So, in my campaign, my Bard has expressed interest in finding a pseudodragon or a pseudodragon egg, and raising them as a pet/companion. I am fine with the the idea (I am going to make her work for it though, lol) but I am struggling with how to handle the mechanics of how it will work. Pseudodragons are considered smarter and more connected with their person than other creatures because of their telepathy, but that is generally in the context of them being a mages familiar. If it was just a basic beast, like a dog that one of my other players has, its fairly straightforward in the difference, but I am unsure how to handle it with a pseudodragon. I feel like it needs to be a connection and relationship more than a pet, but distinctly not a familiar relationship. What are folks thoughts on how that kind of relationship should work?
Pseudodragons are intelligent creatures. Functionally, it's not a pet, it's an NPC companion.
If you want it to contribute to the adventure, I recommend the Sidekick rules from Tasha's Cauldron of Everything. If it's just going to be a companion, just have it hide of fly off when combat starts and have it not really contribute to skill checks.
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Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
If a bard has a pseudodragon companion, it is effectively a familiar if you use the rules for a pseudodragon (familiar variant).
I agree with 6thLyranGuard, due to its intelligence I would treat it as a PNPC (party NPC). It’s an NPC that tags along with the party, but generally just does whatever the players want it to do as long as it makes sense for it to do so. I mean, anything life threateningly dangerous would probably not be on the table unless it were designed to be combat support, but even then generally it’s attacks “hit” but don’t really do any damage so the party still has to overcome the challenge for themselves. In a pinch the PNPC can draw fire or heal someone if need be to prevent a TPK, but otherwise it’s just there for show. It gets narrated as helping but doesn’t actually do much in combat but look good. Maybe it kills a mook or two that are only actually put into the fight for the PNPC to kill to maintain the illusion that it’s helping in combat. But the PNPC is genera available for stuff like running errands, sitting watch for a shift, and stuff like that there. Make sense?
Pseudodragons are intelligent creatures. Functionally, it's not a pet, it's an NPC companion.
If you want it to contribute to the adventure, I recommend the Sidekick rules from Tasha's Cauldron of Everything. If it's just going to be a companion, just have it hide of fly off when combat starts and have it not really contribute to skill checks.
While no rules are given for ages, I imagine a pseudragon takes many years to mature. The answer to the bard's player could be, "yes, in fifteen years your bard will have a young pesudodragon, now what PC are you playing in the meantime?"
While no rules are given for ages, I imagine a pseudragon takes many years to mature. The answer to the bard's player could be, "yes, in fifteen years your bard will have a young pesudodragon, now what PC are you playing in the meantime?"
If I was trying to prevent her from doing it I'd do something like that, but I am totally fine with it, the cleric and the fighter have each adopted mastiff's, the ranger has a hawk companion, and the barbarian and druid are both talking about getting pets as well, so my party has a thing for animal companions/pets, I am fine with the bard getting one as well and a pseudodragon fits with her character quite nicely, lol
The big difference I see is that if a familiar dies, you re-summon it, if a pet dies, it’s just dead.
I usually say to cut a deal with the player with pets. If they’re just going to use it for rp/flavor, it’s effectively immortal. But if they want to use it to overcome challenges, in combats, even for scouting ahead, it’s fair game. Enemies may target it, it can get caught in fireballs, etc.
And I agree with 6thlyran about using sidekick rules for the pets, but at that point, they should also be getting a share of xp, since your effectively added another party member.
There are classes and subclasses that get pets as part of their kit, you don’t want to give them away to everyone for free, on top of their existing class abilities. Why bother being a beast master if you can be something else, and have the beast, too.
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So, in my campaign, my Bard has expressed interest in finding a pseudodragon or a pseudodragon egg, and raising them as a pet/companion. I am fine with the the idea (I am going to make her work for it though, lol) but I am struggling with how to handle the mechanics of how it will work. Pseudodragons are considered smarter and more connected with their person than other creatures because of their telepathy, but that is generally in the context of them being a mages familiar. If it was just a basic beast, like a dog that one of my other players has, its fairly straightforward in the difference, but I am unsure how to handle it with a pseudodragon. I feel like it needs to be a connection and relationship more than a pet, but distinctly not a familiar relationship. What are folks thoughts on how that kind of relationship should work?
Pseudodragons are intelligent creatures. Functionally, it's not a pet, it's an NPC companion.
If you want it to contribute to the adventure, I recommend the Sidekick rules from Tasha's Cauldron of Everything. If it's just going to be a companion, just have it hide of fly off when combat starts and have it not really contribute to skill checks.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
If a bard has a pseudodragon companion, it is effectively a familiar if you use the rules for a pseudodragon (familiar variant).
I agree with 6thLyranGuard, due to its intelligence I would treat it as a PNPC (party NPC). It’s an NPC that tags along with the party, but generally just does whatever the players want it to do as long as it makes sense for it to do so. I mean, anything life threateningly dangerous would probably not be on the table unless it were designed to be combat support, but even then generally it’s attacks “hit” but don’t really do any damage so the party still has to overcome the challenge for themselves. In a pinch the PNPC can draw fire or heal someone if need be to prevent a TPK, but otherwise it’s just there for show. It gets narrated as helping but doesn’t actually do much in combat but look good. Maybe it kills a mook or two that are only actually put into the fight for the PNPC to kill to maintain the illusion that it’s helping in combat. But the PNPC is genera available for stuff like running errands, sitting watch for a shift, and stuff like that there. Make sense?
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Incredibly so, thank you!
That helps, thanks!
While no rules are given for ages, I imagine a pseudragon takes many years to mature. The answer to the bard's player could be, "yes, in fifteen years your bard will have a young pesudodragon, now what PC are you playing in the meantime?"
If I was trying to prevent her from doing it I'd do something like that, but I am totally fine with it, the cleric and the fighter have each adopted mastiff's, the ranger has a hawk companion, and the barbarian and druid are both talking about getting pets as well, so my party has a thing for animal companions/pets, I am fine with the bard getting one as well and a pseudodragon fits with her character quite nicely, lol
The big difference I see is that if a familiar dies, you re-summon it, if a pet dies, it’s just dead.
I usually say to cut a deal with the player with pets. If they’re just going to use it for rp/flavor, it’s effectively immortal. But if they want to use it to overcome challenges, in combats, even for scouting ahead, it’s fair game. Enemies may target it, it can get caught in fireballs, etc.
And I agree with 6thlyran about using sidekick rules for the pets, but at that point, they should also be getting a share of xp, since your effectively added another party member.
There are classes and subclasses that get pets as part of their kit, you don’t want to give them away to everyone for free, on top of their existing class abilities. Why bother being a beast master if you can be something else, and have the beast, too.