Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is LIVE! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Beastmaster's animal companion: can it survive for 2 rounds?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Gargoyle" data-source="post: 6371946" data-attributes="member: 529"><p>Anyone have a player run a 4e beast master ranger from Martial Powers? I did. It worked pretty well, and also used the ranger's actions to attack, etc, but of course was different in many ways, mostly better:</p><p></p><p>- Beast companions enhanced hunter's quarry; your quarry could be the nearest enemy to you or your companion, greatly increasing its flexibility. No hunter's quarry in 5e. </p><p>- You could raise your beast companion from the dead with a ritual rather than just getting a new one. This allowed you to be more attached to a particular companion.</p><p>- There were specific stats for beast companions and they leveled with you. No levels for the 5e beasts, and you pick from what is a larger list with some choices that may not have been considered as possible beast companions, and therefore may not be RAI. Stats do scale in 5e with your proficiency bonus.</p><p>- There were common sense guidelines on independent actions for beast companions when you are unable command them. Basically it acted like a character, unless you were present but unconscious or dead, in which case it must first move to be adjacent to you before acting as it wished. A couple of sentences along these lines could be useful in 5e, but honestly I think it's just common sense and shouldn't be necessary.</p><p>- Your beast had two healing surges and could use second wind when you could. You could also use a minor action to use your healing surges to heal your beast companion when adjacent.</p><p>- You could choose from powers that relied on your beast. There are very few spells in the ranger spell list in 5e that synergize with beast companions. Of those at low levels, <em>speak with animals</em> is excellent for scouting, and <em>barkskin </em>can give them survivability, but there is nothing like the at will powers of a 4e beast master.</p><p></p><p>That same player from 4e rolled a 5e ranger and probably will go beast master, so I have an interest in making the subclass viable and satisfying. It feels like to me that it was designed with a minimum of playtesting, and that a lot of it was dragged and dropped into 5e without much consideration as to what made the 4e one compelling:</p><p></p><p>- You could raise the beast from the dead, so you kept the same one, allowing you to RP an emotional bond while still putting the beast at constant risk. Now they are disposable.</p><p>- No hunter's quarry means that the tactical advantages of a beast companion aren't as valuable. Tactial options from the DMG might help with this; for instance if rules for flanking are used etc, the beast companion will be much more valuable. Not sure I will bring such things into the game though.</p><p>- 5e combat seems deadlier at low levels making beast companions feel more vulnerable and exacerbating the problem of the "disposable" beast companion.</p><p></p><p>My thinking is that while I'm waiting for WotC to respond to everyone's queries on the class, I'm going to implement the following house rules to make it work a bit more like the 4e class:</p><p></p><p>Upon choosing the beast master archetype, rangers gain the life bond ability and add the following spell to their spell list:</p><p></p><p><strong>Raise Beast Companion</strong></p><p><em>1st-level necromancy (ritual) </em></p><p></p><p>Casting Time: 1 hour</p><p>Range: Touch</p><p>Components: V, S</p><p>Duration: Instantaneous</p><p></p><p>You touch your beast companion that has been dead for no more than 10 days and that died for any reason except old age. The creature is restored to life with 1 hit point.</p><p>This spell neutralizes poison, cures all diseases, and lifts any curses affecting the creature when it died. The spell replaces damaged or missing organs and limbs.</p><p>The spell can even provide a new body if the original no longer exists, in which case you must speak the creature's name. The creature then appears in an unoccupied space you choose within 10 feet of you.</p><p></p><p><strong>Life Bond</strong>: When your beast companion takes damage, your magical bond to the creature allows you to choose to take half of that damage yourself.</p><p></p><p></p><p>IMO, this is a pretty conservative way to give beast companions more survivability and allow for a long term beast companion, without increasing the power of a beast master ranger much. Will it still be weak? Possibly, but I believe there are some great tactical advantages with a beast master companion rather than DPR so I will wait and see before buffing it any further. But I am thinking of bringing back hunter's quarry too, for all rangers. I always thought it was a clever way to encourage them to be skirmishers, attacking from range, yet getting close and eventually to melee.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Gargoyle, post: 6371946, member: 529"] Anyone have a player run a 4e beast master ranger from Martial Powers? I did. It worked pretty well, and also used the ranger's actions to attack, etc, but of course was different in many ways, mostly better: - Beast companions enhanced hunter's quarry; your quarry could be the nearest enemy to you or your companion, greatly increasing its flexibility. No hunter's quarry in 5e. - You could raise your beast companion from the dead with a ritual rather than just getting a new one. This allowed you to be more attached to a particular companion. - There were specific stats for beast companions and they leveled with you. No levels for the 5e beasts, and you pick from what is a larger list with some choices that may not have been considered as possible beast companions, and therefore may not be RAI. Stats do scale in 5e with your proficiency bonus. - There were common sense guidelines on independent actions for beast companions when you are unable command them. Basically it acted like a character, unless you were present but unconscious or dead, in which case it must first move to be adjacent to you before acting as it wished. A couple of sentences along these lines could be useful in 5e, but honestly I think it's just common sense and shouldn't be necessary. - Your beast had two healing surges and could use second wind when you could. You could also use a minor action to use your healing surges to heal your beast companion when adjacent. - You could choose from powers that relied on your beast. There are very few spells in the ranger spell list in 5e that synergize with beast companions. Of those at low levels, [I]speak with animals[/I] is excellent for scouting, and [I]barkskin [/I]can give them survivability, but there is nothing like the at will powers of a 4e beast master. That same player from 4e rolled a 5e ranger and probably will go beast master, so I have an interest in making the subclass viable and satisfying. It feels like to me that it was designed with a minimum of playtesting, and that a lot of it was dragged and dropped into 5e without much consideration as to what made the 4e one compelling: - You could raise the beast from the dead, so you kept the same one, allowing you to RP an emotional bond while still putting the beast at constant risk. Now they are disposable. - No hunter's quarry means that the tactical advantages of a beast companion aren't as valuable. Tactial options from the DMG might help with this; for instance if rules for flanking are used etc, the beast companion will be much more valuable. Not sure I will bring such things into the game though. - 5e combat seems deadlier at low levels making beast companions feel more vulnerable and exacerbating the problem of the "disposable" beast companion. My thinking is that while I'm waiting for WotC to respond to everyone's queries on the class, I'm going to implement the following house rules to make it work a bit more like the 4e class: Upon choosing the beast master archetype, rangers gain the life bond ability and add the following spell to their spell list: [B]Raise Beast Companion[/B] [I]1st-level necromancy (ritual) [/I] Casting Time: 1 hour Range: Touch Components: V, S Duration: Instantaneous You touch your beast companion that has been dead for no more than 10 days and that died for any reason except old age. The creature is restored to life with 1 hit point. This spell neutralizes poison, cures all diseases, and lifts any curses affecting the creature when it died. The spell replaces damaged or missing organs and limbs. The spell can even provide a new body if the original no longer exists, in which case you must speak the creature's name. The creature then appears in an unoccupied space you choose within 10 feet of you. [B]Life Bond[/B]: When your beast companion takes damage, your magical bond to the creature allows you to choose to take half of that damage yourself. IMO, this is a pretty conservative way to give beast companions more survivability and allow for a long term beast companion, without increasing the power of a beast master ranger much. Will it still be weak? Possibly, but I believe there are some great tactical advantages with a beast master companion rather than DPR so I will wait and see before buffing it any further. But I am thinking of bringing back hunter's quarry too, for all rangers. I always thought it was a clever way to encourage them to be skirmishers, attacking from range, yet getting close and eventually to melee. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Beastmaster's animal companion: can it survive for 2 rounds?
Top