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<blockquote data-quote="Clint_L" data-source="post: 9250139" data-attributes="member: 7035894">More or less agreed.Could not disagree more, and this option got shouted down hard by players.The template option doesn't feel right. I've seen this with Beastmaster Ranger - one of my players absolutely refused the new &quot;beast of the whatever&quot; option. When I asked why, given that it was way more optimal, she didn't care. She wanted the class fantasy of her character training an actual beast companion, not some magical spirit creature that could take various forms. She hated that. In effect, she wanted something like Trinket from Critical Role.Our current moon druid player similarly hates the template idea. With a passion. For a substantial number of moon druids fans, it just isn't the class fantasy. The answer is to come up with beast forms that scale better, and include beast-like monstrosities, such as owlbears (or just call creatures like that &quot;beasts&quot; in the new MM, which is probably the most sensible option).I think a lot of the arguments around templates are based on optimization, which is missing the point entirely. Class fantasy always comes first. Stat block design is happening (and has been used for 10 years), so it's obviously not a non-starter. Templates actually are a non-starter: they were unequivocally rejected. They ain't happening. It's not even worth arguing about, because it's going nowhere.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Clint_L, post: 9250139, member: 7035894"] More or less agreed. Could not disagree more, and this option got shouted down hard by players. The template option doesn't feel right. I've seen this with Beastmaster Ranger - one of my players absolutely refused the new "beast of the whatever" option. When I asked why, given that it was way more optimal, she didn't care. She wanted the class fantasy of her character training an actual beast companion, not some magical spirit creature that could take various forms. She [I]hated[/I] that. In effect, she wanted something like Trinket from Critical Role. Our current moon druid player similarly [I]hates[/I] the template idea. With a passion. For a substantial number of moon druids fans, it just isn't the class fantasy. The answer is to come up with beast forms that scale better, and include beast-like monstrosities, such as owlbears (or just call creatures like that "beasts" in the new MM, which is probably the most sensible option). I think a lot of the arguments around templates are based on optimization, which is missing the point entirely. Class fantasy always comes first. Stat block design is happening (and has been used for 10 years), so it's obviously not a non-starter. Templates actually are a non-starter: they were unequivocally rejected. They ain't happening. It's not even worth arguing about, because it's going nowhere. [/QUOTE]

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