Ranger's Animal Companion: Basic Rules vs. PHB

Post/Author/DateTimePost
#1

Rye0077r

Oct 16, 2014 11:27:45

Hello, long time lurker, first time poster.

 

I'm playing a lvl 3 Ranger who has just picked up his animal companion, a trained Panther. I leveled up before purchasing the Player Handbook (which I have since purchased), and so the animal's stats were taken from the Basic Rules PDF.

 

Ok, fast worward a couple of weeks to last night: I had both the PHB and printed pages from the Basic Rules PDF in front of me, and noticed some discrepencies between the stats listed for the Panther. Nothing major (STR is a bit higher, I think WIS is maybe a point lower, etc.) but there's enough difference that I definitely noticed it.

 

I discussed with the DM and he asked which stats were better. As far as resolving any combat--and to not make things more complicated for myself--I went ahead and stuck to my original stats. The way I figure I will handle this particular issue is to continue to use my Panther's current stats, then when my Ranger gets to lvl 4, the Panther will "level-up" to the stats listed in the PHB.

 

My question is, though, from a rules standpoint does the PHB trump any other available ruleset?

 

Thanks in advance!

#2

ZaranBlack

Oct 16, 2014 11:40:35

Rye0077r wrote:
#3

Rye0077r

Oct 19, 2014 15:30:54

Oh, good call. I hadn't even consulted the MM yet... I'll see what that has to say about the Panther.

 

(Edit: The stats in the MM are identical to PHB, so I've got my answer.)

 

Thanks!

#4

lawrencehoy

Oct 20, 2014 3:27:31

Also, the Basic Rules were updated around the time that the PHB was released. Do you have the latest wersion of the Basic Rules? There is now a Player's D&D Basic Rules (v2) and a Dungeon Master's Basic Rules (v1).

#5

Grazel

Oct 20, 2014 19:15:31

Are you sure you're reading the basic rules PDF correctly? The original one didn't list any creature stats in it (I have a backup copy of it) and the updated rules pdfs (creature stats are all in the DM one) matches what's in the MM and PHB for the panther. Also there's no panther in the Starter Set monsters.

 

Is the PDF you're pulling from called: DMDnDBasicRules_v0.1 (or with _PrinterFriendly) after it?

(Reply to #5)

Rye0077r

Grazel wrote: