Hi I'm about to start RotRL in the coming weeks. The party is 5 players, one of the players has expressed his interest in playing a ranger.
As RotRL is designed for a party of 4 I thought I could get away with re-balancing a few encounters with a party of 5. I've never had a ranger in any of my games, and I'm worried that the animal companion of the ranger will make the party too powerful.
I don't want to be completely redoing every encounter, and the player has said that if it's going to effect the balance he's fine with picking something else.
tl;dr will a ranger's animal companion in a party of 5 effect the balance too much?
No. It's pretty weak, even if he takes Boon Companion, due to the restricted list. Would you consider a PC summoning critters to effect balance too much?
There was a 2 page thread a while ago about one of my players wanting to play a necromancer. The thread ended with me asking about balance and being told by multiple people that summoners in a party of 5, for a 4 player campaign would unbalance the game.
Talos: The difference between a party of 4 and a party of 5 is not that great. Not really even worth a +1 CR increase. However, if you feel you need to increase the CR of encounters I suggest you increase numbers over power. Increasing the CR of a single monsters can easily result in dead players where increasing the numbers of a multiple encounter scenario usually spreads the damage around.
Edit: Summoners with a capital S or summoners with a lowercase s? Capital S summoners (the class) are considered by many to be overpowered but that is not due to summoning creatures (it is due to the eidolon). Summoned monsters are really not a big problem unless they slow down the game. Make sure anyone using critters knows the critter really well to prevent the game from slowing down.
- Gauss
Another option is to just boost the HP of the enemies. Give them all a flat 25% boost (if they have equal or more numbers than the PCs), or a 50% boost if it's a lone BBEG.
Talos: The difference between a party of 4 and a party of 5 is not that great. Not really even worth a +1 CR increase. However, if you feel you need to increase the CR of encounters I suggest you increase numbers over power. Increasing the CR of a single monsters can easily result in dead players where increasing the numbers of a multiple encounter scenario usually spreads the damage around.
Edit: Summoners with a capital S or summoners with a lowercase s? Capital S summoners (the class) are considered by many to be overpowered but that is not due to summoning creatures (it is due to the eidolon). Summoned monsters are really not a big problem unless they slow down the game. Make sure anyone using critters knows the critter really well to prevent the game from slowing down.
- Gauss
Thanks Gauss, I'll look into increasing the numbers if they seem to steamroll.
I wasn't really concerned about the 5 player thing, more so that it could potentially be 5 player + 1 other creature. I thought that having the extra creature might take the party from having a slight advantage to having a rather sizable advantage.
I know animal companions arent all that powerful but it does add to the groups ability to lock down enemies and control battle that much more.
Another option is to just boost the HP of the enemies. Give them all a flat 25% boost (if they have equal or more numbers than the PCs), or a 50% boost if it's a lone BBEG.
I think this is the best option. Even when you divvy up XP, 4 players and 5 players is still divided by 4, which shows that the power increase from a fifth player isn't much.
A Druid's animal companion you might have to worry about, but a Ranger's shouldn't be very powerful. They might be used to help flank, yeah, but you can always scare the ranger by attacking his companion a few times. That should make him a bit more reticent. ;)
That.
You might worry about a druid's animal companion but not about a ranger's.
A Druid's animal companion you might have to worry about, but a Ranger's shouldn't be very powerful. They might be used to help flank, yeah, but you can always scare the ranger by attacking his companion a few times. That should make him a bit more reticent. ;)That.
You might worry about a druid's animal companion but not about a ranger's.
Indeed. And even a druid's doesn't usually end up being too disruptive.
Not all Rangers have animal companions. They can chose hunting companions instead of an animal companion. There is also the Spirit Ranger Archetype that gives up the animal companion for some extra spell casting. If you think the extra body is going to be a problem encourage the player to use one of these options.
Personally I think the Spirit Ranger is a better chose anyways. Not only do you get some extra spells they are chosen when cast so this is incredibly useful. Since the Ranger has access to his entire spell list when he gains the spell level this allows a great deal of flexability.