D&D 5E Monster Adoption

[Fauchard1520]

My players recently adopted a tiny neck-pillow-shaped mimic. They've been feeding it jerky.

Just so long as they aren't feeding it necks.

 

[Bitbrain]

Have you ever adopted an unusual pet? I’m not talking the standard “my ranger has a bear companion” stuff, but the full on “we were going to fight it, but decided to give it belly rubs instead.” Was it balanced? How did you keep it from eating the villagers when you went back to base? And if you've ever DM'd for such a beast, who got to control the thing? You are your players?

FIRST EXAMPLE
I played a genderfluid wood elf beastmaster ranger in one campaign. The DM decided to rolled for a random encounter. Result was an owlbear. I declared my intention to adopt it as my animal companion on the spot. DM had me make an Animal Handling check. I passed, so the DM had me use the stats for a brown bear if I recall correctly.

The other players named it “Beaky”.

SECOND EXAMPLE
In a pathfinder campaign a few years before my old group switched to 5e, we fought these giant sabertooth frogs. As we head into the next town, the guy playing the samurai asks the DM if the local populace could please use giant sabertooth frogs instead of horses, because he wants to buy one.

 

[jgsugden]

You're telling a story. If the story goes naturally in the direction of a monster allying with the PCs, go for it. If the monster is a balance issues that ruins the game part of the RPG, there are directions to take the story that can counter these problems.

Over the years I've seen PCs gain control over drakes, wyverns, hippogriffs, griffons, bears, dire wolves, dire boars, etc... At times, they were problems where the PC that had them was a glory hog. Other times they were just like a fun little NPC.

My suggestions:

• They are NPCs. You control them. The PC may give instructions, but you decide whether they follow the instructions.
• Keep in mind that they can cause troubles as often as benefits. They may not be able to travel everywhere the PC does, and when they are apart from the PCs they need care or resources.
• They usually need to eat, and that can be expensive - or dangerous. I had a PC that had a drake - a huge dragon-like creature with the intelligence of an animal. The upkeep cost was massive. I couldn't send it out to hunt without me because it would kill the livestock (or villagers) nearby. We went into a dungeon and I couldn't bring it with me, and I had no place to put it.
• They're generally not domesticated, and they tend to have the instincts of wild creatures. If the PC is not proactive and vigilant, really bad things can happen. If you read/watched Game of Thrones... charcoal.
• If intelligent, they will likely have their own objectives. Keep in mind that they may influence or disrupt the lives of the PCs as much as the PCs influence them. For example, I had a quasit as a familiar for my wizard in a prior edition. I, foolishly, assumed it would do whatever I demanded and be loyal to me. Quasits are CE demons. Instead, it betrayed me when it felt like it and I was held accountable for the murder it performed (stealing the souls of a bunch of corrupt officials).

 

[Voadam]

AD&D 2e, Charm monster spell. I had a gorgon or two and a jinshin mishu riu (spelling? giant earthquake beetle from Oriental Adventures) following me around for a while. I was in the wilderness for months so no problems with cities or farms. It lasted until I got to the ancient dungeon where the artifact I was after was. Narrow openings and stairs meant they stayed behind outside and things went sideways in the dungeon.

 

[77IM]

My lawful-evil gladiator monk, on a quest to become "The greatest warrior in the world!", adopted a piercer (really just kind of scooped it up; those things only move 5 feet) and named it Peony and carried it around in a special harness like a baby.