Dinosaurs as Animal Companions - Gamebreaker?

[Tonguez]

Personally I'd hate so see a dinosaur suddenly appear with a rider on its back.

On the other hand if the Druid was introduced riding a 'large lizard-like beast' known as Krokjaw which although rare are known to inhabit the Mamumu Delta area far to the east I'd be perfectly happy about it.

Of course I already DM a 3.0 campaign in which a druid PC had two medium-sized Claw-wings(velociraptors) as animal companions

Sounds like your ex-player friend is a pistachio looking for an excuse ...

 

[Drowbane]

That is a pretty damn silly thing to quit a game over. Then again, my Homebrew has assimulated Eberron's Talenta as my "feral race"... something Wild Elves used to occupy back in the day.

...Or that dinos are degenerate, devolved, or accursed dragons...

Thats more how I'd go about it (if I was using any sort of tie between the two).

 

[Tonguez]

It is very odd to quit over. I mean is it really weirder than having dragons? As a matter of fact fantasy evolution might dictate that dragons could be be descended from dinosaurs.

In my fantasy schema Dragons are in fact descended from a double-sailed Pelycosaurs and thus form another synapsid branch alongside Therapsids and Mammals

 

[Olaf the Stout]

Dinosaurs, while not exactly common, are animals and thus appropriate for this kind of treatment. That means they can also recieve all those "Animal" templates...and be Awakened by a Druid of sufficient level...all of which I'm doing in my own campaign.

As long as the 'saur wasn't overpowered vis a vis other animals a Druid that level could have, I don't see a problem.

I'm surprised this was your player's breaking point. I mean, I've had players leave a game in a huff but not over something in the "suspension of disbelief" category. The few times it has happened, it was either over a DM call the player (deeply) disagreed with or serious RW stuff.


Or that dinos are degenerate, devolved, or accursed dragons...

The dinosaur in question was the Bloodstriker dinosaur from MM3. In its listing in the MM3 it says it is an option for a Druid to use as an animal companion.

As an animal companion I think it is quite powerful for its CR. I didn't actually get to see it in combat but on paper I wouldn't want to face one as a level-appropriate challenge as a PC. At the same time I was willing to give it a shot without modification, just to see if it actually played out as strong as it looked.

Olaf the Stout

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

The dinosaur in question was the Bloodstriker dinosaur from MM3. In its listing in the MM3 it says it is an option for a Druid to use as an animal companion.

As an animal companion I think it is quite powerful for its CR. I didn't actually get to see it in combat but on paper I wouldn't want to face one as a level-appropriate challenge as a PC. At the same time I was willing to give it a shot without modification, just to see if it actually played out as strong as it looked.

Olaf the Stout

Our general rule of thumb for monsters post MMI was to say actual monster CR = listed CR + Monster Manual number.

Well, all that said, if the player is so difficult to deal with, it's his fault, not yours or the Dinosaur-Rider.

Though I can understand if some people don't like Dinosaurs as "standard" monster in their campaigns, but I think that's definitely something the DM will have to decide for the most part. As a player, I don't worry that much about the world as it is, only my place in it.

 

[Klaus]

It's certainly not something to quit a game over.

But if I'm to allow a dinosaur to be in the party, I'd certainly make a point of introducing them earlier and making them not seem tacked onto the setting.

What is weirder, the dinosaur you allowed is a made-up one, not any real-world one. So by just not using the term "dinosaur", any real-world disconnect could've been avoided.

 

[DragonLancer]

It is very odd to quit over. I mean is it really weirder than having dragons? As a matter of fact fantasy evolution might dictate that dragons could be be descended from dinosaurs.

In my game dragons are descended from dinosaurs, and then gifted with intelligence by the gods of old to act as guardians of the natural world.

-

Back to the topic at hand... it sounds from your post that the player in question was just waiting for a reason to quit, and it was the perfect opportunity. But then, maybe it was a bit too far for his suspence of disbelief.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

Back to the topic at hand... it sounds from your post that the player in question was just waiting for a reason to quit, and it was the perfect opportunity. But then, maybe it was a bit too far for his suspence of disbelief.

Yeah, it seems that way, yet he went to the trouble of e-mailing me and specifically stating that the dinosaurs broke it for him. I don't know why you would go to the trouble of lying about something like that, especially since it wasn't an angry e-mail or anything like that. If anything it was a, thanks for the game, hope we can keep in touch style e-mail.

As I said though, the quitting player and I had many differences in our game style. Really I think half the issue is that D&D isn't the game for him. He likes to think of the rules as guidelines when he DM's. I like to do things by the rules when I DM. Obviously this was frustrating for him when he tried to do things that he thought he could do but the D&D rules said otherwise.

But that really isn't what the intention of this thread was. I just wanted to see how many people would be put off by a Druid character having a dinosaur as an animal companion in their campaign. I didn't think it was a huge deal but I wanted to see if I was perhaps the nutter.

Olaf the Stout

 

[Tonguez]

but I wanted to see if I was perhaps the nutter.
Olaf the Stout

Okay I'll make this easy

You are the nutter

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Thing is dinosaurs are listed in the phb/srd as animal companions.