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Under the Dome: The Creatures We Keep (D&D campaign setting)

Designing Companions and Pets in a Post-Apocalyptic D&D Campaign

In Under the Dome, chaos reshaped the world — but it didn’t erase companionship.

This post explores how pets and companion creatures function in a post-apocalyptic fantasy campaign, and how Dungeon Masters can use them as emotional stakes, narrative tools, and quiet sources of tension.

Under the Dome, pets aren’t luxuries.
They’re not status symbols.
They’re not even always animals in the way people remember.

They are companions shaped by scarcity, mutation, and necessity — living proof that chaos doesn’t just destroy.

It rearranges.

People keep pets for the same reasons they always have:

• Comfort

• Protection

• Routine

• Emotional grounding

But beneath an artificial sky, companionship takes on new forms — and new risks.

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🧬 1. Adapted Animals: Survivors Like Us

Some pets descend from creatures that survived the chaos storms alongside humanity.

They are not fully mutated — just… adjusted.

Examples for your D&D world:

• Glassfur Rats whose refractive coats bend Dome light, hiding them from predators

• Low-Breath Hounds with reduced oxygen needs, prized by tunnel workers

• Echo Cats that vocalize in frequencies calming unstable magic

• Crawler Lizards with adhesive pads used in vertical slum districts

These animals are valued for reliability, not novelty.

They’ve learned how to live here.

That makes them trustworthy.

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🧿 2. Chaos-Touched Companions

Some creatures are unmistakably altered.

They may exhibit:

• Faint bioluminescence

• Altered anatomy

• Unusual intelligence

• Sensitivity to storms, magic, or emotional shifts

Common examples:

• Glowback Beetles that flare during chaos fluctuations

• Storm Minnows swimming erratically before barrier instability

• Whisper Serpents that sync with ambient magical currents

• Pulse Frogs whose steady heartbeats stabilize nearby spellwork

These pets aren’t just companions.

They’re early warning systems.

Which is why their ownership is often monitored — or quietly taxed.

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🏛️ 3. Sanctioned vs. Unsanctioned Creatures

Not all pets are legal.

Dome authorities typically classify animals as:

• Approved (documented, stable, useful)

• Restricted (requires permits or inspections)

• Unregistered (illegal, confiscatable, “unsafe”)

The line isn’t drawn at danger.

It’s drawn at control.

Creatures that:

• React unpredictably to authority magic

• Interfere with surveillance systems

• Resist tracking sigils

• Exhibit noncompliant behavior

…are often banned regardless of harmlessness.

This means some of the most beloved companions exist quietly — hidden by owners willing to risk fines, exile, or worse.

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🕯️ 4. Emotional Anchors in an Unstable World

Under the Dome, pets serve a powerful psychological role.

They:

• Ground people during chaos fluctuations

• Provide routine when systems falter

• Witness grief without judgment

• Offer affection without conditions

Children form especially strong bonds.

For some, a pet is the only constant that hasn’t shifted since winter.

Authorities understand this.

They know people will:

• Trade food for them

• Break regulations to protect them

• Resist harder when threatened

Which is why pets are sometimes leveraged during compliance actions.

Quietly.
Regrettably.
Effectively.

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🧠 5. When a Pet Is More Than an Animal

Some companions cross an invisible line.

They learn too quickly.
They remember storms they never witnessed.
They react before events occur.

These stories circulate in whispers:

• Birds that mimic conversations before they happen

• Dogs that refuse to enter districts days before collapse

• Creatures that age backward during chaos surges

• Companions that disappear during purges — and return afterward

These animals are not studied publicly.

They are removed.

Because anything suggesting chaos can be anticipated — or understood — threatens the Dome’s authority.

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⚙️ 6. Using Pets in Your D&D Campaign

For Dungeon Masters

• Treat pets as emotional stakes, not combat tools

• Let them sense danger before players do

• Use registration laws as narrative pressure

• Make pet-related decisions morally costly

Mechanical Ideas:

• Situational advantage through early warnings

• Stress reduction or magical stabilization effects

• Chaos-sensitivity as a narrative trigger

• Permits, inspections, and confiscation threats

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For Players

Ask yourself:

• Why does your character keep this creature?

• What would they risk to protect it?

• Does the pet know something you don’t?

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🕯️ Closing Thought

Under the Dome, people don’t keep pets because the world is safe.

They keep them because it isn’t.

In a place where systems watch, storms whisper, and survival is conditional, a creature that chooses to stay — to curl beside you, to follow you home, to recognize you as theirs — feels like a quiet miracle.

And like all miracles under the Dome,

it comes with consequences.

Thanks for reading. Until Next Time, Stay Nerdy!!