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If I make a backstory for my character in which it would make sense for them to have an animal companion or two (instead of them having a specific class or a feature that says they can or do), is it possible to get those companions if the game master accepts?

For context; the animals I want now, are an owlbear and a chimaera.

anon
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Fangblade
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  • Welcome to RPG.SE! Take the [tour] if you haven't already, and check out the [help] for more guidance. As Purple Monkey said, we need to know the edition you're asking about in order to answer your question. (If it's D&D 5e, for instance, you should edit the [dnd-5e] tag into your question.) In addition, what do you mean by "have an animal as a pet via the background feature"? Also, what makes you think owlbears and chimeras qualify? – V2Blast May 10 '19 at 04:37
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    Related: What are the rules for owning and training animals? – V2Blast May 12 '19 at 21:30

1 Answers1

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That is entirely up to your GM

D&D, as with most RPGs, has "rule 0", which basically states the GM/DM gets the final say in anything.

There is no existing rule in D&D that allows you to get animal companions via backstory. On top of that, the two creatures you have listed are monstrosities, not beasts as animal companions typically are.

If you are starting a new low-level character, I very much doubt most GMs would allow it, since those two creatures would easily be stronger than all members of a low-level party combined.

Community
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Allan Mills
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    For Reference: By the numbers in the DMG: If one player character attempted to battle an Owlbear, it would be a Lethal Encounter until level 5. For a Chimera, the same would be true until that player was level 9. At level 1, these creatures would be the most powerful members of the party, and would remain that way for a while. In order to challenge a party with such creatures as companions, a DM would have to ramp up the difficulty of fights enough to challenge your 'pets,' which would make the fight so hard it would very likely kill the entire party if anything other than your pet got hit. – guildsbounty May 12 '19 at 22:24