Animal companions: stabilize rolls or death?

[The Shadowdove]

Hey everyone,


This may be some form of common sense failure, or a painfully Obvious rule I've overlooked somewhere...

I have to know though!

Do beast master pets auto die if struck bellow 0 health, or do they get a d20 roll like a player/npc?

I'm asking because we have a beast master ranger in our party.

Thankfully I haven't reached this situation yet, so the blood isn't on my hands... But it will happen at some point and I would like to know the actual ruling before my players ask.


Thank you all,

Dove

[ImSAMazing]

Hey everyone,


This may be some form of common sense failure, or a painfully Obvious rule I've overlooked somewhere...

I have to know though!

Do beast master pets auto die if struck bellow 0 health, or do they get a d20 roll like a player/npc?

I'm asking because we have a beast master ranger in our party.

Thankfully I haven't reached this situation yet, so the blood isn't on my hands... But it will happen at some point and I would like to know the actual ruling before my players ask.


Thank you all,

Dove

I don't know if there are any rules about this, but I'd rule that the Beast Companion gets his Death Saving Throws. Very important NPCs get them too, and I'd say that the Beast Companion counts as NPC.

[GiantOctopodes]

my understanding is they would get a roll, just like any other player / npc. Do you have cause to believe something different occurs?

[Naanomi]

Technically DM territory but I always roll to stabilize, the pet seems like an 'important' enough person to count. I stabilize for a lot of monsters though as well (rolling all the checks at once when they go down so I know if/when they revive), so maybe I do it more than other DMs

[Demonic Spoon]

"Immediate death at 0 HP" is an abstraction used to make life easier on the DM. It is not a rule - anyone can get death saving throws if the DM thinks it's a good idea.

I can't imagine why any DM would immediately kill an animal companion at 0 HP.

[Kryx]

"Immediate death at 0 HP" is an abstraction used to make life easier on the DM. It is not a rule - anyone can get death saving throws if the DM thinks it's a good idea.

I can't imagine why any DM would immediately kill an animal companion at 0 HP.
Agreed - I sometimes do it for important NPCs.

[PotatoGolem]

"Immediate death at 0 HP" is an abstraction used to make life easier on the DM. It is not a rule - anyone can get death saving throws if the DM thinks it's a good idea.

I can't imagine why any DM would immediately kill an animal companion at 0 HP.

Exactly this. Your average orc/goblin/spectre/bandit/etc doesn't make death saves because the DM and players may not want to spend the time after every battle going around slitting throats. However, that's more of a bookkeeping and tone thing than a rule. By RAW, everyone gets death saves. I personally (like most DMs, I think) give them to PCs and important NPCs, and a beastmaster's companion is sort of on the border between those two. Definitely give his/her/its beast death saves.

[Gurka]

Like everybody else here, I always give them the opportunity to stabilize. I can't imagine doing otherwise, if only as a courtesy to the player. That's a part of their character sheet that's dying, and even if it's replaceable, it's still a hassle for them to deal with. I'll give it every opportunity to pull through.

[Coidzor]

I can't imagine why any DM would immediately kill an animal companion at 0 HP.

To make BM's even more gimped, presumably, or because they don't consider the animal companion a character.