Discussion re: Animal Companion Class(es)

[violintides]

Hey there!
So, one of my favorite things about 3.5 was my druid with her animal companion. I really loved it in Pathfinder as well. However, with 5e, I have found myself saddened that my Druid no longer gets an animal companion (without multi-classing or DM special privilege). So, I'm here asking for some advice.

My goal: To have an animal friend while also having fun with whatever my class does
I will either be a buffing master in the background, slinging spells left and right, or I'll be a tank on the front lines, or maybe just nuke like mad from the back. I'd really enjoy any of those things, I'd just also really like to have an extra little friend (in theory, a bird or stealthy creature of some kind would be ideal for scouting purposes).

#1: Best class to play to get an animal buddy?
In my bit of research, I've only seen Rangers getting an animal companion and only if they go a certain archetype, I've heard tales that the Beastmaster Ranger isn't nearly as fun as other ranger archetypes, so I'm curious to opinions of the community here. Wizards can do Find Familiar, and Sorcerers I think also have a familiar (at least they did in 3.5). I noticed the XGtE gives a new Druid archetype, Circle of the Shepherd, which seems like it would be super fun but I'm trying to break away from the two classes I usually go for (Druid/Cleric). Anyone have any thoughts on the "best" one to go out of those three to optimize playing a class that is fun on its own, but also has an awesome animal pal?

#2: Best extra options with animal friends?
I rarely see anything about multi-classing with regards to animal companions. I don't mind being just one class forever, but I hear it's nice to dip into other classes sometimes. I also would be interested in hearing what sorts of feats the community might recommend for folks using animal companions/familiars.

Thanks in advance for any discussions/advice/help y'all can give. :)

[Waazraath]

The paladin's steed is nice, especially the greater steed. Buff yourself on top of it, preferably long duration and/or no concentration bufffs. Dismount, do your own thing in combat, and have a semi competent beastly helper. The easiest way to do this is paradoxicly with the Bard Class, especially Lore bard. You can grab Find Steed and (for example) Armor of Agathys at 6.

Find familiar can be snatched with a feat, so all classes have easy acces to it.

[Kadesh]

Levistus Tiefling (MToF) with Devil's Tongue (SCAG) Frost Giant Giant Soul Sorcerer 3+ (UA)/Paladin 5-7 who is part of a Cult of Geryon, trying to bring back the deposed ruler of Stygia.

Now you can cast Extended Armour of Agathys on your Steed and Extend it, while using higher level spell slots to cast Aid on it. It should be running around most days with a bonus 30 HP from upcast Aid and AoA, while Quickened Hold Persons power your Smites to make the steeds attacks deal decebt damage.

[Rixitichil]

I note Awaken allows mid to high level druids and Bards to have an animal companion.

Lore Bard with Magic Initiate/Ritual Caster can get an impressive number of companions from some :
Find Familiar
Find Steed
Animate Undead
Find Greater Steed
Awaken
Conjure X
Planar Binding

[nickl_2000]

You can get an animal friend with any class now with the Find Familiar spell on the feat Magic Initiate.

[JellyPooga]

You can get an animal friend with any class now with the Find Familiar spell on the feat Magic Initiate.

Alternatively, you can Magic Initiate Animal Friendship for a bigger friend. Yes, Druids still get an Animal Companion; more than one if they want it. It's just a spell now, instead of a Class Feature.

[Arcangel4774]

I am a fan of using dragons breath spell on animal companions to keep them more combat relevent

[xyianth]

Just another note to consider, a 3-level dip into warlock using the raven queen patron (UA) and the pact of the chain or the pact of the tome gets you 2 familiars. Combining this with 6 levels as a lore bard allows you to grab the find steed, animal friendship, and conjure animals spells. You would also know 12 other spells and 5-8 cantrips, so you could focus on other strategies as well as your army of friends.

[rbstr]

The revised Beastmaster is pretty good you might want to have a look at it. https://media.wizards.com/2016/dnd/downloads/UA_RevisedRanger.pdf

The revised ranger as a whole might be a bit much, but you can easily port the new BM over to the PHB ranger. You just don't get extra attack, you have coordinated attack instead.

[Sobeit]

I second the revised ranger (Beastmaster). Although it's from Unearthed Arcana most of the DM's seems to be OK with this given that the PhB Beastmaster is a bit lacklustre.

Also I'm currently playing a hunter rangers who (by chance) got a hold of a grey bag of tricks. Just like the one Roy had in the early strips of OOTS. I'm telling you I'm having lots of fun with the fuzzy creatures despite and sometimes because of the randomness of the summoned creatures.

(as an example we were fighting a mammoth and what popped out of the bag was a weasel who charged fearlessly towards the mammoth's legs and delivered a crit! For a total of 2 damage, but still. Pretty epic.)

[Vogie]

Yes, Druids still get an Animal Companion; more than one if they want it. It's just a spell now, instead of a Class Feature.

Rangers & Druids can also empower their animal friend with Beast Bond, from the Elemental Evil supplement.

That gives your animal friend telepathy, and advantage on attacking things in your melee range

[ImproperJustice]

Revised Beastmaster is a solid and popular choice at our table. Ranger multi-classes well into Druid after level 6.

Probably not what you are looking for, but throwing this out there:
The Artificer gets a mechanical companion at level 6. It does not scale well and unless your GM is nice (mine allows it’s HIt points to increase).

So you could have a robo-tiger, giant owl/eagle, spider, or Veloci-Raptor if you ao desire.

[MagneticKitty]

Forest gnome or other rangers can talk to animals. Totem barb can speak to animals. If I were dm I'd rule you could befriend a small cr 0 animal with any of these abilities.

[violintides]

Thanks for the tips, guys!

So far it seems like perhaps the Pal/Sorc might be the way to go, or just picking up the feat for Find Familiar on any old character.

Unfortunately, my DM does not allow anything from UA, so a lot of those suggestions would go unwelcome there. :(

That being said, a Paladin with Find Steed doesn't sound like a bad option, combined with Sorc for some damage.

I was hoping to look into a few things and create a bunch of characters to playtest in a one-shot and see how they go. I appreciate the advice! If anyone has any other suggestions, I'm watching. :biggrin: