Train Raiders: Polly Want a Hovertrain

TGIF, everyone! And you know what that means, don’t you? It’s time to introduce yet another member of our marauding crew!

Naturally, our Pirate Hovertrain raiders will ultimately include every race under the sun: humans, elves, orcs, dwarves, Tortles, and even a platypus. This is Dungeons and Dragons, after all!

In fact, let’s do a quick role call:

• Dewey Oxberger, Human, Head Chef
• Paddy O’, Platupus, Engineering
• The Brothers Grim, Dwarven, Foot Soldiers
• Snap Jaw, Tortle, Foot Soldier
• Hank Morgan, Human, Ale Meister
• Notes, Human, Bard
• Taters McGee, Human, Line Cook

Doesn’t exactly seem like a group of folks you want to run into (if you know what’s good for ya)!

Today, we wanted to showcase our Captain’s trusted animal companion, who keeps a sharp eye out for his safety. Plus, we sorta have a thing for 3D-printed animal miniatures. Besides, what buccaneer crew doesn’t include a perched parrot, for goodness sake?!

Thanks to EC3D Designs and their delightful Depths of the Savage Atoll set, we found the perfect miniature to represent our psittacines print. The set contained several nifty nautical animals, including our featured Perched Parrot. 

Resident Painter Kimmy Utah used her excellent eyes to color our newest train raider, and we couldn’t be happier with the results. DM Ben just laughed when a fellow teammate asked if he could paint something this small (and no, his older eyes cannot).

Now, some longtime fans might cry foul here (pun intended) and point out that we already featured this marvelous bird in a previous post! It’s good to find various uses and scenarios for your miniatures and scatter terrain. We absolutely want to reuse our 3D prints as much as we can to maximize their value. So, definitely read that post and learn all the cool ways you can add a parrot to your game. 

We’re going with an animal companion (loyal actual creature) rather than a find familiar parrot (magically summoned creature), and that mostly has to do with this Macaw never wanting to truly leave the Captain’s side while being insanely mindful of his security.

D&D Beyond doesn’t have a specific parrot 5e stat block, but the WotC forum suggests just utilizing the Raven stats. That one is too magically familiar for us, so we did some Googlin’ and fell in love with WorldAnvil’s Pirate Parrot.

DM Ben will add a +8 to Insight on ’em as we think it would be extra cool for this feathery friend to read others like a book (and again, help protect the Captain).

Now for the particulars of our chatty bird!

• Colorful Name: Polly
• Character Race: Tiny Beast
• Member Rank: Senior
• Key Role: Special Advisor
• Painted Miniature: EC3D Designs, Perched Parrot
• Weapon of Choice: Beak and Squawk

Welcome aboard, Polly! The Captain will see you now. 😉