"GM, can we please please PLEASE get a puppy???"
In the course of a campaign, it is almost inevitable that at some point, the party will get a pet. Maybe they try to pass an animal handling check to tame a wild monster, maybe they find a strange egg in a dungeon, or maybe they take a lost dog in after doing their "best" to find its original owner. Whatever it is, the desire for animal companionship is a core part of us and so, a core part of the characters we create.
I hate saying no to players in these situations. It is fun to have animal companions and my entire ethos is: If it is fun, we should do it.
Unfortunately, there is not a lot of good official support for pets in 5th Edition DnD. Just giving them a monster stat block makes balance harder and really screws up the action economy. There is also the possibility that a big AOE hits the CR0 Mastiff that you gave them and Fido is instantly killed which makes you feel bad.
So, what is the solution? How can we give the party a pet without breaking the game? The best answer I have found is to treat them the same way we treat magic items!
Making Pets in 5th Edition DnD
If we think of pets as analogous to magic items, we can solve a lot of the problems they present. Instead of taking their own turn and breaking the action economy, we can make using them a bonus action or reaction for the character or even any of the characters in the party. Giving them a single effect or ability saves us from needing to memorize a monster stat block, and we can hand wave them getting hit or being targeted since they do not have any hit points! Here is an example:
Eldritchling Pet As a bonus action, you can mentally command this tiny aberration to hover, fly up to 30 feet, and use one of its abilities or complete a simple task such as picking up a small item or pushing a door shut. |
Dead simple. It is missing a few things though. We need some abilities. We also need a way for the pet to level up as characters do. For that, we can steal a little bit from another mechanic: cantrips.
Some cantrips gain additional abilities when players reach 5th, 11th, and 17th level. We can steal this framework to level up our pets giving them new and more powerful abilities as the character levels up. This gives players more options and keeps the pet relevant as more bonus action abilities become available to the character.
Here is our example with some abilities:
Eldritchling Pet As a bonus action, you can mentally command this tiny aberration to hover, fly up to 30 feet, and use one of its abilities or complete a simple task such as picking up a small item or pushing a door shut. As you gain power, so does your pet. Depending on your level, the Eldritchling can use one of the following abilities: Level 1: Attack. The Eldritchling makes an attack against a creature within 5 feet. It uses your spell attack roll and ability score modifier. On a hit, it deals 1d8 Necrotic Damage. Level 5: See. The Eldritchling mentally reaches out towards up to two creatures within 60 feet. The targets must succeed on a Charisma saving throw against your spell save DC, or else take 1d6 Psychic damage. Level 11: Grow. The Eldritchling’s size becomes medium and it can attempt to grapple up to three creatures using your spellcasting ability instead of strength. Level 17: Become. The Eldritchling’s size becomes large and it can make four attacks or attempt to grapple up to ten creatures. If a creature it is grappling dies, it consumes that creature and you regain 1d10 hit points. |
A final word of advice: Make the Level 17 ability really good. In my experience (and the data backs this up) campaigns rarely get to that level and if they do, the balance is pretty broken anyway so make it crazy and fun.
I hope this helps you give your players fun pets and keeps balancing the game easy! If you want to check out more pets, please consider becoming a Patron! It is free for the first seven days and I release weekly GM advice, monsters, magic items, and now pets!
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