Tweaking the Spirit Companion

[C4]

If you've ever had a shaman in your group, you may have noticed a couple of oddities involving their pets:

1. The pet's damage threshold and death throe damage aren't up to date with MM3 damage values. At 1st level, most monsters will just flail away at a pet, effectively wasting their turns. But by 10th level, normal monsters have better-than-coin-flip odds to pop a pet with a hit, and by 30th level popping a pet is almost guaranteed even for low-damage attacks. Minions are the only exception.

2. Shaman pets are 4e's Wild Shape. At low levels, a pet is a mobile wall. In dungeon scenarios, a pet can often trap monsters outside of doorways until the party has dealt with the other monsters. It's almost like having an at-will stun power. Even later, when pets become vulnerable to poppage, its death throe damage is less than a shaman would take from a monster. I've gotten to the point where I've decided that everybody knows not to attack shaman pets. It's more than common knowledge how pointless it is; it's instinctive knowledge; so even animals and oozes and undead don't bother attacking pets.

I've already decided how to iron out oddity #1: I changed the damage threshold and the death throe damage modifiers to "+ level," rather than "+ half level." Simple enough.

But I'm on the fence as to whether to tweak the base numbers, in order to iron out oddity #2. As a DM, I don't like pets being so difficult to pop and dealing comparatively little damage to the shaman if they do. Even as a player, I feel a bit like I'm cheating whenever I play a shaman.

But maybe that's just me; what do you think?

 

[S'mon]

The picture in PHB2 shows the spirit companion as a ghost, and I think that's how they're supposed to be portrayed. You can attack them, but you're just flailing at ectoplasm, so why bother.

 

[Tequila Sunrise]

The picture in PHB2 shows the spirit companion as a ghost, and I think that's how they're supposed to be portrayed. You can attack them, but you're just flailing at ectoplasm, so why bother.

That's a good point. If I saw a ghostly animal in real life, I wouldn't bother trying to punch it.

On the other hand every single ghost-like creature in 4e, aside from a shaman's pet, can be killed with enough punches. So as silly as it sounds, even a smart opponent might reasonably waste at least one hit on a pet. And depending on how the DM imagines ectoplasm being [un]damaged, an enemy might spend an entire encounter thinking "If I just keep hacking away at this thing, I'll eventually get through this doorway."

Or maybe that's just my odd sense of humor.

 

[C4]

The picture in PHB2 shows the spirit companion as a ghost, and I think that's how they're supposed to be portrayed. You can attack them, but you're just flailing at ectoplasm, so why bother.

Hammer, meet nail.

That's a good point. If I saw a ghostly animal in real life, I wouldn't bother trying to punch it.

On the other hand every single ghost-like creature in 4e, aside from a shaman's pet, can be killed with enough punches. So as silly as it sounds, even a smart opponent might reasonably waste at least one hit on a pet. And depending on how the DM imagines ectoplasm being [un]damaged, an enemy might spend an entire encounter thinking "If I just keep hacking away at this thing, I'll eventually get through this doorway."

Or maybe that's just my odd sense of humor.

It is weird how I switch from thinking "How would I deal ectoplasm in real life?" when dealing with most insubstantial creatures to "How would I deal with ectoplasm in D&D life?" when dealing with shaman pets.

 

[S'mon]

That's a good point. If I saw a ghostly animal in real life, I wouldn't bother trying to punch it.

On the other hand every single ghost-like creature in 4e, aside from a shaman's pet, can be killed with enough punches. So as silly as it sounds, even a smart opponent might reasonably waste at least one hit on a pet. And depending on how the DM imagines ectoplasm being [un]damaged, an enemy might spend an entire encounter thinking "If I just keep hacking away at this thing, I'll eventually get through this doorway."

Or maybe that's just my odd sense of humor.

I run it:

1. The enemy is aware of how much damage it's inflicting, so it knows if it's not passing the SC's damage threshold.

2. Enemies who haven't fought shamans before will typically attack & hit it once, see it's not harmed, or that it reforms after being popped, and ignore it thereafter.

I don't really see it as a creature in the sense that MM entities are creatures. It's more like a spell manifestation; lots of 4e spells create physical manifestations that aren't really creatures.