The Mahout: Basic Class Information

The Mahout (over on EN5ider) is a new class for 5th Edition, a tamer of monsters, a character with a special bond with their devoted pet, whether that be a beast, an exotic aberration, a slime, or even a draconic creature. Also includes the Animalist subclass (two more subclasses, the Monstrous and Oddball appear next month), and four introductory monster tricks. By Erik Evjen and Mike Myler; illustrated by Joyce Maureira.

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[Nathaniel Lee]

In my playtests with it the group was ALL ABOUT having a monster around (the advanced regimens' different creature types!), it didn't have any disproportionate impact on vs. monster combat, definitely influenced vs. NPC combat more than usual, and they were really at a loss for how to handle visiting a settlement before they convinced the mahout character to just tie up his monster outside town (I think they also left signage in a few languages warning people to stay away from it).

I could see a lot of challenges for players running this sort of a character in specific thematic settings.

I'm using a homebrew campaign setting for the game I'm currently running, and the player characters are in a region where the civilized areas are very much human and even the typically "allied" races like elves, dwarves and halflings are looked upon with varying degrees of suspicion. One of the seven players has a dragonborn character and another is running a kenku so there have been a number of challenges on both sides of the screen to be able to navigate the world in a manner reasonably aligned with the theme of the setting.

A mahout character's charge would likely just be slaughtered by hunters, soldiers, mercenaries, guardsmen, etc. very quickly. Either that, or the party as a whole would likely not be able to even enter any civilized settlement having been seen as associating with someone dragging a dangerous monstrosity around with them.

Either that or they'd have to fall into the stereotypical concept of a member of a traveling circus (although those don't exist in the part of my setting the players are currently exploring).

The mahout would have made an interesting concept for at least the earlier part of the current Critical Role campaign, though.

 

[Nathaniel Lee]

So how is it in play?

More specifically, how did players feel about the class in terms of balance? Have you gotten a lot of good playtests with it at the various tiers?

What kind of approach or process do you use in playtesting the class? I'm actually quite interested in this process at the moment because I'm trying my hand at adapting the warden for 5E in my setting. With my first go, I tried to put together the entire class at once from 1-20, but that got unbalanced (I could see myself without even playtesting it) really quick so I've taken a slightly different approach by just focusing on getting 1-4 to a place I feel comfortable with and then playtesting just that tier before moving on to the next one.

 

[Mike Myler]

More specifically, how did players feel about the class in terms of balance? Have you gotten a lot of good playtests with it at the various tiers?

What kind of approach or process do you use in playtesting the class? I'm actually quite interested in this process at the moment because I'm trying my hand at adapting the warden for 5E in my setting. With my first go, I tried to put together the entire class at once from 1-20, but that got unbalanced (I could see myself without even playtesting it) really quick so I've taken a slightly different approach by just focusing on getting 1-4 to a place I feel comfortable with and then playtesting just that tier before moving on to the next one.

I've told Erik to get in here (we co-wrote this largely because he had access to a great gaming club to use for playtesting purposes) and he should be swinging through.

My playtests were low tier (1-4) to make sure the basic concept was accessible and fun (because the actual mahout themselves doesn't really get a lot, it's all about the pet), and to see how disruptive it was going to get on the deep end of things. To that end my playtester was using the most troubling thing on the early list (rust monster) which didn't get cut like I was worried would need to happen, leading to a very explicit sidebar instead about "depending on the setting the GM should ban some monsters based on abilities/availability of food/etc.". For context my playtest was roughly analogous to early Iron Age and involved fights with monsters, NPCs with metal weapons, some NPCs with not-metal weapons, and the aforementioned settlement hubbub.

I was surprised the Playtester's Club didn't have any feedback on the not-simply-beasts regimens and expect the Mahout: Advanced article will prompt some tweaks, but because the mahout's all about the creature they travel with (which with a little effort they can change if they get bored with it) I'm not as worried about it scaling as I was for the lodestar/fatebender/gemini/etc. Still ready to tweak it--I know there are insights coming with that Advanced article! I know it!--but essentially it lets a player use an already playtested and calibrated statblock for their character (albeit with a beefy friend nearby) most of which should be solid already.

 

[Nathaniel Lee]

because the actual mahout themselves doesn't really get a lot, it's all about the pet

I'm curious how this will fly with a more general crowd. I remember watching an interview with one of the designers of Dungeons & Dragons (can't remember if it was Mearls or Crawford) who talked about the process of designing the cavalier from Unearthed Arcana all the way to what finally made it into Xanathar's. One thing they pointed out was that with a class like that where a "companion" played a big role in the identity of the class, the character themselves had to be able to stand alone as well, since it's almost a given that the character will end up in scenarios where they simply cannot have their companion by their side.

 

[Mike Myler]

I'm curious how this will fly with a more general crowd. I remember watching an interview with one of the designers of Dungeons & Dragons (can't remember if it was Mearls or Crawford) who talked about the process of designing the cavalier from Unearthed Arcana all the way to what finally made it into Xanathar's. One thing they pointed out was that with a class like that where a "companion" played a big role in the identity of the class, the character themselves had to be able to stand alone as well, since it's almost a given that the character will end up in scenarios where they simply cannot have their companion by their side.

Yup. That was part of the thinking behind d12 Hit Dice and extra bonuses with whips (and a few other things like gradual natural armor and a freak-out feature when their pet is slain). The Mahout (and imminent Spellshaper prestige class) are one of the reasons I wanted the editor gig with EN5ider--there's a huge base of people to test new concepts in a forum that just doesn't exist in that magnitude anywhere else, and because it's paid/curated content there's an extra level of consideration involved with it (there are some good reddits and forums but they don't have any investment involved by the reader other than time). The Basic article has gotten more Likes than the other recent classes so I'm pretty stoked to see what folks think of the more treacherous terrain in the Advanced article!

 

[Nathaniel Lee]

By the way, kudos on all the mythical monsters and legendary heroes that you've been doing on the main site. I didn't realize that was your work. Great stuff!

 

[Mike Myler]

By the way, kudos on all the mythical monsters and legendary heroes that you've been doing on the main site. I didn't realize that was your work. Great stuff!

Thanks! It was Morrus' excellent idea.

 

[Mike Myler]

Doh and I forgot why I came in here to post: the Advanced Mahout article is up! http://www.enworld.org/forum/content.php?5613-The-Majout-Advanced-Class-Information

 

[Morrus]

Thanks! It was Morrus' excellent idea.

That definitely needs to be a book down the road.

 

[Mike Myler]

That definitely needs to be a book down the road.

Morrus' Excellent Idea £4/$6.50 or Mythological Figures? I don't know if I have the chops to art-up the former.