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Message: <blockquote data-quote="jgsugden" data-source="post: 9655496" data-attributes="member: 2629">I covered the differences between a rule change and giving the magic item.  In the future, I can decide not to give the item if I think it is a mistake later on, and players coming to my games do not have to deal with a big book of rule changes when I put the adjusting element into an item.  Only the PCs that have the item need to see it, so it keeps the house rule book small.1.  The PCs need to encounter the beast, so they do not get to have it right off the bat, but they often get a wolf or similar ally pretty quickly ... often before level 2.  The players can go hunt down the black bear to be their ally right off thew bat if they want to do so.  There is more to the spell that allows you to bump up the abilities of the beast a bit rather than choose a higher CR ally (although in almost all circumstances the higher CR beats is better than the upgraded lower level beast).  The spell is ENTIRELY unnecessary.  A DM can do the same thing by just having an NPC beast befriend the PC and do the exact same thing.  It is no different than having Meepo join your party in the Sunless Citadel.  This just provides some structure to the relationship and gives the focus of it to a specific PC.</blockquote>