EN5ider Reactions Issues 6-8

EN5ider Issue 6 Cover, property of EN Publishing

Issue six of EN5ider, by Jensen Toperzer, is about implementing pets for players. It's interesting to see an early and different take on this than how the various "pet" subclasses from WOTC shook out, and the design decisions made by MCDM on the Beastheart class. In this case, I think the latter implementation is better, although this one is admirable in attempting to use the available animal stat blocks. The flexibility of the companions in the Beastheart make them far more versatile and satisfyingly scalable in power for players in my opinion. However, it’s good to look at another attempt at an extremely early time in 5e’s lifecycle and recognize it as what is was: an innovative and fun goal to provide animal pet options to players beyond (at the time) only beastmaster rangers and magic users with find familiar.

Issue 7 is Nature’s Remedy by Russ Morrissey. This one again, like Morrissey’s previous article on running an archery tournament is equally interesting and easy to implement, providing a list of magical herbs with bonuses appropriate to a potion or other consumable magic item. These require a survival check to find, and either a medicine or nature check to then prepare, also providing a way to reward players who choose to use those often underutilized skills. It also includes a feat to buff these skills for interest players or that you could give out as a story reward for engaging with this content. The herbs provide a template that you could use to create your own, increasing the range of options available. This one is really good!

EN5ider Issue 8 Cover, property of EN Publishing

Issue eight is by none other than Jame Introcaso, now of MCDM fame (readers of my Arcadia reactions will recognize James as the long time editor of that publication). I’ll admit that I haven’t given the chase rules in the core 5e rule books any thought since I read them almost two years ago, but the helpful chase cheat sheet in this article and the complications tables make me want to think about opportunities to include chases in my campaigns.