D&D 5E Pets The Problem and Solution

From a similar topic discussion a few months ago, pets are just pets and cannot interact in combat. They serve only story and background and do not take damage or are killed. They have an instinct to get out of fireball range and hide until the fighting is over before coming back in to play.

This also means that they are less useful overall and just add to story. This is like the urchin background where you have a pet mouse who should die by level 2 in all likelihood, but somehow hides deep in your pocket to avoid being squished. It would be great if he could fetch the healing potion or disrupt the enemy caster, but is is just a mouse.

Best solution for dealing with a pet bird.

2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms
1 small onion, sliced
4 tablespoons butter, divided
1 pound boneless owl breasts
3 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/4 to 1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup dry bread crumbs, toasted


Directions
In a large skillet, saute mushrooms and onion in 2 tablespoons butter. Remove and set aside. In the same skillet, melt remaining butter; saute owl over medium heat for 8 minutes on each side or until juices run clear.
Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, heat and stir cream cheese and milk over low heat until smooth. Stir in sauteed mushrooms and onion. Sprinkle bread crumbs over both sides of owl; serve with mushroom sauce.

The problem: pets.

The solution: no pets.

Krachek said:

Adding hit dice rather than flush hit points will help.
The pet should have the same number of hit dice as it’s master.

Maybe sharing hunter mark can help damage output.

Otherwise beastmaster is more for role play and fun than combat efficiency.

Click to expand...

Think the other thing that can be helpful with the ranger is if they make an attack on a creature that their animal companion is also attacking, the animal can make an attack using the ranger's bonus action. Rangers otherwise don't have a lot of uses for the bonus action every combat round, so that still means the ranger is sinking actions, and the animal gets more useful.