D&D 5E Beasts of the Earth

[WayOfTheFourElements]

Make a Charisma (intimidate) check. It doesn't matter what the gnome or the BotE is doing - it's an attempt to intimidate, the resolution is down to a skill roll.

So roaring is an aspect of Charisma?

 

[Paul Farquhar]

So roaring is an aspect of Charisma?

Intimidating is, yes.

 

[TheCosmicKid]

Good. So some rules of the game world are not recorded in the rule books. Therefore an ape might be able learn to wield a club and wear armor. Cool.

Like I said: it's up to you. I would advise against it on plausibility grounds.

 

[WayOfTheFourElements]

Intimidating is, yes.

And a roar is simply one category of intimidation?

So we could map it as: character -> features -> skills -> charisma skills -> intimidation -> roaring, yes?

 

[WayOfTheFourElements]

Like I said: it's up to you. I would advise against it on plausibility grounds.

Perhaps. Like I suggested in my first, if a player wanted it, I would just create a new stat block for battle apes, which included the ability to learn armor & weapons. That makes the most sense to me.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Perhaps. Like I suggested in my first, if a player wanted it, I would just create a new stat block for battle apes, which included the ability to learn armor & weapons. That makes the most sense to me.

Absolutely. Start there. Make the battle ape a warrior sidekick. Give them more than 3 int.

 

[Cap'n Kobold]

I have a player who is interested in using a Beast of the Earth, from the UA Class Variants. He wants the appearance to be an Ape. Both are size medium and both are beasts, so that checks out.

He wants to give his ape armor, a shield, and a weapon. I thought I would crowdsource some discussion on the topic. Should the armor cost four times as much like barding even though the ape is roughly humanoid? Can it use a shield? Would you allow it to learn proficiency in armor, shields, or weapons?

The beast will not have any proficiency in using weapons, armour, or shield.
I would suggest allowing the Ranger to train their beast to use them over time. Normally this would take years, but the Ranger and their companion share a special bond. Allow the Ranger to add their proficiency bonus to the creature's AC, attack, and damage rolls to simulate training it to use the weapons and armour.


(Although apes don't have the limb structure to effectively use most weapons, I'd allow training one to use a club, and so deal Bludgeoning rather than Slashing damage with its attack if the player wished..)

 

[WayOfTheFourElements]

The beast will not have any proficiency in using weapons, armour, or shield.
I would suggest allowing the Ranger to train their beast to use them over time. Normally this would take years, but the Ranger and their companion share a special bond. Allow the Ranger to add their proficiency bonus to the creature's AC, attack, and damage rolls to simulate training it to use the weapons and armour.


(Although apes don't have the limb structure to effectively use most weapons, I'd allow training one to use a club, and so deal Bludgeoning rather than Slashing damage with its attack if the player wished..)

Or they could work with a dwarven smith to engineer a new type of weapon an ape could use properly.

 

[Cap'n Kobold]

Or they could work with a dwarven smith to engineer a new type of weapon an ape could use properly.

Indeed. I think one of the recent Planet of the Apes films had some examples. Give it d6 damage and allow that to increase by he Ranger's proficiency bonus as the beast gets better at using it.

 

[Weiley31]

So, does one describe the natural state of that "special type of magical beast?" What does it look like? Where can one be found? How does it naturally behave? Is it a mimic that can only change form when not bound by a ranger?

So a BotE pretending to be a pony can also give an enemy the finger?

I'm not sure those things are "cosmetic." Giving an enemy the finger can have real, in-game effects. If a character with red hair who walks into a town full of red-head hating ruffians, is having red hair merely cosmetic? Moreover, if a PC is infected by poisonous lice, the ability to remove them effectively is not cosmetic at all, but is instead a life-saving ability.

The Beast of The Earth/Air is a magical beast that traces its lineage to the original Primal spirit/ancestor of the animal it is based on. So a Beast of The Earth Ape is a descendant of the original Primal being/spirit/ancestor of the ape before the world was shaped into its current form. So regardless, an ape looks like an ape because it's an ape species wise. It's not like it's a mimic or anything that suddenly morphs or goes "today is a parrot kind of day, so I'm gonna turn from an ape into a parrot." The Primal Beast of The Earth Ape CAN, however, pretend to be a regular ape.

So yes the ape can give the finger if trained. The Pony can't give the finger because it has hooves. Now the Pony can give The Hoof to an enemy which is the Pony's equivalent to giving the finger. A cat giving The Paw is the equivalent of the cat giving the finger.

Now the Revised Ranger Animal Companion is more along the lines of your standard animal that is trained. The Primal Beast of the Earth/Air more of a wild aspect of nature of a more prestigious bloodline willingly choosing to traveling with the Druid or Ranger.