NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Chaosmancer" data-source="post: 8122594" data-attributes="member: 6801228">I guess you'll need to be more specific here, since the Giant Badger seems to just suck, best attack is for 6 damage (base damages is what I'll be using) and the HP and AC is terrible. Are you referring to that incredibly slow 10 ft burrow speed? That is a terrible choice. Giant Poisonous snake is decent, still terrible AC and HP. Giant Centipede looks like a worse version of Giant Poisonous Snake. Giant Wolf spider.... also looks like a worse version of the Giant Poisonous Snake. I mean, you might maybe get a surpise round with spider climb and stealth, but at best you are looking at 11 damage on that same +3 to hit (pre-buff). And, I mean, lets stop and think this through for a second. Medium sized creature with a +7 stealth, by 5th level the Ranger themselves can easily match that stealth and with a longbow a hunter ranger could attack for +7 (1 point higher than the Spider post-buff) and deal 21.5 damage (hunter ranger colossus) from 150 ft away from stealth compared to the spiders chance at dealing 14. What is the benefit here?Giant Frog, well, the restrain is a neat trick, but since it has a reach of 5ft and horrible AC it is just going to get killed fairly quickly. Plus, it has a terrible attack bonus to even land that hit. Also, 4 damage on a hit.Giant Crab is a slightly better version of the frog, one of the few decent ACs, even if the hp is still very low. Also it just grapples, and has that same terrible attack bonus and 4 damage.Panther same low ac, low hp, and their best move is the pounce which requires the enemy failing an easy strength check and taking 9 damage if they do.  3rd level. I am going to go forward with this assuming that the table has Heavy Obscurement count as blind even if you are within 5 ft of each other (not a guarantee, since I know at least one table where you can see things right next to you in heavy obscurement.) So, you have spent a spell slot to give the crab advantage and the enemy disadvantage. I will grant, 17 ac with disadvanatage? That is going to be hard to hit. And the crab only has a +5 to hit, but it has advantage and +5 is good for 3rd level. It is dealing... 6 damage (post buff). You are also using your concentration and have blinded every single one of your allies and yourself in the fog cloud. Oh, and since they both take actions, you need two turns to pull this off. During which time you've either put the crab up there, or the enemy as potentially run out of the fog cloud. So, a spell, two turns, 6 damage if you hit and the chance that you have an enemy grappled. Counter-pointHunter Ranger, cast Ensnaring Strike on one turn, and attack the other turn. That is one spell, over two turns with a longbow you might get 27.5 damage (2d8+6 from attacks, 2d8 from Colossus and 1d6 from Ensnaring strike) potential for the enemy to be restrained, and no de-buffs to you or your allies.  I quadrupled your damage, potentially gave a better debuff, and the ranger is just as safe since they are using a bow and not in melee with the enemy. This also means I might not need to use Cure Wounds, because the enemy can't hit what is out of range. And this is the consistent problem. Play a different ranger, and you get many of the same capabilities, with fewer drawbacks and usually far superior damage. There is nothing to sell me on the theme of animal buddy.</blockquote>

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