I did my best to account for house rules dealing with any unanswered information in the Tasha's rules block. Here are the ones I thought of; if they are not handled well, or if you think other house rules could be common, please let me know.
What is the beast's alignment? I assumed it had to have one, so you can pick any of the ten creature alignments from a drop-down.
I would appreciate feedback from any DMs who honestly think the beast should truly not have an alignment, not even Unaligned. I can rework the drop-down to include blank if this is genuinely desired.
Is the listed passive perception a typo? There's a toggle for RAW vs Standard for PP.
Is the beast literate in the languages it understands? Presented as a toggle.
Is the beast adapted to the environments of the form it takes (such as an eagle form being adapted to high altitudes, or an octopus form being adapted to frigid water)? Presented as a toggle.
Do magic items such as a Moon Sickle apply to the save and check DCs of the Land and Sea beasts, respectively? I have a generic cell you can enter any numeric modifier into as your DM sees fit.
1. From what I've seen, that also seems to be the case with all TCoE summons (Summon Beast, etc.). I think not having an alignment equals Unaligned. They don't qualify for anything that requires alignment in the game (i.e. magic items), and don't have a set behavior aside from instincts. 2. "Here's how to determine a character's total for a passive check: 10 + all modifiers that normally apply to the check" (PHB, p. 175) The statblock seems to not take into account even a minimum PB. 3. "By virtue of your race, your character can speak, read, and write certain languages. Chapter 4 lists the most common languages of the D&D multiverse." (PHB, p. 17) // "Beasts are <...> but most are unintelligent and lack any society or language. <...>" (MM, p. 6) The statblocks all have an Intelligence of 8, and that is the same as more than your fair share of Barbarians out there, who are assumed to be literate. I'd say this one rests squarely on the DM's judgements (just as already a lot more than I'd like about the Beast Master does). 4. RAW the closer we get is "You also determine the kind of animal the beast is, choosing a kind appropriate for the stat block." (TCoE, p. 61) and nothing is assumed about that (which is dumb/sad). It does say "appropriate for the statblock" and none of them have resistance to cold damage, which is mostly the basis of whether or not a creature is able to safely survive in freezing water, for example. Another DM judgement thing, but this one is pretty granted if you stick to the basics of breathing, etc. (expect your mileage to vary when you try to get your ape to wield a greatclub or your octopus to grapple 8 creatures). 5. Yes, the statblocks specifically calls "against your spell save DC."
Anyway, great tool! Had to tweak it a bit since my character's current magic items get in the way (Ioun Stone of Mastery, Belt of Storm Giant Strength, Insignia of the Claws), but it did make me realize that the beast also gets the PB bonus on Death Saves 🤣 Hadn't picked on that one yet.
I made a Google Sheet for calculating your Primal Companion automatically! Feedback welcome, link is here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1j3QCxlE8v4K1rsc4IMkZ5lmZ1FbaS4PSQViwnsWjF40/edit?usp=sharing
I did my best to account for house rules dealing with any unanswered information in the Tasha's rules block. Here are the ones I thought of; if they are not handled well, or if you think other house rules could be common, please let me know.
1. From what I've seen, that also seems to be the case with all TCoE summons (Summon Beast, etc.). I think not having an alignment equals Unaligned. They don't qualify for anything that requires alignment in the game (i.e. magic items), and don't have a set behavior aside from instincts.
2. "Here's how to determine a character's total for a passive check: 10 + all modifiers that normally apply to the check" (PHB, p. 175) The statblock seems to not take into account even a minimum PB.
3. "By virtue of your race, your character can speak, read, and write certain languages. Chapter 4 lists the most common languages of the D&D multiverse." (PHB, p. 17) // "Beasts are <...> but most are unintelligent and lack any society or language. <...>" (MM, p. 6) The statblocks all have an Intelligence of 8, and that is the same as more than your fair share of Barbarians out there, who are assumed to be literate. I'd say this one rests squarely on the DM's judgements (just as already a lot more than I'd like about the Beast Master does).
4. RAW the closer we get is "You also determine the kind of animal the beast is, choosing a kind appropriate for the stat block." (TCoE, p. 61) and nothing is assumed about that (which is dumb/sad). It does say "appropriate for the statblock" and none of them have resistance to cold damage, which is mostly the basis of whether or not a creature is able to safely survive in freezing water, for example. Another DM judgement thing, but this one is pretty granted if you stick to the basics of breathing, etc. (expect your mileage to vary when you try to get your ape to wield a greatclub or your octopus to grapple 8 creatures).
5. Yes, the statblocks specifically calls "against your spell save DC."
Anyway, great tool! Had to tweak it a bit since my character's current magic items get in the way (Ioun Stone of Mastery, Belt of Storm Giant Strength, Insignia of the Claws), but it did make me realize that the beast also gets the PB bonus on Death Saves 🤣 Hadn't picked on that one yet.
Art Portfolio