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Beastmaster's animal companion: can it survive for 2 rounds?
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<blockquote data-quote="BASHMAN" data-source="post: 6378961" data-attributes="member: 8277"><p>The 4e companions were much better than 5e and I'm not exactly a huge fan of 4e. In other editions, you could </p><p>get better companions as you leveled (I'd take a wolf, and when I could get a dire wolf say it grew up, so it</p><p>was the same pet the whole time). </p><p></p><p>That said, who said it has to be compared to another edition? The section on mounts gave</p><p>griffins as an example; there is no class feature to have a pet griffin (except 3.0 may have allowed this in a </p><p>splat book for paladins). The character concept demands the pet live for more than 2 game sessions in a row</p><p>while still getting to play an active role. It cannot do that with 4hp per level and no decent saves.</p><p></p><p>My own experience was in DnD Rules Cyclopedia that the GM house-ruled to allow GURPS Ads and Disads </p><p>(this was quite a long while ago, as you may imagine). But by this method, I had a pet dire-wolf</p><p>at 5th level. In 3e and 4e, it was possible to re-create this character. In 5e, it is impossible to ever</p><p>get a dire-wolf as a ranger's companion. You have to go druid, and then devote a spell slot to casting "animal friendship' on it every day, until you can finally cast Awaken on it. </p><p></p><p>An Awakened animal is also better in every conceivable way. Not only can it think for itself</p><p>and defend itself, it can do this when you have a horrible DM in league play who insists on being </p><p>a complete rules lawyer. Mearls can tweet that a companion can do this all he wants; until it is in the rules, </p><p>there will be DMs out there, especially in league play that will ignore the "just use common sense" tweet</p><p>and use the RAW, which says the opposite (it says the pet sits there an does nothing unless you spend an </p><p>action; the GM can reskin this as it snarling and dodging till he is blue in the face, but in mechanics, </p><p>the animal sits there and does nothing).</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="BASHMAN, post: 6378961, member: 8277"] The 4e companions were much better than 5e and I'm not exactly a huge fan of 4e. In other editions, you could get better companions as you leveled (I'd take a wolf, and when I could get a dire wolf say it grew up, so it was the same pet the whole time). That said, who said it has to be compared to another edition? The section on mounts gave griffins as an example; there is no class feature to have a pet griffin (except 3.0 may have allowed this in a splat book for paladins). The character concept demands the pet live for more than 2 game sessions in a row while still getting to play an active role. It cannot do that with 4hp per level and no decent saves. My own experience was in DnD Rules Cyclopedia that the GM house-ruled to allow GURPS Ads and Disads (this was quite a long while ago, as you may imagine). But by this method, I had a pet dire-wolf at 5th level. In 3e and 4e, it was possible to re-create this character. In 5e, it is impossible to ever get a dire-wolf as a ranger's companion. You have to go druid, and then devote a spell slot to casting "animal friendship' on it every day, until you can finally cast Awaken on it. An Awakened animal is also better in every conceivable way. Not only can it think for itself and defend itself, it can do this when you have a horrible DM in league play who insists on being a complete rules lawyer. Mearls can tweet that a companion can do this all he wants; until it is in the rules, there will be DMs out there, especially in league play that will ignore the "just use common sense" tweet and use the RAW, which says the opposite (it says the pet sits there an does nothing unless you spend an action; the GM can reskin this as it snarling and dodging till he is blue in the face, but in mechanics, the animal sits there and does nothing). [/QUOTE]
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Beastmaster's animal companion: can it survive for 2 rounds?
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