# Heroes of the Feywild: Fey Themes



## Klaus (Oct 28, 2011)

Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game Official Home Page - Article (Fey Themes)

The previewed theme is the Fey Beast Tamer, which gives you a fey beast companion: blink dog, displacer beast, fey panther or owlbear.

EDIT: there's an extra space in the pdf URL. Go here: www.wizards.com/dnd/files/excerpt_20111028.pdf


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## TwoSix (Oct 28, 2011)

Klaus said:


> Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game Official Home Page - Article (Fey Themes)
> 
> The previewed theme is the Fey Beast Tamer, which gives you a fey beast companion: blink dog, displacer beast, fey panther or owlbear.
> 
> EDIT: there's an extra space in the pdf URL. Go here: www.wizards.com/dnd/files/excerpt_20111028.pdf




Sold.  I love it.


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## Kzach (Oct 28, 2011)

Pretty cool. Animal Master needs some serious revision though...


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## Klaus (Oct 28, 2011)

This theme is based on design I did for Heroes of the Feywild, and I'm very pleased with its final form. It was actually nerfed from my initial design. Kudos to Rodney and the developers! 

And yay!, blink dogs are back!


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## Lindeloef (Oct 28, 2011)

Really awesome and exactly what one of my players needs for her new character.


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## keterys (Oct 28, 2011)

Klaus said:


> This theme is based on design I did for Heroes of the Feywild, and I'm very pleased with its final form. It was actually nerfed from my initial design.



It _was_ a little strong. 

It still is very solid, especially for some builds.

Of course, it's a hilarious way to drain surges from a character too. A friend of mine has a PC who just bottoms out for surges so fast (A pixie Peeka, and her Blink Dog Boo)


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## RangerWickett (Oct 28, 2011)

I really dig it. Great design.


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## Drammattex (Oct 28, 2011)

Ah, I remember this...

Love it!


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## Vael (Oct 28, 2011)

That's cool. I like the new damage scaling, half level seems like a clean way to do it.


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## Neverfate (Oct 28, 2011)

Kzach said:


> Pretty cool. Animal Master needs some serious revision though...




LOL They're not even in the same league now. Hell this theme competes with actual CLASSES with a beast companion (namely Ranger and Sentinel, I think Shaman serves a different design aspect). I think this theme is incredibly well done, but it also competes with (or defeats) certain other options easily.

Keep in mind, the level 1 Encounter power for Animal Master is that you can make a creature grant CA for a turn. This theme literally gets that as a feature at level 5 in addition to the fact that your fey companion has hit points AND it's own aura to start with, where as Animal Master minions get almost nothing.


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## keterys (Oct 28, 2011)

Well, we did know that animal master was poor.


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## CasvalRemDeikun (Oct 28, 2011)

I hope now that we have this awesome theme, they can go back and heavily alter the Animal Master to function similar to it.

I want them to make a mount theme similar to this now.  Complete with Horse, Rhino, Dragon, and Goat.  Why goat, you ask?  Because a riding goat is awesome.


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## TwoSix (Oct 28, 2011)

CasvalRemDeikun said:


> Why goat, you ask?  Because a riding goat is awesome.



Naaaaaaaaaaa.


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## Larrin (Oct 28, 2011)

Honestly, the sentinel should be able to nab those companions for themselves....and those powers!  I see no reason they shouldn't!  Why wouldn't they have access to that?  Heck, this whole theme could have been a class acts for the Sentinal.....


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## Dan'L (Oct 28, 2011)

IMO the level 10 utility, _Companion Form_, should really be a daily, not an encounter.

Perhaps this (i.e., as a theme) is the way beast companions should always have been handled, but I can't help but think that in the environment of a system where such a companion is equal to about half to two-thirds the suite of a class' features, perhaps this isn't a bit too OP.

In any case, for better or worse, this will likely put the final nail in the coffin of Beastmaster Rangers as a played build.

-Dan'L


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## keterys (Oct 28, 2011)

Or just mean BM rangers will play with two companions 

My sentinel/shaman will now have 3 companions, himself, plus some summons. Muahaha.


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## Matt James (Oct 28, 2011)

Good stuff right here.


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## ForeverSlayer (Oct 28, 2011)

Should have brought back the Cooshee. My old bladesinger had one for a pet.


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## Dice4Hire (Oct 28, 2011)

I wonder why WOTC is suddenly handing out CA like candy? I know essentials thieves (or whatever they are called) can get CA with no work at all, but a couple themes in Neverwinter plus this theme can now grant CA with no sweat..

CA really seems to be getting cheapened recently. 


The theme is good, of course, but that is probably because it is too good. I see serious power creep in themes recently. Really serious power creep, and it is starting to turn me off them. At least with Dark Sun ones, it was only a free encounter, then power swapping (which was powerful, don't get me wrong) but now the free abilities at 5th and 10th are a lot. 

Mainly because the abilities are generally pretty good, like the CA I mentioned above. 

I think I am going to have to start power-creeping my monsters soon, to keep balance.


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## keterys (Oct 28, 2011)

Well... it was never hard for melee characters to get combat advantage and there have been all kinds of ways for a group to achieve combat advantage, from anyone you force move, anyone with vulnerable cold, anyone with a common condition like slow, anyone someone is flanking, anyone you hit with a radiant power, etc. 

But I am surprised to see it tossed out so easily in these themes, instead of being, say, an encounter power (Free Action, gain or grant CA for a round kinda thing). 

It is worth note that things like Guardian and Iron Wolf, even Harper, can still easily beat something like "move up and give me CA". Especially "move up, give me CA, and cost me a few surges over the course of the day"


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## chitzk0i (Oct 28, 2011)

Dan'L said:


> IMO the level 10 utility, _Companion Form_, should really be a daily, not an encounter.




How so?  You can't even use basic attacks without ending the power and all it gets you is speed 8 or climb 6 (the owlbear gives you neither of those, though).  Sure, it gives your allies another source for your pet's buff area, but do you really want to go the an appreciable amount of time without even being able to plant a battle standard of healing?

I'm kind of annoyed that the pet is apparently not trained in any skill.  Still, my halfling beastmaster ranger|rogue is going to be switching from a raptor companion to a fey panther because then he'll be able to use any rogue power instead of mostly the at-will that gives you CA if you have an ally adjacent.


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## Zaphling (Oct 29, 2011)

In defense for the Animal Master theme, yes everyone is correct that the Fey Beast Tamer is more powerful but their bonuses only applies in battles, and not outside of battles. I may be wrong here but as I reviewed the Animal Master, the animals (although they are minions) provide a big boost to a specific skills. For example, cats provide their masters with no -5 penalty for moving during stealth checks; dogs and hawks provide +4 to Perception; monkeys and ravens provide a +2 to Thievery plus they can do the thievery themselves too. Basically, the Animal Master is not meant for combat, while the fey beast tamer theme is. 
Just to add, it explains in the dragon article that animal master's companion does not actually participate in battle but just hides or retreats to safety due to the fact that their size is TINY.

And I have to agree to the person in this thread who said something about beast master rangers. If you think the fey beast tamer is outpowering the beast companions, why not take the theme too, it's free - beast companion + fey beast companion = win win.


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## AbdulAlhazred (Oct 29, 2011)

Zaphling said:


> In defense for the Animal Master theme, yes everyone is correct that the Fey Beast Tamer is more powerful but their bonuses only applies in battles, and not outside of battles. I may be wrong here but as I reviewed the Animal Master, the animals (although they are minions) provide a big boost to a specific skills. For example, cats provide their masters with no -5 penalty for moving during stealth checks; dogs and hawks provide +4 to Perception; monkeys and ravens provide a +2 to Thievery plus they can do the thievery themselves too. Basically, the Animal Master is not meant for combat, while the fey beast tamer theme is.
> Just to add, it explains in the dragon article that animal master's companion does not actually participate in battle but just hides or retreats to safety due to the fact that their size is TINY.
> 
> And I have to agree to the person in this thread who said something about beast master rangers. If you think the fey beast tamer is outpowering the beast companions, why not take the theme too, it's free - beast companion + fey beast companion = win win.




The better question would be why would you ever bother with a Beast Master ranger build to start with at this point? Just about the ONLY advantage to the build is you get to use your BC as a point to set your HQ from. That's FAIRLY nice, but if I can instead keep Prime Shot and all the huge bonuses the related feats can get me, AND have a beast that is as good as the BMR one clearly that's the best option. These FBM beasts also have MUCH better damage output than the BMR BCs. They do have a bit less hit points in general, but you can also 'resummon' them quite easily, even in combat! 

I can understand the difference with the standard Animal Master theme, but I still say this one clearly overshadows it for most people. There may not be defined FBM out-of-combat benefits, but your beast doesn't vanish (unless you want it to, lol). It can do the most basic useful things that any companion can, like march around in front of the party clearing traps, doing some basic scouting, etc. I agree there will be cases where the tiny animals are more useful, but there are other ways to get the main benefits there, like a cat familiar or various rituals. 

I like the concept of this theme, and I think it does better embody the companion animal concept in general than previous attempts, but I'm a bit torn on the implementation as a theme. It seems like a REALLY powerful theme. There are a couple others that might arguably be close, but this one seems a bit stronger than what seems sensible for a theme.


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## keterys (Oct 30, 2011)

Quarry from the beast is pretty cool, and minor action attacks at higher level. Also the paragon path where you get to make ranged OAs when someone attacks your beast.

For games that don't use Dragon, Prime Shot is also a lot less cool (Called Shot is Dragon).


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## AbdulAlhazred (Oct 30, 2011)

keterys said:


> Quarry from the beast is pretty cool, and minor action attacks at higher level. Also the paragon path where you get to make ranged OAs when someone attacks your beast.
> 
> For games that don't use Dragon, Prime Shot is also a lot less cool (Called Shot is Dragon).



Eh, doesn't seem like there are all that many games playing with subsets of stuff these days. I agree though Prime Shot doesn't help you a LOT in heroic tier. Still, it is really the main disadvantage of using Beast Master. I think I'd find it VERY tempting to take the theme and go pure archer ranger. Battlefield Archer is still well worth the slight loss on HQ flexibility, and having the extra blocker is gold.

Consider a whole fey themed party with this theme. Having 5 extra blockers? Quite nice. It just seems like a theme that is taking themes rather out of their existing niche. Not a bad thing really, but there's some definite inflation there. I guess it all marches back to the whole "what could be improved in 4e" meme. Stronger and more significant themes is a good way to go. It would be nice if there was some cutting back someplace though, and a more consistent approach.

HotFW is going to be fun though.


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## keterys (Oct 30, 2011)

Yeah, the whole 5 rangers with 5 shaman companions thing just got to add "and 5 fey companions" to their line of blockers.


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## AbdulAlhazred (Oct 30, 2011)

keterys said:


> Yeah, the whole 5 rangers with 5 shaman companions thing just got to add "and 5 fey companions" to their line of blockers.



Yeah, one could go pretty crazy with the whole thing in a hypothetical sense at least. Lets see... 5 sentinels MCed into either an arcane class for familiars or shaman for SCs, all with the Fey Animal Master theme, or whatever other various combinations one can come up with... 

You could certainly end up with 10 really solid blockers AND some additional minor added figures on the board. It is of course a BIT far fetched, but no doubt somewhere there's someone who will give it a try. Probably make combat slow as a glacier, but it might be pretty amusing and would probably be fairly effective. Especially if you went with a mix of different 'got me a companion' builds and pulled a few tricks here and there. Toss in a few decent summons and you could really give the DM a nice headache...


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## Rechan (Oct 30, 2011)

This seems powerful, a theme giving you a companion. Doesn't quite compare to the Dark Sun themes. Or even the Neverwinter themes? 

They need to settle on a power level and crank more out.


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## keterys (Oct 30, 2011)

It compares fine to Noble Adept (Dark Sun), Guardian (Dragon), and Pack Outcast (Neverwinter), as well as probably Harper Agent, Sohei, Iron Wolf Barbarian while we're at it.

But, yeah, they are a bit all over the map.


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## Nemesis Destiny (Oct 31, 2011)

Kind of in the same way that 2e kits used to be - a handful were solid gold, and everyone took them, while the rest were flavourful but nigh useless. Most players I knew would duplicate the flavour with their normal proficiency (or whatever) choices and just take the "good" kits anyway.

I imagine that from a charop perspective, themes will go the same way, but some of the "lesser" themes might still see use in normal average games.


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## OhGodtheRats (Oct 31, 2011)

Dan'L said:


> In any case, for better or worse, this will likely put the final nail in the coffin of Beastmaster Rangers as a played build.
> 
> -Dan'L




I'll see your wager and raise you one Captain FlikaFlak and The Queen's Mustang.






I've already played this a couple times at the table and a Pixie Beastmaster Ranger with a Horse Companion may very well end up tattooed onto my face. At the very least, I plan on overtly sneaking him into a D&D Outsider article. I can't help myself.

Then again, if Heroes of the Fey gone Wild includes a feat that lets gnomes and pixies ride their fey companions (note the book keeps putting the word "beast" in there for both clarity and evasion of gay jokes) then you might be right. I love this theme....like the Animal Trainer it lets you choose a Familiar/Beast Companion/Henchminion without actually building yourself in the traditional way. Such Madness I am a fan.
-Jared

PS: I am a nerd and also share my play report of Pixie Piracy on 4 Legs: 
https://plus.google.com/u/0/110367953918386470600/posts/5ZC6q5K3m1Z


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## Kobold Avenger (Oct 31, 2011)

So Hybrid Shaman/ Beastmaster Ranger with the Fey Beast Tamer Theme, multiclassed into any arcane class just to get the familiar feat.

That would be 4 beasts to one character.  Maybe not too effective vs having just one, due to the nature of companion actions rules.  But I guess you could block a lot of passages and do a lot of opportunity attacks through them.


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## OhGodtheRats (Oct 31, 2011)

Kobold Avenger said:


> So Hybrid Shaman/ Beastmaster Ranger with the Fey Beast Tamer Theme, multiclassed into any arcane class just to get the familiar feat.
> 
> That would be 4 beasts to one character.  Maybe not too effective vs having just one, due to the nature of companion actions rules.  But I guess you could block a lot of passages and do a lot of opportunity attacks through them.




Yes. Yes you can. I need to photograph a new version of this...because now that Themes are out it just got a fair amount worse. Or better. Depending.


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