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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mephista" data-source="post: 6701778" data-attributes="member: 6786252">First, forget the druid. They are completely different kettle of fish.  Trying to say that they're equivalent is a disservice to class design - Ranger needs to stand on its own, especially with its own spellsAs for the animal empathy/beast mastery; I'm not going to say that every Ranger must have one (I know too many would disagree with that statement), but I will say that there needs to be at least the option for it, and in a way superior to simply a animal pet that anyone else picks up. Just as importantly, you need to have the option of having a magic-using beastmaster together. And that's the problem.  You've taken away a defining feature so that its no longer part of their identity.  Furthermore, its everyone "has the potential if the GM allows it, which she may not."  Its no longer a benefit of being a Ranger, and more something that's at the grace of your GM, which is a bad assumption to make. I have.  The variant makes up for its loss of magic by giving the Ranger maneuvers taken from the Fighter.  There's still some parts of the Ranger that the Fighter doesn't touch at this point.  However, stripping away the animal empathy aspects as well, is a lot - that leaves wilderness survival and skirmishing.  Fighters can get wilderness skills from a background now and match the Ranger there, and the Fighter can turn to skirmishing with the right selection of feats and weaponry.  When you give the Fighter the ability to have an animal pet, wilderness survival skills and techniques, skirmish ability, and remove the magic from a Ranger... suddenly, the difference between the two is so minimal, there's no realistic reason to have a separate class anymore.  Where is the panther coming from, is it "my" benefit, or something that suffers the whim of the DM?  Because, if the latter is ever true, then no, that is a terrible beastmaster replacement.  The sense of connection is not there.</blockquote>

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