D&D 5E Beast Master Ranger Revamp

[Jester David]

Mindlink (replaces level 7 ability)
At 7th level, you can use your action and expend a 2nd level spell slot to jump inside the mind of your beast companion within 60 ft. You can use your beast companion's senses. You can also telepathically give it commands as with the Ranger's Companion ability. This lasts as long as you can concentrate, up to 1 minute.
Expending a 3rd level spell slot increases the range to 1 mile and the duration to 1 hour.
Expending a 4th level spell slot increases the range to 10 miles and the duration to 1 day.

Looks cool.
I might increase the duration to 10 minutes for a 2nd level spell slot. Or have 1 minute be the 1st level slot option, which is still a steep price to ask.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Rarely is there a combat encounter where I can affect every enemy wherever they may be. Sometimes I'm over here behind a wall, or there are pillars or other obstacles in the way, or whatever. Having a pet basically means you can be in two places at once for certain things. In those cases where I can't attack the target I want and Spuds is within range, he can still attack. He's great against spell casters or other ranged weapon using opponents. I've used him lots to offset disadvantage as well while I go do something else (like moving to a more advantageous position) via the help action. At 7th level when the help action becomes a bonus action rather than a full action, it was great. What other abilities essentially allow you to grant advantage to an ally every round?

 

[empireofchaos]

Here is a mechanic for dealing with shared actions I proposed on another thread :

 

[jodyjohnson]

The Hunter is supposed to be damage and the BM adds utility. Usually the issue is that a player wants the damage and the utility.

Trading 1 situational attack or +1d8 sometimes for an entire extra entity on the table is a fair trade IMO.

The difference between a pet and an animal companion is that the pet is a NPC (potentially controlled by the DM) and an extra in the party - the AC is a class feature and does not add to the XP division (same as summoned creatures).

Nothing preventing a Ranger from having natural pets (animal friendship, speak with animals, handle animal) but only the Animal Companion gets a scaling mechanic by the rules.

Dar the Beastmaster may have his Tiger pet, Eagle companion, and pocket weasels - the Tiger and Weasels are still ultimately under the DMs control but the Eagle could be his class feature and scale.

With the complaints about AC 14, 12hp, +6 attack companions at 3rd, I'm surprised how many as suggesting Mastiffs at AC 12, 5hp, +3 attack. (Both can have Death saves and HD healing on short rest)

 

[jodyjohnson]

I also want to give the Beast Master a way to heal his pet. I don't think the pet heals at all except through magic?

Everything in the game can use HD to recover during a short rest. The main issue is that the AC has only the original creature HD but the hit points of a much higher creature. Fortunately, a long rest still heals to full unless other options are in play.

Anything can also have death saves at the DM's disgression. If your DM is killing your Animal Companion at 0hp, that's a table issue which no amount of bonus hit points will fix.

Cure Wounds works on Beasts.

 

[empireofchaos]

How can you use an action to command Spuds if you are incapacitated or entirely removed from the location? Surely you at least need to be able to vocalize (and he able to hear you)?

As is now clarified by the PHB errata, if the BM is absent or incapacitated, the beast will act to defend itself without requiring your command to do so.

 

[Quickleaf]

[MENTION=40496]Zelc[/MENTION] I think your approach is fine. What you've done is try to use a lower CR critter without the ranger's proficiency boost to reign in their damage, justifying that as being worth allowing the animal companion to act on their own.

My approach was different: http://www.enworld.org/forum/showth...less-Beastmaster-Ranger&p=6758112#post6758112

I stripped out Spellcasting (esp. hunter's mark and other damage boosts) from the ranger and gave them a totally independent animal companion which was Large-sized and had more hit points; I did extensive spreadsheet damage analysis to make sure it was pretty balanced against the Hunter Ranger regardless of whether the animal companion was a wolf or a giant badger.

The reasoning behind this is that beast master type characters in fiction generally aren't wielding magic...e.g. Mowgli and Baloo (The Jungle Book). Lyra and Iorek Byrnison (The Golden Compass / Northern Lights). Neytiri and the thanator (James Cameron’s Avatar). Wargs in A Song of Ice and Fire (whose magic is mostly limited to beast sense AFAIK). Their "schtick" is the animal companion.