I'm playing around with the idea of giving everyone in my D&D world an animal companion. Much like the daemons in His Dark Materials.
The idea is that the players start the campaign as kids/youngsters and grow up during their adventures. They start out without a companion but in this version of the world your companion presents itself to you on a specific moment. No one knows what it might be. Could be a bird, could be a fox, ...ect. The companions evolve with the characters and they give the characters an extra trait or ability. Maybe they even have their own skilltree from which the characters can pick and choose. Maybe the extra trait only works if they're withing 30 ft of eachother. Dunno yet.
Also humanoid enemies can have companions. Could be interesting I think.
Just wanted to check if anyone has any experience with somehting like this? Tips 'n tricks?
I like the idea, but it could be hard to balance. I think it's a system that would require a decent bit of at-the-table experimentation. Giving everyone Find Familiar as a free cast regardless of class could be one way to do it, although you would have to balance every encounter around the idea that every player and many NPCs would have a viable spy partner. I think whatever you end up doing you should let your players know that you might change the rules to rebalance things between sessions, just in case something ends up being really unbalanced once it's put in the hands of players.
The alternative is to not have additional abilities tied to the companions, but just reflavor a character's abilities as having come from an animal companion who just functions as an invincible NPC. So even a character like a wizard doesn't cast their own spells, they just channel them through their companion
Instead of giving the players more skill trees to manage why not make the companion a reflection of the character they make.
the type of creature is decided by class and the exact species by subclass. The creature ms abilities then become factored in based on the characters stats.
then make upgrading the familiar news an option they can take as well as an ASI or fest.
put them in a position of going “ hmmm do I take this for me or that for my familiar, dammit I want both”
it will also force their hand on how invested they become
This is a wonderful idea that I think will take some time to master.
A few things I would just recommend thinking about is:
1. Make sure city's and downs are more different, giving everyone animal companions would mean more stables, healing areas, greenery, and more.
2. If the villains have these animals that would give them more power. A flee that has followed your characters forever? The villains also then should have a reason for focusing on your characters.
3. N.P.C's, what animal companions do they have? If its just the adventurers and villains then how do others react to this. It also might be cool to give this a pokemon feel. Your adventurers might want more animal compaions and use them in battle along with the players
Finally, animals will be used for scouting, fighting, and more possibly. What happens when one dies?
Make sure the players know this beforehand. Otherwise the beastmaster ranger and pact of chain warlock are going to be pretty annoyed that everyone else in the party got their thing (maybe not quite as good a version of their thing, but still their thing) for free. Now, if you don’t have either of those in the party, it won’t be too big a deal.
I'm playing around with the idea of giving everyone in my D&D world an animal companion. Much like the daemons in His Dark Materials.
The idea is that the players start the campaign as kids/youngsters and grow up during their adventures. They start out without a companion but in this version of the world your companion presents itself to you on a specific moment. No one knows what it might be. Could be a bird, could be a fox, ...ect. The companions evolve with the characters and they give the characters an extra trait or ability. Maybe they even have their own skilltree from which the characters can pick and choose. Maybe the extra trait only works if they're withing 30 ft of eachother. Dunno yet.
Also humanoid enemies can have companions. Could be interesting I think.
Just wanted to check if anyone has any experience with somehting like this? Tips 'n tricks?
Sounds like a fun idea! If everyone knows it at the start, I think it's fine. People who usually play ranger or such could even try out other classes, knowing they'd get an animal. I'm assuming the base animal would be comparable to a familiar?
In the book spirit animals, the animal companion could (eventually) turn into a tattoo on the person. You could have it so if the creature died, it reverts into a tattoo until the next day or something.
Also if that book, the animal did imbue a few thematic powers on the person when it was in its active form (like jumping or darkvision). When the animal was in tattoo form, the extra powers were dormant.
My main advice for this, other than ensuring you don't step on a beastmaster ranger's toes, is if you are going to have everyone have a beast companion, make sure the players control the beasts. Do not saddle yourself with 5 or 6 extra NPCs to run in combat.
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WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
Along the same lines as what BioWizard said, I think you are walking into a world of hurt managing all these additional creatures on the field of battle. Are these creatures going to participate in the Initiative cycle? That will bog down the game immensely, and create huge Action Economy issues for any encounter you create to face the players. Even adding 5 or 6 CR 1/2 creatures on the side of the players can really change the potency of the players attacks. And what happens when you drop a AoE spell on the players, and wipe out many, or all, of their animal companions, assuming they are all low CR creatures.
I'd recommend that each players companion is 1) controlled by the player, and 2) acts immediately following the player in the initiative order.
I would also recommend against large groups in combat...if all the bandits have animals...that combat gets extremely long
Finally, I would make sure that enemy attacks focus on both the PCs and their animals equitably...effectively doubling the number of attacks on just the PCs will change the difficulty of most combats pretty drastically, as the system isn't based on that being a "normal" thing.
Thanks for all the great tips so far. Having all these options makes it sound even more fun!
A small party and smaller fights would be a better option indeed for all the admin for sure. Initiative and control would be the same player sounds logical as well.
The companions would be an extension of the player characters themselves so in a way it's a soulbond of somesort. During battle you can use a bonus action to interact with your companion or give it orders and/or directions. Based on which type of animal it is it would have a some stats and maybe a basic attack action. To be clear, the are not magical in any way. If you have a ferret it's not going to be breathing fire. So the amount of damage it can inflict will be very low. Also some of your traits and features as a player are linked to the companion. if you're more than 30 ft separated, some of your features disappear. Maybe they can replace the spellcating focus, leaving a sorcerer without his highest level spell when he's too far removes of his companion. Status effects on the companions could also reflect on your character. If the companion is blinded you roll with disadvantage on anything that relies on sight. I only wanna give them their companion at level 3 or later, making them feel like they've earned it. When their characters levels up and reach an abilityscore increase they can instead choose to upgrade their companion's stats.
I haven't decided if I'm going to make the companions invincible and the damage they take will be redirected to the character? Or the companions are very low health and very vulnerable which would give the PCs a good reason to protect them very well. Any ideas? Maybe the companions have 3 charges and everytime they're hit (by whatever damage) they lose a charge. Once all charges are gone the companions dies and untill the PC does a long rest he loses the feaures connected with his companion. After a long rest the companion returns. Could work?
One of the main reasons I want to try is this is that I've noticed in my current campaign that my players are way more invested in the animals than the npcs. They happily almost gave their lives to save a raccoon from hungry orcs, but they easily ditched some NPCs who's barn was attacked by goblins. Giving them a companion would give me as the DM always an easy way to get their attention by getting the companions involved and/or in trouble. Also they're a lot of extra mystery it could bring to the table. What if they meet someone without a companion? What if they find someone with two? Where do companions go when the character dies?
The party for my current campaign is 5 players. But that's not a group I'd try this with. I might start another campaign with a smaller group of 3 or max 4 players to try this with I think.
The party for my current campaign is 5 players. But that's not a group I'd try this with. I might start another campaign with a smaller group of 3 or max 4 players to try this with I think.
Yeah, as I said, I think you are entering into a world of hurt. But if you are going to experiment with this, a smaller party is the best way. Implementing this into an existing group of 5 is inviting chaos.
The party for my current campaign is 5 players. But that's not a group I'd try this with. I might start another campaign with a smaller group of 3 or max 4 players to try this with I think.
I think you could make it work, as long as you streamline initiative (I would say animal is same turn as player, but can go right before or after).
You could have players mostly fight monsters or constructs (which have no companions), and lean towards fewer, larger creatures with multi-attacks.
I would enter into the game with your players making clear this is experimental. Ask if they want to help you play test this idea. Get an okay from them that you might need to tweak mechanics for the game to run more smoothly. If they're really enthusiastic about animals and making this work, maybe you can talk with them after every few sessions to get feedback on how to improve the game for everyone. "Is this working?" "How could it work better?" "How could we streamline xyz?"
Try it! Be bold! It's a low risk prospect. Worst thing that happens is the game doesn't work the way you hoped. Best thing that happens is you create something new and fun, possibly after a few iterations. Good luck!
I'm playing around with the idea of giving everyone in my D&D world an animal companion. Much like the daemons in His Dark Materials.
The idea is that the players start the campaign as kids/youngsters and grow up during their adventures. They start out without a companion but in this version of the world your companion presents itself to you on a specific moment. No one knows what it might be. Could be a bird, could be a fox, ...ect. The companions evolve with the characters and they give the characters an extra trait or ability. Maybe they even have their own skilltree from which the characters can pick and choose. Maybe the extra trait only works if they're withing 30 ft of eachother. Dunno yet.
Also humanoid enemies can have companions. Could be interesting I think.
Just wanted to check if anyone has any experience with somehting like this? Tips 'n tricks?
Cheers!
I like the idea, but it could be hard to balance. I think it's a system that would require a decent bit of at-the-table experimentation. Giving everyone Find Familiar as a free cast regardless of class could be one way to do it, although you would have to balance every encounter around the idea that every player and many NPCs would have a viable spy partner. I think whatever you end up doing you should let your players know that you might change the rules to rebalance things between sessions, just in case something ends up being really unbalanced once it's put in the hands of players.
The alternative is to not have additional abilities tied to the companions, but just reflavor a character's abilities as having come from an animal companion who just functions as an invincible NPC. So even a character like a wizard doesn't cast their own spells, they just channel them through their companion
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I don't really think it would unbalance things all that much, though. Give everyone the same advantage, and you're still on a level playing field.
"Ignorance is bliss, and you look absolutely miserable."
Instead of giving the players more skill trees to manage why not make the companion a reflection of the character they make.
the type of creature is decided by class and the exact species by subclass. The creature ms abilities then become factored in based on the characters stats.
then make upgrading the familiar news an option they can take as well as an ASI or fest.
put them in a position of going “ hmmm do I take this for me or that for my familiar, dammit I want both”
it will also force their hand on how invested they become
This is a wonderful idea that I think will take some time to master.
A few things I would just recommend thinking about is:
1. Make sure city's and downs are more different, giving everyone animal companions would mean more stables, healing areas, greenery, and more.
2. If the villains have these animals that would give them more power. A flee that has followed your characters forever? The villains also then should have a reason for focusing on your characters.
3. N.P.C's, what animal companions do they have? If its just the adventurers and villains then how do others react to this. It also might be cool to give this a pokemon feel. Your adventurers might want more animal compaions and use them in battle along with the players
Finally, animals will be used for scouting, fighting, and more possibly. What happens when one dies?
Make sure the players know this beforehand. Otherwise the beastmaster ranger and pact of chain warlock are going to be pretty annoyed that everyone else in the party got their thing (maybe not quite as good a version of their thing, but still their thing) for free.
Now, if you don’t have either of those in the party, it won’t be too big a deal.
I think it's a cool idea!
💙🤍~*Ravenclaw*~ 🔮
Sounds like a fun idea! If everyone knows it at the start, I think it's fine. People who usually play ranger or such could even try out other classes, knowing they'd get an animal. I'm assuming the base animal would be comparable to a familiar?
In the book spirit animals, the animal companion could (eventually) turn into a tattoo on the person. You could have it so if the creature died, it reverts into a tattoo until the next day or something.
Also if that book, the animal did imbue a few thematic powers on the person when it was in its active form (like jumping or darkvision). When the animal was in tattoo form, the extra powers were dormant.
My main advice for this, other than ensuring you don't step on a beastmaster ranger's toes, is if you are going to have everyone have a beast companion, make sure the players control the beasts. Do not saddle yourself with 5 or 6 extra NPCs to run in combat.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
Along the same lines as what BioWizard said, I think you are walking into a world of hurt managing all these additional creatures on the field of battle. Are these creatures going to participate in the Initiative cycle? That will bog down the game immensely, and create huge Action Economy issues for any encounter you create to face the players. Even adding 5 or 6 CR 1/2 creatures on the side of the players can really change the potency of the players attacks. And what happens when you drop a AoE spell on the players, and wipe out many, or all, of their animal companions, assuming they are all low CR creatures.
I think this is not a well thought out idea.
In light of the above analysis, would the party of players be very large? A smaller party of adventurers would be better for this venture.
💙🤍~*Ravenclaw*~ 🔮
I'd recommend that each players companion is 1) controlled by the player, and 2) acts immediately following the player in the initiative order.
I would also recommend against large groups in combat...if all the bandits have animals...that combat gets extremely long
Finally, I would make sure that enemy attacks focus on both the PCs and their animals equitably...effectively doubling the number of attacks on just the PCs will change the difficulty of most combats pretty drastically, as the system isn't based on that being a "normal" thing.
Thanks for all the great tips so far. Having all these options makes it sound even more fun!
A small party and smaller fights would be a better option indeed for all the admin for sure. Initiative and control would be the same player sounds logical as well.
The companions would be an extension of the player characters themselves so in a way it's a soulbond of somesort. During battle you can use a bonus action to interact with your companion or give it orders and/or directions. Based on which type of animal it is it would have a some stats and maybe a basic attack action. To be clear, the are not magical in any way. If you have a ferret it's not going to be breathing fire. So the amount of damage it can inflict will be very low. Also some of your traits and features as a player are linked to the companion. if you're more than 30 ft separated, some of your features disappear. Maybe they can replace the spellcating focus, leaving a sorcerer without his highest level spell when he's too far removes of his companion. Status effects on the companions could also reflect on your character. If the companion is blinded you roll with disadvantage on anything that relies on sight. I only wanna give them their companion at level 3 or later, making them feel like they've earned it. When their characters levels up and reach an abilityscore increase they can instead choose to upgrade their companion's stats.
I haven't decided if I'm going to make the companions invincible and the damage they take will be redirected to the character? Or the companions are very low health and very vulnerable which would give the PCs a good reason to protect them very well. Any ideas? Maybe the companions have 3 charges and everytime they're hit (by whatever damage) they lose a charge. Once all charges are gone the companions dies and untill the PC does a long rest he loses the feaures connected with his companion. After a long rest the companion returns. Could work?
One of the main reasons I want to try is this is that I've noticed in my current campaign that my players are way more invested in the animals than the npcs. They happily almost gave their lives to save a raccoon from hungry orcs, but they easily ditched some NPCs who's barn was attacked by goblins. Giving them a companion would give me as the DM always an easy way to get their attention by getting the companions involved and/or in trouble. Also they're a lot of extra mystery it could bring to the table. What if they meet someone without a companion? What if they find someone with two? Where do companions go when the character dies?
Question: How large is your party? How many players?
The party for my current campaign is 5 players. But that's not a group I'd try this with. I might start another campaign with a smaller group of 3 or max 4 players to try this with I think.
Yeah, as I said, I think you are entering into a world of hurt. But if you are going to experiment with this, a smaller party is the best way. Implementing this into an existing group of 5 is inviting chaos.
I think you could make it work, as long as you streamline initiative (I would say animal is same turn as player, but can go right before or after).
You could have players mostly fight monsters or constructs (which have no companions), and lean towards fewer, larger creatures with multi-attacks.
I would enter into the game with your players making clear this is experimental. Ask if they want to help you play test this idea. Get an okay from them that you might need to tweak mechanics for the game to run more smoothly. If they're really enthusiastic about animals and making this work, maybe you can talk with them after every few sessions to get feedback on how to improve the game for everyone. "Is this working?" "How could it work better?" "How could we streamline xyz?"
Try it! Be bold! It's a low risk prospect. Worst thing that happens is the game doesn't work the way you hoped. Best thing that happens is you create something new and fun, possibly after a few iterations. Good luck!