Alternative Beast Master Ranger || D&D with Dael Kingsmill

[@necrolyte977]

My favorite ranger ever was a human whose bear animal companion was his Druid brother who transformed years ago and can’t figure out how to change back

[@geoffdewitt6845]

OMG - like Full Metal Druid??? Totally stealing this, man!

[@carsonrush3352]

@@geoffdewitt6845 full fur druid

[@joshuarahn2020]

Brother bear?

[@DarrenMBaldwin]

One Like = One Steal

[@doccomeau2770]

My current Ranger is a Forest Gnome in the Service of Obad-Hai. He has an eagle that he saved as a hatchling a raised for scouting. Rides on the back of a Husky trained as a war mount. We are currently 6th level on the Ravenloft quest. We met a member of the Knights of Raven and since I chose undead as my favorite enemy and can cast divine spells as a Ranger I am going go take that Prestige class getting a Celestial Raven that can distract in battle and spells like Smite and Turn Undead. Then I am going order of the bow innitate for close quarter archery. 11th level ranger, 5th level Knight of Raven, and 4th level order of the bow inniate. For pre epic build. Knight of Raven levels also raises my current divine spellcasting levels allowing me access to those 3rd and 4th level spells long before I would unlock them as a ranger in 3.5

[@atfaultfilms9638]

I think that one of the first tiers could be “nursing” you come across a wild beast of some sort that has been inconvenienced by either a broken limb, or wing, or a poison or illness and you do some animal handling and or medicine checks to nurse it back to health to gain it as a wary companion that has become dependent on you but doesn’t necessarily trust you yet and isn’t yet in the loyal tier.

[@TheEndKing]

That's a good idea. Especially with the more fragile sort of animals, like birds or giant insects/arachnids. You know, things that probably can't handle a lot of pummeling at first.

[@danakittilsen9616]

I had this exact thought for one of my players

[@estebanuniversidad6976]

I suddenly very badly want a ranger who saved a baby elephant from poachers in the past and now has a war elephant buddy

[@whowasibeing]

Bonus style points if the ranger doesn't know what an elephant is, and doesn't expect the cute little thing to turn into the size of a small house.

[@skullsquad900]

& call it Mouse

[@matthewninness6910]

No Dael, tell us how you really feel about Rangers. I want to know and I don't think I'm the only one.

[@aronsimpson3444]

I really wanna know because I play a Ranger

[@TangerineHighlighter]

You gain a number of Tactical Maneuver points equal to your Ranger level. You can spend a point to do one of the following Tactical Maneuvers. Go for the Eyes! - As a bonus action your animal companion of size Medium or smaller attacks an enemy attempting to blind them. If this attack succeeds, the target is blinded for 1d4 turns. Flying creatures have advantage on this attack. Ride! - You may mount your animal companion if it is of a size equal or greater than your own as a bonus action. While mounted you gain movement speed equal to your animal’s movement speed, but your animal cannot attack. You may dismount as a bonus action. Protect the Herd - If you take damage from a melee attack you use your reaction to have your animal companion make an attack roll against that target. If your animal companion is not in range of that target, it may move up to its movement speed to protect you. Pack Tactics - As a bonus action you may have your animal distract an enemy, marking them as your foe. During their next turn, the animal companion will take the Hold action. The next time you attack that target, your animal companion will also immediately attack them, with both of you gaining advantage on the attack. Trample Them! - As a bonus action, target one enemy who is currently prone. Your animal companion of size Large or greater can make an attack roll against them. If the attack succeeds, the target is automatically killed. I’ll bring more as I think of them, maybe here maybe twitter!

[@liamkendrick42]

Anyone else read the first command in Minsk’s voice? “Go for the eyes, Boo! Go for the eyes!”

[@christianwood2951]

A few notes on my end: I like this list, but Ride! may need to mention the standard mounted rules to remind people why it's useful. If you are mounted and attack a medium or smaller enemy within 5 feet of you, you have advantage on the attack roll. I would change Trample Them! to (deal crazy amount of damage) instead of insta-kill and require it to be for medium or smaller creatures. Go for the Eyes! may need a saving throw option at the end of the creature's turn, but otherwise I like what you have. Here are a couple I thought of: Boost - You may spring off the back of your medium or larger animal companion and make a ranged attack roll against a target within 30 feet, ignoring any partial cover that they may be hiding behind. If there is terrain that is up to 10 feet higher within 10 feet, you may land there without making a climbing check. If it is difficult terrain, your DM may have you make an acrobatics check to see if you can perform the attack before needing your arms free to scramble up. Harry - You indicate to your pet to slow the movements of foes travelling in a certain area, when an enemy enters the area, you may spend your reaction to have your pet attack that creature. If it hits, the creature is slowed by 15 feet until the end of its next turn. Guard the throat - If your pet is adjacent to you and has not acted this turn, you may take the dodge action as a bonus action. While performing this action, your pet has -2 AC.

[@TangerineHighlighter]

The thing with saving throws is that (in my own personal experience) I've found they just make the players feel bad. Like cool, you blinded him and now oh look! He made his save! and now he's unblinded! It's unlikely the enemy will even live 1d4 rounds, especially if they're blinded, and it's far less work for the DM to remember to make a save every round. Trample Them! should only work on small or medium creatures, good call, but I like the instant kill mechanic. If an elephant steps on your head, you're dead. Plus, instant kill sounds cooler and if two things are functionally the same, I would always err on the side of giving my players the cooler sounding option. At least to me anyway! Thanks for the input though! I appreciate it!

[@Gravy65]

The problem with instant kill, is you're in 9th level wizard spell territory. A dire wolf is a large creature, which has a chance to knock someone prone every bite attack. With the dice on your side, you could be insta-killing enemies that should be rather problematic for your party. In your home games, that's all well and good, having fun is the important part, but in a sharing with others, the ideal is to be on par with other classes. So, unless this is a 17th level ability, a large scaling damage would be more appropriate, in my opinion.

[@thezerowulf2046]

So battle beast master?

[@lopezcarlos24]

You've created a new legacy weapons for dms everywhere. The eldritch blade of halfling slaying.

[@Xecluriab]

lopezcarlos24 the Weapons of Legacy book in 3.5 was totally underrated. A crossbow that could eventually throw fireballs? A Dwarven hammer that wept blood and hated Giants just SO much? A sling that, when wielded by a halfling, could throw pebbles that could destroy fortifications? Sure, unlocking their abilities required three feats, a pantsload of xp, and a fair amount of your hard earned, but your weapon would be so much more flavorful than another +5 Keen Transmuting Corrosive Burst Greatsword.

[@Marcusjnmc]

I felt like a few things about Legacy weapons were overbalanced making them very unattractive so homeruled some of the negatives out, mainly the penalties to hit & saves, I can see why they're generally just ignored as the are.

[@Xecluriab]

In D&D 3.5, folks with Animal Companions get a certain number of Tricks that are taught to the Companion, based on level. So you can teach your mountain lion to Guard, but that means it won’t gain the ability to Scout for another couple of levels. Then you could have your companion perform any trick it knows both in and out of combat, and it felt an awful lot like its skill set was based on the time you had spent with it and the behaviors were learned under your care. And yes, it always felt a little sad that you got a bear, but that bear doesn’t know how to properly bear for seven levels, when it sort of learns how to bear a bit.

[@juliabates4621]

I feel like there are a lot of things from prior editions that can be snuck into 5e pretty easily, kind of like colville and his 4e monsters.

[@jasonbolding3481]

Minor correction with how tricks worked. You would get bonus tricks that didn't require Handle Animal checks to use. You could still spend a week training a regular trick but also could attempt to command tricks untrained

[@ni1ix]

My players took a shadow wolf cub under their care whose Mother was killed by kobolds. Since that happened in the first session, and they wanted to take it with them and have it be useful in a fight, I told them that one of them has to sacrifice time every day, in order to train it. Now they get to use it in combat by giving up a bit of their movement in order to let the wolf move next to an enemy, where it gives them advantage! It cant really attack by it self, since its still little, but it is use full to them nevertheless and if they don't watch their tactics there is always the possibility that it might get attacked and subsequently killed. Its great fun :D

[@TheTsugnawmi2010]

I really like this idea because a) it forces the DM to world-build and outline which species live in the surrounding area which subsequently b) turns Rangers into Pokemon trainers eagerly hunting for their next party member. These animals would naturally scale with the party's level because a DM wouldn't, for example, throw an adult red dragon at a party of level 2 players. A ranger could start with a basic bear companion in early levels, and possibly end a high-level campaign with a Couatl! What's great is your mechanics inherently limit how many animals the ranger could have because of logistics and resource management. Bears eat insane amounts of food daily (resources), but staying in a forest is easy enough during downtime. But Couatls live in the Celestial Plane and live centuries so a Ranger will struggle to reach said plane and survive there long enough to bond.

[@vukodsrbije]

The best beast master adaptation I have seen so far (and I have seen a lot) I don't know why this wasn't in the game all along!!!

[@aidancowell9953]

This is FANTASTIC! I've been playing a BM Ranger and its definitely lacklustre in its current PHB/UA form. Both the bonding process and a Ki Point/Manoeuvre Hybrid limited by Bonus Action/Reaction would really, really make the animal companion feel rewarding when it works and feel like a worthwhile investment! I will totally email this to my grandma and my DM. I'd really like to hear your thoughts on the Ranger in general though!

[@tylerdmcgilvery]

Aidan Cowell haha.... bm....

[@conradkorbol]

You may not being playing it correctly You are adding your prof to its skills and to its skill checks Like a wolf at base has a dc 13 knock prone ability Turns out almost no one plays the class correctly because they don’t add the prof to everything

[@marcm5207]

My GM at the moment and I devised a quite simple way to simbolize this kind of bond: every time you get px you may assign any amount of them to your animal companion. With enough px it will level up and, if the DM allows iandyou can choose a character class or, sometimes, a template. All within common sense to avoid ghost bears with three wizard levels, of course. This may reduce the PC's power compared to the rest of the party but there's an implicit incentive for PCs not no let die or abandon/change/let die their companions. As for the loyalty, I'd do it the other way around: by the time you get your animal companion it is already devoted to you, otherwise it wouldn't be your companion. The tricky part is that it is not a pet and it follows you by it's own free will so, if you don't treat it as it expects to be treated, you may lose that loyalty. If you make an habit of using your elephant companion as tranpartation for the whole party and as your standard demolition machine but, after the deed is done, you never have time to pass with it, don't ever really care if it's uncomfortable or sad or just don't take your time to perform the kind of rituals that ensure the pack cohesion (mutual preening, mud baths, order of feeding, etc), it is quite possible that at a certain point it won't be your companion anymore. And, concerning combat, I'd use tactics specific to the kind of animal companion something like this: -Gang up (only group hunters: wolves, lions). When both rangervan companion are engaged with the same enemy and that enemy attacks one of them, the other can inmediately attack the enemy while he is not paying attention. -Stalker (only lone hunters: most big cats, sharks). When the companion is hidden or can otherwise go unnoticed and the ranger is engaged with an enemy, every time the enemy deals damage to the ranger the companion can immediately make a surprise attack at the enemy or wait for a better opportunity. Every time it waits, it gets a cummulative bonus to the damage done in the next surprise attack to that enemy in that combat. -Bait (traditional "prey" herbivores: deer, impala, zebra). When attacked, the companion can sprint away from the attacker, gaining an AC bonus. If the ranger is in range and able to do it, he can make an immediate charge or ranged attack with an attack bonus.

[@kylemccool1037]

This is the best fix for the Beastmaster Ranger I have ever heard.

[@NegatveSpace]

One thing about gaining an animal companion is in my setting animals have a sort of higher level of emotional sense than they do in real life, almost on a magical level. So sometimes characters get an animal companion because on some level the two are almost empathetically bonded and can sometimes even meet by traveling nearby and the animal will go towards the ranger without really knowing why and almost completely get along.

[@Alefiend]

An alternate to subordination can be found in the Kevin Costner film Dances With Wolves. It's more like gradually forming a relationship of trust and respect. To be fair, Costner's character isn't intended to be a ranger, nor does he have the relationship that a ranger would have-I mean this mainly as a starting point.

[@BlackFireLily714]

I love this idea of training maneuver points. Have a number of points based on wisdom (because animal handling is wisdom based), and you can use them for these maneuvers. I like this a lot. Even in previous additions, animal companions weren't strong enough to put in combat; even though that's what it felt like they were there for, to help in and out of combat. But I also understand in shorter stories/campaigns its harder to have the lead up, but you can throw it into your background. Anyway...training points are great, let's make this happen IN FACT!!! The warlock has a improved familiar archetype (Pact of the Chain) where you can use your attack action to allow the familiar to attack in your place. Why didn't they do that?! Oh, right, the ranger wants to attack, and that would be bad. But you can change it to be a bonus action instead!, and the companion uses its reaction. GRARGGGBLE!!!

[@PeacefulPagoda]

I just love seeing the explosive growth of your channel!

[@ingridplata2411]

I love the video! I'm always very confused when someone says that we need to make sure that the Ranger players are connected to their animal, though, because all of my players are always *in love* with their pets. I guess it helps that in Pathfinder there's always an option for a class not to take a familiar/animal companion, so only the ones who really want one do take it

[@MacroAggressor]

Dude, your content is absolutely fantastic. I'm poring over your Thieves' Cant stuff right now, and It. Is. The Coolest!

[@chrisb3892]

I have a player in my campaign who is about to become a beastmaster ranger. This is very insightful and interesting, thank you!

[@adriannelson4214]

I find that the meeting between my Fire Genasi Ranger and his Giant Poisonous Snake Companion could be more than "so you complete the ritual and you now have a snake. Cool." but y'know, we were going places and it wasn't a priority.

[@darenkellensi9677]

Distracting Shot: If you hit an enemy with this attack, your animal companion becomes stealthed to that enemy until your next turn. As long as the animal companion is stealthed it can perform it's action to make a sneak attack on the enemy.

[@eddokter]

To fix the "resurrect" idea for the animal companions in our games we've taken the HP listed as the point at which the animal breaks and runs. The ability to resurrect it is the ranger then tracking it back down and coaxing it back to follow them again. Maybe a whistle and treat, maybe magic beast master wind talking, whatever.

[@mynar_lenahan]

The way I think I would run the animal companion thing would be to give the animal companion some narrative value. Like, the rules say the animal companion was an emissary of nature, sent to assist the ranger in their quest. So like, what if the animal companion is like a mentor. Like a talking bear or wolf that teaches the ranger their spells and their abilities and act as the voice piece of nature. And if they die, they don't come back or get resurrection, but another creature is summoned by nature to continue guiding you along on your path.

[@Jobe385]

Quick thoughts on attacks of different types (prey admittedly being weakest). Also, current tier skills should cost 2 loyalty points (recovered after short or long rest with pet or pet based adventures) and previous tier skills cost 1. Avian companion --Subordinated - Scratch: 1d4 per 4 animal levels --Loyal - Blinding Scratch: 1d6 per 4 animal levels, blinds target (CON save) --Devoted - Claw: 1d6 per 4 animal levels, disarms target (DEX save) Small Predator companion --Subordinated - Scratch: 1d4 per 4 animal levels --Loyal - Bite: 1d6 per 4 animal levels, bleeds target for 1d2 per turn (CON save) --Devoted - Targeted Bite: 1d6 per 4 animal levels, slows/disarms target (CON/DEX save) Large Predator companion --Subordinated - Scratch: 1d4 per 4 animal levels --Loyal - Bite: 1d6 per 4 animal levels, bleeds target for 1d2 per turn (CON save) --Devoted - Take Down: 1d6 per 4 animal levels, renders target prone (DEX/STR save) Small Prey companion --Subordinated - Cry: turns all animals in a 30 ft radius against the target for 1 minute --Loyal - Strike: 1d6 per 4 animal levels, non-lethal damage --Devoted - Distract: 1d4 psych damage per 4 animal levels, leaves target flat-footed (WIS save) Large Prey companion --Subordinated - Cry: turns all animals in a 30 ft radius against the target for 1 minute --Loyal - Charge: 1d8 per 4 animal levels, knocks down target (CON save for half damage) --Devoted - Mount: allows ranger to mount companion in combat (DEX check)

[@daxdleader719]

Love the second half of this vid. I think to fix the loyalty problem, the ranger just needs to have a narrative arc dedicated to finding and bonding with said creature. Between levels 2 and 3 just make the whole party travel with a herd of pegasus. Or if you're starting at level three than have a solo session with your ranger. The only real issue is that the bond is expected to be achieved outside of game time which isn't realistic.

[@matthewheimbecker9055]

I was pretty skeptical that I'd like this, but I was happily surprised. I think a system of maneuvers like Dael suggests here would work quite well. One of the tricky parts to design would be having the animal's actions match the animal type. An elk companion and a gorilla companion wouldn't always seem capable of the same maneuvers. There would be some overlap, like the knocking prone maneuver, since a shove from a gorilla, a trip from a wolf, and the headbutt of an elk could all acheive that, but it's hard to imagine a snake or eagle performing that maneuver. This could get very complex very quickly.

[@MonarchsFactory]

Thanks! Yeah, that's something I've been wondering about too; I began categorising some basic maneuvers into general groups by animal type but, like you said, they're are so many overlaps and distinctions that it was way overcomplicated without limiting the number of animals available. Instead I think I'll just make the list and leave a cop-out statement that the DM should rule on whether the maneuver is appropriate for the companion to learn, because nothing will be able to parse that information as quickly and effectively as the common sense of a human brain.

[@cdgonepotatoes4219]

An idea I had for a beastmaster ranger was a magical beast, basically a homebrew way to give innate spells to beasts like having a hawk using the element of wind to change direction at breakneck speed, very competitive with other predatory birds and by that with the master. Having the increased power of a bird able to fly higher and faster than others is balanced by having them much harder to control as in they may bail in danger or be taunted by a low threat they particularly dislike and, stubborn as a mule, ignore your commands. Then I found the falconer class making life easier

[@felipehonoriobs]

a reaction maneuver where the animal blocks an attack that would hit the beastmaster. roll the training die and subtract from the enemies attack roll. if it blocks the attack, the beastmaster can use it's reaction and use the oppening created by it's companion to counter attack, roll an attack die and add the training die to the damage, if it hits.

[@kevindowd559]

commanding your animal companion to use the "help action" is super useful but people seem to never remember to use it

[@josephkilgore8095]

Very cool. I really like the Training Maneuver Point system.

[@heavymetaljess_]

I think your idea is GREAT. I'm definitely going to be working on this a bit and will let you know any cool maneuvers I can think of. Maybe I'll try to convince someone to play this idea out to test it a bit.

[@dddad4509]

My animal companion, a maststiff, has become a popular addition to the group I am in. We worked together to create a chestplate that glows when near an aboration and it increased his intelligence to 19 making him the smartest party member! We also found a scorching ray ring and crafted a collar which gave the madtiff laser eyes he can use once per day. My character is a halfling and I do ride him. I had to use quite a bit of down time training with my dog.

[@underspon]

These are wonderful ideas, Dael! A player of mine's character, incidentally a cleric (war priest)--purely via dumb luck rolls of the dice during a three-sided combat amongst the party, a giant goat and a brown bear--managed to restrain said giant goat upon its reducing the bear's hp to 0 with a charge. I set up a little system by which the cleric needed to accomplish a given number of Animal Handling successes, making one attempt each day. This was helped along by the cleric bringing the giant goat to a village, stabling it and allowing / encouraging it to commune with a local herd of normal goats. To my thinking, this was a very good way for my player to use the environment of the world to its fullest; and so I am gradually rewarding the player with a mount which is likely to develop some degree of loyalty if not devotion. I mention this mainly because, while I really like the superiority dice / maneuvers idea, my eye happened to rest on the Barbarian class for inspiration to make this mount cooler. I trimmed away a lot of the humanoid-oriented developments available to the class and kept several which reminded me of the primal characteristics of a survivor of the wilds. (I won't allow it to enter Rages, but there are things about the Barbarian class which fit well with beasts.) I enjoy the idea of animal companions' stages of ability so much, as well as the conditional "unlocking" traits, that I am sure I will incorporate a few of them unto the capabilities of what is sure to be a memorable mount. Thanks!

[@ZombieChimpanzee]

non combat maneuver: is your companion is considered cute by a target, you can(insert cost for ability) to have your animal charm the target with an adorable behavior, this makes the target friendly towards the ranger and beast.

[@thelorax355]

I love the idea for the beast master maneuvers. It makes the beast master not only viable, but very fun as well. It's almost got more possibilities than the battle master because you have 2 creatures working as a team

[@ConsciousAtoms]

The Sword of Halfling Slaying - Acts as a +1 weapon, but only when you attack folk smaller than you. After killing 10 or more halflings, the bonus increases to +2. "Why pick on someone your own size, when bullying these little pests is so much easier?"

[@Alfrebaut]

I met Dael at SDCC and it honestly was the highlight of my trip. Hadn't slept that night and drove like 10 hours starting at like 3am just to make it in time, but it was WORTH IT.

[@GoblinLord]

who needs sleep when you can meet someone vague and evocative

[@loganhamson7591]

The people that created the fate forge campaign setting for DND 5e did something that I liked where they made it so every ranger could have a beast companion.

[@davidmccullough4678]

hold- if animal companion has made an attack you can (emediately) use a training point(and bonus action, and a reaction for the pet to accept maneuver) to use the maneuver "hold" then the creature rolls a con saving throw against the animals Dex+strangth, on a fail both the creature and the animal lose the ability to make actions or reactions or move until you or your companion use a bonus action to end the maneuver. as long as the creature is "held" it's considered prone and whenever it uses a bonus action it makes it takes 1 d4 force damage. additionally the creature can choose to take 1 d4 force damage any time it could normally take an action to make a con saving throw against the animals Dex OR strangth to end the maneuver, deal 1 d4 to the animal and knock the companion prone. I think it's useful, thematic and the drawback of having the move reversed balancing it. you could also add that your character has advantage on persuasion for creatures under "hold" it's pretty versatile.

[@raykendo]

Yay. Glad to see this covered. I like the idea of getting training points each level that you can invest in your pet(s). By level 20, you could have 20 subordinate pets, or have one or two very devoted pets with lots of tactics. Training a pet could be similar to an artificer creating a magical item (time taken, energy required, etc). Each pet might have a set of moves it can learn (kinda like Pokemon). A bear or a wolf might not necessarily learn a "Dive and scratch out their eyes" maneuver. Pets might also have training costs. For example, you might have to go up a couple levels to have enough points to have a loyal bear. Though a baby bear might have a much lower training point cost. Finally, should the beloved pet lose their life protecting their master, the Ranger should have the option of using their training points to get another trained pet (though there should be a time issue for training. Kinda like magical artifact creation for an artificer). After all, the Ranger has learned a lot about training their previous dragon. She should be able to train another animal well with what she's learned.

[@ross8093]

I think the biggest change I'd want to make to Rangers, is giving hunters mark as a hexblades Curse style feature that can be applied equal to you prof. Bonus or half that per day. Having the normal d6 extra damage. But the two big things extra to that is it has optional concentration. Concentrating will up the damage die used and has an extra effect based off your subclass. Not sure what yet but an easy example is doubling your prof. Bonus when calculating your Animal companions attack and damage on the marked target or something

[@somerandomsatanist597]

The moment you said your animal would give it's life for you an vise versa I had an idea when you get to devotion you and your beast share HP through a magical bond so if you go down your animal goes down and vise versa I think it's a cool idea

[@animistchannel2983]

I like the idea of starting with a young pet (or rescuing an injured adolescent), and having the beastmaster be able to start teaching them a new thing each time either one levels. Young pets can still be taught scouting, or may have other senses and utility abilities (hunting/foraging for the party) that are benefits without competing in combat at first. I mean, how about teaching a bear or boar to sniff for wild healing herbs? Then, by the time it can really fight, everyone will already be glad of it. This also makes the pet relationship more well-rounded and dynamic. As for game balance... if the pet makes the party a lot stronger, the GM can just throw a few more monsters into the battle to keep it busy. Combat is noisy, and add-ons in a fight do fun dynamic things. Jaguar pounces to cover the flank! Wolfie, go guard the healer! In terms of battle mechanics, I think a bonus action to give directions is totally fair. Otherwise, the animal will just do what it thinks is best, which can go a lot of ways. Another way to add to player investment is to actually make the player learn about their pet's species in real life, and work that into the game activities. The pet can have its own little character sheet with proficiency bonuses, with a starting amount plus increases based on actual practice and experiences in the game. The beastmaster would have to pick where to apply (GM-determined number of) level-up bonuses to specialize their pet's skills. Or GM could award half based on game events, and then player choose half from deliberate training. Obviously, pet levels don't have to be game levels if that would mess with the mechanics. You could have a level 4 eagle that was "pet level 10."

[@timtrozzo417]

I don’t even play D&D,and I enjoy these videos.

[@alexbubblemint2434]

I looove this. Immediately implementing the ki/manuever system into it.

[@AfroChef]

Gotta say great inspiration here. Definitely going to use these ideas particularly the training points

[@alec2themax]

Just had an idea, halfway through the video. A cool way to mechanically back up interactions with the companion, is feeding them, grooming them, or getting them armor/weapons, train them. Like what if when you fed your tiger by the fireside, it would give it a 24 hour buff?

[@beemoney19]

Another ability for the 3rd tier could be to share HP with your companion beast. If it takes damage, you can have the damage apply to the Ranger, putting yourself at risk to keep the beast alive.

[@vallynblackleaf]

I had a fighter who did something similar to turn a Direwolf's loyalty by wrestling it to submission and then feeding it some good quality meat after the kobalds that kept it before had kept it half starved, got a fairly loyal exotic mount that way.

[@Quadraxis]

I think that if you want a narrative driven campaign, both player and DM must work together on this one, both on how the ranger would acquire the beast and how to train it. I feels it is entirely fair for both the DM, the narrative and the players themselves that there should be a story driven way to acquire it. For instance, to make it fast,one could say that from levels 1-3 the animal companion is simply stashed away somewhere because bringing it into a the small town they are visiting would be... hazardous to say the least. If one wants a more emotional part, it could be part of the first 2 levels to capture a poacher and rescue the animals and have one of the animals bond with the ranger. For that to happen though, the DM would have to either have explained some detail to the player playing the ranger beforehand or drop very strong hints that THIS is their animal companion. I feel the DM can then be lenient in allowing the ranger to be the one to rescue the animal to be its companion but only then if the ranger takes the initiative and actually takes the effort to roleplay it. My campaigns are very story driven and I place a good deal of emphasis on roleplay, either for the players to actually speak as their characters or have the players describe how they speak and in general terms say what they say. If one of my players played a ranger and took the second example and willingly did not even try to take the initiative, I wouldn't let them gain an animal companion there right away, especially if their excuse was "I don't feel like roleplaying it becuase it's dumb" or something like that. Then too bad. I also like the part about letting the animal gain levels themselves and I feel it's very lazy of WotC to not put that into the core subclass.

[@aidanosullivan7731]

I feel like an animal ( whos already had multiattack ) should be able to attack more than once, upon gaining that lethality that comes with an animal training. I have wanted to play a beast master badly but am put off by how poor the ranger is conceptualized. I think the best way to do it is to have the beast become stronger then any of its race ( well thats not natural / effect of a ranger {magic user} being its companion. ) A twentieth level beasty should have 3 or 4 attacks and I agree with the Ki system. It's overpowered / explain prismatic spray or fireball castable as wizards. The insane amount of damage a barbarian can drop. Or how lethal a fighter or warlock or rouge can be. This is supposed to be the force of nature intertwined with the skill of Kind. beasts are terrifying in our own life why would we make them less so in another when the people are stronger anyway?. Total changes ac can be increased with custom armour must spend three days in town for it. health increases with your health * d4 / d6 / d8 dependent on animal size. attacks increase ki point system we want to say that this beast has trained with a master but doesnt know anything more then a regular beast of his ilk? come on.

[@jarydf]

Maneuver points sounds good. I would have the ranger and companion share a hit point pool. When they touch the pool equalises. Small shared pool at start growing to half your hp is stored in the companion at devotion level. Both the ranger and companion can revive the other on touch.

[@override367]

It's amazing that the Artificer: Battlesmith's pet is a better ranger pet than the ranger's pet

[@AllisonIsLivid]

This is valuable thinking! Thanks, Dael!

[@emorypueschel4898]

Apologies if already suggested RE: a fix for the acquisition issue - ritual spell that functions as a call to receptive beasts with added RP element of a vision quest to determine the PC's worthiness in the eyes of the would-be animal companion.

[@komakon]

Absolutly LOVE this! Keep up the awesome work

[@johnwendel702]

I imagine taming the animal being like in the movie avatar where the blue alien cat people jump off the cliff and successfully mount their animal to form a spiritual bond

[@Birbucifer]

What I do to buff it in my campagin is make it so you can choose any creature of CR 2 or lower and size large and lower. Yes, this does mean you can have a griffon.

[@williamozier918]

I love the idea that you have to take it down with your bare hands. If you're worried about game balance, and/or just want to make the game more interesting; remember, a rare and magical creature, will require rare and magical food. For example, did you know that Unicorns can only eat the grass from the meadow in which they were born while it is covered in the morning dew while being struck by a sunbeam? Try finding that at the local stable!

[@jon-from-tx]

OH YOUR CHANNEL'S NAME IS A PUN! It took me way too long to notice. Well done.

[@sereneforgeworks7324]

Skip to 16:41 for the short version

[@user-ue8il6jx3b]

New to the channel just wanted to say that in case what I’m about to say was already covered. I was creating characters for the first time with friends and one of my friends was making a warlock and wanted a fey patron but didn’t like the familiars they could use if that was their patron so they chose to have the great old one as their patron and a faerie dragon as their familiar. Don’t even get me started on them picking the most fantastical pretty creature they could when flippin Cthulhu was on the list of patrons. The problem was that at level 3 they have become a far greater beast master than I ever could have as a beast master (I know their familiar isn’t even attainable as it isn’t in the beast category but still) and their familiar also has the exact same stats as the actual creature and the spell to summon it doesn’t require concentration. I feel like they shouldn’t really try and justify taking away multi-attack or why the beast is so weak or why you can never have more than one (if you’re worried about it being game breaking just have them leave one at a camp or something idk) or why as I level I am not able to tame a beast of a high challenge rating (if I’m called a beast master then I want a dang dire wolf at some point). This is so much longer than I thought and I forgot where I was even going

[@dm_guru2408]

My brother and I built a homebrew BM ranger sort of fusing the concepts from the original and the UA Revised Ranger and I've gotten to level 6 so far and it has been very fun and felt rewarding so far while also feeling balanced with the rest of the party. The relationship between my ranger and the beast is explained in narrative as simply part of the druidic magic that empowers him and is written is as part of the backstory, so at level 3 when they showed up it wasn't just out of the blue. So far the biggest things that have been enjoyable are things like the pet gaining ability score improvements whenever the ranger does (including feats where appropriate), the pet rolling its own initiative, and the coordinated attack that allows her to use her reaction when I make an attack to also attack. I love the idea of using ki point-ish abilities or battle master maneuvers with the pet, that would be super awesome. Really great ideas proposed here in the video! Glad to see you back :)

[@F4R207]

The bond needs only to be narrative and fit whatever narrative the player and game master wants to apply, the question is if that the designers intend it to be a spirit (summoned) or an actual animal or something else, and that should probably be a choice, is it a fey, infernal, prime and so on type of companion, and not focus on that it's a "animal" but a bestial companion of some sort there of, so that everyone can focus on their characters concept and narrative. There on after there's the the companion development and having some choice of its system mechanics and statistical advancements and options there in, as well as their function in combat and other encounters. I like the idea of training maneuver points and having special abilities of the companion to activate up on command or collaborative "tag team" actions to take together.

[@cooltrainervaultboy-39]

My brother has a velociraptor as his animal companion. Because of it's low intelligence he and his party decided to name him Raptard. I told him about the Awaken spell, and we joked that he would become Sir Raptard of Raptardington.

[@ameliafeyparsons4816]

Very good content. Love the ideas presented here.

[@thebeast617]

As a longtime fan of the Ranger, BIG thanks for your creative input on the class! I'd love to hear more of your thoughts on the PHB Ranger, as well as the Revised (UA) version, and how you would fix it. Personally, as someone who really wants to play a Beastmaster, I'd be 100% on board with a Dael-revised Ranger. I'm already completely on board with your ideas about making the companion bond stronger and more intimate, and I'd love to see those specific maneuvers you mentioned. Upvoted (and emailed to my Grandma)

[@graveyardshift2100]

Fix hp by letting them roll for health and add proficiency bonus every level. Fix combat utility by adding proficiency bonus to any dc checks that they have, like the wolf's trip. Allow any command other than attack to be free. And most importantly, specifically build to support your pet instead of also being a master archer like someone on Critical Role.

[@craigbainton4173]

Love your ideas Dael. Been a fan for ages but your latest dnd has made a big impact on my dnd games, as I’m a big fan of home brew stuff. just wanted to say luv you and your doing Moradin’s work

[@TankTaur]

It would be great to have a system that allowed a Beast Master to pick almost any kind of beast as their chosen pet, and still have it be useful, even if it isn't a combat pet. I'm about to run my first game and one of the players initially wanted to be a BM Ranger with a loyal Raccoon companion. Most of the abilities related to Beast master seem to be combat focused, but it didn't feel right with this chosen animal, so I couldn't help but imagine it as more of a sneaky skill-based pet - more of a Rogue than a Fighter, I suppose. I had to be creative as I prepared. I experimented with giving it high Stealth, Sleight of Hand, decent climbing speed, decent charisma and intelligence (allowing it to understand commands well, and even outsmart enemies occasionally), and Keen Senses and an ability to scavenge for food and clean it (avoiding diseases and poisons) in any environment (urban and wilderness), providing the party some additional utility. It still didn't feel enough so I thought of giving it actual proficiency with some tool, and some special combat maneuvers too, but didn't get far before the player in question decided to play a Druid instead. I did however walk around the living room at one point, measuring out how far the rules would allow a player to throw an object with the weight of an average raccoon...

[@spacestationz]

Definitely gonna low-key base my system on this with some minor tweaks to fit my own homebrew monstrosity

[@TheBloodyMutt]

Honestly, the UA was huge step forward to what I like for the concept of a Beast Master. The action economy from the PHB version makes pretty much unable to do any of the things I would want out of it, like casting spells and then watching your companion just... dumbing in the corner...

[@innocentbrowncoat7333]

"Disagree with me all you want, my game." Anyone else wanting a new shirt now?

[@SkullSnax]

I really like the idea of using a ki point/manoeuvre system for the animal companion, because yea, you’ve trained it to be able to do more than just a regular one of its kind. I would say depending on the kind of animal, maybe 3 each is enough, disarm, distract, knock prone. Really I think the thing that would help most is not having your use of the animal companion take up an action. I understand why it’s there, they don’t want you to break the action economy, and because it’s you telling it what to do, but I feel like it should also move independently. Like maybe the DM controls it unless you use your action to command it to signify it still being wild. And then at higher levels of training you start to get that telepathic link. The only sticking point for me is the development and the milestones part. Catching a new animal companion is a cool thing thematically but I don’t think it’s realistic for most tables that the ranger can just go off for a week to hang out with a pack. I’d maybe use something like, “bonding time” and make it have to occur over a long stretch of time in game, like an hour a day for a week to get to the point it won’t run away anymore, two weeks and it doesn’t take a whole action to command, just a bonus action, 3 weeks it learns a training manoeuvre, 4 weeks you don’t have to pass a charisma check to get it to fight something that’s a higher level than it, and so on. If you’re worried about the training levels overtaking the character levels, map it to the ranger level, that at level one the ranger only knows how to give it that first level of training and so on. If your companion dies, you can train it to the point your previous companion was at but it could take 20 in game weeks to get it to that point where you control it as a separate character with armour and all the manoeuvres and it can cast spells from your list with your spell slots and whatever other cool shit it should have for a 20th level beast companion that isn’t just “I have more hit points than the average bear”.

[@mkahvi]

I believe the animal companion starting weak is due to the expectation that the ranger is _raising_ the animal, they don't just poof up with an adult one.

[@TheAverageFan]

Having to earn loyalty and devotion over time makes sense narratively, but mechanically it really weakens the archetype to the point where I wouldn't want to play one IMO. However, the "Training Maneuver Points" is an awesome idea that I think would work really well.

[@brittoleal]

RP Gamers will care about their Animal Companions for the Role Playing fun. Mechanicall players will care if that means battle capacity. So, we can homebrew a rule that animal companions level up with the player, but not by the player's current level, but by how much XP they've gained together. SO, if an animal companion dies, this means that your new companion will need to level up from scratch. And in roleplay terms, that XP is the "level of your bond", that you've raised. Think that's a nice middle ground. And if you'd like to ressurect an animal companion, DM's will need to give you a sidequest for it.

[@nymalous3428]

My grandma loves animals, she has quite the menagerie... or at least she used to. Most of them have since died off, animals don't usually live as long as humans. She's had all kinds of animals: horses, cows, goats, chickens, dogs, cats, ferrets, geckos, guinea pigs, snakes, fish, deer, foxes... I'm sure I've missed some. Anyway, it doesn't matter, because I'm allergic to most animals (most people too, for that matter).

[@farmerboy916]

Ah, I'd missed this. So comforting

[@darkwolfj13]

I personally prefer the idea of befriending the animal instead of breaking it to your own will upon first meeting it. Maybe saving the animal from hunters or the like. I just dont feel the concept of a Ranger would desire to break an animal and force it to do as they wish, but would rather been seen as friend and ally of nature and the animal senses that spirit. I also base my vision of a Ranger/Beastmaster off of an 80's movie called Beastmaster.

[@feildpres]

I have been trying for Goddamn years to make the Beasts for the Beast Master Archtype feel as cool and as useful as they should be, and nothing i've homebrewed has ever really felt right. But the idea of giving your ranger a pool of points that you can use to get your beast to perform certain maneuvers is so genius and yet so simple that I'm kicking myself for not thinking of it sooner thank you for the great idea!!!!

[@horizon241]

I also think it would be thematically appropriate to let the ranger burn spell slots to gain more or better maneuvers, or enhance their companion's abilities or traits somehow.

[@thegodsea6003]

This video just got my sub. Very awesome thoughts all around!

[@Telleryn]

I really like the tag-team style idea, could easily balance it by making beastmasters essentially a support like a bard, so lower damage than a full martial class but able to inflict lots of status effects to grant advantage to allies and disadvantage to enemies, or as handy things for non-combat, having a small scout able to fetch things etc. Could be similar to the eldritch invocations / metamagic system where you pick a few and get more as you level (or like pokemon I guess)

[@jypsridic]

I have issues with making class features into quests. Your take sounds great for anyone who doesn't have the animal companion class feature. A sidequest to pick up something from a different class is great. But druids and rangers don't own their companions, they don't grab a wild animal and grind its will down until it breaks, they make friends with a wild animal and the animal decides to join them on their journey.

[@ymn9738]

Dael holy shit can wizards pls hire you you're amazing

[@GoblinLord]

Not 100% related, but I think you should look at Fey Wanderer Ranger because I think it absolutely fits the concept of vague and evocative (aka the motto for this little community)

[@wanderbust3394]

I guess a pretty obvious one might be gaining advantage by expending a TMP and have the animal companion distract an enemy that is within five feet of it. Although I feel like this could just be a passive effect the way the wolf totem barbarian gives advantage to anyone in a five foot distance.

[@wanderbust3394]

Ooh! another one could be expending a TMP and gaining advantage on animal handling checks on creatures of the same type as your animal companion. Beast/Dragons/aberrations etc. I'd call it Law of the Jungle after the poem by Kipling. Sorta emphasizing the beast master cominion with creatures of nature and the connection to its animal companion.

[@controllerfreak3596]

I just wanted to say I recently discovered your channel and have already watched a ton of videos, I love your content, so much charisma and great ideas.

[@Haggispk]

For inspiration take a look at how to train your dragon with hiccup and toothless. That's a great way to implement earning an animal companions trust and loyalty

[@WardovLorembor]

I think the multi tier system is nice but every ranger would act differently in my opinion. Some are really close to the nature as are druids but others just see it as their hunting territory and want to be the Apex predator. This is why I think you should have different paths to follow. Alpha Beast Masters would make their animal companion submit to them by destroying their will or making them dependent of the Ranger. In this way you can make an evil Ranger. Tier I: should be the same as you said, the animal is just here because the Ranger is watching. Tier II: The animal doesn't defend the trainer but goes berserk on the first enemy it sees but will flee if it is hurt too much. Tier III [aka Stockholm syndrome]: The animal will go until death to avenge you. The difference would be that the "good" path would lead the animal to guard your body and take damage for you, while the "bad" path would make it run around the battlefield until all threat is down but it will not take an arrow for you. Also maybe the good one will be more tanky while the bad one would be more of a DPS.

[@juliabates4621]

I like the flavor and morality this works off of

[@ravenjoker254]

Ok, now I just want a ranger with an elephant, thanks Dael. Thanks for the vid, I realized that I haven't even thought about how my players interacts with their companion :x Though we have very sparse sessions, hopefully I can sneak some bonding in. Bonus cool maneuver: a python companion restraining enemies

[@N3kr0n15]

"Go for the eyes Boo! GO FOR THE EYES!!"

[@DaBezzzz]

Lovely ASMR at the end

[@slebla240]

I think that I would steal from WOW, where boars might have a charge, birds of prey might also have a scout, cats might have a sneak attack, spiders would have a poison... Also, I would treat the beast as another character/NPC but loosely controlled by the Beastmaster. just a thought

[@Drakonous]

While you mentioned raising a young creature I feel that imprinting on a freshly hatched or born animal could be an easy way to skip a stage. Example being a baby duck. Following you around cause it think you're it's mother. That's what I plan to do anyway with one of my players who found an egg. Gonna take a while before it is combat ready and their current companion may feel jealous and leave. But that's the fun of being a DM.

[@erint9751]

It would be neat if when an animal is devoted and has a pack mentality, it would see you as a member of its pack. This would give them the boost of having an actual paxk member.

[@michaelminugh5357]

I’d never play a vanilla ranger, but this? Hell yeah. D&D should be cool, but so often it’s not, and we need these kinds of tweaks. For me, I think the best inspiration for a beast master is from the Robin Hobb-books.