are scouting (or fighting).
If anybody ever sits back to redesign the Beastmaster, there is one simple rule change that would make a big difference: remove the size restrictions and let the Ranger ride the Beast, whatever it is.
To have this feature only being available to small Halflings and Gnomes makes no sense. It should be open to all - and then it would be a cool Class feature. It would instantly solving the attack economy issues as well (the Beast doesn’t need to attack, merely evade or charge while the Ranger attacks). I also think that the basic inclusion of a riding horse ought to be an option for this feature.
If anybody ever sits back to redesign the Beastmaster, there is one simple rule change that would make a big difference: remove the size restrictions and let the Ranger ride the Beast, whatever it is.
To have this feature only being available to small Halflings and Gnomes makes no sense. It should be open to all - and then it would be a cool Class feature. It would instantly solving the attack economy issues as well (the Beast doesn’t need to attack, merely evade or charge while the Ranger attacks). I also think that the basic inclusion of a riding horse ought to be an option for this feature.
Firstly I think a big part of the phb balance issue is "potential power" that goes un-used. Mounts and movement have power value but not every one wants to spend part of their power budget on movement. Because movement becomes a "Situational" power. It ends some combats instantly an in others it has no effect.
I for one don't mind such trade offs but I certainly don't want to be forced into spending the power budget on it either.
On a side note I believe a mule's powerful build counts as a valid mount for medium creatures. I think mount rules are a subset of carry weight.(it's the only way to keep logical consistency) Although some disagree and say that's not raw. It's hard to say what wotc intended when writing it.
I want a Ranger who looks cool riding on the back of a steed that looks cool. It could be as simple as an Elven Ranger elegantly riding on the back of a white horse (thank you Liv Tyler!) or something more exotic like riding on a Warg, a Crocodile or a Grizzly Bear! That would be cool!
So, for me, game balance may need to be checked in case of exploitation - but this is not my main concern. My main concern is having rules that allow me to play cool character concepts. Beast Masters should be able to see their Companions get potentially better as the go up levels, potentially with more options, but at least let them ride them!
I want a Ranger who looks cool riding on the back of a steed that looks cool. It could be as simple as an Elven Ranger elegantly riding on the back of a white horse (thank you Liv Tyler!) or something more exotic like riding on a Warg, a Crocodile or a Grizzly Bear! That would be cool!
So, for me, game balance may need to be checked in case of exploitation - but this is not my main concern. My main concern is having rules that allow me to play cool character concepts. Beast Masters should be able to see their Companions get potentially better as the go up levels, potentially with more options, but at least let them ride them!
Don Quixote or A player that really wants a phb companion mount with the set we have. Many dms are ok with the 'flavor is free' rule. meaning if you take a mule statblock you can call it a white horse any way.
In all seriousness, I agree a mule or summon options( which are the only possible routes in 5e) is not enough for the horse bound adventurer.
I was just pointing out how bad it is to be forced into a Character type a player doesn't want. I don't really want a mount Unless I am building a Don Quixote type character and you don't want a odd ball archetype. neither of us should be forced to loose out on other features because of the choices we wont use.
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Wait, really? Why would they ban a mule? Their really not that strong and you can't even use mounted combatant with them unless you choose a small race.
It stemmed from a previous campaign. I wanted a miniature giant space hamster named Boo for my ranger and when the DM said no to the hamster I included in my backstory a mule named Boo and the DM ended up hating the mule. My character did come from an area where mules would be used and he would have raised animals from birth
Ever since then the DM said no mule for you
my obvious first thought was a wolf but in the end I decided to take a horse. after this I began multi classing my guy with soldier until I became a cavalier. as we were storming a castle filled with orcs I decided to leave my horse at the campsite.........BAD IDEA a dragon surged up from the caves and burnt the tents to a crisp..... ); R.I.P. Blue Jay *sobs*
I have a halfling Ranger with a giant frog companion that he rides around on. I like the idea of being able to hide behind my mount while it swallows and controls bad guys. He is the frog knight.
In my Ravnica campaign, I'm playing a 3rd level Golgari goblin ranger that was just reincarnated as a green dragonborn (the RP of this is so much fun!). I've got a giant lizard named Booger...cause, ya' know, goblins...
13th Level Beastmaster, had a Giant Spider (deceased), now a Flying Snake. Now that they auto-dodge I can use the snake to lock down enemies that I want to keep away from me (AoO is +11 to hit, 3d4 poison + 6 magical piercing, ave 13.5 Dmg). If they’re focused on someone else, I use flyby to give myself advantage. AC is 22 with Mage Armor I picked up from Magic Initiate, so with dodge that means even an Adult Red Dragon will only hit 42% of the time.
My favorite companion is the giant wolf spider, mine is named Trapper.. Playing a Stout Halfling with the mounted combat feat is pure rpg fun. My character primarily uses a Heavy crossbow for the insane range and crossbow specialization definitely helps. Being able to get In optimal sniper positions on the back of the spider at 100ft range is just awsome. Both the ranger and spider can stealth very well. Webs can be useful in all sorts of situations. Being able to ride along cavern ceilings or on the sides of cliffs etc.. let’s you keep out of melee range or simply find advantageous positions. The spiders bite/poison is situationally useful (as I tend to keep at range). Makes for great bounty hunter missions. Incapacitate the target with poison and wrap it up in a webbing cocoon. The spiders web sense is great for setting up perimeters around campsites and such. Coating your arrows/bolts with the spiders poison in advance is extremely useful. The 40ft movement range is much further than my Halflings 25ft. Being able to force enemies to target my ranger instead of the spider is great. A fun/pain in butt rpg experience is commissioning very unique barding for the spider. In survival situations the spiders webs can make for great small game traps to get food and hides. Also having a companion/mount with blindsite and Darkvision is just gravy. All in all the spider is my personal favorite.
Ranger: Beastmaster
Started off with a wolf reskinned as a Fox.
Later on the group got access to Wyverns. DM surprised me with one brought way down to our scale (6 HD at level 6, no sting). Been fun. We mostly use the PHB ranger but for Beast Master we borrow a lot of the starting from the UA Revised. (Increasing HD, Saves, Skills)
I have a giant owl
My DM let me have a giant wasp that I called sting, and ride it into battle
I created a Primal Companion brown bear (perpetually a cub) named Snuffles. he was a gift from my character's deity. Of course, have to check with DM about use because it's a 1.5 foot tall cub with the stats of a full grown wolf... but Snuffles is great.
PHB Beastmaster only options:
I always ask my dms for Diseased giant rat and its always denied. I guess a dc 10 save or restricted healing is too much even with the abysmal save.
I really like the flying snake. The flight is huge for survivability. the poison is relatively consistent damage and blind sight is great for emergencies.
one of my cherectors (cant spell) had a boar (it actually looked like a big chubby pig with tusks but no fur) and i gave it a gimmick where if you give it belly rubs it would fall asleep so one day we were fighting goblins and it poked my pig boar in the belly so it fell asleep
My first ever character had a pteranadon.
I also want to play a goliath ranger with a blue ox as his companion.
Always two maybe three
I chose a Fastieth
I run an NPC ranger (L20) that started as a 1e ranger and got a number of companions back then. He is a world walker but has been in FR for @130 yrs now and has a suite of “pets” that, with one exception, are the lineal descendants of the original beast companions: 2 giant Lynx (Bob and Cat), 2 Dire wolves (Raug and Durkano) and a mountain lion (Leo). The one exception is a brass dragon (Skylord) that was originally a wyrmling but, following the years and the use of a 2e staff of withering is now an adult. He changes shape between that of a dragon and a palomino horse and serves as both a companion and a mount. Very little gets past this crew when they are scouting (or fighting).
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
If anybody ever sits back to redesign the Beastmaster, there is one simple rule change that would make a big difference: remove the size restrictions and let the Ranger ride the Beast, whatever it is.
To have this feature only being available to small Halflings and Gnomes makes no sense. It should be open to all - and then it would be a cool Class feature. It would instantly solving the attack economy issues as well (the Beast doesn’t need to attack, merely evade or charge while the Ranger attacks). I also think that the basic inclusion of a riding horse ought to be an option for this feature.
Firstly I think a big part of the phb balance issue is "potential power" that goes un-used. Mounts and movement have power value but not every one wants to spend part of their power budget on movement. Because movement becomes a "Situational" power. It ends some combats instantly an in others it has no effect.
I for one don't mind such trade offs but I certainly don't want to be forced into spending the power budget on it either.
On a side note I believe a mule's powerful build counts as a valid mount for medium creatures. I think mount rules are a subset of carry weight.(it's the only way to keep logical consistency) Although some disagree and say that's not raw. It's hard to say what wotc intended when writing it.
Who wants to ride on the back of the mule!?
I want a Ranger who looks cool riding on the back of a steed that looks cool. It could be as simple as an Elven Ranger elegantly riding on the back of a white horse (thank you Liv Tyler!) or something more exotic like riding on a Warg, a Crocodile or a Grizzly Bear! That would be cool!
So, for me, game balance may need to be checked in case of exploitation - but this is not my main concern. My main concern is having rules that allow me to play cool character concepts. Beast Masters should be able to see their Companions get potentially better as the go up levels, potentially with more options, but at least let them ride them!
Don Quixote or A player that really wants a phb companion mount with the set we have. Many dms are ok with the 'flavor is free' rule. meaning if you take a mule statblock you can call it a white horse any way.
In all seriousness, I agree a mule or summon options( which are the only possible routes in 5e) is not enough for the horse bound adventurer.
I was just pointing out how bad it is to be forced into a Character type a player doesn't want. I don't really want a mount Unless I am building a Don Quixote type character and you don't want a odd ball archetype. neither of us should be forced to loose out on other features because of the choices we wont use.