Balancing a "dragon" ranger companion

[deathadder99]

I'm currently running a game with a ranger who wanted a dragon as an animal companion. We are running the revised ranger beast master, and I said yes. As a Pseudodragon (CR 1/4) matches all of the criteria for a beast master companion, I figured it would be pretty balanced - however it seems actually on the weak side, especially to do with hit points. Having 7 HP means it's made of paper - and it was one shot by a zombie in the first session, which I had to fudge. The party is now level 4, and that means it gets 2.5 more HP, but that still barely brings it to 9, where an ape or Panther would be on 17+.

Additionally, I would like to give it a breath weapon later, and maybe upgrade it to a wyrmling (CR 4). I'm not really sure what the best level to do that would be, and how I ought to mesh that with the beast master proficiency bonus. I'm happy with major home brewing so long as it's moderately balanced. Is there another creature I could steal and refluff?

[PotatoGolem]

IIRC, some mephits are CR 1. They have a breath weapon, fly speed, whole nine yards. Just reflavor as a dragon.

[Pichu]

Options:
-Faerie Dragon
-Ambush Drake
-Copper or Brass Wyrmling

Faerie Dragons are pretty good, however they are Tiny, what limits their usefulness a bit.
Ambush Drakes, although not draconic in appearance, are dragons. They are the best option (imo) for this in terms of relative power to other, more classic, option like wolves.
Finally, the wyrmlings. They are good, nice bite attack a the breath weapon are balanced. I chose these two specifically because they are CR 1.

Hopefully this helps!

Source: http://dndbits.com/monsters.php

[deathadder99]

IIRC, some mephits are CR 1. They have a breath weapon, fly speed, whole nine yards. Just reflavor as a dragon.
A magma mephit is CR 1/2 - that seems actually quite a decent choice.


Options:
-Faerie Dragon
-Ambush Drake
-Copper or Brass Wyrmling

Faerie Dragons are pretty good, however they are Tiny, what limits their usefulness a bit.
Ambush Drakes, although not draconic in appearance, are dragons. They are the best option (imo) for this in terms of relative power to other, more classic, option like wolves.
Finally, the wyrmlings. They are good, nice bite attack a the breath weapon are balanced. I chose these two specifically because they are CR 1.

Hopefully this helps!

Source: http://dndbits.com/monsters.php
How could I forget Brass Wyrmling ... I forgot that it wasn't just Gold and Red dragons who could breathe fire. That looks almost exactly what I'm looking for. I may actually steal that. I'll take away the sleep breath, lower the AC (which will go right back up thanks to ranger prof), and lower the claw weapon dice to a d6. I think I'll give the fire breath at a later level - maybe level 6 or 7 as it's pretty strong for level 4.

Edit: I might also change the fire immunity to fire resistance, not sure yet. Animal companions are already pretty tanky when it comes to AoE, so it would already be just for melee.

[MinotaurWarrior]

I'd just homebrew a CR 1/2 creature.

AC 13, 50hp, Bite +3, 1d4+1 Piercing plus 1d4 fire, Fire Breath recharge (6), 15ft cone DC 13 dex save for half, 2d4 fire damage. 30ft speed, 45ft fly, flyby, perception +4 Stealth +2, darkvision 60ft.

[deathadder99]

I'd just homebrew a CR 1/2 creature.

AC 13, 50hp, Bite +3, 1d4+1 Piercing plus 1d4 fire, Fire Breath recharge (6), 15ft cone DC 13 dex save for half, 2d4 fire damage. 30ft speed, 45ft fly, flyby, perception +4 Stealth +2, darkvision 60ft.

That also looks pretty interesting, but the breath weapon doesn't scale (perhaps add prof bonus to save DC and fire damage) and 50 hp seems rather high. Otherwise I might just straight out steal that.

[MarkVIIIMarc]

IIRC, some mephits are CR 1. They have a breath weapon, fly speed, whole nine yards. Just reflavor as a dragon.

Back in 3.5 I had a mephit companion. It wasn't crazy power in direct combat but it could do neat things role-playing or being used creatively.

Tell him the dragon is no longer a new born or has aged a bit and gets to roll 2 D10 for a one time HP buff next level. If you must give it a breath weapon. Go conservatively at first. You can always buff it more later.

I think even having a squishy dragon companion would be kinda fun. How big and intelligent is this thing anyway?

[deathadder99]

Back in 3.5 I had a mephit companion. It wasn't crazy power in direct combat but it could do neat things role-playing or being used creatively.

Tell him the dragon is no longer a new born or has aged a bit and gets to roll 2 D10 for a one time HP buff next level. If you must give it a breath weapon. Go conservatively at first. You can always buff it more later.

I think even having a squishy dragon companion would be kinda fun. How big and intelligent is this thing anyway?

The dragon is about 3 months old, and it's about the size of a small cat. Right now it can speak to the ranger telepathically, but no one else, and it can only vocalise babylike roars. It's pretty smart, but it's more like a super clever animal more than anything. I want the breath weapon to come later in the campaign - I was thinking level 10 or 12 at most, as it learns to use its fire. The biggest issue is the party was level 3, and it got one shot by a CR 1/4 zombie, which any other animal companion, even the Giant Weasel, would have survived.

I'm not a fan of the 2d10 one time buff, as it doesn't make sense in terms of the flat HD progression - that comes out as about a 11hp buff, which could be achieved by upping the Pseudodragon's d4 hit dice to a d8 (which I think is the real problem here) to a d8, and giving it an extra hit dice. At level 4, it would get 4d8 HD which works out at 10.5 extra HP over the d4, which is exactly the same and flows better.

Edit: Also having it start off very small and grow as the campaign goes on is a nice source of progression for the ranger, and having a prankster NPC who loves a belly rub is always fun for the party.

[MinotaurWarrior]

That also looks pretty interesting, but the breath weapon doesn't scale (perhaps add prof bonus to save DC and fire damage) and 50 hp seems rather high. Otherwise I might just straight out steal that.

Thanks!

50hp is right from the dmg CR table and the breath weapon's DC should scale with proficiency. I think most of the animal companion options are statted out to be more offensive than defensive, whereas the stats I drew up are pretty balanced. You could knock down a few HP or AC to add a point or two of damage.

[deathadder99]

Thanks!

50hp is right from the dmg CR table and the breath weapon's DC should scale with proficiency. I think most of the animal companion options are statted out to be more offensive than defensive, whereas the stats I drew up are pretty balanced. You could knock down a few HP or AC to add a point or two of damage.

The revised ranger PDF states:
"As a rule of thumb, a beast can serve as an animal companion if it is Medium or smaller, has 15 or fewer hit points, and cannot deal more than 8 damage with a single attack. In general, that applies to creatures with a challenge rating of 1/4 or less."

So it probably needs to be tuned down a bit. I think 1d8 per ranger level is pretty much the standard, and 1d6 tends to be the default for damage. I'll definitely use your stats as a starting point - I might keep the breath weapon until later though, as I've already fluffed that it can't breathe fire yet, and it would be weird to suddenly give it a breath weapon the next session.



EDIT:
Probably gonna roll with this, including one ASI for the companion (+1 Dex, +1 Con) :
STR 13 (+1)
DEX 16 (+3)
CON 14 (+2)
INT 10 (+0)
WIS 12 (+1)
CHA 10 (+0)
HP 24 - 4d8 + 8

AC 15 (Natural Armor 13 AC),

Skills : Perception, Stealth

Languages: Understands Common And Draconic But Can't Speak

30ft speed, 45ft fly

Flyby
Darkvision 60ft.
Limited Telepathy

Attacks -
Bite +5, 1d6+5 Piercing

Maybe seems a bit on the strong side, but it's about on par with the ape, doesn't have the range - but has 1 extra AC and a bit of extra out of combat utility. I will have to see how abused flyby is as well, but the player isn't a powergamer so should be ok. I think I'll add a breath weapon, magical claws and resistance to fire later, it's just too much early.

[MarkVIIIMarc]

The dragon is about 3 months old, and it's about the size of a small cat. Right now it can speak to the ranger telepathically, but no one else, and it can only vocalise babylike roars. It's pretty smart, but it's more like a super clever animal more than anything. I want the breath weapon to come later in the campaign - I was thinking level 10 or 12 at most, as it learns to use its fire. The biggest issue is the party was level 3, and it got one shot by a CR 1/4 zombie, which any other animal companion, even the Giant Weasel, would have survived.

I'm not a fan of the 2d10 one time buff, as it doesn't make sense in terms of the flat HD progression - that comes out as about a 11hp buff, which could be achieved by upping the Pseudodragon's d4 hit dice to a d8 (which I think is the real problem here) to a d8, and giving it an extra hit dice. At level 4, it would get 4d8 HD which works out at 10.5 extra HP over the d4, which is exactly the same and flows better.

Edit: Also having it start off very small and grow as the campaign goes on is a nice source of progression for the ranger, and having a prankster NPC who loves a belly rub is always fun for the party.

I think until it grows a bit you are about right on HP. Put the party in a position where they have to pray the mini dragon can make it through a tunnel, steal some keys or something to save their lives and it will shine.

Stand the baby dragon in front of an ogre and maybe it should die.

[Arcangel4774]

In volo's there's a monster that's basically a dragon dog. I can't recall it's name but it's worth looking up for reference