D&D 5E UA interviews: The possible future for Pet Subclasses in 5e.

[Paul Farquhar]

Honestly, I think what we will get is optional variant features for the Beastmaster subclass.

Well, we will see next month, but I am VERY confident we will see a completely new ranger subclass, with a combat pet, that is quite different to the beastmaster.

The beastmaster will remain completely as is, for players are willing to accept a weaker pet in exchange for the freedom to choose.

 

[Blue]

The way you solve the death risk is not by making resurrection easy, it is by making the animal strong enough to not die significantly more often than any other party member.

Okay, let's break this out.

In 5e, I expect that characters:
Can get knocked unconscious, but have death saves so they don't die immediately.
If they do die and a character with the correct resurrection magic (specifically Revivify) is around, they are back up quickly.

What I get from that is the 5e experience says that there should be easy resurrection magic, just at a resource cost. I have to disagree with the idea of no easy resurrection magic.

Asking for something that's around all the time without that is basically asking for something tougher than a normal PC.

I present then: a tough-ish pet, with death saves, and the ranger having access to resurrection magic but not expecting to use it every day, seems like it's on 5e paradigm. With the ranger + pet being a strong combination (>1) and the ranger or pet having times when it's unconscious (<1) that average out together to be around the same as another character (=1 over time). (Well, actually better since that's HP damage not done to others in the party.)

Would that satisfy you? And if not can you say why not without just "obviously it needs to be stronger".

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Well, we will see next month, but I am VERY confident we will see a completely new ranger subclass, with a combat pet, that is quite different to the beastmaster.

The beastmaster will remain completely as is, for players are willing to accept a weaker pet in exchange for the freedom to choose.

An optional variant accomplishes that, too.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

An optional variant accomplishes that, too.

Have you listened to the interview and read the two classes refered to?

They are mechanically very different to the beastmaster, you can't just tag them on as an optional variant.

And anyway they UA series is on new subclasses, not revamped old subclasses (which that have said they aren't going to do).

 

[MechaTarrasque]

I figure a ghost hunter ranger (where Fido is really the ghost of Fido) or a psychic ranger (where Fido is just a manifestation of your psychic power) are the best options for a beast master II; they would also evade the beast version of "fighters can only do what regular humans can do" that pretty much doom animal companions at high level.

Of course, everyone is all worked up, so next month it will be the urban ranger instead.....

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Have you listened to the interview and read the two classes refered to?

They are mechanically very different to the beastmaster, you can't just tag them on as an optional variant.

And anyway they UA series is on new subclasses, not revamped old subclasses (which that have said they aren't going to do).

You absolutely could provide an optional variant Beast Companion subclass feature at level 3, modeled after the Iron Defender subclass feature.

They have said several times that they are considering introducing optional variant class features for all the classes, and specifically that the ranger is more likely to get optional features than replacement class or subclass that essentially means new players get told they need to have a book other than the phb to play a Beastmaster or a Ranger in general.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I figure a ghost hunter ranger (where Fido is really the ghost of Fido) or a psychic ranger (where Fido is just a manifestation of your psychic power) are the best options for a beast master II; they would also evade the beast version of "fighters can only do what regular humans can do" that pretty much doom animal companions at high level.

Of course, everyone is all worked up, so next month it will be the urban ranger instead.....

It will be fey, like the animals a druid summons. But yes, definitely a magical creature, even if it happens to look like an animal. (Telthors already exist in D&D lore anyway).

 

[Parmandur]

Yeah, a Green Mana Ranger seems likely.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

A Telthor wolf (I would credit the artist if I knew who it was).

 

[Parmandur]