The wolf pack

[poolio]

Greetings all, so mine friend, my wife, and myself will be starting a new campaign in a few weeks, and we're going to be playing a little crew all based around wolves, a little cleched i know but it's the first time I've managed to get several players to go into a group background together rather then the usual group of murder hobos, so the party consists of myself as a hill dwarf nature cleric who is a worshipper of Fenrir, a dire wolf god, protector of the forest ect. ect. My friend is going to be a half-orc barbarian going wolf totem, and my wife wants to be a forest gnome ranger, going beast master to be a wolf riding archer, using the wolf for boosted mobility and for a melee option should enemies get to close, so my question to everybody is, what should i be thinking of for battle strategies and ways to role play are little wolf pack? They're both still pretty new to the game and usually ask me for all the advice for that sort of stuff, just want to get more opinions on how others would play these knids of characters, oh also there will be a fourth guy but i have no idea what he plans on bring to the table lol

[Ninja_Prawn]

If I were DMing this, I would by thinking 'lycanthropes'. But like, it'd be everything but werewolves. So be prepared for that.

Also, queue up some wolf-themed songs and play them on loop!

As for what you can do as players, well I don't know a lot about canids (all power to the cat people!), but I have heard that they are pack animals that stick together against outsiders and follow a strict hierarchy. They're territorial, so maybe try to establish a 'territory' of your own?

[Gastronomie]

Have someone be the Alpha. And have him howl towards the sky every time the party claims victory.

Because that's just awesome

[SaintRidley]

Well, for one thing, you really need someone to be able to cast summon theme song (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYwXUxgszF0).

[R.Shackleford]

If I were DMing this, I would by thinking 'lycanthropes'. But like, it'd be everything but werewolves. So be prepared for that.

Also, queue up some wolf-themed songs and play them on loop!

As for what you can do as players, well I don't know a lot about canids (all power to the cat people!), but I have heard that they are pack animals that stick together against outsiders and follow a strict hierarchy. They're territorial, so maybe try to establish a 'territory' of your own?

Hmmm...

Players get blasted into alternate reality where everyone except the party is lycanthropes... The party are the weird and scary ones (monsters!).

Hmmm


Also I was thinking of the WCW/WWF wrestling group called "Wolf Pack".

[Giant2005]

You should caution your wife against going Ranger. No-one wants to be the ranged guy in a group that has a Wolf Totem Barbarian in it.
A rogue would probably hit the spot in that group, and anything goes with the Wolf motif pretty comfortably when you hae the Outlander background with the trait "I was, in fact, raised by wolves."

[WereRabbitz]

3x Druids of the moon and say to hell with Strategy

There's a solution :)

[Giant2005]

Don't listen to WereRabbitz. Wolves are the natural enemy of rabbits - he has every reason to mislead you and do what he can to keep you weak.

[Axorfett12]

Though he has a point, to a lesser extent. It would give the "Wolf Pack" feel. A druid 2/rogue 18 would be an interesting build. All those tasty sneak attack dice and an easy way to get advantage due to pack tactics.

[JackPhoenix]

Though he has a point, to a lesser extent. It would give the "Wolf Pack" feel. A druid 2/rogue 18 would be an interesting build. All those tasty sneak attack dice and an easy way to get advantage due to pack tactics.

What sneak attack dice? Wolf bite isn't finesse or ranged weapon.

[-Jynx-]

What sneak attack dice? Wolf bite isn't finesse or ranged weapon.

Wolf bite's damage modifier is dex based. Which would in essence be finesse for monster attacks (since the MM would have no business listing finesse on all creatures/monsters that attach suing dex) so I can see a DM allowing sneak attack with a wolf bite.

[RickAllison]

Wolf bite's damage modifier is dex based. Which would in essence be finesse for monster attacks (since the MM would have no business listing finesse on all creatures/monsters that attach suing dex) so I can see a DM allowing sneak attack with a wolf bite.

They can allow it, but the PC certainly can't argue for it. Just like the Martial Arts feature, using Dex =\= Finesse.

Just listing off the wolf-y things I can think of (most of which have been said: Wolf Totem Barbarian, Clerics of a deity associated with Wolves (Fenrir and Daragor, for example), Druids using conjuration to make wolves or Wild Shape to be wolves, and Rangers with wolf animal companions.

Now other classes can still get in on the wolf-y fun by merging with the idea of a wolf with their class. Paladins of the Ancients get a lot of mileage out of it, with bonus points if their Find Steed is a wolf. A Fey or Fiendlock could take a patron associated with Wolves. Any Dex-based melee martial can flavor their method of attack as similar to a wolf's. The ones that are hard to work in to me are Sorcerer and Wizard. They can't be wolves (barring a 4th-level spell), they can't really fight like wolves, and thematically are rather distant from wolves

[MrConsideration]

A Shadow monk refluffed as one of those children raised by Wolves?


I'd read this (http://goblinpunch.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/7-myths-everyone-believes-about-druids.html) for inspiration, or watch Princess Mononke. (http://media.ifccenter.com/images/films/princess-mononoke_592x299.jpg)

Any DM should find it profoundly easy to invent adventures that work for a Wolf-pack: you need to defend the primal spirit of the forest from the corrupting influence of a demon, you need to challenge yourself to hunt some incredible prey to show your power, you need to fight a rival pack of lycanthropes who want your forest....

(Quick plug: I did a blog-post of weird forest spirits (http://thelastdaydawned.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/1d10-weird-forest-guardians.html) you could steal from.)

[Joe the Rat]

Are you getting any more players? If not, You are going to want to go melee to make the barbarian's totem ability useful at all. A Vengeance Paladin would be an interesting add-in as well (Dire Wolf Mount?). Rogues and Monks (Wolf Fang Fist!) can keep up with B speedwise, and will benefit from his advantage-granting rage, but you need a way to keep fire focused on him and not the squishies. Sentinel, if you don't have it on the Rogue. Champion fighter can look savage, a Battlemaster is even better at setting people up. Druid is an obvious add-in. Summon Nature's Ally can get you actual wolves. TWO wolf barbarians working together are never at a loss for Advantage, and can keep the target upright for pincushioning.

White/Silver Draconic Sorcerer makes a passable Winter Wolf-themed caster. Scaglings (Feral Tieflings) can look really feral.

I've half a mind to suggest a Mobile Mastermind Rogue. He can dart in, tag the Barbarian's target (with advantage) dart out of reach, then Bonus action Help the Ranger for advantage on shooting.

The big thing you need to do is teamwork - focused fire and setting up one another's actions. Archer shoots someone, you dogpile them.

Nobody goes lone wolf. Each member should have a buddy for whatever they do.

Mobility is a big factor. Your ranger will be good in this regard, any non-the barbarian members may want to look at mobile for the added speed and hit-an-run tactics.

Field Control. Entangle; Ensnaring Strike for individuals to control who can get to whom. You could use a conjurer.

If you're using Proning, you've declared the archer is not shooting that person.