Pets, henchcritters, familiars & animal companions

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Speculate on the directions for henchcritters in the game!

IIRC, in one of Mearls' podcasts he discusses how familiars were a pain and if he had to do them over they'd provide some sort of fixed ability without any additional bookkeeping. And the current version of the game does have a lot of other critters running around that can be hard to keep up with, and occasionally overshadow players as the druid takes two full characters worth of actions.

Still, these are popular features for players, and the wizard's familiar or beastmaster's animals are iconic images.

So how would you modify them for a new game?

 

[frankthedm]

Cut them.

Anything that overshadows other as a druid's animal companion can needs to go.

 

[Nahat Anoj]

I've actually emailed WotC_Dave of the D&D podcat this question! Hopefully in the next couple of days we'll get some insights.

 

[howandwhy99]

IF they are really set on ditching the core setting, make familiars an option. Otherwise, not.

 

[Hairfoot]

WotC_Dave of the D&D podcat

Podcat, the i-familiar.

 

[The Human Target]

Have them be an option, usable by someone who wants to.

I'd use a very basic build with points approach, similar to the "create construct" psionic power. You build your sidekick, familiar, or summoned creature with a certain number of points, including special abilities.

I'd also want the rules for their intelligences to be cleared up. Nothing worse than having a wolf animal companion with a 2 Intelligence.