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Message: <blockquote data-quote="CapnZapp" data-source="post: 4798789" data-attributes="member: 12731">Okay, so who's with me in believing it's incredibly lame for a Beastmaster Ranger to not be able to attack in any round he makes his companion attack?I mean, I'm all for play balance, but just because a feature is balanced doesn't make it right. It needs to be fun too.So, what options do a DM have? The only rule is that the animal companion must not use up the Ranger's standard action to attack. (Please, no "the current system is fine as-is" posts. This thread is specifically for those who feel the current system simply isn't fun, and therefore needs to be changed. If you don't have any problems with the RAW Beastmaster build this thread is not for you. Thank you for not threadcrapping!)Let me start off the suggestions by noting the two possible solutions I've found in official books:1) the "wondrous figurines" solution. Adventurer's Vault allows anyone to summon specific critters using a kind of "reversed action economy": each action you spend gives the figurine one action. So you can use your minor action to have the figurine do a standard action; if you want it to both move and attack you can spend your minor and your move action. Only if /by some obscure reason) you want it to take a full complement of three actions will you have to spend your own standard action.2) the "druid summons" solution*. There's a "Primal Power Playtest" article out which introduces summoning powers for the Druid (who doesn't get this in PHB2). These summoned critters have something interesting: an instinctive action. This is an action which the critter takes automatically unless you made it do something else (using the usual action economy). Now, before you protest, of course I realize we can't just switch over Animal Companions to either of these two "action economies". That'd be overpowered. At least, if there was no cost attached. Now, what would be an appropriate cost or drawback to allow us to offer animal companions to our Ranger players with either one of these solutions or something else. Anything except the current situation, where the animal companion only attacks if you give up your standard action for the turn, that is.If there's been any previous threads on the subject, feel free to simply link me... <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Regards,Zapp*) Really, I'm reading what the playtest have to say about druid summons (my emphasis):Now, doesn't this fit in perfectly for the Ranger's Animal Companion too...?!? (If you need to ask yourself what my opinion is, the topic title is a hint...)</blockquote>

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