D&D 5E Needed a 4th character, made a pet (PC Animals)

[Xeviat]

Hi everyone. I'm about to start a new game with some new players. It's me and 3 others, and only my partner has played with me before. One other player has played before, while another player is wholly new.

We're going to be playing Lost Mines, since I own it on Roll20 and one player isn't local. But I really didn't want to run a DMPC. The new player is a druid, so I thought I'd give her character a pet (which will be sort of run communally). I gave her some choices, she picked a wolf, so I'm working on balancing a wolf as a PC.

Looking at the base wolf, I built the following racial stats off it, stealing a bit from other races (like the lizardfolk) for balance consideration:

Wolf
+2 Dex
+1 Con
Speed 40
Keen Hearing andSmell
Natural Armor:13+Dex
Unarmed Attack:2d4+Dex bite (like a rapier)

Now, pack tactics is simply too strong for a player ability. There's no way something like that could be given out with a feat. The free trip on a melee attack is also too much. So I think I need just a little something else, especially as I'm going to build the "class" around the fighter chassis (and thus the natural armor and unarmed attack are really not much). My thought was to take a page from the half-orc and give them the trip on a bite only on a critical hit; rather than doing even more extra crit damage, they get a save or prone effect.

Thoughts? Has someone ever done something like this before?

 

[Krachek]

Why not try a barbarian with wolf totem?
This wolf would be exceptionally intelligent 8.
And it’s bite very strong. 2d6 + str.
for game balance it would be a mute barbarian with a level matching the party.
easier to balance encounter.

 

[Xeviat]

Why not try a barbarian with wolf totem?
This wolf would be exceptionally intelligent 8.
And it’s bite very strong. 2d6 + str.
for game balance it would be a mute barbarian with a level matching the party.
easier to balance encounter.

Using Barbarian instead of Fighter would be fitting, but I feel like the Protection fighting style, second wind, and action surge will be a more easy to manage resource for a secondary character than rage. I'm not sure. Plus the group needs more of a defender than they do another damager.

 

[Satyrn]

Hi everyone. I'm about to start a new game with some new players. It's me and 3 others, and only my partner has played with me before. One other player has played before, while another player is wholly new.

We're going to be playing Lost Mines, since I own it on Roll20 and one player isn't local. But I really didn't want to run a DMPC. The new player is a druid, so I thought I'd give her character a pet (which will be sort of run communally). I gave her some choices, she picked a wolf, so I'm working on balancing a wolf as a PC.

Looking at the base wolf, I built the following racial stats off it, stealing a bit from other races (like the lizardfolk) for balance consideration:

Wolf
+2 Dex
+1 Con
Speed 40
Keen Hearing andSmell
Natural Armor:13+Dex
Unarmed Attack:2d4+Dex bite (like a rapier)

Now, pack tactics is simply too strong for a player ability. There's no way something like that could be given out with a feat. The free trip on a melee attack is also too much. So I think I need just a little something else, especially as I'm going to build the "class" around the fighter chassis (and thus the natural armor and unarmed attack are really not much). My thought was to take a page from the half-orc and give them the trip on a bite only on a critical hit; rather than doing even more extra crit damage, they get a save or prone effect.

Thoughts? Has someone ever done something like this before?

I think you can give the wolf its tripping and pack tactics, but in a different form: Give it some superiority dice, and ths trip and precision maneuvers, (and just limit it to using the precision when the pack tactics' condition is met).

You could evendouble down on the pack tactics schtick by adding in commander's strike with the same conditions.

 

[aco175]

I'm not sure how powerful the keen sight/smell will be in LMoP. I do not remember too much sneaking up on the PCs. It could be a powerful ability, basically taking away surprise.

You could also make the pet some sort of magic item like a locket that gets activated when needed and lets the pet go away when not needed. I guess you could also use the idea to summon a fighter or mage or whatever class you are missing.

 

[abirdcall]

Begs the question of why you need a 4th.

 

[cthulhu42]

A little different than what you're talking about, but I'll add 2 cents here just for comparisons sake.

I added a dog NPC to my campaign on a whim back when the PC's were pretty low level. They are 14th now, and he's still tagging along and still comes in very handy. He's alerted the party to numerous ambushes and his keen nose has tracked down some bad guys. But more than that, the party has grown quite attached to him and are very protective of their mascot. It's been a worthwhile addition for the roleplaying aspects alone.

He was never much use in combat, although once in awhile I'll have him threaten an enemy so his rogue pal can get a sneak attack, but with only a handful of hit points and a meager bite attack, he's better off staying out of the way during fights.

I would think that your wolf might get outclassed by the rest of the group pretty quickly unless you intend to level him up into a mega wolf as the party levels. Maybe adding things like pact tactics and trip as level features would be the way to go. At 1st level either of those abilities might be pretty powerful. At 5th level they might strike a better balance.