Here's a Bit More About Sidekicks in D&D

This month, Dungeons & Dragons released the Essentials Kit, and inside was a new adventure called Dragon of Icespire Peak with some new rules to help optimize a 1 DM-1 Player game. The rules give the player a sidekick, which is essentially a fancy NPC. Instead of a whole character sheet for the sidekick, they get a statblock similar to what monsters and other creatures get. The big difference being that the statblock can change as the sidekick levels up with the player. This sounds great as it should make things easier to find. Also, the sidekick can be controlled by either the player or the DM, depending on what the two of you decide.

There are three types of sidekicks to choose from as well: an Expert, a Spellcaster, and a Warrior. They each get class features that you’d expect as they level up. For example, the Warrior can get the Fighter’s Second Wind feature, the Expert gets Cunning Action from Rogues, and Spellcasters get more spells. In fact, the Spellcasters eventually do have to make a choice between using either Divine Magic or Arcane Magic.

Unfortunately for many, once you finish the Dragon of Icespire Peak adventure, you and your sidekick will only be at level 6 and according to ComicBook.com, D&D has no plans at the moment to expand the sidekick rules to beyond the sixth level. This should still give you plenty of time to get introduced to the game, fall in love, and hopefully find a group of friends to play with.

You can grab the D&D Essentials Kit from Target for only $24.99.