D&D 5E Pets are unfeasible! Or not.

[Dausuul]

- the DM has full control, the player interacts with it via roleplay (in the same way as with NPCs) and possibly some occasional check
- the DM lets the player have some limited control (e.g. can give combat commands but not choose the specifics) but the DM can always override it
- player has full control

A fourth option: Another player runs the pet as his or her PC.

This would, of course, require another player to be willing to do this, but I think that might be surprisingly common. It would also require a "pet class" with enough depth to work as a full-fledged character. However, it completely solves the action-economy problem. As a bonus, it encourages party cohesion.

Edit: Now that I think about it, the solution is not a "pet class" but a "pet race." Then you have the full array of class options available, which provides all the depth you're likely to need.

 

[jodyjohnson]

Outside of Organized Play I recommend the 'everyone has a second character' option if the group size makes it feasible. So full actions for animal companion, or hunter plus MM standard creature.

For Adventurer's League I prefer to discourage pets and other bonus characters. My groups are too big as is.

 

[AverageCitizen]

Well... how about just have a pet that is simply a character of its own? Your PC might have a special bond with it, but the pet is just another member of the party. The DM can even allow the player to control (partially or totally) the actions of this pet, or take control herself if preferred. This way the pet can be as strong as it suits the party level (and it can level up on its own), without having a cost on a PC's abilities.

Page 92 of the DMG has some suggestions regarding followers, but yeah, I think you are right. I decided a while ago that if someone really wants a BM I'd just tell them to go hunter and have the beast be a "follower", essentially an NPC. People need to be more flexible with the idea of "focus". I understand that character weight is a big deal, but you don't HAVE to solve what is a story problem, "spotlight time", with rules mechanisms.

I hand out much bigger "focus" stuff than that pretty often, even though I am pretty sparse with magic items. Characters get divine boons or are were-bears or are thrust into political power or become prophesied world-ravaging orc messiahs or what have you. A pet dire wolf is really not gonna steal the show.

 

[bedir than]

Sounds like a feat to me.

I'm going to plug my own material, because I did use a feat/rule-set hybrid for Animal Companions in my world.

https://fullmoonstorytelling.wordpress.com/2015/08/08/animal-companion-rules/

The thought here is that they do scale (like cantrips, proficiency, number of attacks), ordering them takes a bonus action so action economy doesn't break, and when they die it hurts the PC.

Certain beasts are better at engaging in combat, others are better at sending messages back-and-forth between known locations, others work as an extra hand to help with fine work. The PCs that have a bear cub and a panther send them into fights, the one with the newfie uses it as a pack animal and has it stay out of combat. The bearded dragon (the irl lizard) has never entered combat. The retriever fetches missile weapons.

It's an extra layer of rules, but adds what we need in our campaign while making certain that people don't treat their warhound like a disposable piece of trash.

 

[The Grassy Gnoll]

I like the psychic shock thing, makes each death matter rather than "oh well, I'll just find another animal to bond with".

 

[The Crimson Binome]

I like the psychic shock thing, makes each death matter rather than "oh well, I'll just find another animal to bond with".

It kind of reminds me of the pet familiar battle in Kingdom of Loathing.

After your pet familiar gets knocked out, you stub your toe really hard and take 50 damage.

 

[jodyjohnson]

Pet dies, take Karma damage.

 

[jodyjohnson]

https://twitter.com/mikemearls/status/642017506257842176

Sounds like Mike would go with the extra character option.

@Tyger_Bryte giving everyone access to pets and not trying to stack pet + PC = 1 PC is my preferred way to handle it. treat as extra PC

 

[Uchawi]

The problem is the cat is out of the bag, or dog, or beast as it may be. They should have kept each class without a dedicated pet based on hind sight, then release a henchmen, pet, or follower supplement.

 

[jodyjohnson]

Other than the Monster Manual and DMG?