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Do I include animal companions when calculating difficulty of an encounter?


Determining “level” of an NPC ally for purpose of budgeting encounter XPCan a Gnome Ranger use his Animal Companion as a Mount?Are non-familiar animal companions available?How many Animal Companions does a Beastmaster have?Can my wolf attack when I’m riding her?Can a Beast Master ranger's Animal Companion do extra damage from the Hunter's Mark spell?How to calculate a revised ranger's animal companion's skill bonuses?Does a Ranger's animal companion level up when multiclassing?Is this “Gelatinous Noob” ranger's animal companion balanced?Do any of the books contain (magic) items for animal companions?Do the rules for carrying capacity apply to animal companions?






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12












$begingroup$


I have a player who is playing a beast master ranger and I was wondering: do I calculate the level of the animal companion when making encounters?










share|improve this question











$endgroup$







  • 2




    $begingroup$
    Related: Determining "level" of an NPC ally for purpose of budgeting encounter XP and How is PC experience calculated when higher level CR allies help in Adventurers League?
    $endgroup$
    – Rubiksmoose
    May 31 at 12:53










  • $begingroup$
    Also, welcome to RPG.se! Thanks for a great first question! We hope you take the time to stick around and contribute more or drop by again whenever you feel like you have another question. :-) Let us know if we can do anything to help you understand how the site works better.
    $endgroup$
    – Rubiksmoose
    May 31 at 15:27

















12












$begingroup$


I have a player who is playing a beast master ranger and I was wondering: do I calculate the level of the animal companion when making encounters?










share|improve this question











$endgroup$







  • 2




    $begingroup$
    Related: Determining "level" of an NPC ally for purpose of budgeting encounter XP and How is PC experience calculated when higher level CR allies help in Adventurers League?
    $endgroup$
    – Rubiksmoose
    May 31 at 12:53










  • $begingroup$
    Also, welcome to RPG.se! Thanks for a great first question! We hope you take the time to stick around and contribute more or drop by again whenever you feel like you have another question. :-) Let us know if we can do anything to help you understand how the site works better.
    $endgroup$
    – Rubiksmoose
    May 31 at 15:27













12












12








12





$begingroup$


I have a player who is playing a beast master ranger and I was wondering: do I calculate the level of the animal companion when making encounters?










share|improve this question











$endgroup$




I have a player who is playing a beast master ranger and I was wondering: do I calculate the level of the animal companion when making encounters?







dnd-5e encounter-design ranger animal-companions






share|improve this question















share|improve this question













share|improve this question




share|improve this question








edited May 31 at 12:54









Rubiksmoose

68.3k11334489




68.3k11334489










asked May 31 at 12:47









user55829user55829

1213




1213







  • 2




    $begingroup$
    Related: Determining "level" of an NPC ally for purpose of budgeting encounter XP and How is PC experience calculated when higher level CR allies help in Adventurers League?
    $endgroup$
    – Rubiksmoose
    May 31 at 12:53










  • $begingroup$
    Also, welcome to RPG.se! Thanks for a great first question! We hope you take the time to stick around and contribute more or drop by again whenever you feel like you have another question. :-) Let us know if we can do anything to help you understand how the site works better.
    $endgroup$
    – Rubiksmoose
    May 31 at 15:27












  • 2




    $begingroup$
    Related: Determining "level" of an NPC ally for purpose of budgeting encounter XP and How is PC experience calculated when higher level CR allies help in Adventurers League?
    $endgroup$
    – Rubiksmoose
    May 31 at 12:53










  • $begingroup$
    Also, welcome to RPG.se! Thanks for a great first question! We hope you take the time to stick around and contribute more or drop by again whenever you feel like you have another question. :-) Let us know if we can do anything to help you understand how the site works better.
    $endgroup$
    – Rubiksmoose
    May 31 at 15:27







2




2




$begingroup$
Related: Determining "level" of an NPC ally for purpose of budgeting encounter XP and How is PC experience calculated when higher level CR allies help in Adventurers League?
$endgroup$
– Rubiksmoose
May 31 at 12:53




$begingroup$
Related: Determining "level" of an NPC ally for purpose of budgeting encounter XP and How is PC experience calculated when higher level CR allies help in Adventurers League?
$endgroup$
– Rubiksmoose
May 31 at 12:53












$begingroup$
Also, welcome to RPG.se! Thanks for a great first question! We hope you take the time to stick around and contribute more or drop by again whenever you feel like you have another question. :-) Let us know if we can do anything to help you understand how the site works better.
$endgroup$
– Rubiksmoose
May 31 at 15:27




$begingroup$
Also, welcome to RPG.se! Thanks for a great first question! We hope you take the time to stick around and contribute more or drop by again whenever you feel like you have another question. :-) Let us know if we can do anything to help you understand how the site works better.
$endgroup$
– Rubiksmoose
May 31 at 15:27










1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes


















21












$begingroup$

Not for the Beast Master Companion



The beast companion for that Ranger is granted by their class features. This makes it for all intents and purposes part of the Ranger (and included in their levels, as it were). In particular it uses their initiative and their actions to make attacks, meaning they are not an independent creature contributing to encounters. For these same reasons the Beast Master is often considered a slightly weaker subclass, so increasing the encounter difficulty because of them is not a good idea.



It may be helpful to think of the Beast Master Companion in a similar light to creatures conjured through spells; such as conjure animals or summon lesser demons. These additional creatures can definitely affect the difficulty of the encounter, but they are accounted as part of the PC's features and resources and are thus similarly included in their levels.



Only if the party gains companions (animalian or otherwise) through mechanisms that aren't their class will you need to make such adjustments. There is some advice in this question's answers, but the short answer is that you will have to do some trial and error, as you realistically will have to do for any party. (And even more so when they are given extra stuff; like magical items.)






share|improve this answer











$endgroup$












  • $begingroup$
    It may be worthwhile to mention how conjuring or any other minion creation will definitely affect encounter design. But that may also be off-topic :)
    $endgroup$
    – NautArch
    May 31 at 15:03











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1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes








1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes









active

oldest

votes






active

oldest

votes









21












$begingroup$

Not for the Beast Master Companion



The beast companion for that Ranger is granted by their class features. This makes it for all intents and purposes part of the Ranger (and included in their levels, as it were). In particular it uses their initiative and their actions to make attacks, meaning they are not an independent creature contributing to encounters. For these same reasons the Beast Master is often considered a slightly weaker subclass, so increasing the encounter difficulty because of them is not a good idea.



It may be helpful to think of the Beast Master Companion in a similar light to creatures conjured through spells; such as conjure animals or summon lesser demons. These additional creatures can definitely affect the difficulty of the encounter, but they are accounted as part of the PC's features and resources and are thus similarly included in their levels.



Only if the party gains companions (animalian or otherwise) through mechanisms that aren't their class will you need to make such adjustments. There is some advice in this question's answers, but the short answer is that you will have to do some trial and error, as you realistically will have to do for any party. (And even more so when they are given extra stuff; like magical items.)






share|improve this answer











$endgroup$












  • $begingroup$
    It may be worthwhile to mention how conjuring or any other minion creation will definitely affect encounter design. But that may also be off-topic :)
    $endgroup$
    – NautArch
    May 31 at 15:03















21












$begingroup$

Not for the Beast Master Companion



The beast companion for that Ranger is granted by their class features. This makes it for all intents and purposes part of the Ranger (and included in their levels, as it were). In particular it uses their initiative and their actions to make attacks, meaning they are not an independent creature contributing to encounters. For these same reasons the Beast Master is often considered a slightly weaker subclass, so increasing the encounter difficulty because of them is not a good idea.



It may be helpful to think of the Beast Master Companion in a similar light to creatures conjured through spells; such as conjure animals or summon lesser demons. These additional creatures can definitely affect the difficulty of the encounter, but they are accounted as part of the PC's features and resources and are thus similarly included in their levels.



Only if the party gains companions (animalian or otherwise) through mechanisms that aren't their class will you need to make such adjustments. There is some advice in this question's answers, but the short answer is that you will have to do some trial and error, as you realistically will have to do for any party. (And even more so when they are given extra stuff; like magical items.)






share|improve this answer











$endgroup$












  • $begingroup$
    It may be worthwhile to mention how conjuring or any other minion creation will definitely affect encounter design. But that may also be off-topic :)
    $endgroup$
    – NautArch
    May 31 at 15:03













21












21








21





$begingroup$

Not for the Beast Master Companion



The beast companion for that Ranger is granted by their class features. This makes it for all intents and purposes part of the Ranger (and included in their levels, as it were). In particular it uses their initiative and their actions to make attacks, meaning they are not an independent creature contributing to encounters. For these same reasons the Beast Master is often considered a slightly weaker subclass, so increasing the encounter difficulty because of them is not a good idea.



It may be helpful to think of the Beast Master Companion in a similar light to creatures conjured through spells; such as conjure animals or summon lesser demons. These additional creatures can definitely affect the difficulty of the encounter, but they are accounted as part of the PC's features and resources and are thus similarly included in their levels.



Only if the party gains companions (animalian or otherwise) through mechanisms that aren't their class will you need to make such adjustments. There is some advice in this question's answers, but the short answer is that you will have to do some trial and error, as you realistically will have to do for any party. (And even more so when they are given extra stuff; like magical items.)






share|improve this answer











$endgroup$



Not for the Beast Master Companion



The beast companion for that Ranger is granted by their class features. This makes it for all intents and purposes part of the Ranger (and included in their levels, as it were). In particular it uses their initiative and their actions to make attacks, meaning they are not an independent creature contributing to encounters. For these same reasons the Beast Master is often considered a slightly weaker subclass, so increasing the encounter difficulty because of them is not a good idea.



It may be helpful to think of the Beast Master Companion in a similar light to creatures conjured through spells; such as conjure animals or summon lesser demons. These additional creatures can definitely affect the difficulty of the encounter, but they are accounted as part of the PC's features and resources and are thus similarly included in their levels.



Only if the party gains companions (animalian or otherwise) through mechanisms that aren't their class will you need to make such adjustments. There is some advice in this question's answers, but the short answer is that you will have to do some trial and error, as you realistically will have to do for any party. (And even more so when they are given extra stuff; like magical items.)







share|improve this answer














share|improve this answer



share|improve this answer








edited May 31 at 15:14

























answered May 31 at 13:04









Someone_EvilSomeone_Evil

6,52912451




6,52912451











  • $begingroup$
    It may be worthwhile to mention how conjuring or any other minion creation will definitely affect encounter design. But that may also be off-topic :)
    $endgroup$
    – NautArch
    May 31 at 15:03
















  • $begingroup$
    It may be worthwhile to mention how conjuring or any other minion creation will definitely affect encounter design. But that may also be off-topic :)
    $endgroup$
    – NautArch
    May 31 at 15:03















$begingroup$
It may be worthwhile to mention how conjuring or any other minion creation will definitely affect encounter design. But that may also be off-topic :)
$endgroup$
– NautArch
May 31 at 15:03




$begingroup$
It may be worthwhile to mention how conjuring or any other minion creation will definitely affect encounter design. But that may also be off-topic :)
$endgroup$
– NautArch
May 31 at 15:03

















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