D&D 5E Ranger Halfling

[Paul Farquhar]

This... seems like a very questionable design decision. It's like only putting daggers and leather armor in the equipment section because "DMs will surely add more powerful weapons and armor." It only makes sense if you think it's too powerful even after lowballing it.

I would have much preferred an animal companion that used one of 2-3 sets of stats that were balanced for actual play and then let the companion take whatever form the PC wanted.

I'm not defending the decision, only repeating it. I think in the early days of 5e WotC assumed players would be more free-wheeling and less rules-lawyer-ish. If a player said "I want an X companion" the DM would stat it up rather than limit it to the Monster Manual, which had not been published at the time.

But your approach is the thinking behind the Primal Beast: https://media.wizards.com/2019/dnd/downloads/UA-ClassFeatures.pdf

 

[Paul Farquhar]

It's also important to remember that any beast eligible for a Ranger's companion can also be eligible for a druid's wildshape.

Which is a bit interesting.

Hmm, I would probably allow a swarm as an animal companion, but not for Wildshape, but RAW that is correct.