Beastmasters & Mounts

[Ed-Zero]

So after looking in the Adventurer's Vault today I noticed that you can buy a Dire Wolf mount for 1,000 gp. Now that's pretty sweet since one can make a Beastmaster that has a medium sized wolf (I wish there was a option to make them at least one size bigger) and voila! you have a 3 person solo team!

Assuming your DM plays your mount/companion right, your animals shouldn't be complete knobs. The Dire Wolf has 5 int and your Wolf companion has 6 so it "should" make sense that once you direct them to attack something using your 2 actions (1 turn to direct each, at least when your starting off) that they can sit there and attack while you're there attacking as well not needing to direct them to attack the same target every single turn.

This looks like it increases the power of the Beastmaster considerably (yes, anyone can buy a mount and have it go fight in combat but I'm a fan of the "Beastmaster" actually controlling more than one beast).

The adventurer's vault also brings us some items that help, the most useful it seems is the Sigil of Companionship (+1/+3/+5 damage/tier) for your companion and the Ghost Bridle for your mount which gives you and your mount phasing for a round but you dont need to even be riding your mount to gain this feature! (per encounter).

I guess the point of this post is to see if having a Beastmaster Companion and a mount at the same time would be too powerful.

 

[jedrious]

So after looking in the Adventurer's Vault today I noticed that you can buy a Dire Wolf mount for 1,000 gp. Now that's pretty sweet since one can make a Beastmaster that has a medium sized wolf (I wish there was a option to make them at least one size bigger) and voila! you have a 3 person solo team!

Assuming your DM plays your mount/companion right, your animals shouldn't be complete knobs. The Dire Wolf has 5 int and your Wolf companion has 6 so it "should" make sense that once you direct them to attack something using your 2 actions (1 turn to direct each, at least when your starting off) that they can sit there and attack while you're there attacking as well not needing to direct them to attack the same target every single turn.

This looks like it increases the power of the Beastmaster considerably (yes, anyone can buy a mount and have it go fight in combat but I'm a fan of the "Beastmaster" actually controlling more than one beast).

The adventurer's vault also brings us some items that help, the most useful it seems is the Sigil of Companionship (+1/+3/+5 damage/tier) for your companion and the Ghost Bridle for your mount which gives you and your mount phasing for a round but you dont need to even be riding your mount to gain this feature! (per encounter).

I guess the point of this post is to see if having a Beastmaster Companion and a mount at the same time would be too powerful.

Actually in order to prevent one character completely dominating the combat time, having the mount and companion be knobs is the only way to go, and the Game Designers agree with me based on their ruleset for companion/mount actions

 

[Foxman]

Actually in order to prevent one character completely dominating the combat time, having the mount and companion be knobs is the only way to go, and the Game Designers agree with me based on their ruleset for companion/mount actions

Wow. Useful.

My advice to the OP - if you want to run a solo campaign and you DM is ok with it (or you're the dm and are setting up for a PC), it sounds like a cool idea!

 

[Talaeden_Denthiir]

So, a Beastmaster Ranger only needs to spend his/her standard/move/minor actions to direct the beast companion? So that once said beast companion is already attacking it can fight on its own without the ranger spending actions so the ranger can spend actions on him/herself? I.E., companion attacking orc #1 and ranger attacking orc #2?

The concept of the beastmaster seems really cool, it's just I was a bit confused on how it works in play.

 

[Roger]

I guess the point of this post is to see if having a Beastmaster Companion and a mount at the same time would be too powerful.

On page 46 of the DMG, the second paragraph under "Encounters with PC Mounts" (starting "You can allow the PCs and the creatures they ride to
get their own sets of actions...") describes how to balance this approach.



Cheers,
Roger

 

[Talaeden_Denthiir]

Thanks Roger. Yeah, I remember reading that. I was more concerned on how to use the Beast (animal) companion rules from Martial Power. Those are the rules I don't really get.

 

[Turtlejay]

Attack (Standard Action): Your beast companion
makes a melee basic attack against an enemy of
your choice.

It seems pretty clear that it takes your action to make your beast take a basic attack. And the beastmaster at wills do not allow you to both attack either. I see no reason to even think that this is implied. If you did allow this the DMG suggests that for mounts you increase encounter difficulty appropriately. If I was DM and you wanted to do this, your party just got 2 bigger, with XP being divided among 2 more party members. I personally do not think that would be worth it.

Now, if you wanted to ride your dire wolf and use it's move to move and your standard to use a beastmaster at will to direct your companion or attack yourself, that would be cool. But the three of you should still share 1 standard, 1 move, and 1 minor action.

Jay

 

[Ed-Zero]

It seems pretty clear that it takes your action to make your beast take a basic attack. And the beastmaster at wills do not allow you to both attack either. I see no reason to even think that this is implied. If you did allow this the DMG suggests that for mounts you increase encounter difficulty appropriately. If I was DM and you wanted to do this, your party just got 2 bigger, with XP being divided among 2 more party members. I personally do not think that would be worth it.

Now, if you wanted to ride your dire wolf and use it's move to move and your standard to use a beastmaster at will to direct your companion or attack yourself, that would be cool. But the three of you should still share 1 standard, 1 move, and 1 minor action.

Jay

Yet there are rules for the mount and the companion to fight by itself. I think they are able to continue fighting (basic attacks) once they arrive at their target and make their initial attacks which would mean you need to take 2 standard actions to direct them but after that you let the independant rules take over and let them fight for themselves while your next to them or firing an arrow 40 yards away.

If the mount needs to be treated as a seperate pc then there shouldn't be a problem with it as long as the group is good with it since they are helping fight anyways.

 

[nittanytbone]

If you stop making attacks for mounts using your own actions, then they start drawing their own XP. So says the DMG, at least.

 

[James McMurray]

So, a Beastmaster Ranger only needs to spend his/her standard/move/minor actions to direct the beast companion? So that once said beast companion is already attacking it can fight on its own without the ranger spending actions so the ranger can spend actions on him/herself? I.E., companion attacking orc #1 and ranger attacking orc #2?

The concept of the beastmaster seems really cool, it's just I was a bit confused on how it works in play.

No, the ranger spends an action every time he wants the beast to do something, unless a power or effect says otherwise. It isn't 100% realistic, but it is balanced. There are rules for the companion acting on its own, but they basically amount to 'it defends the ranger if he drops."

Yet there are rules for the mount and the companion to fight by itself. I think they are able to continue fighting (basic attacks) once they arrive at their target and make their initial attacks which would mean you need to take 2 standard actions to direct them but after that you let the independant rules take over and let them fight for themselves while your next to them or firing an arrow 40 yards away.

If the mount needs to be treated as a seperate pc then there shouldn't be a problem with it as long as the group is good with it since they are helping fight anyways.

The DMG rules don't make things easier on the party, nor make the mount a useful addition to the group's fighting capabilities. You add XP equal to your mount's XP in monsters, and don't gain that XP for the party. It's a net 0. Also, it's aimed at intelligent and powerful mounts, not animals.