Bonded Companions¶
Blitz Eternal: Adventures Beyond the Mists — v0.3 Draft¶
A Bonded Companion is the fiction attached to a Character's first additional personal die. It is flavor, not a separate purchase and not a separate mechanic.
When a Character reaches the Level at which their Class grants a second personal die, they choose where that die comes from. Most Classes have a companion waiting for them: a spirit, a hound, a falcon, a horse. The die is the same die either way. The companion is who is holding it.
How This Works¶
The Level grant is one additional personal die at the Character's own Hit Range, per the Level ladder (see character-creation, Advancement). The Companion changes nothing about that die. It changes what the player says when they roll it.
A Character may decline a Companion entirely and simply be better with a blade. Nothing is lost mechanically. Some Characters should decline; a lone Errant who acquires a hound has quietly stopped being alone, and that may not be the story the player wants.
A Companion, once taken, is a real thing in the fiction. It can be hurt, lost, left behind, or killed by the story. What happens to the personal die if the Companion dies is a GM call and a story beat, not a rules question with a fixed answer. The recommendation is that the die persists; a Knight whose guardian spirit is banished does not become worse at fighting, they become haunted differently.
Changed 2026-07-31, flagged for review. Under the retired Starting Specialty system, a bonded companion added a die at Untrained (6), which was deliberately modest. As Level-grant flavor, the die is at the Character's own Hit Range, because that is what the Level grants. This is a real buff to the same fiction. It is the consequence of moving dice onto the Level ladder rather than a separate decision, and it is logged in open-questions.
The Companions¶
One per Class, carried over from the retired Starting Specialty menus. Each is a starting point, not a closed list; a player who wants a different creature for the same die should have it.
Knight — A Guardian Spirit. A relative, an old sworn brother, or something that has watched this line for generations. A spectral presence rides with the Knight: a dead kinsman's hand steadying the blade, a shape at the edge of sight that is never quite seen directly.
Skirmisher — Falconry. A trained hunting falcon that marks the exposed and strikes where a blade cannot yet reach. Apt for a Class already built around finding the exposed target; the falcon is often what finds it first.
Warden — A Warhound. A battle-steady dog that has stood at this Character's side through more than one bad night. Fits a Class whose whole identity is standing between danger and the people behind it.
Witch — A Familiar. A small, uncanny companion, not quite an animal, that has been with the Witch since before this story started. The most natural fit of the family.
Squire — A Palfrey. A small, sturdy mount, unglamorous but steady. Because a Squire's personal dice generate Favor rather than dealing hits (see squire.md), this reads as more Favor income each turn, not personal combat power, consistent with the Class's whole identity of giving rather than striking.
Ranger — A Hunting Hound. A tracking hound that flushes what the Ranger is patient enough to wait for.
Errant and Chancellor. No Companion listed. Both were fixed at 1 personal die deliberately, and neither has a per-class Level table yet. If either eventually receives a second die (both are likely to cap at 2 rather than 3), a Companion may be written then. The Errant's case needs care: a wandering Character whose entire premise is having no one is not obviously improved by acquiring someone.
Growth¶
Each Companion can gain its own small path later: a named, talking mount; a more powerful spirit; a familiar that survives its own small Card. None of that is built. Tracked in open-questions alongside the general animal-companion gap.