*What are your top sidekick picks??* ▶️ One-on-One D&D: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-R78CIEktkwE.html 🌟 Tasha's Cauldron (affiliate): amzn.to/2UCzi3q
I love the claw idea. Cutting a PCs hand off as a consequence of action allows you to make the game more dangerous, but giving them their hand back as the claw Makes it an awesome unexpected silver lining
@@Jah_Coby There's a list? What's the list? TCoE lists only "The Monster Manual or another D&D book." As to settings, I'm the DM and Eberron is our setting. 😉
@@elementzero3379 I meant his list that he mentioned for the video. Whatever other setting book is allowed at the table is up for grabs. Just was trying to explain why he missed it
Slaad tadpole that bursts out of your chest and becomes best buddies? I love this! haha. I look forward to making different side kicks for me and perhaps some for the players. I think the Boggle is intriguing as well. I never really thought of sidekicks being other than human. I must think on this. Great video as always Bob!
Thanks, Ruben! Yeah the original UA sidekicks could be basically anything, then the Essentials Kit kind of pushed the idea that they should be human. Tasha's Cauldron opened it back up!
@@BobWorldBuilder haha really? That’s crazy, yeah he’s a fun character, he’s kind of become the dad of the group since the other characters are sort of reckless. And yeah I would say from my experience having a mimic is pretty great
If you have Curse of Strahd, I suggest borrowing the Barovian Witch. Right off the bat, 3rd-level spellcaster with some rather cool, and nasty, spells (Hence why I wouldn't make it a Spellcaster), proficiency in Arcana and Perception, and Darkvision, which is cool for a human (as most of them are) to have. It's not that good in a stand-up fight (7 strength, 11 dexterity, 13 constitution, 14 intelligence, 11 wisdom, 12 charisma), but I can see it being an Intelligence based sort, although one might want to give them proficiency in Athletics to make up for a low strength score or Deception, to really make use of that Alter Self if trying to pull off a infiltration mission.
@@BobWorldBuilder Then there's the Tabaxi Minstrel from Tomb of Annihilation - it has 4 skills (Perception, Stealth, Persuasion, Performance (Expertise on that one actually), and has Inspire, which gives 5 folks 8 temporary hp at the end of a short rest, plus the usual Tabaxi tricks of climbing. Be good for any of the classes actually.
I am going to insert a grung expert into mine and my brothers game in Tomb Of Annihilation, with my brothers dwarf cleric, my nephews barbarian and my elf sorcerer. I’m hoping this grung rounds out our party well especially with all the wilderness we have to go through
I can imagine a character that has a Peter Pan like living Shadow. I mean, imagine being a rogue or feind/fey pact warlock and getting arrested? Not anymore, why, shadow. Also, have it speak thieve's cant.
I used the expert, spell-caster, warrior as the foundation for new adventurers. the character is level-0. once the character has earned 1000 experience, they are able to advance into a character class associated to the level-0 class. along with a re-write of family backgrounds, it truly gives a foundation to long term characters.
One thing about the Sidekicks rule is this, one can use it to make tougher foes in a hurry. For instance, say one is playing in a setting where there isn't a whole lot of magical objects. At a certain point, one runs out of creatures that are affected by regular steel blades. Thanks to the Sidekick rules, one can make animals, like bears, wolves, cattle, horses, snakes, and folks like guards, bandits, thugs, soldiers, and so on formidable foes for higher level parties. I mean, let's say you have a level 10 party, and someone gets the bright idea to rob the magic shop. Well, now one can summon a number of Soldiers/Guards on Warhorses/Draft or Riding Horses, and not only are the guys facing the would-be thieves wearing at least Splint armor, and using lances, with the horses wearing decent armor as well, both rider and mount have about 70 and 90 hp, respectively, and if the horse has the Defender Fighting Style, while the rider has the Attacker Fighting Style, good luck hitting the rider, as the horse also lashes out at anyone attacking their rider.
@@BobWorldBuilder Also, there's no rules that say Sidekicks can't use Magic/Special Items. I mean, using the guards and horses mentioned above, the guards could have weapons that are inspired by Flame Tongues, Frost Brands, Dragon Slayer, Corpse Slayer, Giant Slayer, and all them other crazy things from the various books, and the horses, they get horseshoes with abilities based off of the preceding items. Give them both magic armor and the guards magic shields, and soon enough, the guard, and his horse, when asked by the players "What CR are you?" will respond "Someone who decided to redefine CR 1/8 and 1/4." In case you don't get the reference, it's from a webcomic called Goblins, based in a 3.5e world where a group of goblins, sick of attacks by Adventurers, become Adventurers themselves. A member gets caught be the guard in the city, and the rest try to save him. Two (Barbarian and Paladin classes respectively), are down a dead-end alley, with a bunch of guards facing them. Sargent: They are just goblins. A Mere 1/3 CR. Paladin Goblin: We're going to die. Barbarian Goblin: Yeah, we're gonna die. Paladin: (Looks at the Barbarian, who readies himself for a fight.) What are you doing? Barbarian: Redefining 1/3 Challenge Rating. Cue one heck of a fight.
Thanks PRT, I definitely agree that spellcasters are the next best sidekick for their ability to be a healer. In the warrior video I'm going to mention that they should really only be used if you desperately want to use a creature that doesn't speak a language (which many people who want wolves/bears will do) or if your small party is just a rogue and wizard or some other combo that lacks a fighter or barbarian
I'm part of two different games - one with only 1 PC and another with 3 PCs all skirmishers no frontline. So, in both of them the warrior is the best sidekick for us. That leads me to think that in a weird inverted way, the warrior sidekick might see more use *because* it doesn't have many special abilities. That lets the players pick PCs with more tricks (and fewer hit points) up their sleeves. In the end, I guess it just depends on the individual table's needs.
@@a.spirit8408 I feel like the warrior is just a fighter. Mages can be druids or Wizards. Experts can be Rogues or Rangers. Compared to Essentials kit this is a lot better.
Great work! Love your videos! In my new Essentials Kit campaign, my players will be given a Pokemon-esque choice by their Emerald Enclave contact for a companion. The Expert choice is a displacer beast slapped onto a panther statblock, maintaining displacer beast abilities. My players love "the rule of cool." 😎
Next to the Pixie, a CR 0 Chwinga from Rime of the Frostmaiden might be the most broken... Evasion, At Will Pass Without a Trace, and 3 cantrips including Guidance... 3 skills at +7 (Acrobatics, Perception, and Stealth); Magical Gifts (1/day) to deal extra d6 cold; or create food/water; or 24 hour Cold Resistance; or Bonus Action Snowballs; or Cast Leomund’s Tiny Hut... all these have 3-5 charges There doesn’t appear to be a limit to the number of charms it can create either so I imagine a PC with a bandolier of trinkets never hungry, always protected during a long rest, and sneaking about with a +10 as needed... CR 0?! Hello Expert (Dex 20) or Spellcaster (Wis/Cha 16; Int 14)
An Awakened Cat as an Expert Scout is what I used for adventure for my step Grand kids. The Fighter took the Telepathy feat so they could communicate from distance.
One way to incorporate Sidekicks into the game is to have a Mercenary Guild. Idea is that these fellas at the guild are for hire, in case of a smaller-than-normal party. The group's Patron (there's usually one anyways) makes a deal with the Guild to hire a couple of them (to fill out the needed roles). Mercs' reason to work with the Party - money and reputation - Mercs who get the job done, and bring the clients home alive tend to get better jobs and gear. Party's reason to work with the Mercs - they need someone to do the job, and Parties with reputations for taking care of Mercs tend to have a easier time getting better ones in the future. This goes both ways - Parties that kill off Mercs won't get get to hire more in the future, and Mercs who let the Party die don't get hired in the future.
I love sidekicks. I have used scruffy bartenders, abnormally streetwise kids, a mildly psychotic clockwork automaton (loosely based on HK-47 from the early Knights of the Old Republic games), and a profoundly lazy, alcoholic, awakened bear.
The problem with Jackalweres are that they are Chaotic Evil. Of course, you can change this, or make it an outcast from the Jackalwere, but a Chaotic Evil sidekick might be a problem. I think the general populace would fear them as well.
@@BobWorldBuilder I suppose that's fair in a way, but it might be hard to imagine when a chaotic evil sidekick staying as a sidekick for long without either betraying the party or running off when things get tough or some other nasty thing. They are both chaotic and evil, after all.
@@educationaldm4700 The problem with Jackalweres is* (not "are" since the subject, "problem" is singular; "Jackalweres" is plural, but that word isn't the subject.) Note that I used to be a proofreader a long time ago. 🤔
@@educationaldm4700 Chaotic Evil doesn’t mean Chaotic jerk tho. They can be nice but still chaotic evil just like how a lawful good character can be a huge jerk and still be lawful good. As long as u don’t give it a reason to betray u it shouldn’t betray u. I mean if u were able to befriend it in the first place it’s clearly not a total jerk.
One possible Expert, that would be really great - Changeling from Eberron. Has proficiency in Acrobatics, Deception, Insight, Perception and Persuasion right off the bat. Throw on the extra 5 skills for being an Expert sidekick, and they might have at least +1 on all skill checks, especially if Athletics is one of the skills picked (Strength is an 8 there, normally), along with the other skills powered by wisdom (10 normally), and whatever else one wants. Scout might be another good pick, with 4 skills, but they'd lose access to their shortsword and longbow.
Came here because I'm about to be in a campaign with two other players and we need a sidekick. After watching this, I realize My Character is a sidekick and we need another hero.
Orion Foresee: You reminded me of one of my AD&D (now known as 1e) campaigns in which my Dwarf fighter -thief was basically the sidekick to the other PC: an impulsive Elf who was always biting off more than he could chew. I remember muttering how I had to yet again rescue the silly Elf for the umpteenth time! 😂
Excellent video, as always! Got two more ideas for you: The fact that D&D has existed for roughly 45 years & was created by Gygax & Arneson, not Critical Role. In addition, party names has been of iconic importance since the beginning.
Thank you! Funny enough, I'm working on ideas for video about the important things to know/expect about D&D in the modern day-- specifically how online tools can affect the game, and how the general public (aka potential players) think about D&D
@@BobWorldBuilder how did u manage the cr of the encounters? That's the tricky part for me. I do not know how to put it in a way that its not veeeery easy or too deadly. Btw, I began watching you series of Icepire peak. Love it so far. Im about to start that campaing with my wife.
Sometimes it doesn’t make sense on what creatures get what CR but yes it’s very relevant. Their is a reason it’s there. If u just allowed any CR it would far outshine all the PC’s (which is not what u want).
