NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dausuul" data-source="post: 6542546" data-attributes="member: 58197">Hmm. I don't like the hit point sharing. It means that if you get knocked unconscious, your companion can't drag you out of danger; if your companion gets dropped unconscious, you can't rescue it.My biggest problem with the existing rules is the tradeoff between you attacking and your companion doing anything. I get the need to balance the beastmaster's attack options against those of other rangers, but it's a weird restriction found nowhere else in the game; everybody else who has pets can give orders as a bonus action, and can usually give a general order ("Kill the ogre") and leave the pet to carry it out. A necromancer's shambling zombie minions are more capable of independent action than a ranger's animal companion. What gives?I'd be inclined to go with something like this, subject to further tweaking:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Beastmasters don't get Extra Attack, and levels in Beastmaster ranger don't count toward getting EA if you're multiclassing.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">When you choose a companion, you can make it a Scout or a Mount. A Scout companion must be your size or smaller; you can use an action to look into your companion's eyes and view any scene that it observed within the last 24 hours. A Mount companion can be a non-flying creature of any size, and you can ride it.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">As a bonus action, you can command your companion to move and to take the Dodge, Disengage, or Dash action. If given no orders, it will avoid combat. It won't defend you and fights only if cornered.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">When you reach 5th level, you can command your companion to take any action, including attacking. You can also give a general command ("Kill the ogre"), and your companion will follow it until the command is complete or you give it a new order. If given no orders, it defends you as well as it can.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Your companion uses the same death and dying rules as PCs, and it can be resurrected. If it dies, you can bond with another companion once you gain a level. (Yes, losing your companion hurts a lot. It's supposed to.)</li> </ul></blockquote>

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