Maybe someone can explain to me what the benefit of the animal companion is?
For the most part it looks to me like every other day you can bring along a CR 1/4 creature, and watch it die within a few rounds of combat? And it only costs you your ability to attack, let alone having extra attacks/damage of the alternate path.
I don't want to say it's terrible, but it seems so bad I think I've got to be missing something, especially since I can literally find no mention of ranger by searching the forums for 5e.
It scales with your Ranger, gaining +hit,+damage, +ability rolls and savings throws from the rangers proficiency bonus, and has HP = 4x your ranger level.
You can forgo one of your attacks to allow it an attack, then after level 7 (i think) when you allow it an attack of yours, it can attack twice.
what do you mean every other day? also it's ac should have your prof bonus, and you choose where it moves so you could try to not get it killed, and yes, before you gain an extra attack you have to give up your action, but some of them, like birds and such, do very cool things that might be better for a given situation. one of the birds (forget which) cna do fly by attacks, so basically it causes no opertunity attacks but can sweep in, attack and then fly off to safety again.
if yours dies every combat immediately, perhaps talk to your DM and ask him to take it easy on your companion as you would enjoy playing more if your class feature lasted longer then one attack in the first round of combat. they animals arent meant ot be tanks for sure.
It does seem iffy, particularly by greatly interfering with two weapon fighting and only allowing the full Combat Style benefit from Defense.
I think it would be fine if two-weapon fighting could be used on the same turn as the companion attacks.
Overpromises wrote:
It creates a distraction as a bonus action at higher levels. I will call mine "Robin".
Plus a wolf can cause knockdown. At higher levels it's getting a free prone attack which is advantage. I also saw a flying snake companion that could be a great range weapon. Flying, poison no opportunity attacks against it. Good stuff.
silentdante wrote:
Maybe, don't think of the animal companion as a combatant? I mean, some of the animal companions have decent attacks, but none of them will last in a melee combat.
Also, please stop thinking of D&D as only about combat. Role-playing game. So, role-play some. Everything doesn't have to equate down to how much damage something can do in a turn.
Personally, I think the Beastmaster is a better option than Hunter, but that's just me.
I was just thinking of creating a Ranger Beastmaster with the sailor background, and having him be a pirate with his animal companion as a parrot (using the raven stats). Seemed like a wonderful roleplaying opportunity...
The pet's HP will only be slightly behind that of the d6 HD classes. It won't be able to tank, but it will be able to survive a hit or two. You could even take the sentinel feat to better protect the pet in melee. Since it gets your proficiency bonus to almost everything, it's accuracy, damage and defenses will be comparable to the PC. The boar can potentially defy death 1/rest. The constrictor snake is sweet for it's constrict attack which restrains the target, mean it has disadvantage and attacks against it have advantage. So a constricted target can either waste it's action trying to escape, or try and attack at disadvantage. This combined with the sentinel feat will put a constricted target in a very bad position. As mentioned before, the wolf is both highly accurate due to pack tactics, and the prone attack is nice too. Tough call between wolf and constrictor though.
Undrhil wrote:
After rereading the Beastmaster subclass... does the pet benefit from Hunter Marks? I've been assuming it does, but now I'm not sure. Considering that its part of your turn and all...
nightwalker450 wrote:
Jay_Ibero_911 wrote:
Mephi1234 wrote:
Actually, I have a few questions about how the Beast Master pet works as I'm confused on a few counts:
- Does your proficiency ADD or REPLACE the current attack bonus of the animal? For example, a CR 1/4 Wolf has a base attack bonus of +4 and damage of +2. So with a level 1 ranger, would his attack go to +6 and his damage to +4?
- Does your pet retain all it's species boosts? For example, a Wolf has Pack Tactics which gives it Advantage in attack rolls if an ally (which is the whole party) is also near it's target. It also has a chance of knocking prone anything it bites. Both of those abilities are pretty sick for a long term party member!
Oh yeah. I noticed there is no stat block for a 'spider' but there is one for 'Giant Spider'. The Find Familiar spell says you can pick spider as a type, so I assume it's an error that there is no stat block for it. However, as an animal companion, a spider could be interesting, since it could potentially hang around somewhere and just chill .. waiting for things to happen. 
Ashrym wrote:
Jay_Ibero_911 wrote:
I know right! You get something that ISN'T just another combat ability. Pretty cool IMO. That other dude just hacks a bit more. You get a great boon for the other % of the adventure.
Now, if that % in your game is 0%, then of course the combat build is a better build. What else is there to say really? The combat guy's better in a pure combat campaign.
If you were in a 100% puzzles, hazards, and traveling game, then the combat guy would make no sense.
Don't forget the chick magnet factor too.
I feel like the beastmaster subclass is too weak, not just in a combat sense, non combative options are just fine to offer, but in general it feels lackluster to me. I think there should be a little more to them. Maybe a skill bonus for the ranger in skills the companion is skilled in or something like that.
Blink Dogs are valid and their hit-and-run (well, hit-and-teleport) nature ensures a bit more survivability.
Alternatively, get yourself a Goblin or Kobold where possible. Why? For "teh lolz" of course.
EDIT: Also do Medium Swarms count? Could be quite cool from a RP perspective.
Giant Frog from the DM Basic Rules should also be very nice in combat. Auto-grapple on hit similar to the constrictor snake.
Blink Dog is out, as it's Fey. The Giant Frog's grapple only works on small creature, though.
Here's my pick for Hunter Companion of the Year.
Giant Poisonous Snake. AC: 16. HP: 12. Speed 30 ft., swim 30 ft., Bite: 10 ft. reach +8 to hit 1d4 + 6 piercing DC 11 Con save for 3d6 poison. The thing never even has to close to melee range and a +8 to hit at that level is pretty amazing. Not to mention killer damage.
A fun concept would be to be a variant human and Polearm Mastry at 1. Weilding a glave (dunno why you can't do this with a pike) you have your 10 ft. reach and bonus action attack. You can also use your reaction to make opportunity attacks when enemies enter your reach. At 3, pick up this little sucker. At 4, take Sentinel, now those opportunitiy attacks will stop an enemy dead in their tracks. At 5 you both can attack on your turn. Boom! Behold the Twin Vipers of Dorn.
Danny_Montanny wrote:
1eejit wrote:
Giant Frog grapple is better imo, restraining a target is great. Your whole party gets advantage until it makes its escape roll and the pet is contributing while allowing the ranger to make his own attacks.
Danny_Montanny wrote:
Yunru wrote:
UnknownMourner wrote:
Danny_Montanny wrote:
Yunru wrote:
KarlB wrote:
SpedGuy wrote:
I have been building my Human Ranger character and looking at the Beast Master option a lot but mainly from a role playing point of view. Can I ask, as I am trained in animal handling my Ranger could have a 'pet' couldn't it? It might not have any in game mechanics and in a fight it would go away and hide but from a RP point of view I should be able to train a wolf enough for it to be my pal.
Right?
One thing that confuses me - the phb says the companion doesn't take an action unless you command it to. What happens if it is attacked and you don't command it to attack it's attacker? Does it never strike back? I can see the obvious answer is that it would use its move to move away, but as it cannot use an action, it cannot use disengage, so would be provoking attacks of opportunity if it did this. Also, if it were surrounded, or backed into a corner, then moving away would not be possible.
What is screwy about the companion is that it seems to have less freedom of action than the same aninal that is not a ranger's companion. Many people in real life have dogs, who could well attack anyone who attacked their owner etc. Are all dog owners actually beastmaster rangers in disguise, and in these situations have given up their own action to their dogs?
The whole thing is far too gamey and makes little sense.
Undrhil wrote:
I recommend looking at Animal Companions as an extension of a Ranger's abilities rather than just a party member on it's own. It's purpose is there to enable you to shine, not necessarily shine on it's own.
Let me give you an example right off the bat when it comes to Wolf pets. Since most people typically think in terms of max leveled characters, we'll assume our Ranger is at least level 15. And also say the Ranger fights with two weapons (which will absolutely be the case for the vast majority):
First off, Ranger casts Stoneskin on himself, which automatically gets mirrored to Wolf. It's a concentration spell, but would only risk breaking on damage to the Ranger, not the Wolf. Until then, both are tough as nails. If Ranger is level 17 and above, Wolf's AC is 19, the same as a greatweapon fighter with magical full plate.
Ranger uses his first attack to give his wolf TWO attacks. Wolf has advantage on both attacks due to Wolf's racial ability. On each hit, he risks knocking the target prone (chances are not high, mind you, as I don't think the saving throw DC itself scales with level, although I could be wrong). Then Ranger launches his own Extra Attack, followed by another attack granted by fighting with a second weapon.
So basically, the Ranger effectively struck FOUR times on the same monster, at least two of which have Advantage, with a possibility of Advantage on all four attacks. On top of that, outside of combat, he has a pet that rolls very high on Perception rolls and has Advantage on those that depend on hearing or smell, effectively making it the party's early warning system.
KarlB wrote:
Oooo ... good one. Hadn't taken that into consideration. If so, pet rangers couldn't be two weapon fighters. Doesn't seem right and I'm wondering if they might add something about that in Errata.
nightwalker450 wrote:
KarlB wrote:
Wouldn't it be reasonable to allow pets death saving throws? The game itself is too dangerous to have your animal companion instantly die every time he hits 0 hit points. I believe that when it comes to NPCs that it's the DMs call, but this is one situation where you'd have to be a real jerk not to allow it.
KarlB wrote:
Biktor wrote:
DM Basic Rules p.3
Armor Class. A monster that wears armor or carries a shield has an Armor Class (AC) that takes its armor, shield, and Dexterity into account. Otherwise, a monster’s AC is based on its Dexterity modifier and natural armor, if any. If a monster has natural armor, wears armor, or carries a shield, this is noted in parentheses after its AC value.
Barding is armor, armor follows rules as normal.
Thoughts_My_Aim wrote:
I think twf works fine with the beast attack, its a separate bonus action attack. After reading thru rangers fully, and beasts like the wolf, and keeping in mind spells such as hunters mark and spike growth - i think beast rangers will be fine, esp with sentinel. I would have the wolf get death saves etc like a pc, far too harsh otherwise. the only class I remain concerned sbout is sorcerors.
2Chlorobutanal wrote:
1eejit wrote:
I think having a flying snake might be an intresting animal campanion. It an swoop down, bite them 6+prof bonus to hit for 1+prof bonus+3d4 damage, and then it can fly away without provoking an attack.
Also if you use a multi-attack animal like a badger does this mean you add your prof bonus damage twice (once on each attack)?
I agree giant frog looks like the best to grapple, Giant Poisonous Snake does a lot of damage, Giant wolf spider looks intresting (wall walking, fairly good damage, good vision, fairly good hit points/armor).
Maybe a halfling hunter with a pony as thier animal campanion so they can ride it around and gain a 40 ft movement speed (its a medium sized so it fits just about everywhere a normal person does). I wonder maybe the halfling can ride some of these other animal campanions? Maybe a halfling could mount a Pteranodon (medium beast), and gain a 60 ft fly speed and not provoke AoO? (remember it doesnt even take your movement to ask the animal campanion to move).
You should have a goat. Because as we all know the goats are the strongest force on earth.
Also consider a swarm of ravens practically 24 armor 48 hit points (given resistance to most normal damage), with a very good passive perception and ok damage.
I'm not totally convinced a swarm is an acceptable companion. They aren't a beast, they're a swarm of beasts, which strikes me as a different monster category.
obsid wrote:
Here are a few more questions:
- Does the animal have hit dice to hill with during short rests? Or would they just share the Ranger's pool?
- Someone brought this up, so now I'm curious. Some animals have special powers that force a saving throw on the victim, but the save DC is really low at high levels. Do we also add proficiency to that DC?
Honestly, the problem is I feel that there are too many holes in the rules of animal companion. I really do suspect there will be a good chunk of errata coming up just regarding them.
KarlB wrote:
I read Mule recently and it says it counts as Large for carrying capacity, could a medium size creature ride a mule then?
Forgember wrote:
Just curious, if I multiclass into a caster for 5 levels, getting the haste spell
using the beastmaster shared spell feature, do both the ranger and the pet get hasted?
If so, when the ranger command the pet to attack, does the pet attack 3 times?
And does the ranger gain the extra attack from haste since he didn't take an attack action.
Sharogy wrote: