Has anyone taken a look at the new Sidekick rules being released with the “D&D essentials Box?”
It talks about simplified stats, AC, Health, and abilities. Then I noticed that in a video about the kit that mention that some player actually prefer to play a sidekick character instead of a full blown end character.
What they were talking about felt very “ICRPG” to me so I thought I might see if anyone else noticed the simularities.
Are they any different than those in the UA: Sidekicks ?
I know Colville did Followers in Strongholds & Followers which are a very streamlined NPC
I just boil sidekicks down functionally into a piece of loot for the PCs. 1-2 minor stat boosts and the ability to perform one free simple action per round with a CHA Attempt. No bonuses on EFFORT applied, spellburn applies to action, ofc. Wouldn’t want to slow action down too much. Anyone who has the “friendship loot” equipped receives the NPCs bonus/action.
Narrative wise I use 3 tags to describe them physically, mentally, and emotionally as well as a simplified version of the ORIGIN/DESTINY tags to give them motivation and the option for a simple side quest/NPC growth.
It’s all part of my current FORCES project
End of August earliest, but honestly I just want to get it done before the end of the year haha
That’s one of the reasons I’m buying Essentials:
To see how it compares to UA. I thought the UA method of Sidekicks was dirt simple.
It stops advancement at my preferred level: 6. So it’s almost like E6 from the 3.5 days, P5 from the Beginner Box days.
Of course, one could just stop advancing at 6 anyway, but I like the one box solution.
Yes! I watched that same video (D & D beyond with Chris Perkins right?) and had the exact same thought. Another thought that I had was that the inclusion of the item cards was very much in the Arcane Library style.
I’m totally going to suggest (offer? Coerce?) my 5E players into using sidekick rules for a build! 