AlmirEldignor
Explorer
Seriously though, the 5e beastmaster is just awful. So much so that you're basically nerfing yourself by NOT taking Hunter (unless you're big on flavour and staying true-to-character, but that sort of dedication renders all conversations of balance irrelevant anyway)
So here's what I rigged up as a replacement, and it's worked well so far:
Beastmaster
Ranger’s Companion
At 3rd level, you gain a beast companion that accompanies you on your adventures and is trained to fight alongside you. Choose a beast that is no larger than Medium and that has a challenge rating of 1/2 or lower. Add your proficiency bonus to the beast’s AC, attack rolls, and damage rolls, as well as to any saving throws and skills it is proficient in. Its hit point maximum at 3rd level equals its normal maximum or 12, whichever is higher. Each time you level up, the beast gains hit points with you (Its Constitution modifier plus 1d8 for a Medium Creature, 1d6 for a Small creature, or 1d4 for a Tiny creature)
The beast obeys your commands as best as it can. It acts independently of you on its own initiative, though you can issue commands to it on your own turn (no action required). While traveling through your favored terrain with only the beast, you can move stealthily at a normal pace.
Once you have the Extra Attack feature, the beast can attack twice instead of once when it takes the Attack action on its turn, unless it already had a multiattack.
If the beast dies, you can obtain another one by spending 8 hours magically bonding with another beast that isn’t hostile to you, either the same type of beast as before or a different one. When you bond a new beast, its Challenge Rating can be up to one-fourth of your ranger level, rounded down. When you bond a new beast, its hit points become five times your ranger level for a Medium creature, four times for a Small creature, or three times for a Tiny creature, unless it is already higher.
Exceptional Training
Beginning at 7th level, your beast companion can use a bonus action to take the Dash, Disengage, Dodge, or Help action on its turn.
Bestial Fury
Starting at 11th level, your beast companion scores a critical hit on a roll of 19 or 20, and it adds your Wisdom modifier to its initiative rolls.
I didn't change the last one, as it's actually pretty decent.
Some reasoning, to seed further discussion:
Generally, I tried to make it more autonomous, rather than mooching off the ranger's action economy it uses its own (why they tried to fuse ranger and companion into effectively one creature makes no sense at all, a 1st-level ritual that BARBARIANS can cast gives you better than that.) Since it now uses its own actions, the higher0up features have been adjusted accordingly.
Ranger's Companion: The most changes (obviously) are found here. In addition to the action conversion thing, the CR of creature you can bond grows with level (20-th level ranger with dinosaur companion ftw!) It now stands at 1/4 of your ranger level (and yes, it does mean that if your buddy dies while you're still 3rd-level you have to bond a lower-rank one, but honestly, if you let that happen you deserve it. it's your magically-bonded soulfriend for drizzt's sake!) It still adds your PB to stuff, so it doesnt get totally outclassed later on. I also gave it better (read: more 5e-accurate) HP scaling, following the guidelines in the MM, along with a minimum (3/level for Tiny, 4/level for Small, 5/level for Medium, those being the averages of 1d4, 1d6, and 1d8, respectively) so that if you pick a rat or something it doesn't die if you fart on it.
Exceptional Training: As above, changed so that it can use a bonus action to D/D/D/H AND attack, I mean COME ON WotC, what kind of crap is that? Also, does not use your own bonus action anymore (smh)
Bestial Fury: Since your buddy makes use of your Extra attack, as well as any multiattack it's already got, this feature is useless now. So, I changed it to give the creature an edge in battle, both with a higher crit rate and better initiative.
So here's what I rigged up as a replacement, and it's worked well so far:
Beastmaster
Ranger’s Companion
At 3rd level, you gain a beast companion that accompanies you on your adventures and is trained to fight alongside you. Choose a beast that is no larger than Medium and that has a challenge rating of 1/2 or lower. Add your proficiency bonus to the beast’s AC, attack rolls, and damage rolls, as well as to any saving throws and skills it is proficient in. Its hit point maximum at 3rd level equals its normal maximum or 12, whichever is higher. Each time you level up, the beast gains hit points with you (Its Constitution modifier plus 1d8 for a Medium Creature, 1d6 for a Small creature, or 1d4 for a Tiny creature)
The beast obeys your commands as best as it can. It acts independently of you on its own initiative, though you can issue commands to it on your own turn (no action required). While traveling through your favored terrain with only the beast, you can move stealthily at a normal pace.
Once you have the Extra Attack feature, the beast can attack twice instead of once when it takes the Attack action on its turn, unless it already had a multiattack.
If the beast dies, you can obtain another one by spending 8 hours magically bonding with another beast that isn’t hostile to you, either the same type of beast as before or a different one. When you bond a new beast, its Challenge Rating can be up to one-fourth of your ranger level, rounded down. When you bond a new beast, its hit points become five times your ranger level for a Medium creature, four times for a Small creature, or three times for a Tiny creature, unless it is already higher.
Exceptional Training
Beginning at 7th level, your beast companion can use a bonus action to take the Dash, Disengage, Dodge, or Help action on its turn.
Bestial Fury
Starting at 11th level, your beast companion scores a critical hit on a roll of 19 or 20, and it adds your Wisdom modifier to its initiative rolls.
I didn't change the last one, as it's actually pretty decent.
Some reasoning, to seed further discussion:
Generally, I tried to make it more autonomous, rather than mooching off the ranger's action economy it uses its own (why they tried to fuse ranger and companion into effectively one creature makes no sense at all, a 1st-level ritual that BARBARIANS can cast gives you better than that.) Since it now uses its own actions, the higher0up features have been adjusted accordingly.
Ranger's Companion: The most changes (obviously) are found here. In addition to the action conversion thing, the CR of creature you can bond grows with level (20-th level ranger with dinosaur companion ftw!) It now stands at 1/4 of your ranger level (and yes, it does mean that if your buddy dies while you're still 3rd-level you have to bond a lower-rank one, but honestly, if you let that happen you deserve it. it's your magically-bonded soulfriend for drizzt's sake!) It still adds your PB to stuff, so it doesnt get totally outclassed later on. I also gave it better (read: more 5e-accurate) HP scaling, following the guidelines in the MM, along with a minimum (3/level for Tiny, 4/level for Small, 5/level for Medium, those being the averages of 1d4, 1d6, and 1d8, respectively) so that if you pick a rat or something it doesn't die if you fart on it.
Exceptional Training: As above, changed so that it can use a bonus action to D/D/D/H AND attack, I mean COME ON WotC, what kind of crap is that? Also, does not use your own bonus action anymore (smh)
Bestial Fury: Since your buddy makes use of your Extra attack, as well as any multiattack it's already got, this feature is useless now. So, I changed it to give the creature an edge in battle, both with a higher crit rate and better initiative.
