The nomadic Talenta Halflings from Eberron really seem like a ton of fun to me. Little pint sized balls of fury riding around on dinosaurs is such a cool race concept. I would like my Raptor to be able to attack in a pinch, but mostly I'd like to use it as a mount that I could attack from using a Longbow. What are my options in terms of class? I doubt a normal raptor would be able to survive a campaign if Im taking it into combat, so am I basically limited to magical fey raptor from spells so I can Rez it back up?
Well, if your DM will allow you to summon a Clawfoot Raptor with Find Steed, the quickest way to get this spell is either 5 levels of Paladin or 6 levels of Lore Bard. Lore Bard does not get Longbow proficiency though, so maybe Paladin?
The clawfoot is the same CR as a warhorse, so I wouldn't think a flexible DM would be against it. A paladin's Find Steed is probably the best way to have a faithful mount, because you can resummon it if it dies. Otherwise you could also go with a Cavalier Fighter and use your abilities to protect your mount from attacks.
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Canto alla vita alla sua bellezza ad ogni sua ferita ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
(Disclaimer: I'm a noob and I've only recently started my first campaign last week (and its not with this character), so please excuse my silly questions.)
Thanks for the replies! It might be greedy but I was hoping to start the game with my raptor companion. It wouldn't be to make my character stronger. It would solely be a way to support the lore of my character. Maybe my DM would let me raise him from an egg, and he could be more like a non-combat pet until I got high enough in level to actually use him in combat. I just stumbled across the UA Ranger with the Beast Master changes released last November. It said I can choose the appearance as long as I follow the rules of the Beast of the Earth. That might end up being the quickest way I could start using him. Thoughts?
I guess I should also ask if most DMs that you'll randomly meet online in forums like these are find with using UA features. Are these pretty widely used or are they frowned upon?
Quote from Snubble>I guess I should also ask if most DMs that you'll randomly meet online in forums like these are find with using UA features. Are these pretty widely used or are they frowned upon?
It’s impossible to say, really. The only answers you could get would be anecdotal. I’d guess that most people who play D&D don’t even know about UA content, let alone use it.
For those who do know about them, it will be a mixed bag. Personally I only like to use officially published content. I figure that’s been play tested and balanced. UA stuff can often be little more than a rough draft of ideas, many of which never become “official” rules, or are changed drastically from what initially released, and with good reason
That said, those ranger rules changes were much needed, and looked like something that really helps the class.
And not to be too much of a party pooper, but mounts in D&D have pretty much never worked in practice as well as they do in theory. They’re a pain to keep fed, they’re really hard to bring into dungeons or almost any indoor environment. They typically don’t have enough hit points to survive long in combat (often dying at the first fireball they encounter), they don’t get death saves like a PC does, 0 hp and they are dead, and healers are really hesitant to help save someone’s horse when there’s a PC who needs that cure wounds spell. The more magical ones (paladin mounts basically) work better, but are rarely worth the trouble.
It depends. UA can vary wildly in how well its balanced. I think most DMs are open to homebrew as long as you can make a decent case about why. This is excluding Adventurer's League, which is official published books only.
(Disclaimer: I'm a noob and I've only recently started my first campaign last week (and its not with this character), so please excuse my silly questions.)
Thanks for the replies! It might be greedy but I was hoping to start the game with my raptor companion. It wouldn't be to make my character stronger. It would solely be a way to support the lore of my character. Maybe my DM would let me raise him from an egg, and he could be more like a non-combat pet until I got high enough in level to actually use him in combat. I just stumbled across the UA Ranger with the Beast Master changes released last November. It said I can choose the appearance as long as I follow the rules of the Beast of the Earth. That might end up being the quickest way I could start using him. Thoughts?
I guess I should also ask if most DMs that you'll randomly meet online in forums like these are find with using UA features. Are these pretty widely used or are they frowned upon?
All questions that need to be directed at individual DMs. I would be fine with a raptor beast companion a la Beast of the Earth.
(Disclaimer: I'm a noob and I've only recently started my first campaign last week (and its not with this character), so please excuse my silly questions.)
Thanks for the replies! It might be greedy but I was hoping to start the game with my raptor companion. It wouldn't be to make my character stronger. It would solely be a way to support the lore of my character. Maybe my DM would let me raise him from an egg, and he could be more like a non-combat pet until I got high enough in level to actually use him in combat. I just stumbled across the UA Ranger with the Beast Master changes released last November. It said I can choose the appearance as long as I follow the rules of the Beast of the Earth. That might end up being the quickest way I could start using him. Thoughts?
I guess I should also ask if most DMs that you'll randomly meet online in forums like these are find with using UA features. Are these pretty widely used or are they frowned upon?
All questions that need to be directed at individual DMs. I would be fine with a raptor beast companion a la Beast of the Earth.
This!
As fun as it is to build characters, they're useless unless everyone at your table agrees.
(Disclaimer: I'm a noob and I've only recently started my first campaign last week (and its not with this character), so please excuse my silly questions.)
Thanks for the replies! It might be greedy but I was hoping to start the game with my raptor companion. It wouldn't be to make my character stronger. It would solely be a way to support the lore of my character. Maybe my DM would let me raise him from an egg, and he could be more like a non-combat pet until I got high enough in level to actually use him in combat. I just stumbled across the UA Ranger with the Beast Master changes released last November. It said I can choose the appearance as long as I follow the rules of the Beast of the Earth. That might end up being the quickest way I could start using him. Thoughts?
I guess I should also ask if most DMs that you'll randomly meet online in forums like these are find with using UA features. Are these pretty widely used or are they frowned upon?
If you find a DM that will allow you to use this UA, I say go for it. This version of the Beast Master Ranger is much improved and should adequately allow you to explore your character concept.
I have played a ua revised beast master ranger for 12 levels and it was super fun to play. I was using a nerfed dinosaur from the ToA book and my dm was super flexible about allowing me to ride it.
I definitely recommend this build it was super fun
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“I will take responsibility for what I have done. [...] If must fall, I will rise each time a better man.” ― Brandon Sanderson, Oathbringer.
Also keep in mind, not every animal in your party needs to be a ranger companion or magically summoned. Adventurers routinely ride horses, and some classes such as Cavalier are designed to ride mounts despite having no way to "give" you one as a class feature. In certain parts of the world, trained riding raptors may be as common and available for purchase as trained horses are.
As pointed out, a Clawfoot Raptor and a Warhorse have the same CR. The Warhorse is stronger (can carry more) and larger (can be ridden by medium creatures) and faster (60 vs 50) and has more hit points (19 vs 16) and a more effective trample (DC 14 vs 13, 11+11 dmg on a charge vs 10+5 dmg). Your DM might require you to spend your action and make Animal Handling checks to effectively guide the raptor in combat instead of just using it as a move speed (as they might do for any mount), or maybe at level 1 your budget only allows you a down-scaled raptor with smaller damage die and no charge ability to bring it in line with a Riding Horse, but a DM running an Eberron campaign really should not be telling a Halfling that they can't ride raptors if other mounts are available in the setting.
Hi DnDBeyond!
The nomadic Talenta Halflings from Eberron really seem like a ton of fun to me. Little pint sized balls of fury riding around on dinosaurs is such a cool race concept. I would like my Raptor to be able to attack in a pinch, but mostly I'd like to use it as a mount that I could attack from using a Longbow. What are my options in terms of class? I doubt a normal raptor would be able to survive a campaign if Im taking it into combat, so am I basically limited to magical fey raptor from spells so I can Rez it back up?
Thanks for the help!
Well, if your DM will allow you to summon a Clawfoot Raptor with Find Steed, the quickest way to get this spell is either 5 levels of Paladin or 6 levels of Lore Bard. Lore Bard does not get Longbow proficiency though, so maybe Paladin?
The clawfoot is the same CR as a warhorse, so I wouldn't think a flexible DM would be against it. A paladin's Find Steed is probably the best way to have a faithful mount, because you can resummon it if it dies. Otherwise you could also go with a Cavalier Fighter and use your abilities to protect your mount from attacks.
Canto alla vita
alla sua bellezza
ad ogni sua ferita
ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty
To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me
The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
(Disclaimer: I'm a noob and I've only recently started my first campaign last week (and its not with this character), so please excuse my silly questions.)
Thanks for the replies! It might be greedy but I was hoping to start the game with my raptor companion. It wouldn't be to make my character stronger. It would solely be a way to support the lore of my character. Maybe my DM would let me raise him from an egg, and he could be more like a non-combat pet until I got high enough in level to actually use him in combat. I just stumbled across the UA Ranger with the Beast Master changes released last November. It said I can choose the appearance as long as I follow the rules of the Beast of the Earth. That might end up being the quickest way I could start using him. Thoughts?
I guess I should also ask if most DMs that you'll randomly meet online in forums like these are find with using UA features. Are these pretty widely used or are they frowned upon?
Oh yeah! I forgot about that. That's another good way to do it!
Canto alla vita
alla sua bellezza
ad ogni sua ferita
ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty
To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me
The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
It’s impossible to say, really. The only answers you could get would be anecdotal. I’d guess that most people who play D&D don’t even know about UA content, let alone use it.
For those who do know about them, it will be a mixed bag. Personally I only like to use officially published content. I figure that’s been play tested and balanced. UA stuff can often be little more than a rough draft of ideas, many of which never become “official” rules, or are changed drastically from what initially released, and with good reason
That said, those ranger rules changes were much needed, and looked like something that really helps the class.
And not to be too much of a party pooper, but mounts in D&D have pretty much never worked in practice as well as they do in theory. They’re a pain to keep fed, they’re really hard to bring into dungeons or almost any indoor environment. They typically don’t have enough hit points to survive long in combat (often dying at the first fireball they encounter), they don’t get death saves like a PC does, 0 hp and they are dead, and healers are really hesitant to help save someone’s horse when there’s a PC who needs that cure wounds spell. The more magical ones (paladin mounts basically) work better, but are rarely worth the trouble.
It depends. UA can vary wildly in how well its balanced. I think most DMs are open to homebrew as long as you can make a decent case about why. This is excluding Adventurer's League, which is official published books only.
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All questions that need to be directed at individual DMs. I would be fine with a raptor beast companion a la Beast of the Earth.
This!
As fun as it is to build characters, they're useless unless everyone at your table agrees.
If you find a DM that will allow you to use this UA, I say go for it. This version of the Beast Master Ranger is much improved and should adequately allow you to explore your character concept.
I have played a ua revised beast master ranger for 12 levels and it was super fun to play. I was using a nerfed dinosaur from the ToA book and my dm was super flexible about allowing me to ride it.
I definitely recommend this build it was super fun
“I will take responsibility for what I have done. [...] If must fall, I will rise each time a better man.” ― Brandon Sanderson, Oathbringer.
Also keep in mind, not every animal in your party needs to be a ranger companion or magically summoned. Adventurers routinely ride horses, and some classes such as Cavalier are designed to ride mounts despite having no way to "give" you one as a class feature. In certain parts of the world, trained riding raptors may be as common and available for purchase as trained horses are.
As pointed out, a Clawfoot Raptor and a Warhorse have the same CR. The Warhorse is stronger (can carry more) and larger (can be ridden by medium creatures) and faster (60 vs 50) and has more hit points (19 vs 16) and a more effective trample (DC 14 vs 13, 11+11 dmg on a charge vs 10+5 dmg). Your DM might require you to spend your action and make Animal Handling checks to effectively guide the raptor in combat instead of just using it as a move speed (as they might do for any mount), or maybe at level 1 your budget only allows you a down-scaled raptor with smaller damage die and no charge ability to bring it in line with a Riding Horse, but a DM running an Eberron campaign really should not be telling a Halfling that they can't ride raptors if other mounts are available in the setting.
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I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
A Fastieth is the same CR as a Riding Horse.
DCI: 3319125026