Wayback_Wind
2016-08-08, 08:56 PM
Hey all.
I'm a new DM, and in the build up to my first game I wanted to offer one of my players an improvement on the Beastmaster Ranger archetype. There's been a lot of suggestions and threads dedicated to this idea that were helpful in understanding why my Beastmasters have underperformed in the past. However, none of them really appealed to me in terms of solutions, so I decided to homebrew one of my own.
I'm looking for thoughts and feedback on the build.
tl;dr
Clarified beast behavior descriptions. Beast continues taking same actions unless ordered otherwise, and will defend itself and you if not given orders. Clarified how your beast gains additional health and how it can be recovered in the event of death.
Clarified how Multiattack interacts with the Attack Option. By default, beast cannot use multiattack, as it is focusing on your orders. Beast can multiattack as its attack option at lv7, and can make one additional normal attack at lv11.
Added ability to improve beast ability scores, and/or select up to 2 specified feats.
Added ‘Magic Fang’ cantrip for rangers to provide beast with a minor buff early on and to address resistances. This can also be used on any creature, including Monks and Wild Shape Druids.
Added ‘Evasion’ effect for beast at 7th level when targeted by AoE spells cast by Ranger. Beast now eliminates disadvantage to Ranger when attacking enemies near Beast.
Added new capstone for 15th level, allowing ranger to use an effect similar to Enlarge on their beast, at the cost of exhaustion to you and your beast on ending the effect. Ranger still gets shared spells.
And here's the full details:
--
Ranger’s Companion
On selecting this archetype at 3rd level, you gain a beast companion. Choose a beast that is no larger than Medium and that has a challenge rating of ¼ or lower.
The beast adds your proficiency to their AC, as well as attack rolls, damage rolls, and any saving throws or skills it is proficient in. The save DC of any of your beast’s abilities becomes = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your beast’s Strength or Dexterity modifier, whichever is higher.
For every Ranger level you gain, your beast gains hit points equal to 4 + your beast’s constitution modifier (+0 minimum, +2 maximum). It gains 1d6 Hit Dice for every Ranger level you have, and can spend these on a short rest to recover health as you would.
On bonding with your beast companion, you learn the Magic Fang cantrip.
---
Magic Fang
Transmutation cantrip
Casting Time: 1 bonus action
Range: Touch
Duration: 1 hour.
You touch one friendly creature. For the duration, that creature’s natural attacks (claws, bites, etc) or unarmed strikes receive a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls, and are considered magical weapons for the purposes of determining resistances. In addition, the creature can choose to apply its Dexterity modifier instead of its Strength modifier to their attack and damage rolls.
---
Your beast obeys your commands as best they can. It takes its turn on your initiative, though it takes no action unless you command them to, instead focusing on defending themselves. Your beast benefits from your Land’s Stride and Hide in Plain Sight ranger abilities, and when traveling through your favored terrain with only your beast companion, you can move stealthily at normal speed.
On your turn, you can verbally command the beast where to move (no action required by you), and you can use your Action to command your beast companion to take the Attack, Help, Dash, Dodge, Disengage action. Once you have the Extra Attack option, you can make one weapon attack when commanding your beast to take the Attack action.
Your beast will continue to take the same action against the same creature during each of its turns unless ordered otherwise, and will defend itself from attacks if not given any orders. If a creature your beast is attacking is reduced to 0 hit points, your beast will await further orders from you. If your beast is within 5 ft of you, it will attempt to defend you.
Your beast’s soul is bound to yours, and it can linger by your side even after death. If your beast’s hit points are brought to 0 and the excess damage does not exceed their maximum hit points, it must succeed on 3 death saving throws to stabilize. If it fails 3 death saving throws, it dies. You can use a bonus action to touch your creature and stabilize it immediately.
If your beast dies, you can perform an 8 hour ritual with its body to restore it to life. This ritual has a material cost of 25 GP times your ranger level and must be performed within a week of your beast’s death. It cures any nonmagical poisons or diseases your beast suffered before death, closes all mortal wounds, and restores any body parts your beast has lost. Your beast is restored to life with 1 hit point, and both you and your beast suffer 2 levels of exhaustion on completion. Alternatively, you can spend 8 hours magically bonding with another beast that isn’t hostile to you. You can perform this ritual at any time, but you may only be bonded to one beast at a time.
Ability Score Improvement
When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your beast companion by 2, or 2 ability scores by 1. As normal, you cannot increase an ability score above 20 with this feature.
If your DM is using the optional Feats rule, you can forego your beast’s ability score improvements to instead teach your beast one of the following feats: Charger, Durable, Grappler, Mage Slayer, Mobile, Resilient, Savage Attacker, Sentinel, Tough. A beast companion can learn a maximum of 2 feats.
Exceptional Training
At level 7, you have developed an unspoken bond and understanding with your beast, and it can move according to your nonverbal commands as long as you are within sight. You can now use a bonus action to command your beast to take the Help, Dash, Dodge, or Disengage action on its turn, and you do not need to issue verbal commands to direct its movement.
Additionally, your beast has advantage on saving throws imposed by spells cast by you, and only suffers half damage from spell effects on a failure, taking no damage on a success. If your beast has the Multiattack feature, it can now use this as its Attack action.
Beastial Fury
At lv 11, your beast can make two attacks when it takes the Attack action on your turn. If your beast has the Multiattack feature, it can use one multiattack and one normal attack. In addition, you never suffer disadvantage on attacks against any creature within 5 ft of your beast as long as your beast is not incapacitated or suffers disadvantage from the same creature.
As part of the growing synergy between you and your companion, your beast companion benefits from the effects of Hunter’s Mark.
Wrath of the Wild
At lv 15 your connection to your beast and your nature magics reaches new heights, and the magic inherent in nature recognises you both as stalwart champions. When you cast a spell targeting yourself, you can also affect your beast companion with the spell as long as they are within 30ft of you.
In addition, you can channel nature’s wild magic into your beast companion, allowing them to assume a mighty Wild Form.
While in Wild Form, your beast doubles in size, expanding in all dimensions, and its weight increases by 8 as it grows by one size category. Any barding or equipment your beast is wearing grows with it. For the duration of this effect, it gains advantage on any Strength checks or saving throws, it deals an extra 1d6 on damage rolls, its speed increases by half its base speed, and it gains +2 to its AC.
Any creatures adjacent to your beast are pushed 5ft away in a blast of wind when your beast’s Wild Form is activated.
You must concentrate on maintaining this effect as you would concentrate on a spell, and cannot concentrate on any spell other than Hunter’s Mark while this effect is active. If you are within 5ft of your beast companion while Wild Form is active, you have advantage on saving throws to maintain your concentration on this effect.
The duration of the Wild Form depends on how long you channel the ability. You can spend one action channeling nature’s magic, and then maintain concentration on the effect for 1 minute.
Alternatively, if you channel nature’s wild magic for 10 minutes, your beast companion can maintain Wild Form for up to 1 hour for every 5 ranger levels you have. If your beast attempts to attack a creature during this time, the remaining duration of Wild Form drops to 1 minute.
When the Wild Form ends, your beast spends 1 round reverting to its normal size, and can take no actions. You and your beast suffer from one level of exhaustion upon ending this effect, and you cannot use this feature if either you or your beast are suffering from any level of exhaustion. You must also wait until dawn the next day before using this feature again.
--
The majority of this build focuses on a clarification of how your beast companion behaves in combat. They require an action to be directed to Attack, but thereafter will keep attacking a target unless instructed otherwise. Defeating an enemy means it waits for more instruction. At CR 1/4, your beast's attacks don't do a huge amount of damage per strike, especially compared to your own damage or the damage a Hunter!Ranger can do.
The diamond here is that you can direct your pet to focus on Helping you or your allies, and still retain action economy for the next several rounds. In order to reflect better teamwork between you two as you gain levels, your beast gets Evasion to AoE spells you cast like Lightning Arrow, it gets to deal Hunter's mark damage when it attacks, and it enhances your ability to strike down marked targets.
Beasts also have access to a few more methods to boost their damage - the Magic Fang cantrip (turning its claws into a +1 magic weapon with finesse, basically) at lv3, Multiattack as Attack at lv7 if it has that action, Hunter's mark benefit at lv11, and then Wild Form at lv15.
The health of your beast is somewhat improved by taking its Con modifier into calculation, and this is further improved if you take the Tough feat. The Beastmaster has strengths that I've tried to enhance, but the major weakness remains: the class feature revolves around a beast that can be killed. However, I'm considering getting rid of the Tough feat option, since this could lead to a beast with 160 HP at lv 20, and that could mitigate the weakness too much.
I've also allowed Beastmasters to bring their beast back to life, in case a player has developed a strong attachment to their companion. If they haven't got a strong attachment, they can also choose a new beast companion without needing the old one to die.
One of the big changes I introduced was the Wild Form lv 15 capstone. It looks flashy, but the net effect is a 1/day Enlarge spell (a 2nd level spell) with improved AC and movement speed thrown in to keep it relevant this late in the game. It requires concentration (but allows you to keep Hunter's Mark), and has the drawback of exhausting both you and your beast when the effect ends. It's better as an encounter ender for that reason.
For flavor reasons, it has the potential to be a super cool and rewarding capstone - dipping into the realm of druids, you infuse your loyal companion with nature's wrath! To me, this is an answer to players who would like a beast companion at higher CR than 1/4, and the improved AC helps spike your companion's staying power and damage during difficult encounters. It provides solid utility as well if you use the longer casting, turning your beast into a sturdy mount with high speed, but has built in disadvantages if you try to begin an encounter with it active.
Please let me know your thoughts!
I'm a new DM, and in the build up to my first game I wanted to offer one of my players an improvement on the Beastmaster Ranger archetype. There's been a lot of suggestions and threads dedicated to this idea that were helpful in understanding why my Beastmasters have underperformed in the past. However, none of them really appealed to me in terms of solutions, so I decided to homebrew one of my own.
I'm looking for thoughts and feedback on the build.
tl;dr
Clarified beast behavior descriptions. Beast continues taking same actions unless ordered otherwise, and will defend itself and you if not given orders. Clarified how your beast gains additional health and how it can be recovered in the event of death.
Clarified how Multiattack interacts with the Attack Option. By default, beast cannot use multiattack, as it is focusing on your orders. Beast can multiattack as its attack option at lv7, and can make one additional normal attack at lv11.
Added ability to improve beast ability scores, and/or select up to 2 specified feats.
Added ‘Magic Fang’ cantrip for rangers to provide beast with a minor buff early on and to address resistances. This can also be used on any creature, including Monks and Wild Shape Druids.
Added ‘Evasion’ effect for beast at 7th level when targeted by AoE spells cast by Ranger. Beast now eliminates disadvantage to Ranger when attacking enemies near Beast.
Added new capstone for 15th level, allowing ranger to use an effect similar to Enlarge on their beast, at the cost of exhaustion to you and your beast on ending the effect. Ranger still gets shared spells.
And here's the full details:
--
Ranger’s Companion
On selecting this archetype at 3rd level, you gain a beast companion. Choose a beast that is no larger than Medium and that has a challenge rating of ¼ or lower.
The beast adds your proficiency to their AC, as well as attack rolls, damage rolls, and any saving throws or skills it is proficient in. The save DC of any of your beast’s abilities becomes = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your beast’s Strength or Dexterity modifier, whichever is higher.
For every Ranger level you gain, your beast gains hit points equal to 4 + your beast’s constitution modifier (+0 minimum, +2 maximum). It gains 1d6 Hit Dice for every Ranger level you have, and can spend these on a short rest to recover health as you would.
On bonding with your beast companion, you learn the Magic Fang cantrip.
---
Magic Fang
Transmutation cantrip
Casting Time: 1 bonus action
Range: Touch
Duration: 1 hour.
You touch one friendly creature. For the duration, that creature’s natural attacks (claws, bites, etc) or unarmed strikes receive a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls, and are considered magical weapons for the purposes of determining resistances. In addition, the creature can choose to apply its Dexterity modifier instead of its Strength modifier to their attack and damage rolls.
---
Your beast obeys your commands as best they can. It takes its turn on your initiative, though it takes no action unless you command them to, instead focusing on defending themselves. Your beast benefits from your Land’s Stride and Hide in Plain Sight ranger abilities, and when traveling through your favored terrain with only your beast companion, you can move stealthily at normal speed.
On your turn, you can verbally command the beast where to move (no action required by you), and you can use your Action to command your beast companion to take the Attack, Help, Dash, Dodge, Disengage action. Once you have the Extra Attack option, you can make one weapon attack when commanding your beast to take the Attack action.
Your beast will continue to take the same action against the same creature during each of its turns unless ordered otherwise, and will defend itself from attacks if not given any orders. If a creature your beast is attacking is reduced to 0 hit points, your beast will await further orders from you. If your beast is within 5 ft of you, it will attempt to defend you.
Your beast’s soul is bound to yours, and it can linger by your side even after death. If your beast’s hit points are brought to 0 and the excess damage does not exceed their maximum hit points, it must succeed on 3 death saving throws to stabilize. If it fails 3 death saving throws, it dies. You can use a bonus action to touch your creature and stabilize it immediately.
If your beast dies, you can perform an 8 hour ritual with its body to restore it to life. This ritual has a material cost of 25 GP times your ranger level and must be performed within a week of your beast’s death. It cures any nonmagical poisons or diseases your beast suffered before death, closes all mortal wounds, and restores any body parts your beast has lost. Your beast is restored to life with 1 hit point, and both you and your beast suffer 2 levels of exhaustion on completion. Alternatively, you can spend 8 hours magically bonding with another beast that isn’t hostile to you. You can perform this ritual at any time, but you may only be bonded to one beast at a time.
Ability Score Improvement
When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your beast companion by 2, or 2 ability scores by 1. As normal, you cannot increase an ability score above 20 with this feature.
If your DM is using the optional Feats rule, you can forego your beast’s ability score improvements to instead teach your beast one of the following feats: Charger, Durable, Grappler, Mage Slayer, Mobile, Resilient, Savage Attacker, Sentinel, Tough. A beast companion can learn a maximum of 2 feats.
Exceptional Training
At level 7, you have developed an unspoken bond and understanding with your beast, and it can move according to your nonverbal commands as long as you are within sight. You can now use a bonus action to command your beast to take the Help, Dash, Dodge, or Disengage action on its turn, and you do not need to issue verbal commands to direct its movement.
Additionally, your beast has advantage on saving throws imposed by spells cast by you, and only suffers half damage from spell effects on a failure, taking no damage on a success. If your beast has the Multiattack feature, it can now use this as its Attack action.
Beastial Fury
At lv 11, your beast can make two attacks when it takes the Attack action on your turn. If your beast has the Multiattack feature, it can use one multiattack and one normal attack. In addition, you never suffer disadvantage on attacks against any creature within 5 ft of your beast as long as your beast is not incapacitated or suffers disadvantage from the same creature.
As part of the growing synergy between you and your companion, your beast companion benefits from the effects of Hunter’s Mark.
Wrath of the Wild
At lv 15 your connection to your beast and your nature magics reaches new heights, and the magic inherent in nature recognises you both as stalwart champions. When you cast a spell targeting yourself, you can also affect your beast companion with the spell as long as they are within 30ft of you.
In addition, you can channel nature’s wild magic into your beast companion, allowing them to assume a mighty Wild Form.
While in Wild Form, your beast doubles in size, expanding in all dimensions, and its weight increases by 8 as it grows by one size category. Any barding or equipment your beast is wearing grows with it. For the duration of this effect, it gains advantage on any Strength checks or saving throws, it deals an extra 1d6 on damage rolls, its speed increases by half its base speed, and it gains +2 to its AC.
Any creatures adjacent to your beast are pushed 5ft away in a blast of wind when your beast’s Wild Form is activated.
You must concentrate on maintaining this effect as you would concentrate on a spell, and cannot concentrate on any spell other than Hunter’s Mark while this effect is active. If you are within 5ft of your beast companion while Wild Form is active, you have advantage on saving throws to maintain your concentration on this effect.
The duration of the Wild Form depends on how long you channel the ability. You can spend one action channeling nature’s magic, and then maintain concentration on the effect for 1 minute.
Alternatively, if you channel nature’s wild magic for 10 minutes, your beast companion can maintain Wild Form for up to 1 hour for every 5 ranger levels you have. If your beast attempts to attack a creature during this time, the remaining duration of Wild Form drops to 1 minute.
When the Wild Form ends, your beast spends 1 round reverting to its normal size, and can take no actions. You and your beast suffer from one level of exhaustion upon ending this effect, and you cannot use this feature if either you or your beast are suffering from any level of exhaustion. You must also wait until dawn the next day before using this feature again.
--
The majority of this build focuses on a clarification of how your beast companion behaves in combat. They require an action to be directed to Attack, but thereafter will keep attacking a target unless instructed otherwise. Defeating an enemy means it waits for more instruction. At CR 1/4, your beast's attacks don't do a huge amount of damage per strike, especially compared to your own damage or the damage a Hunter!Ranger can do.
The diamond here is that you can direct your pet to focus on Helping you or your allies, and still retain action economy for the next several rounds. In order to reflect better teamwork between you two as you gain levels, your beast gets Evasion to AoE spells you cast like Lightning Arrow, it gets to deal Hunter's mark damage when it attacks, and it enhances your ability to strike down marked targets.
Beasts also have access to a few more methods to boost their damage - the Magic Fang cantrip (turning its claws into a +1 magic weapon with finesse, basically) at lv3, Multiattack as Attack at lv7 if it has that action, Hunter's mark benefit at lv11, and then Wild Form at lv15.
The health of your beast is somewhat improved by taking its Con modifier into calculation, and this is further improved if you take the Tough feat. The Beastmaster has strengths that I've tried to enhance, but the major weakness remains: the class feature revolves around a beast that can be killed. However, I'm considering getting rid of the Tough feat option, since this could lead to a beast with 160 HP at lv 20, and that could mitigate the weakness too much.
I've also allowed Beastmasters to bring their beast back to life, in case a player has developed a strong attachment to their companion. If they haven't got a strong attachment, they can also choose a new beast companion without needing the old one to die.
One of the big changes I introduced was the Wild Form lv 15 capstone. It looks flashy, but the net effect is a 1/day Enlarge spell (a 2nd level spell) with improved AC and movement speed thrown in to keep it relevant this late in the game. It requires concentration (but allows you to keep Hunter's Mark), and has the drawback of exhausting both you and your beast when the effect ends. It's better as an encounter ender for that reason.
For flavor reasons, it has the potential to be a super cool and rewarding capstone - dipping into the realm of druids, you infuse your loyal companion with nature's wrath! To me, this is an answer to players who would like a beast companion at higher CR than 1/4, and the improved AC helps spike your companion's staying power and damage during difficult encounters. It provides solid utility as well if you use the longer casting, turning your beast into a sturdy mount with high speed, but has built in disadvantages if you try to begin an encounter with it active.
Please let me know your thoughts!