You Don’t Have To Leave Wolfy Behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' Your Companions Level Up With You!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JiffyPopTart" data-source="post: 8264556" data-attributes="member: 4881">I'll take this really far off-road....10+ years ago my wife signed up to volunteer at the local park system.  Her project was maintaining and monitoring bluebird boxes set up in the park.She still does it to this day, and during all this time accompanying her I have learned a TON about our local bird population.  I can identify most every species found in the park and my backyard  including the birds that just pass through when migrating.I learned how to identify a bird species based on what their nest looks like.  I learned to identify many species based on their calls.It wasn't something I ever thought would be interesting , but having absorbed all I have over time I have become a source of BirdID to friends and family whenever they are curious.Taking the conversation back to DnD....there is always something from any hobby you can use in your adventures.One notable idea for mining is the cowbird.  It can be found in any large group of blackbirds (starlings and grackles the other two members) and identified by its brown head and black body.  The cowbirds through history developed a lifestyle of following herds of buffalo (or other large hoofed mammals) and living in their wake.  When it comes to egg laying time, the nomadic cowbirds dont have the time to stop, make a nest, lay eggs, and see the young to fledging because they will have been left far behind by the herd they are attached to.So as a solution the cowbird became a nest parasite.  It just pops in and lays it's eggs in some other birds nest and let's those other birds raise it's young.  There is even a cowbird mafia enforcement sometimes punishing birds that recognize their eggs as foreign and pushing them out of the nest.Now that cowbirds are mostly just living in our backyards and have no herds to follow they do t NEED to be nest parasites but the instinct still works that way.This crazy nature factoid is easily the basis for an entire DnD adventure....fey being the most obvious human nest parasite....but there are all kinds of ways you could spin your story.TLDNR:  Backyard birding is more interesting than you might initially think.</blockquote>

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