Nice, congrats Tony!
Hey! Thanks Mike, always appreciate your support.
Truth be told though, Costin Schelling (Cozzymandias on the forums) was my Huckleberry on this. For some reason the initial release credit didn't get placed as it should.
The Thumbnail and description was updated for DrivethruRPG, but it looks like it was missed here. I'll get with Jason and see if he can make some adjustments.
We've gotten some pretty positive feedback on this conversion, so I hope it hits the spot for people!
Oh I am interest. Is the class all about making your animal companion spicier?
Okay, so it does make them Spicier for sure, but I'll give you an idea of what we were going for:
- For starters, you basically get Beastmaster benefits as a core class feature, and start with more than one animal companion. You don't get all the goodies from that archetype for free, but I would say what the Martial Artist is to Monk, the Beastmaster is to this Class.
- Majority of the Classes interworking come down to using its action economy commanding animal companions and then engaging with the enemy in a specific way. There are 5 class paths all of which accentuate a different fighting style for working with your animal companion. They also get something called Coordinated Strike, which is essentially bonus damage your animal companion does when you meet certain criteria (usually both of you landing an attack, spell, snare, etc. in the same turn as the other).
- They get wave casting with limited schools to encourage battling tactics
- They get Bond spells, which are essentially focus spells that Hunters can command an animal companion as part of the casting
- Tactics feats, essentially a take on Teamwork feats, which work more or less like Stances that you and an Ally must meet requirements to engage in (not exclusive to animal companions, but obviously encouraged). The goal with these is that Costin and I might repurpose them for a Warlord/Tactician style class at some point down the line, as the feats work pretty well for those concepts too.
The main goal of the class was to define it distinctly from Summoner in that how you use your animal companions to fight is a coordinated effort more than it is the creature is standing in to do the work for you.
And I think we did a pretty good job accomplishing that design goal while remaining in the budget we were hoping for.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Nice, I think I am actually going to try it out! Previously I was thinking about homebrewing a animal based class myself...
Doesn't look like I'll be able to re-create Hosteen Storm and his team with this. :-( Oh, well.
Doesn't look like I'll be able to re-create Hosteen Storm and his team with this. :-( Oh, well.
Is there a multiclass dedication that could get you there?
I remember getting a good approximation in D&D 4E with hybrid multiclassing and multiclassing feats into a 3rd class.
I don't think so, but I'll take another look.
Doesn't look like I'll be able to re-create Hosteen Storm and his team with this. :-( Oh, well.
As someone that's not entirely acquainted with those books, what do you feel is preventing you from accomplishing the build?
Doesn't look like I'll be able to re-create Hosteen Storm and his team with this. :-( Oh, well.As someone that's not entirely acquainted with those books, what do you feel is preventing you from accomplishing the build?
He was the main character in the Beastmaster books, which were the inspiration for the Beastmaster movies and TV show, albeit in a sci-fi rather than fantasy setting. He had multiple pets (two tiny rodents, a big cat, and a hunting bird, as I recall). The tricky bit is the multiple pets.
Not so tiny. Not ferrets, as I recall, but something close. Named (in the books) I think Hing and Ho. Sandcat, name I don't remember. African Black Eagle named Baku. Later he added an Appaloosa named Rain-On-Dust. All genetically modified. Storm himself was a full-blooded Navajo.
Multiple "pets" is indeed the tricky part. :-)
Not so tiny. Not ferrets, as I recall, but something close. Named (in the books) I think Hing and Ho. Sandcat, name I don't remember. African Black Eagle named Baku. Later he added an Appaloosa named Rain-On-Dust. All genetically modified. Storm himself was a full-blooded Navajo.
Multiple "pets" is indeed the tricky part. :-)
FWIW they do get multiple pets, but the act of having more than one pet act is admittedly gated to pretty high up in the class (though some focus spells play with the "quick swap" concept).
Multiple pets, but only one "active" at a time. That's the sticky part. :-)
Multiple pets, but only one "active" at a time. That's the sticky part. :-)
Pack Leader comes online at 13th level and then you do get 3 out with Pack Commander at 19th level. There are limitations on the action economy, but I think it's as close as we could come without breaking the game.
Full Assault and Companion Swap Focus spells come online earlier than those and help supplement the feel of more than one.
Those may not be enough for you, but I do think it comes close to simulating the themes of multiple ACs.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
That reminds me of the spider based Shifter archetype in PF1 that could be used to emulate Spiderman. His iconic ability of being able to swing through the city on quickly generated web strands came online around 18th or 19th level as I recall -- way too late in my opinion.