One of the players in my group is playing a wizard, and she asked me if her character could have a pet squirrel. I thought it was a cool idea, and wanting to make the game enjoyable for her, I told her yes. I then put together a stat block for the creature, based on the rules for creating companion characters from the DMG2 (see below). I told her that for right now, the squirrel is just a pet, and that if she wants to use it to attack other creatures, or the like, she'll need to use Handle Animal to teach it tricks.
Of course, now that I sent this out to her, I'm worried that it might be a little much. I'm also worried about what happens if the rest of the party starts asking for pets. This is particularly a concern since I'm running Age of Worms in 4E, and the party hasn't found the baby owlbear yet.
I've thought about maybe adding in additional rules (like maybe she needs to make a Nature skill check to get it to perform a trick it knows). However, given that I've never even run a 4E game before, I'm not certain if that's necessary, or if it would just be better to let her run it the way it is.
What has been your experience with giving players pets in 4E? Does it unbalance the game? Let me know.
Squirrel (Level 1 Striker)
Tiny natural beast
Initiative +8 Senses Perception +5
HP 13; Bloodied 6; Healing Surges 7
AC 15; Fortitude 16; Reflex 14; Will 14
Speed 6 , Climb 6
Bite (standard; at-will)
+6 vs AC; 1d6 + 3 damage
Agile
A squirrel can take 10 on any Acrobatics skill check, even when threatened or distracted.
Alignment Unaligned Languages —
Skills Acrobatics +11, Stealth +11
Str 10 (+0) Dex 23 (+6) Wis 10 (+0)
Con 12 (+1) Int 2 (–4) Cha 6 (–2)
Hmm, well, there are a number of things to consider here.
First, the issue of game balance - does providing one of your players with a statted-out pet provide that player with a measure of power significantly beyond that which the game accounts for?
Judging from the stat block provided, probably not, unless that squirrel is getting its own set of actions each round. Even then, it's not exactly a powerhouse, and at 13 hit points, a solid critical hit from a lurker or brute could do it in outright.
The second issue is one of favoritism - does giving one of your players a squirrel encourage the others to ask for similar "perks", and would agreeing to their demands throw the game off?
It depends on how the squirrel is utilized. If the player is planning on simply having it around for reasons of character interaction, it's probably no big deal. If the player is going to use it in combat, and if the squirrel manages to pull off some impressive feats, the players might feel like your wizard is getting more spotlight time than they really have a right to.
The final issue (and, I believe, the most germane) is one of necessity - is providing your player with a statted-out pet really necessary? It's easy enough to give your player a pet squirrel. A squirrel is, in all reasonableness, the very model of a non-combatant; it isn't a real threat to anyone, and it's easily dispatched. Using that pet squirrel in combat, therefore, should be made out to be an ill-conceived notion.
I would avoid providing a stat block altogether. If the player insists on bringing the squirrel out for combat, allow it to run around and do its own thing for a couple rounds before being grievously injured by the heel of a careless enemy (or party member!) boot. Allow the player to nurse the squirrel back to health. If the player insists on repeating the mistake, kill the squirrel off - have one of the enemies become increasingly irritated at the rodent's meddling, and eventually have the enemy use one of its standard actions to strike the squirrel. That is, of course, assuming that the idea of killing your party's pets does not violate the mood of your game.
A far better solution for your player would be to take the Arcane Familiar feat, and reflavor one of the provided familiar stat blocks to represent a squirrel. Not only is this a thematic connection, but it allows you to give the wizard's pet some mechanical "Oomph" without worrying about relative power, or demands from other players. If the wizard cannot currently spare a feat, give them the familiar anyway. Make it clear that until the wizard spends time (i.e. takes the Arcane Familiar feat) building the eldritch connection between her and her familiar, the familiar will not provide bonuses, cannot make skill checks, and must remain in passive mode (effectively conferring no benefits). This allows the wizard to roleplay possession of the squirrel without concern for its mechanical influence.
I hope some of this discussion helps.
First, the issue of game balance - does providing one of your players with a statted-out pet provide that player with a measure of power significantly beyond that which the game accounts for?
Judging from the stat block provided, probably not, unless that squirrel is getting its own set of actions each round. Even then, it's not exactly a powerhouse, and at 13 hit points, a solid critical hit from a lurker or brute could do it in outright.
That's good to know. I honestly tried to make it pretty weak for a combatant. That way, the player doesn't try to use it as her own personal fur ball of death.
The second issue is one of favoritism - does giving one of your players a squirrel encourage the others to ask for similar "perks", and would agreeing to their demands throw the game off?It depends on how the squirrel is utilized. If the player is planning on simply having it around for reasons of character interaction, it's probably no big deal. If the player is going to use it in combat, and if the squirrel manages to pull off some impressive feats, the players might feel like your wizard is getting more spotlight time than they really have a right to.
I don't think this is a concern. I really try to give little perks to each of my players to make their characters unique. The squirrel is just one of those perks.
The final issue (and, I believe, the most germane) is one of necessity - is providing your player with a statted-out pet really necessary?
I don't think it's necessary that she have a squirrel. Like I said, I like to give my players little perks like this because I think it makes the game more enjoyable for everyone.
A far better solution for your player would be to take the Arcane Familiar feat, and reflavor one of the provided familiar stat blocks to represent a squirrel.
I actually just learned about this feat through a Google search a few hours ago. What I read makes it seem like the community is pretty evenly divided on the usefulness of this feat. Some people seem to think the concept is great, but have never used it in game. The people that have actually used it, seem to think it's underpowered, that the familiars are too easily killed, and that it would be better to take another feat.
I personally have no idea how useful the feat is, because as I said, I just learned about it a few hours ago. Have you used it in game? If so, what's been your experience?
I actually just learned about this feat through a Google search a few hours ago. What I read makes it seem like the community is pretty evenly divided on the usefulness of this feat. Some people seem to think the concept is great, but have never used it in game. The people that have actually used it, seem to think it's underpowered, that the familiars are too easily killed, and that it would be better to take another feat.
I personally have no idea how useful the feat is, because as I said, I just learned about it a few hours ago. Have you used it in game? If so, what's been your experience?
My warlock picked it up for about a tier's worth of play, and will be picking it up again mid-epic. In practical use, an active familiar is only situationally useful. Passively, however, it's great. The bonuses familiars confer are typically on par with other feats, and your familiar's ability to travel and infiltrate areas that your party otherwise might be unable to is quite handy. Finally, a familiar's ability to make skill checks using its master's skill ranks effectively means that you have another (often quite skilled!) party member during skill challenges or knowledge checks.
It won't make your character much more powerful in combat (though there are certainly character options for that, including feats/paths/destinies that focus solely on increasing the combat viability of your familiar), but you'll certainly feel like you've gotten use out of your feat if you make an effort.
Honestly the best approach I've seen is to nod and say "Ok."
And, well, that's it.
You don't really need to stat it out. You just go "Ok, you have a squirrel."
Now, if she wants the squirrel to do something other then collect nuts and delude itself into thinking the pointy hat is a tree, the squirrel will probably need more then just squirrel-y intelligence. Ergo, a familiar ;)
So yeah, ask if it's mostly flavorful, or if she actually wants the pet to be doing things. For the first, no stats really needed, I mean it's a squirrel (it's hardly going to be ripping apart orcs ;)). For the second, mention the familiar.
Holy Cr*p it's Super Squirrel.
Honestly even if you are going to stat it out (which isn't necessary as has been pointed out already) those are some unbelievable stats for a squirrel. I'd go with MAYBE 3 or 4 Hp. And 1d6+3 damage on a bite?! Is this squirrel the size of a large dog or something?
One of my players has a pet frog for her character. No stats, but it sure tastes good.
A couple of my characters have picked up stray monsters from time to time. Edie the warlock acquired a baby stirge for a while and my new druid just yesterday picked up a small catlike thing. It's nesting in her backpack and has no mechanical value whatever. Don't particularly want it statted up, just like having an irritable kitten in my bag.
Holy Cr*p it's Super Squirrel.
Honestly even if you are going to stat it out (which isn't necessary as has been pointed out already) those are some unbelievable stats for a squirrel. I'd go with MAYBE 3 or 4 Hp. And 1d6+3 damage on a bite?! Is this squirrel the size of a large dog or something?
I think the hps are reasonable for 4E - certainly for some kind of named 4E creature where 1/2 the hps are in 'luck' and such. Bites maybe a little too good however, thats pretty much a short sword, maybe start with 'unarmed' attack damage of a d4.
Anyway I'm with most of the rest of the crew here - I don't see how this unbalances anything but if you need to give something of equivalent power to every player then you've got issues - and leaving its stats off the table is a pretty good answer unless the wizard wants to go for a real familiar 'reskinned' to be a squirrel.
If you've ever actually dealt with a squirrel (I once nursed a baby one back to health) or your player has then they might actually be too powerful if they can be communicated with...They are insane agile and live their lives naturally juiced up on crack.
These are the stats for the gaint rat;
Giant Rat Level 1 Minion
Small natural beast XP 25
Initiative +3 Senses Perception +5; low-light vision
HP 1; a missed attack never damages a minion.
AC 15; Fortitude 13, Refl ex 15, Will 12
Speed 6, climb 3
mBite (standard; at-will)
+6 vs. AC; 3 damage.
Alignment Unaligned Languages —
Str 12 (+1) Dex 17 (+3) Wis 10 (+0)
Con 12 (+1) Int 2 (–4) Cha 6 (–2)
And these are the stats for the dire rat;
Dire Rat Level 1 Brute
Medium natural beast XP 100
Initiative +2 Senses Perception +5; low-light vision
HP 38; Bloodied 19
AC 15; Fortitude 15, Refl ex 13, Will 11
Immune fi lth fever (see below)
Speed 6, climb 3
m Bite (standard; at-will) ✦ Disease
+4 vs. AC; 1d6 + 2 damage, and the target contracts fi lth fever
(see below).
Alignment Unaligned Languages —
Skills Stealth +7
Str 14 (+2) Dex 15 (+2) Wis 10 (+0)
Con 18 (+4) Int 3 (–4) Cha 6 (–2)
Your players squirrel is the equvilent of a forests worth of squirrels or a 1st level pc.
If it's just a regular squirrel it should only have 1hp and its bite at best would only do 1hp damage.
A bit of country lore; it takes about 4 squirrels to feed one person.
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Just use the statistics for a rat. After all, a squirrel is just a rat that got a fair shake from society. :)
Seriously though, as a rat and squirrel are both tiny rodents that habitually collect foodstuffs, have a penchant for gnawing on things they shouldn't, and have the same general physiology, I'd start with the rat statistics block and slightly tweak it for that squirrelly feel (higher climb speed, acrobatics bonus, etc).
Now if your player wants to vex his foes with squirrelly wrath, I suggest that he takes it as an animal companion or familiar as appropriate and advance it through that route.
Just use the statistics for a rat. After all, a squirrel is just a rat that got a fair shake from society. :)
Seriously though, as a rat and squirrel are both tiny rodents that habitually collect foodstuffs, have a penchant for gnawing on things they shouldn't, and have the same general physiology, I'd start with the rat statistics block and slightly tweak it for that squirrelly feel (higher climb speed, acrobatics bonus, etc).
Now if your player wants to vex his foes with squirrelly wrath, I suggest that he takes it as an animal companion or familiar as appropriate and advance it through that route.
4e never stated rats or squirrels or any other kind of very small animals.
Holy Cr*p it's Super Squirrel.
Honestly even if you are going to stat it out (which isn't necessary as has been pointed out already) those are some unbelievable stats for a squirrel. I'd go with MAYBE 3 or 4 Hp. And 1d6+3 damage on a bite?! Is this squirrel the size of a large dog or something?
I'm glad I wasn't the only one thinking this. For just a run of the mill tame squirrel it is pretty ridiculous.
For myself I would find out how involved the player wants to get with her pet squirrel. IF she envisions eventually sending it on scouting missions, 'going for the the eyes' etc I would make it develop, slowly, into a companion character ala DMG2. You could even make an extended skill challenge to train the squirrel and get in touch with its squirreliness.
Ok I was only half serious for that last part but the rest is something I'd do.
Honestly even if you are going to stat it out (which isn't necessary as has been pointed out already) those are some unbelievable stats for a squirrel. I'd go with MAYBE 3 or 4 Hp. And 1d6+3 damage on a bite?! Is this squirrel the size of a large dog or something?
That's what they listed as the low damage on the monster generator. I was going to use 1d4+3, but what the hell do I know? I'm new to this system. :)
Just use the statistics for a rat. After all, a squirrel is just a rat that got a fair shake from society. :)
That's essentially what I did.
For myself I would find out how involved the player wants to get with her pet squirrel. IF she envisions eventually sending it on scouting missions, 'going for the the eyes' etc I would make it develop, slowly, into a companion character ala DMG2. You could even make an extended skill challenge to train the squirrel and get in touch with its squirreliness.
For the record, when she initially approached me with this idea, my first thought was to create house rules for animal familiars by making them into companion characters, like you suggest. I thought I would start with this stat block, then give her a ritual scroll that would allow her to make the animal her familiar. I would then give her an opportunity to take a feat, called Augment Familiar, which would allow her to make the creature grow in size and become a real combatant. If she enjoyed these rules, I thought I'd give her an opportunity to take a paragon class that would allow her to use the familiar to do additional things, like be the epicenter of a close burst power, or something.
I didn't realize there were rules for animal familiars already. It might seem naive, but I didn't think they would ever create rules for animal familiars, because they seem to be trying to get away from giving pets to the PCs. Now that I know they have rules for this, I'll probably take a look at them before the next game.
If you've ever actually dealt with a squirrel (I once nursed a baby one back to health) or your player has then they might actually be too powerful if they can be communicated with...They are insane agile and live their lives naturally juiced up on crack.
My sister actually got a squirrel for her birthday once from some friends of ours. Like the one you found, it was hurt, and my sister's friends nursed it back to health before giving it to her. My mom decided that we couldn't keep it, and while I can't remember exactly how, my aunt eventually wound up with it. It was just as you describe (which is why I gave it the Agile ability).
Ultimately, my aunt decided that it was just too wild to keep as a pet, and turned it over to an organization that releases animals back into the wild.
Honestly even if you are going to stat it out (which isn't necessary as has been pointed out already) those are some unbelievable stats for a squirrel. I'd go with MAYBE 3 or 4 Hp. And 1d6+3 damage on a bite?! Is this squirrel the size of a large dog or something?That's what they listed as the low damage on the monster generator. I was going to use 1d4+3, but what the hell do I know? I'm new to this system. :)
Metagame issue and it does effect the viability of the squirrel as a combat creature. Essentially the low damage output is pretty much the minimum some creature should be doing to the players in order for the whole activity to be worthwhile at the gaming table. Usually this damage is is used for standard creatures (not a big boss type) doing some kind of either secondary attack (like a tail swipe used as an interrupt if some PC type moves into flank) or area attack.
The idea being that this is the lowest amount of damage that the players will reasonably notice - get lower then this and it was mostly a waste of time to stop the action to even perform the tail swipe attack because its to low damage to have any impact.
It does effect the Squirrel because the same, in some sense, applies to its potential in combat - if the damage gets much lower then this output its starting to become questionable why we are spending valuable game time even worrying about this.
Note however that the answer can be because everyone loves the squirrel and no one cares that it usually does not meaningfully contribute to taking down the bad guys - maybe everyone is doing this because, one day, that squirrel is going to get lucky and crit three times in a row and take down the a bad guy in a hard fought battle that was turning against the PCs...and when that happens it will be awesome...it'll one of those 'This is why I play D&D moments'.
Why even stat it at all? Why not just make it a little RP tool, a pet that has no combat implications?
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There are a couple of things you could do:
1) Pure Fluff. You want a squirrel? Poof, you have a squirrel. No stats, not combat utility. Just a squirrel
2) Arcane Familiar feat. It has some utility, but its countered by the use of a feat.
3) Companion. DMG2 has rules for companion characters. Essentially what you have done is created an NPC called "Squirrel". The Player in question is basically going to use this squirrel as a second character (albeit a weak character). In that case, the squirrel gets a share of the xp. I wouldn't actually level it, so its usefulness diminishes as the party levels. But it becomes an xp drain, so its balanced. Review the companion rules in DMG2.
4) House Ruled Feat: "Nuts about Squirrels". This feat allows the character to conjures a Squirrel in an adjacent square as a minor action. This conjuration can be moved using the PC's move action (Speed 6, Climb 6), or make a basic melee attack using the PCs standard action (+6 vs AC; 1d6 damage). The conjuration has 10 HP. If any single attack does 10 or more HP, the conjuration is destroyed doing 5 hp to the caster. Less than 10 damage from a single attack has no effect.
This last option is probably what the Player in question is looking for. A pet that attacks. The feat can be swapped out once the squirrel isn't good enough. Of course, tweak it after reviewing the rules for Conjurations. You don't want the attack better than a PC melee basic attack. In most cases, a PC would be better off using their own attacks, but this may give the Player a sense of doing something cool.
Why even stat it at all? Why not just make it a little RP tool, a pet that has no combat implications?
Because it's fun. :)
That's what they listed as the low damage on the monster generator. I was going to use 1d4+3, but what the hell do I know? I'm new to this system. :)
Ah - here's the problem then. Those rules are for monster/animals that would pose a meaningful threat to an adventurer. A level 1 creature being a moderate challenge for a level 1 PC to overcome. Almost certainly not enough to actually kill a PC but enough to make him spend some resources to overcome. A squirrel, assuming a normal garden variety squirrel like we could see in any park/forest in our own world, is simply not a threat credible enough to allow it to kill a 1st level fighter in 3-4 bites.
The rat you mentioned you based it off of is supposed to be huge for a rat - like 2-4 feet long not including tail! That's a big damn rat. If you wanted to make it a big damn squirrel of similar proportions then you went about it correctly.
I didn't realize there were rules for animal familiars already. It might seem naive, but I didn't think they would ever create rules for animal familiars, because they seem to be trying to get away from giving pets to the PCs. Now that I know they have rules for this, I'll probably take a look at them before the next game.
I'm not sure they're really shying away from that. What they are shying away from is giving the PCs the ability to effectively have two characters, a la the druid/ranger/Leadership type characters from 3e. They've gotten around this by preserving the economy of actions - if you've got a pet (companion/spirit/familiar/mount), you typically only get one set of actions to direct each round.
You absolutely should check the familiar rules out, though. They have lots of familiar feats you can take to pump them up, and even a couple paragon paths that are very similar to what you're talking about!