Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Laurefindel" data-source="post: 7983870" data-attributes="member: 67296">The drawback of UA sidekicks (or essential) is a bit like the animal companion in 3.x: since they have their own actions, players feel compelled to play them, which increases the length of a battle.The advantage of [USER=6871653]@vincegetorix[/USER]'s approach is that unless a player spends their own bonus action to have the henchman take an action; the NPC can only move (providing flank for the rogue and limited terrain control), which goes a lot faster.Basically, sidekicks "à la steel defender" mostly offer a wider range of bonus action options for PCs, which players can divvy up among themselves any way they like, and provide the party with a few more hp to take hits for the PCs. They become even more interesting when they have a quirk or two that allow the players to do something they wouldn't be able to do otherwise with their bonus action, or have a passive ability that players can use on each combat round.The biggest drawback of such NPCs is that if players already have many good uses for their bonus action, the NPCs don't contribute much to combat. [edit] I say that but simply having a body moving around on the battlefield, threatening areas with attacks of opportunity, and taking hits for the PCs, can be a huge advantage.</blockquote>