Here is a detailed breakdown of what exactly this mod does for Scratch. The intention is to make our best bud a more useful and fun addition to the party without throwing off game balance. With that in mind, they are given a selection of situational new skills that are meant to synergize well with the rest of your group, focusing more on utility and enemy control over pure damage. They can still get in some good hits with a little setup though. The abilities are also all things a dog could (conceivably) do, no laser vision or poop nukes. Scratch's stats have been buffed overall with HP, AC and Dex increasing more as they level. Scratch doesn't have a huge health pool but passives like Evasion and Uncanny Dodge serve to mitigate a portion of incoming damage making for a more evasive and mobile companion rather than a beefy tank. Run! Bark! Dodge! Protect! Good boy!
Scratch & Sniff rework... Just wanted to start with this because it's the #1 complaint about Scratch. In the base game if Scratch catches wind of buried treasure they would blindly run to it, very often straight through a bunch of traps. With this rework Scratch will now alert you they have found something, sniff around in place for a moment, then point directly towards the hidden object. Also if you choose to ignore it Scratch will find it for you again later on. No fuss no muss no more exploding dogs.
Bug fixes... Scratch now has the normal 5ft melee/reaction range (was only 2.5ft for some reason). Enlarge now gives them the damage bonus (and maybe a new secret bonus). The summon spell will no longer soft lock on your bar after a long rest.
Abilities... Summon Scratch: Has some swanky new VFX and unlimited out of combat uses. You can summon them into combat once unless they are already in your party when you enter combat. Bite: 1d6 piercing damage + Dex bonus Scratch Mark: This skill is given to Scratch's owner. They can use their bonus action to mark a target giving Scratch's Takedown a much higher chance to succeed or Bite +1d4 damage, removing the mark on a hit. Takedown: Scratch will leap towards a target attempting to tackle them (STR saving throw). If the target is already tackled/prone they will instead attempt to disarm them. If Scratch fails they will automatically disengage. Has a low chance to succeed unless combo'ed with Scratch Mark. The Tackled status is similar to Prone with a few key balance changes. Help: Scratch already has this skill in the base game but it feels like a lot of people forget they have it and how useful it is. So now it has a fun new icon! Lucky Bark: Out of combat it functions like the Cat's meow and will distract nearby creatures. In combat it will instead bestow Barkic Inspiration on your party once per combat giving them +1d4 on their next attack roll. Guard Dog: Unlocked at lvl 5, Scratch will run to an ally and guard them. While guarded the ally receives +4 to Con Saves, immunity to Prone, and all attacks made against them are at disadvantage. Scratch will also attempt a Takedown on any threat that approaches the guarded ally. The guarded ally must remain near Scratch or will lose the status. Scraction Surge: Unlocked at lvl 9, once per combat Scratch gains an extra action for that turn. For three turns they also get resistance to physical damage, advantage on Dex checks/saves and +1d4 to their Bite. Scratch Marks will not be removed if attacking while Scraction Surging.
Passives... Barkour: Grants Evasion and Uncanny Doge Mobile Terrain: Will ignore difficult terrain while dashing Prey's Scent: Scratch will also benefit from Hunter's Mark Alert: +5 to Initiative and can't be surprised
Stats... HP 2 + 3 per summoner level AC 15 (16 at lvl 5, 17 at lvl 9) STR 10 DEX 14 (16 at lvl 5, 18 at lvl 9) CON 12 INT 3 WIS 12 CHA 17 Given the standard proficiency bonus Proficient in Dex Saves Proficient in some skills for flavor Darkvision 20ft (dog nose) Move 40ft Jump 25ft
If you've had some time to play with the mod and have any suggestions or bug reports please let me know!
Known (Larian) Issues... - If you can't interact with Scratch one of two things happened. Either you need to unsummon them from your party, or you ran into the seemingly random bug that makes you lose the ability to speak with them. No one has been able to find the cause of this. (Larian bug with Scratch) - Uncanny Doge uses Scratch's reaction as intended, it just doesn't appear on the tooltip sometimes. (Larian bug with Uncanny Dodge) - On occasion Takedown will do nothing due to weird terrain. (Larian bug with all jump skills) - The equation for the concentration check effect doesn't appear correctly in the combat log, but the result is correct. (Larian bug)
With the Adroit Caster toggle passive from the armor mod Kharesh, I have discovered that I can have two Good Boys. I literally could not be happier. :DDDDDD
Edit: Please, for the love of all that is holy, don't "fix" it! D: I know it's likely an unintended bug, but it's the kind that I ask you to allow~<3
Second Edit: This can only be accomplished if I target the same spot with both charges of Adroit Caster. It spawns two Scratches in the same spot, instead of only one.
I haven't tested it but I seriously doubt they are compatible as they both touch on much of the same code so they will for sure mess with each other. It's a cool mod and I like the stuff it fixes and improves on. Either mod will make Scratch a more integrated member of the party, can't go wrong with either of them.
Amazing mod! Not sure if anyone else is having this issue, but my Scratch stopped fetching? Ex: Orange Ball item would be thrown and Scratch would run to it but doesn't pick it up.
It’s not this mod, it’s a known game bug. There are solutions you can google up that some people have managed to make work. My Scratch stopped fetching before I even created this mod.
it’s designed to be that way. Their Int is set to a value that keeps it consistently balanced throughout the game while their Dex can level up for more attack damage. Also make sure you’re marking the enemy first otherwise Takedown has a much lower chance to hit. The two skills work in tandem.
is anyone else having issues with scratch not levelling? from what I can tell the mod has partially worked in that scratches HP was raised to 17HP once the mod was installed however after 20 hours of playing he's still level 1 and has no level indicator showing how far from levelling he is?
is anyone else having issues with scratch not levelling? from what I can tell the mod has partially worked in that scratches HP was raised to 17HP once the mod was installed however after 20 hours of playing he's still level 1 and has no level indicator showing how far from levelling he is?
Any ideas?
What does the description page say regarding leveling?
The level number on Scratch doesn’t change (code limitation) but they will get more powerful as you level. Take a look at the stickied post above for details. Also you need to resummon them after you level up for the changes to take effect.
112 comments
Scratch & Sniff rework...
Just wanted to start with this because it's the #1 complaint about Scratch. In the base game if Scratch catches wind of buried treasure they would blindly run to it, very often straight through a bunch of traps. With this rework Scratch will now alert you they have found something, sniff around in place for a moment, then point directly towards the hidden object. Also if you choose to ignore it Scratch will find it for you again later on. No fuss no muss no more exploding dogs.
Bug fixes...
Scratch now has the normal 5ft melee/reaction range (was only 2.5ft for some reason).
Enlarge now gives them the damage bonus (and maybe a new secret bonus).
The summon spell will no longer soft lock on your bar after a long rest.
Abilities...
Summon Scratch: Has some swanky new VFX and unlimited out of combat uses. You can summon them into combat once unless they are already in your party when you enter combat.
Bite: 1d6 piercing damage + Dex bonus
Scratch Mark: This skill is given to Scratch's owner. They can use their bonus action to mark a target giving Scratch's Takedown a much higher chance to succeed or Bite +1d4 damage, removing the mark on a hit.
Takedown: Scratch will leap towards a target attempting to tackle them (STR saving throw). If the target is already tackled/prone they will instead attempt to disarm them. If Scratch fails they will automatically disengage. Has a low chance to succeed unless combo'ed with Scratch Mark. The Tackled status is similar to Prone with a few key balance changes.
Help: Scratch already has this skill in the base game but it feels like a lot of people forget they have it and how useful it is. So now it has a fun new icon!
Lucky Bark: Out of combat it functions like the Cat's meow and will distract nearby creatures. In combat it will instead bestow Barkic Inspiration on your party once per combat giving them +1d4 on their next attack roll.
Guard Dog: Unlocked at lvl 5, Scratch will run to an ally and guard them. While guarded the ally receives +4 to Con Saves, immunity to Prone, and all attacks made against them are at disadvantage. Scratch will also attempt a Takedown on any threat that approaches the guarded ally. The guarded ally must remain near Scratch or will lose the status.
Scraction Surge: Unlocked at lvl 9, once per combat Scratch gains an extra action for that turn. For three turns they also get resistance to physical damage, advantage on Dex checks/saves and +1d4 to their Bite. Scratch Marks will not be removed if attacking while Scraction Surging.
Passives...
Barkour: Grants Evasion and Uncanny Doge
Mobile Terrain: Will ignore difficult terrain while dashing
Prey's Scent: Scratch will also benefit from Hunter's Mark
Alert: +5 to Initiative and can't be surprised
Stats...
HP 2 + 3 per summoner level
AC 15 (16 at lvl 5, 17 at lvl 9)
STR 10
DEX 14 (16 at lvl 5, 18 at lvl 9)
CON 12
INT 3
WIS 12
CHA 17
Given the standard proficiency bonus
Proficient in Dex Saves
Proficient in some skills for flavor
Darkvision 20ft (dog nose)
Move 40ft
Jump 25ft
If you've had some time to play with the mod and have any suggestions or bug reports please let me know!
Known (Larian) Issues...
- If you can't interact with Scratch one of two things happened. Either you need to unsummon them from your party, or you ran into the seemingly random bug that makes you lose the ability to speak with them. No one has been able to find the cause of this. (Larian bug with Scratch)
- Uncanny Doge uses Scratch's reaction as intended, it just doesn't appear on the tooltip sometimes. (Larian bug with Uncanny Dodge)
- On occasion Takedown will do nothing due to weird terrain. (Larian bug with all jump skills)
- The equation for the concentration check effect doesn't appear correctly in the combat log, but the result is correct. (Larian bug)
edit: seems to be working fine so far (no crash, I gain the extra hp/abilities)
Edit: Please, for the love of all that is holy, don't "fix" it! D:
I know it's likely an unintended bug, but it's the kind that I ask you to allow~<3
Second Edit: This can only be accomplished if I target the same spot with both charges of Adroit Caster. It spawns two Scratches in the same spot, instead of only one.
Ex: Orange Ball item would be thrown and Scratch would run to it but doesn't pick it up.
from what I can tell the mod has partially worked in that scratches HP was raised to 17HP once the mod was installed however after 20 hours of playing he's still level 1 and has no level indicator showing how far from levelling he is?
Any ideas?