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!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Chaosmancer" data-source="post: 8123854" data-attributes="member: 6801228">Then I say that you have likely not run across an interesting one, rather than saying they are all boring. I know I've run across a few that were engaging when I read them. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Sigh, okay, I'll grant that after three attempts you finally found a way for the Beastmaster to out-damage the hunter. So, the current standing is Spider attacks for 14.5 and the ranger attacks twice for 2d8+8 (17)  total 31.5 against the ranger attacking three times for 4d8+12 total 30. Bog standard with nothing else you have eeked ahead. Now we both cast Hex. Your spider is still dealing 14.5, and you end up dealing 24 for 38.5. I go up to 40.5. And I can keep growing this gap fairly easily. A spell like Crusader's Mantle, some magical swords. And you might say I'm cheating by this point, but you wanted to make a claim for 3 thru 20, and there is an aspect to this that is important. For every Ranger except the beastmaster, you can buff the ranger and buff your entire build. For the beastmaster you need to buff the Ranger and the Beast, and there are simply fewer ways to buff a beast. I'll grant that the damage wasn't as bad as I thought, especially with that errata I did not know about, that helps a lot. But, it is purely reliant on you having a beast that does poison damage. And, while Fiends, Undead, Constructs, and others might be fairly specific, it is still 95 monsters in the MM alone 192 monsters across the three major monster books. That is more than are resistant to Cold and Fire combined. That is a rather significant downside.I agree with adapting, but you have a melee creature who is never going to be able to take on even near mid-level threats. I mean, by level 10 you'd expect to not have much trouble with the CR 4 warlord, but he can still kill the snake in two rounds. By level 20, granted your AC is decently high by that point, but hp wise... three rounds before a CR 4 creature kills your snake. A proper "minion" at that level might be something like might be an Erinyes who the snake can barely touch and who can kill it in 4 attacks which is almost a single round of combat for it (they make three attacks a turn) Yes, you can say that you just won't send it against enemies that are too powerful, but after a while, all the enemies are too powerful, and your snake is only engaging with cannon fodder who really aren't dangerous threats. And, remember, every subclass ability you have is tied to commanding your snake to do something. Which means if you decide to "go in yourself" and hold the snake back... you've turned off your subclass.Well, "are there hostiles in this hostile territory" is kind of a duh moment. What you would end up doing is basically playing 20 questions with your pet, Mr. Ed style. Which hey, you can do, but I'll note it is one of the least efficient scouting styles I have ever heard about.Barding might work, I know there is a debate about it, but the rest of what you are saying? I'm hearing "cast spells and spend resources to protect the weak point I chose to take on" Barkskin is taking my concentration and a 2nd level spell slot, that is a lot of resources put towards maybe keeping the beast alive. If I have healing spirit... I'd rather put it on the fighterAnd why are you assuming I'm judging it by an incompetent player? You seem to think that "if they had played it the right way, they would have had fun." But that is a very bold position to take, with no evidence. And what is the design structure of the Beast Master? You don't seem to think it is combat at all, so scouting? Compare it to the Chain Warlock, another "pet subclass" option who is built for scouting. Level 3 they get an invisible, flying scout whose eyes they can see through and can speak common to communicate. If they die it is an hour ritual to replace them. That is such a superior scouting option, I can't even explain it. And they are decent in combat by giving the help action. But, considering how many combat abilities the Beastmaster gives it is clear to me that the design intent was to use them in combat. And it is equally clear that while there are a very few options that can deal enough damamge to do decently, they are nothing but a burden by mid-levels of play.</blockquote>

Verification