I was thinking about making a beast master ranger, and while doing research, found out that, RAW, a bear would not be allowed to be a animal companion.
So, did matt just handwave that rule so Laura could have the pet she wanted, or did he use a homebrewed Beast master ranger? (if so, a link, especially one on this site, would be great)
Or is there something i'm missing, cause l haven't actually watched C1.
Edit: OH, Right, l keep forgetting they started with pathfinder. That explains it. Thanks!
Vex'alia was not originally a D&D 5e Beastmaster. She was a Pathfinder ranger first, and Pathfinder has different rules for what can and cannot be a ranger's animal companion. When the Critical Role crew decided to start streaming their game, Matthew Mercer convinced the table to switch from Pathfinder to D&D 5e, because Pathfinder is a much slower, stodgier game that Matt decided would not likely do well as a spectator sport. So all of the characters got converted from their Pathfinder sheets to 5e sheets. Percival the Gunslinger was built on a standard, freely available Pathfinder option that Matt had to ad-hoc a replacement for, thus the "Gunslinger" martial archetype homebrew. Pike's deity didn't exist in 5e, so Matt figured out the story of Sarenrae/Raei's fading. And Vex had a perfectly-legal-in-Pathfinder bear, which Matt decided she could simply keep because Beastmasters as written in the PHB are a weak and pointless mess anyways, so her having a larger and beefier companion than the PHB normally accounts for didn't really bother him.
Critical roll originally started as pathfinder and they transferred over to roll20 so it might be pathfinder based? I am not 100% as Matt does use homebrew and has done so regarding Trinket.
If you can use Tashas then you could just use the primal companion feature and flavour the "beast of the land" to be a bear.
Matt did some homebrewing to upgrade Trinket, yes. I don't think it was enough to really call it a homebrew version of the subclass, though. We don't have all the details, but it seems like mostly he upgraded Trinket's AC (probably aside from allowing Vex to buy armor for him) and HP, which the TCoE options also basically allow for, if you're looking for a way to do something similar, and he let Trinket learn some additional ways to attack. I think there might also have been some tweaking of the rules about splitting up attacks between Vex and Trinket, but I'm not positive. There were several homebrew boons or magic items that allowed Laura to do more with Trinket, but mostly in terms of keeping him safe from death.
If you wanted a bear yourself, I'd go for the TCoE Beast Master options, and choose Beast of the Land, and have it look like a bear.
I will say this. I have no idea how Pathfinder Beastmasters work, but (without spoilers) Trinket in the Vox Machina campaign ended up severalfold more powerful and versatile than a typical, by-the-rules animal companion. Mechanically he was still a boat anchor on the team and had less than half of Vex's own HP if I recall because of the piss-miserable scaling of PHB Beastmaster critters in lategame.
I've actually been running a Tasha's Beastmaster in an admittedly infrequent game lately, and I've found that at least in the early levels it actually plays very nicely. The bonus action critter command lets you actually work in tandem with your beast, and while the beast's stuff mostly scaling with your own stats and proficiency bonus ticks some people off as 'unrealistic', I've found that it makes it much easier to keep the beast relevant. Ranger companion as "a nature spirit bound to you that takes the physical form of a creature of the wilds" is also just a cooler class fantasy to me and helps me do neat stuff.
I will say this. I have no idea how Pathfinder Beastmasters work, but (without spoilers) Trinket in the Vox Machina campaign ended up severalfold more powerful and versatile than a typical, by-the-rules animal companion. Mechanically he was still a boat anchor on the team and had less than half of Vex's own HP if I recall because of the piss-miserable scaling of PHB Beastmaster critters in lategame.
Animal Companions in PF1 are based on the character's effective druid level, which for a Beastmaster is Beastmaster level minus 3; that level translates into a number of hit dice for the Animal Companion as well as extra feats, an AC bonus, a Str and Dex bonus, skills, tricks and at some levels special abilities. Vex was lvl 9 when CritRole started on G&S, so effective lvl 6, which means 6HD (which all get the Con mod, of course), +4 natural armor bonus, 3 feats, +1 Str/Dex and a +1 ability bonus. The rest is harder to compare, though all animal companions get 2 out of 3 good saves and roughly the same attack bonus progression as rogues. Not amazing, especially since Vex didn't go past lvl 13 as Beastmaster, but compared to CR 1/4 with some proficiency bonus goodies thrown in the PF version is ahead by a lot. PF Animal Companions' actions also aren't as limited as 5E's Beast Companions' and aren't part of the ranger's action economy.
For anyone interested, critrolestats has the character sheets for each member of Vox Machina (and Mighty Nein and temp characters), Trinkets stats are included on Vex's sheet.
I was thinking about making a beast master ranger, and while doing research, found out that, RAW, a bear would not be allowed to be a animal companion.
So, did matt just handwave that rule so Laura could have the pet she wanted, or did he use a homebrewed Beast master ranger? (if so, a link, especially one on this site, would be great)
Or is there something i'm missing, cause l haven't actually watched C1.
Edit: OH, Right, l keep forgetting they started with pathfinder. That explains it. Thanks!
Vex'alia was not originally a D&D 5e Beastmaster. She was a Pathfinder ranger first, and Pathfinder has different rules for what can and cannot be a ranger's animal companion. When the Critical Role crew decided to start streaming their game, Matthew Mercer convinced the table to switch from Pathfinder to D&D 5e, because Pathfinder is a much slower, stodgier game that Matt decided would not likely do well as a spectator sport. So all of the characters got converted from their Pathfinder sheets to 5e sheets. Percival the Gunslinger was built on a standard, freely available Pathfinder option that Matt had to ad-hoc a replacement for, thus the "Gunslinger" martial archetype homebrew. Pike's deity didn't exist in 5e, so Matt figured out the story of Sarenrae/Raei's fading. And Vex had a perfectly-legal-in-Pathfinder bear, which Matt decided she could simply keep because Beastmasters as written in the PHB are a weak and pointless mess anyways, so her having a larger and beefier companion than the PHB normally accounts for didn't really bother him.
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Critical roll originally started as pathfinder and they transferred over to roll20 so it might be pathfinder based? I am not 100% as Matt does use homebrew and has done so regarding Trinket.
If you can use Tashas then you could just use the primal companion feature and flavour the "beast of the land" to be a bear.
Matt did some homebrewing to upgrade Trinket, yes. I don't think it was enough to really call it a homebrew version of the subclass, though. We don't have all the details, but it seems like mostly he upgraded Trinket's AC (probably aside from allowing Vex to buy armor for him) and HP, which the TCoE options also basically allow for, if you're looking for a way to do something similar, and he let Trinket learn some additional ways to attack. I think there might also have been some tweaking of the rules about splitting up attacks between Vex and Trinket, but I'm not positive. There were several homebrew boons or magic items that allowed Laura to do more with Trinket, but mostly in terms of keeping him safe from death.
If you wanted a bear yourself, I'd go for the TCoE Beast Master options, and choose Beast of the Land, and have it look like a bear.
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I will say this. I have no idea how Pathfinder Beastmasters work, but (without spoilers) Trinket in the Vox Machina campaign ended up severalfold more powerful and versatile than a typical, by-the-rules animal companion. Mechanically he was still a boat anchor on the team and had less than half of Vex's own HP if I recall because of the piss-miserable scaling of PHB Beastmaster critters in lategame.
I've actually been running a Tasha's Beastmaster in an admittedly infrequent game lately, and I've found that at least in the early levels it actually plays very nicely. The bonus action critter command lets you actually work in tandem with your beast, and while the beast's stuff mostly scaling with your own stats and proficiency bonus ticks some people off as 'unrealistic', I've found that it makes it much easier to keep the beast relevant. Ranger companion as "a nature spirit bound to you that takes the physical form of a creature of the wilds" is also just a cooler class fantasy to me and helps me do neat stuff.
Please do not contact or message me.
Animal Companions in PF1 are based on the character's effective druid level, which for a Beastmaster is Beastmaster level minus 3; that level translates into a number of hit dice for the Animal Companion as well as extra feats, an AC bonus, a Str and Dex bonus, skills, tricks and at some levels special abilities. Vex was lvl 9 when CritRole started on G&S, so effective lvl 6, which means 6HD (which all get the Con mod, of course), +4 natural armor bonus, 3 feats, +1 Str/Dex and a +1 ability bonus. The rest is harder to compare, though all animal companions get 2 out of 3 good saves and roughly the same attack bonus progression as rogues. Not amazing, especially since Vex didn't go past lvl 13 as Beastmaster, but compared to CR 1/4 with some proficiency bonus goodies thrown in the PF version is ahead by a lot. PF Animal Companions' actions also aren't as limited as 5E's Beast Companions' and aren't part of the ranger's action economy.
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For anyone interested, critrolestats has the character sheets for each member of Vox Machina (and Mighty Nein and temp characters), Trinkets stats are included on Vex's sheet.
Link here for Vox Machina: https://www.critrolestats.com/pcstats-vm
Link here for Mighty Nein: https://www.critrolestats.com/pcstats-wm