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Message: <blockquote data-quote="VincentRVenturella" data-source="post: 4372300" data-attributes="member: 33569">I appreciate the feedback everyone.  I will answer a few of the questions here.  First - to the idea of Elimating the Ritual. As the feat does not directly give you the pet, you may find yourself in a position where you are buying the pet even if it is not undead. i.e. You are purchasing a hyena from an animal handler. Now I realize you may also be going out and tracking one down or something of that nature and that is certainly going to be exhaustive of some amount of resources if your DM turns it into an encounter based experience. I was simply attempting to gate the creation of the undead in some way - as the Tier 2 pets can certainly die, they are still operating on their normal hit point allowance. If you could simply "poof" a new undead - I would worry about undead being used in the classic "bad" ways (springing traps (not as much an issue in 4E admittedly), as suicide squads, etc. The ritual is a simple way of gating that. If you don't like the idea, you could simply lower the cost of obtaining the ritual (and elimate the cost of performing it) and simply extend the time it would take to balance that.  As for the distinction between Tier 2 and Tier 3. I made the seperation because in my mind, there is a very different way that a ranger's wolf and a shield mate work because of the level of individual action they could attain without the hero. I realize that the distinction is a submittal to some amount of realism, but I can only abstract myself into the game so much. Let me phrase it like this, if 4 grigands attacked the wolf and the hero wasn't around, the wolf would probably run away. If the sheild squire was attacked by the same 4 brigands, he might run away, but he is making a conscious choice, not simply relying on fight/flight. That is the distinction the tier seperation is trying to pry at. I think you could easily do what you are describing and have it work perfectly fine if that is within your (and your groups) acceptable level of reality abstraction. As with all things, YMMV. As for gating the feats by teir, it shouldn't be necessary. If the game is truly a linear advancement in its current edition, then the addition of a minion (essentially) to the party should be the same effect on the overall combat at level 5 it is at level 25. I would say you are getting too much out of the feat if it actually granted you the cohort (as old leadership did), but this doesn't do that. The DM still has ultimate say on what is available and the PCs must still pursue an ally or companion.  As to familiars, you are certainly right that they are an established part of the D&D landscape (and the mythological landscape in general). Honestly, I had not thought deeply about them and its a shame. My initial feeling is that they are a teir 1 pet. They are bound to the will of the caster. Certain monsters (such as imps) would be tagged with the "familiar" word just as some monsters are currently tagged with the "mount" keyword. The caster would then gain some benefit as long as he had the feat and was of the appropriate level. So perhaps an Imp with the familiar keyword grants the controller a +2 bonus to bluff and stealth and allows him to expend an encounter spell to become invisible as per the Imp's Vanish ability. I am just spit-balling off the top of my head, but I am sure you see the possibility.</blockquote>

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