D&D 5E Mike Mearls Happy Fun Hour, Nov 27 2018

Azzy said:

And yet, the paladin can summon a steed and still have a subclass that does other things. Perhaps the beastmaster as it is is just a weak subclass especially when comparing it and the ranger base class with the paladin and any of its subclasses. :/

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Nope, the steed is worth 3d10, the Beast in the Ranger subclass is worth a lot more than that.

Mearls in the stream talked about doing the math with a spreadsheet during his Thanksgiving vacation (because he is a workaloic, apparently, but I guess that's fun if your job and hobby align), and found that a 1/4 CR Beast with scaling HP, saves, etc. and their own action is worth the entire 20-levels of Ranger spell slots. He emphasized that the only difference from the existing subclass Beast is giving the Beast an independent action economy, which is significant, but so is what the Beastmaster already gets. So the Beastmaster doesn't play the way some would like. Making it mathematically OP is not the answer, providing an alternative to meet the desired playstyle is.