D&D 5E druids don't get animal companions?

[Mouseferatu]

I thought the same until I started hunting for touch spells in the wizard list. There aren't many. In fact, shocking grasp was the only one I could think of without a better search capability.

Vampiric touch? Cause damage and regain hp, all at a comfortable distance.

Also, keep in mind that the familiar doesn't cost you a slot per day. It only costs you a slot on the days you summon/replace it. And that's if you don't cast it as a ritual.

Now, if you meant "slot" as in "one of the spells you start with in your spellbook"... Well, I disagree, but I admit it's debatable.

 

[Psikerlord#]

It's cleverly hidden in plain site as Animal Handling There is also an Intelligence (Nature) check as a separate skill.

As to your point...



The skill says, "When there is any question whether you can calm down a domesticated animal, keep a mount from getting spooked, or intuit an animal’s intentions, the DM might call for a Wisdom (Animal Handling) check. You also make a Wisdom (AnimalHandling) check to control your mount when you attempta risky maneuver."

Not sure that really does it. I suppose a combination of animal friendship, speak with animals, animal handling, and then maybe some sort of persuasion check to get them to be actual friends?

It does seem odd to me that the Cleric (Nature) is more capable of controlling animals than a Druid, though admittedly I have not read them both all the way through.

Hahaha ah animal handling, you sneaky bugger! Yeah I dunno I reckon a whole skill about animal handling ought to allow a druid to make animal friends easily. Does the druid not get expertise in this skill? Alas

 

[Herobizkit]

Grizzly Bear monk hype.

Also, Philosoraptor!

Awakened Animals as PCs just make sense. Thanks Blue Rose!

 

[Jester David]

I'm sure a pet druid will be in the first splatbook.

In 4e, druids were released in 2008 but didn't get a pet until Essentials in 2010. And I don't recall pets being a big part of druids in 1e/2e either.

 

[jodyjohnson]

This is one of those areas that works better for Organized Play if there aren't 'official' rules. Unofficially I think everyone has a pretty good idea of how they want them to work in their home game.

I expect any expanded pet, mount, companion, and cohort rules to show up in an optional Unearthed Arcana style article.

When I have 3 players at my home game all the entourage is fine. When I have 7 players at the AL table, no thank you - especially if they are entitled to the options (the current mount, familiar, and animal companion tag-alongs are enough).

 

[Tony Vargas]

I don't recall pets being a big part of druids in 1e/2e either.

They could be. The Animal Friendship spell let you 'befriend' and train an animal (or animals) with HD up to twice your level. You could end up with a menagerie following you around, or a Baluchitherium.

3e took a typical use of the spell and made it an automatic class feature.
4e kept only a sub-set of the Druid's many abilities, leaving it a fairly good Controller, with wildshape adding versatility more than raw melee combat power, and no animal companion or animal friendship spell.
Essentials split the 3e Druid into a healer-with-Animal-companion leader and a summoning-specialized controller.
5e gave the Druid back its shapechanging and full range of spellcasting, including bringing back the Animal Friendship spell instead of an animal companion as a class feature.

 

[Staffan]

I'm sure a pet druid will be in the first splatbook.

In 4e, druids were released in 2008 but didn't get a pet until Essentials in 2010. And I don't recall pets being a big part of druids in 1e/2e either.

In 2e (and probably 1e), animal companions were a "hidden" class feature of druids - or really, any priest with the Animal sphere. There was a 1st level priest spell called animal friendship which let you make friends and train animal buddies with a total HD of up to double your level. Come to think of it, that's how it worked in 3.0 as well, but 3e added the rules for animals gaining HD which lead to ridiculousness like huge dire badgers.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

Druids can get a pet tiger the same way anyone else can: Wisdom (Handle Animal) + role-playing. This isn't a game where you can only do something if it is codified as a class feature.

For a druid, the animal friendship spell can help, and awaken is a fun extra (provided you want an animal friend who can talk back and make bad jokes).

 

[Rukhage]

I'm currently running a campaign for a bunch of first-time players, one of them is playing a forest gnome druid, so for added roleplaying she asked me if she could have a small animal companion (we decided on a squirrel). Given that there are no squirrels in the MM I've simply adapted the rat stat block and given her a companion squirrel. I obvioulsy decided to limit the squirrel's ability for stealth and given that damage-wise it can at best inflict 1 piercing damage it seems like the purpose of the animal companion will be mostly for roleplaying.

I'm open to suggestions though.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

I'm currently running a campaign for a bunch of first-time players, one of them is playing a forest gnome druid, so for added roleplaying she asked me if she could have a small animal companion (we decided on a squirrel). Given that there are no squirrels in the MM I've simply adapted the rat stat block and given her a companion squirrel. I obvioulsy decided to limit the squirrel's ability for stealth and given that damage-wise it can at best inflict 1 piercing damage it seems like the purpose of the animal companion will be mostly for roleplaying.

I'm open to suggestions though.

Sounds like you did it right to me. If the player wants a bit extra to it she could take the Magic Initiate feat, pick up the find familiar spell and you could let her get a squirrel with some special abilities that way. I recommend waving the rule that says familiars can't attack. It's unnecessary; they are weak enough that attacking is rarely a good idea, and if they do it isn't going to hurt anything (pun intended).