Companion Characters - Support for small groups

[Manbearcat]

I'm not sure how many folks use them but my small is collectively a big fan of the Companion Character rules in the 4e DMG2. As the title indicates, they've really done wonders in rounding out our small group's tactical assemblage, specifically in BBEG/high stakes combat encounters where they are almost exclusively deployed (they're relegated to color in standard combats). They also play a role now and again in non-combat, conflict resolution. When they are involved in either type of encounter, the encounter budget is adjusted (and XP dispensed) to account for another full-fledged character. Beyond these advantages, they also provide supplementary support to thematic archetype rendering; where some folks feel that 4e has fallen short. A Ranger's trusted, loyal dog, a Druid's mystical, primal connection to an animal, a Wizard/Warrior's magical sword all come further to life as companions/familiars.

We create ours slightly different than the pure 4e DMG2 guidelines. Instead of just using a stock monster and rounding it out via the companion rules, we start by creating our own monsters and then rounding out the companion. Feel free to follow along with my step by step instructons. We make creating companion characters...FUN!

1st, make an S...ok, a bit more seriously:

1 - Pick a role (eg Defender) and create an assemblage of combat traits and powers, including an MBA or RBA, that support that role with as little mental overhead/table handling time as possible.

2 - We aren't worrying about fully statting up ability scores as we really just want some easy derivative modifiers. Depending on role/thematic archetype, put a 15/13 in Con/Dex. This will determine HPs/Surge and Init modifier. I would probably give it a 6 speed if you went with the high Con and 7 speed with the high Dex.

3 - Hit the target numbers by level and adjust as needed to fit the role. This includes AC, NADs, to hit, damage expressions, and relevant DCs.

4 - Choose 3 skills and give them a modifier where you are successfully hitting a Hard DC on a 12, 13, and 14.

5 - Give the companion a vision type and 2 non-combat abilities/features/powers that either facilitate group success in either Skill Challenge or Transition Scenes.

Alright, now that that is out of the way, I'll do a few examples of the Companions that have been featured in my home game. Beyond these two there has been a Silver Dragon Paladin mount (Striker, controller), a sentient, family heirloom blade as familiar (Leader, controller) amongst others. However, these are two big D&D staples, so I'll outline them and maybe someone will get some use out of them in their home game...especially the home games that feature less than an ideal number of PCs (such as my game) that would be well serviced by an easy companion to round out the roster. Feel free to steal these for your campaigns and please post any Companion Characters that you have successfully used in your games. Our game is in the Epic tier of play, but I'll post the 10th level versions as it appears Paragon play is rampant (given polls).

Target numbers at 10th level for reference:

DCs - Low 13, Med 18, High 26
Damage Expressions Mean - Low 13, Med 18, High 22, Encounter 26
Atk vs Def - 14 (+ 1 vs standard monsters 13)
Average AC:NAD - 25:23

Bear Guardian
Level 10 Medium natural beast (Defender)
HP 86; Bloodied 43 Healing Surge 11 @ 21 Initiative +6 Speed 6
AC 28 Fortitude 25 Reflex 22 Will 20

Combat Traits

Ursine Shield (Aura 1): Enemies in the aura take a -2 penalty to attack rolls when it makes an attack that does not include the Bear Guardian among its targets. Marked enemies are not subject to this aura.

Standard Actions

(MBA) Rending Claw - At-Will
Attack: Melee 1 (one creature); +14 vs. Reflex; Hit: 1d12 + 6 damage.

Maul - At-Will
Requirement: The Bear Guardian must not have a creature grabbed
Attack: Melee 1 (one creature); +14 vs. Reflex; Hit: 1d12 + 6 damage, and the Bear Guardian grabs the target (escape DC 22).

Crush - At-Will; Effect: Melee 1 (one creature grabbed by the Bear Guardian). The target takes 1d12 + 9 damage.

Triggered Actions

Primal Rebuke - At-Will
Trigger: An enemy in the Ursine Shield Aura makes an attack that targets an ally but not the Bear Guardian.
Attack (Opportunity Action): Melee 1 (the triggering enemy); +14 vs. Reflex; Hit: 1d12 + 6 damage.

Non-Combat Traits

Low Light Vision

Shared Perception: The druid can use the Shared Husk Ritual on their Bear Guardian.

Cavern Lore
Your talent for exploring caves gives you the edge needed to overcome unexpected challenges and you can share this supernatural insight with your companion.
Encounter Primal
Free Action Personal
Trigger: You, or your druid, ally fail an Acrobatics, Athletics, Endurance, or Perception check while underground.
Effect: You make a Dungeoneering check and use its result instead.

Athletics + 14, Dungeoneering + 12, Endurance + 13

Huntsman's Hound
Level 10 Medium natural beast (Striker)
HP 70; Bloodied 35 Healing Surge 7 @ 17 Initiative +7 Speed 7
AC 25 Fortitude 23 Reflex 23 Will 23

Combat Traits

Harrier (Aura 1): Quarries cannot shift while in the aura.

Pack Attack: The hound gains the Ranger's benefits of his quarry class feature.

Standard Actions

(MBA) Vicious Bite - At-Will
Attack: Melee 1 (one creature); +15 vs. Reflex; Hit: 2d6 + 8 damage.

Enclose the Prey - At-Will
Attack: Melee 1 (one creature); +15 vs. Reflex; Hit: 2d6 + 8 damage and the hound shifts up to 2 squares.

Finish the Kill - At-Will
Attack Melee 1 (one bloodied creature); + 15 vs. Reflex; Hit: 3d6 + 8 damage.

Triggered Actions

Sic' em Boy (Encounter)
Trigger: The hound's huntsman designate's a target as quarry.
Effect (Free Action): The hound shifts up to its speed and uses Enclose the Prey against the quarry.

Non-Combat Traits

Low Light Vision

Scent: You gain a +5 feat bonus to Perception checks made to track and to Insight checks made to penetrate an illusion. You can use this bonus once during a skill challenge if scent is relevant to the check.

Watchful Rest: When you take an extended rest, you and any allies also taking the rest do not take the –5 penalty to Perception checks for sleeping.

Athletics + 13, Nature + 12, Perception + 14

 

[Evilhalfling]

I agree that companion characters RAW are more like 1/2 characters than PCs. I tinkered with them a bit, never derived a system to make them better. Giving them a role and stealing essentials class features was the direction I was heading. I found 1 at will and 2 encounter attacks and 1 utility made a nice balance. By 10th I would probably give them a second utility, or a second use of the one they already have.

Anyway thanks for sharing your more detailed version.

Im not sure about pargaon being rampant, since 4e is dropping inflence/interest on Enworld where are you seeing polls?

 

[Manbearcat]

@Evilhalfling I find that the easiest way to handle bumping up the power of Companion characters is to just move them up the damage expression track. What you're looking for with Companions (since one person is running two characters) is an extremely high effectiveness:mental overhead ratio. The easiest way to accomplish this, in my estimation is to (1) use hefty auras to manage much of that expected payload and (2) use higher damage expressions and more powerful riders to represent at-will abilities.

The Bear Guardian above has performed admirably as a Defender with effective and user friendly melee control and above average survivability. The Hound has been productive as a damage additive with solid melee control. I'll outline the other two at another point in the future but the Bladesinger's Animated Sword works great as a Warlord/Aegis of Assault SM hybrid and doesn't require much tracking.

As far as polls, I've seen them in various places, including here. It seems there is a robust Paragon game out there and a lot of Dungeon support for that tier.

 

[Sunseeker]

I keep my companions even simpler. I set the stats on par for the class it's themed around(though a little lower usually), then 1 at-will, 1 encounter, 1 daily, with the latter two having multiple uses(usually 2 or three depending on the level). I try to avoid having special features because it's just more for me(or the players) to keep track of. Honestly my companions look more like monsters in how they're built.

 

[Manbearcat]

Those are exactly monsters except for the HPs/surges. In combat, the decision-points of these two Companion characters for the players playing them are quite minimal with pretty much no resource tracking:

Bear:

1 - Get in melee range of as many creatures as possible (to leverage aura).
2 - Is a creature grabbed? If no > Maul. If yes > Crush.
3 - Off turn aura violation? > Primal Rebuke.

Hound:

1 - Get in melee range of Ranger's Quarry.
2 - Is Quarry Bloodied? If no > Enclose Prey. If yes > Finish the Kill.
3 - Sic' Em Boy as needed to get on new Quarry as Free Action on Ranger's turn; basically an encounter rider for the Ranger (This is almost always used as nova at the beginning of combat).
4 - Off turn aura violation? > Viscous Bite.

 

[S'mon]

I absolutely love CCs; I use the rules much more broadly, for many major NPCs, especially allies of the PCs, and I have them at a range of levels. I recently published a bunch on my campaign blog - http://frloudwater.blogspot.co.uk/ - the PCs are 14th level, the detailed CCs are 8th-13th but it's only Sir Jorah Blackthorn the 13th level guy who adventures with them. He's very popular and had at least 3 awestruck PCs romantically chasing him, but he seems to have settled for Lirael the competent but shy half-elf Ranger archer over Quinn the floozy Bard or Pealias the (male) Eladrin Ranger.

One thing I do with CCs is use them as temp characters for drop-in players; the fully designed ones like Sir Jorah are completely playable as PCs if you let them use Action Points. Other simpler CCs like Megana Nistral are basically monster-statted but with CC/PC type hit points and healing surges, the stat block just helps them interact with the PCs and gives an idea of their capabilities.

Overall, the CC rules work great and I will use them for many characters, long before I'd use the very poor "PC Class NPC" rules in the DMG.

 

[S'mon]

Re damage - I use the L+8 baseline for damage, with Strikers doing High (+25%) damage. That's plenty enough damage IME, in fact I have to be careful not to overdo it. If a Leader or Controller type has high-damage Encounter powers I'll reduce their at-will to Low (-25%). L+8 feels a lot, it is more than many of the source-limited PCs IMC can do, at least reliably.

 

[S'mon]

BTW yesterday I gave a CC statblock to my 6 year old son as a PC, and we had a great time playing D&D together! Actually seems easier for him than any pre-4e edition(!)

 

[Manbearcat]

I absolutely love CCs; I use the rules much more broadly, for many major NPCs, especially allies of the PCs, and I have them at a range of levels. I recently published a bunch on my campaign blog - http://frloudwater.blogspot.co.uk/ - the PCs are 14th level, the detailed CCs are 8th-13th but it's only Sir Jorah Blackthorn the 13th level guy who adventures with them. He's very popular and had at least 3 awestruck PCs romantically chasing him, but he seems to have settled for Lirael the competent but shy half-elf Ranger archer over Quinn the floozy Bard or Pealias the (male) Eladrin Ranger.

Hey S'mon. Yup. You have a great blog. I've read your stuff including your companion characters and you do an excellent job reproducing your sessions. Do your players help you out with the blog? That is a lot of content on there. Given your career and family life, you must be scrambling for time. I know I am. I would like to post much more prolifically and respond to many more posts than I do but I just don't have the time. I can't imagine doing a solo blog, reproducing a campaign in detail as you've done there (so I'm assuming your players lend a hand).

One thing I do with CCs is use them as temp characters for drop-in players; the fully designed ones like Sir Jorah are completely playable as PCs if you let them use Action Points. Other simpler CCs like Megana Nistral are basically monster-statted but with CC/PC type hit points and healing surges, the stat block just helps them interact with the PCs and gives an idea of their capabilities.

Overall, the CC rules work great and I will use them for many characters, long before I'd use the very poor "PC Class NPC" rules in the DMG.

That is precisely what I do but their primary use in my campaign is rounding out our party. We basically rotate from session to session on whose companion will move from background color to actual mechanical cog.

Having a friend play the captain of the Ranger lodge or even one of our normal companion characters (the bear/dog/sentient sword) is a very easy way to include someone off the cuff. As above, with a properly done CC you can basically have just a few decision points and minimal resource tracking.

Re damage - I use the L+8 baseline for damage, with Strikers doing High (+25%) damage. That's plenty enough damage IME, in fact I have to be careful not to overdo it. If a Leader or Controller type has high-damage Encounter powers I'll reduce their at-will to Low (-25%). L+8 feels a lot, it is more than many of the source-limited PCs IMC can do, at least reliably.

I do the same but I like to bounce it up and down (by 12 % to 25 %) with a minor or major rider to the Standard attack. Overall, the Striker companion does ~ 21.7 DPR (with some quality melee control and skirmishing) throughout the course of a 4-5 round combat, the Defender does ~ 17.8 DPR (with a ton of melee control and damage soak) and the Leader (controller with a small c) does just under 18 DPR on low # fights and upwards of 20.4 on AoE fights (with some hefty control and healing to boot). Those numbers work well for us I tend to run a lot less combats than (what I assume is) standard and correspondingly our standard encounter budget is L + 2 rather than L. Our group makeup is probably a bit hefty for the encounter budget of a small group. A Bladesinger, Duelist Rogue/Ranger and Swarm Druid/Shaman are all ridiculously survivable on their own and can put out a lot of damage and control.

BTW yesterday I gave a CC statblock to my 6 year old son as a PC, and we had a great time playing D&D together! Actually seems easier for him than any pre-4e edition(!)

That is another great thing about the CC makeup. Yutes and newbs alike can grasp them readily so introducing new players (and a new generation) comes easy!

 

[S'mon]

Hey S'mon. Yup. You have a great blog. I've read your stuff including your companion characters and you do an excellent job reproducing your sessions. Do your players help you out with the blog? That is a lot of content on there. Given your career and family life, you must be scrambling for time. I know I am. I would like to post much more prolifically and respond to many more posts than I do but I just don't have the time. I can't imagine doing a solo blog, reproducing a campaign in detail as you've done there (so I'm assuming your players lend a hand).

...That is another great thing about the CC makeup. Yutes and newbs alike can grasp them readily so introducing new players (and a new generation) comes easy!

Hi Manbearcat - re my Loudwater blog, players write the PC-viewpoint session accounts, eg Lirael's player is Kimberly Pauley a professional author (WoTC used to publish her teenage-vampire books, she's friends with Shelly Mazzanoble & co) so her stuff is always excellent. We've actually been doing PBP too on the Facebook group the past couple weeks as it's vacation time for many of us.

re Companion Characters, yup, I've been surprised what a great game 4e is for very young players IF you're using monster type stat blocks. The D&D Minis game likewise; unfortunately the board games (Wrath of Ashardalon) overcomplicate it with the powers cards. We converted my son Bill's PC from a 2nd level Magic-User in Moldvay B/X to a Companion Character style 10th level character - I just pulled an appropriate looking 'wizard' type monster stat block and edited the hp & surges. One thing I noticed is that the way the Powers work in 4e is far more intuitive for him than the old Vancian one-shot system. Although he did say after the battle "I've used (Encounter powers) twice, I need to rest ten minutes to get them both back!" Still, not bad for six!