Animal Companions for Everyone (PEACH)

[GalacticAxekick]

I don't like the Beast Master Ranger. I don't think there's a good reason to give rangers a monopoly on animal companions, and so I'm writing houserules to get rid of that monopoly. Let me know how they can be improved upon!

Charisma (Animal Handling)
Animal Handling is now a Charisma skill, representing the user's ability to influence the behavior of beasts. If you begin the game proficient with Animal Handling, you also begin with one companion or mount of your choice from either the official Monster Manual or my homebrew Bestiary. In either case, your companion must be a beast with a CR of 1/8 or lower, or your mount must be a beast with a CR of 1/2 or lower. For example, camels, donkeys, horses, and ostriches are acceptable mounts, but bulls and elephants are not. Dogs, cats, birds, and venomous snakes are acceptable companions, but wolves and cheetahs are not.

Animal Companions
You can command an animal companion only if it has been trained to accept you as a master. Your animal companion obeys your commands as best as it can. It takes its turn on your initiative. On your turn, you can verbally command the companion where to move, and you can command it to take Dash, Disengage, Dodge, Help, or Hide actions (no action required by you). You can use your action to command your companion to take any other action it is capable of. If you are incapacitated or absent, the companion acts on its own, focusing on protecting you and itself.

Feat: Beast Master
Prerequisite: proficiency in Animal Handling

Choose an animal companion of yours. Over the course of one day, you train the beast to fight alongside you. The beast then gains the following benefits until you train another animal companion:

• The companion's hit point maximum equals its normal maximum or four times your level: whichever is higher.
• The companion's proficiency bonus increases (but never decreases) to equal your own
• When you take the Attack action, you can forgo one or more of your attacks and order your companion to make them instead, up to the maximum number of attacks it could make with its own Attack or Multiattack action.
• Your companion's weapon attacks benefit from any features you have that improve upon your weapon attacks (e.g. Divine Smite, Fighting Style, Rage, Sneak Attack). If a feature requires that the weapon has a specific property, your companion's weapon attacks are considered to have that property.

Feat: War Rider
Prerequisite: proficiency in Animal Handling

Choose a mount that is loyal to you. Over the course of one day, you train the beast to fight alongside you. The beast then gains the following benefits until you train another mount:

• The mount's hit point maximum equals its normal maximum or four times your level: whichever is higher
• The mount's proficiency bonus increases (but never decreases) to equal your own
• While you are riding your mount, you can use your action to command it to take any action it is capable of.
• While you are riding your mount, you can forgo one or more of your Attack action attacks and order the mount to make them instead, up to the maximum number of attacks it can make with its Attack or Multiattack action.
• While you are riding your mount, its weapon attacks benefit from any features you have that improve upon your weapon attacks (e.g. Divine Smite, Fighting Style, Rage, Sneak Attack). If a feature requires that the weapon has a specific property, your mount's weapon attacks are considered to have that property.

Feat: Beast Whisperer
Prerequisite: proficiency in Animal Handling

You have cultivated the ability to empathize with beasts, especially those close to you. You gain the following benefits:

• You can comprehend and verbally communicate with beasts.
• You can nonverbally communicate with any animal companions or mounts you have, as long as they can see you.
• As long as you can see or hear your animal companion or mount, you can perceive through its senses, and vice versa. Anything that the beast cannot comprehend (such as writing) or recognize (such as a stranger's face) appears vague you perceive it using this feature.

[Yakk]

I'd cap the HD at your proficiency bonus. (not counting expertise)

Then add in a mechanism to make a beast loyal to you (capped by your proficiency bonus).

Curious why a wolf isn't an acceptable pet? It is 2 HD.

The beast's number of hit dice increase (but never decrease) to equal your own, and its maximum hit points increase accordingly.

I'd grant it extra HD, up to your proficiency bonus. A 20 HD pet seems a lot.

The beast's proficiency bonus increases (but never decreases) to equal your own

Here, I'd be tempted to just grant your proficiency bonus to its attack rolls, AC and saving throws.

The difference is going to be 2 points, and the math is insanely easier.

If you can make two or more attacks with the Attack action, you can forgo one or more of them and order your companion to make them instead, up to the maximum number of attacks it can make with Attack action.

This is a ribbon, unless you cheese it, honestly. A random beast's per-attack damage is going to be worse than a PCs.

You can probably find some beasts with better attack damage, but that is (as mentioned) the cheese route.

A system that doesn't require cheese (a narrow specific choice) to not-suck would be better. Not sure how.

Second, most beasts don't make the Attack action; they make the multiattack action.

Third, 2 or more seems like a strange restriction here.

...

Beast-Bonded is pretty expensive for a feat. And you get a worse scout than picking up "summon familiar" through one of many methods.

For Beast-Bonded I might go with turning your Beast into a spirit animal companion. That you can recreate if it is hurt, gains intelligence, etc.

It both provides a more meaty package and can make "oh no my beast died" less of a problem (there is still "oh no my beast got hurt").

[noob]

I'd cap the HD at your proficiency bonus. (not counting expertise)

Then add in a mechanism to make a beast loyal to you (capped by your proficiency bonus).

Curious why a wolf isn't an acceptable pet? It is 2 HD.


I'd grant it extra HD, up to your proficiency bonus. A 20 HD pet seems a lot.

Here, I'd be tempted to just grant your proficiency bonus to its attack rolls, AC and saving throws.

The difference is going to be 2 points, and the math is insanely easier.

This is a ribbon, unless you cheese it, honestly. A random beast's per-attack damage is going to be worse than a PCs.

You can probably find some beasts with better attack damage, but that is (as mentioned) the cheese route.

A system that doesn't require cheese (a narrow specific choice) to not-suck would be better. Not sure how.

Second, most beasts don't make the Attack action; they make the multiattack action.

Third, 2 or more seems like a strange restriction here.

...

Beast-Bonded is pretty expensive for a feat. And you get a worse scout than picking up "summon familiar" through one of many methods.

For Beast-Bonded I might go with turning your Beast into a spirit animal companion. That you can recreate if it is hurt, gains intelligence, etc.

It both provides a more meaty package and can make "oh no my beast died" less of a problem (there is still "oh no my beast got hurt").

Ranger's beasts are limited to the attack action.

You can use your action to verbally command it to take the Attack, Dash, Disengage, or Help action. If you don’t issue a command, the beast takes the Dodge action. Once you have the Extra Attack feature, you can make one weapon attack yourself when you command the beast to take the Attack action. While traveling through your favored terrain with only the beast, you can move stealthily at a normal pace.

And the ranger need to say to their pet to attack every round.
I believe the intent of the feat was to give a pet as much useless as the ranger one so it is normal if it does not multiattack nor do anything useful.
You need to wait for level 11 before your beast can multiattack as a ranger:

Starting at 11th level, when you command your beast companion to take the Attack action, the beast can make two attacks, or it can take the Multiattack action if it has that action.

And level 11 unlocks should be outside of the effects of a feat else it is just a lame level 11 unlock.

I'd grant it extra HD, up to your proficiency bonus. A 20 HD pet seems a lot.

Having low hd means the pet will be vulnerable to hd based effects so at the very least your pet should get virtual hd for the purpose of resisting such effects.
That and by level 20 any caster with wish or simulacrum could get a simulacrum of any 20 hd creature and it would have 20 hd and act on its own and be better in general so level 20 is not a good evaluation point for stuff in general.

[Yakk]

Ranger's beasts are limited to the attack action.

Ranger's beasts wording is very different than this one. My point is no beast has multiple attacks; so the bit about the beast making more than 1 attack is nonsense.

And the ranger need to say to their pet to attack every round.
I believe the intent of the feat was to give a pet as much useless as the ranger one so it is normal if it does not multiattack nor do anything useful.

Tasha's beast pets don't have that bug in them.

There was like 1 or 2 pets you could cheese-optimize into being a better attack than the baseline ranger's attack. For most pets, it was a trap.

Don't replicate bad design? "You can do TRAP OPTION" once we know the option is a trap seems like a bad idea.

You need to wait for level 11 before your beast can multiattack as a ranger:

And level 11 unlocks should be outside of the effects of a feat else it is just a lame level 11 unlock.

Then remove stuff about letting the pet attack more than once.

Having low hd means the pet will be vulnerable to hd based effects so at the very least your pet should get virtual hd for the purpose of resisting such effects.

What HD based effects?

I'm serious. I don't know if there is one in 5e, and if there is, it is very obscure.

The 20 HD bit is just that the pet ends up being as tanky as the controller, or moreso (d10 HD, possibly decent con). One design problem with pets in a game like D&D is how to make them useful without outshining PCs.

Almost all of the "power budget" of this feat is sunk into "THAT IS A HUGE BAG OF HP". I'm not sure that is a great way to balance something like this.

[GalacticAxekick]

I'd cap the HD at your proficiency bonus. (not counting expertise) [...] A 20 HD pet seems a lot.

This defeats the purpose: lifting any beast up the player's level so that it can fight on the player's behalf. Do you think a 20th level player could adventure with anything less than a 20 HD beast without it dying?

Then add in a mechanism to make a beast loyal to you

Animal Handling is that mechanism.

Curious why a wolf isn't an acceptable pet? It is 2 HD.

The wolf in my Bestiary has 3 HD.

I'd grant it extra HD, up to your proficiency bonus.

I want every beast to be lifted up to the player's level, so that every beast is viable, and so that players have no incentive to abandon their animal friends for stronger animal.

For example, if you are a 10th level player, you should always get at least a 10 HD companion. A 1 HD mastiff and a 5 HD polar bear (using the Monster Manual) should both be lifted up to 10 HD.

With your suggestion, the mastiff is bumped to 5 HD and the bear to 9 HD by your +4 proficiency bonus. This puts the player in a position to think "this mastiff can't keep up. I'm getting rid of her and training a bear".

Here, I'd be tempted to just grant your proficiency bonus to its attack rolls, AC and saving throws.

I have two problems with this.

One is that it makes the beast stronger even if it's already stronger than you. I'll say again that the goal is to raise the beast to your level, rather than indiscriminately raising beasts above THEIR level.

The other is that this would make many Bestiary beasts overpowered. Brown bears (for example) potentially go from +10 to hit to +16, and from dealing 14 (2d6 + 7) damage with each of their three attacks to 20 (2d6 + 13). And this is before potential Divine Smite, Fighting Style, Hunter's Mark, or Rage bonuses.

This is a ribbon, unless you cheese it, honestly. A random beast's per-attack damage is going to be worse than a PCs. [...] A system that doesn't require cheese (a narrow specific choice) to not-suck would be better.

Even if the beast's per-attack damage is worse than yours, you gain a second pool of hit points to tank damage, and the power to cover more space on the battlefield. Add the Bestiary and now you have many beasts with equal or higher damage per attack than the average PC, or special abilities the PC lacks.

Second, most beasts don't make the Attack action; they make the multiattack action.

Sure. I'll update the phrasing to reflect that. But you get the point, right? "You can give up your attacks and ask your beast to make them instead, but only up to the number of attacks it could make as an action)

Third, 2 or more seems like a strange restriction here.

Well, no. If you can only make one attack with the Attack action and you "give up that attack and tell your beast to make it instead", you're simply not taking the Attack action. You're just telling your beast to use ITS OWN Attack/Multiattack action. Anyone with a companion can do that.

But if you can make 2 or more attacks with the attack action and you give up some of them and tell your beast to make them instead, THEN you are doing something no one else can do: splitting your action between you and your beast.

Beast-Bonded is pretty expensive for a feat. And you get a worse scout than picking up "summon familiar" through one of many methods.

Agreed! I'd love to fix that

For Beast-Bonded I might go with turning your Beast into a spirit animal companion. That you can recreate if it is hurt, gains intelligence, etc.

For magical beast bonds there's... well, Beast Bond and Beast Sense. I want to completely avoid magic with these rules. These rules are meant to represent what someone can accomplish just by being good with animals.

It both provides a more meaty package and can make "oh no my beast died" less of a problem (there is still "oh no my beast got hurt").

Oh but that problem is GOOD! The death of your beast SHOULD be serious! Or as serious as any other death, anyway! Your companion or mount isn't just a feature or a disposable resource. It's a creature! It might even be your friend! It's closer to a party member than it is to a spell slot.

[GalacticAxekick]

I believe the intent of the feat was to give a pet as much useless as the ranger one so it is normal if it does not multiattack nor do anything useful.

No, the intent is that your pet can Multiattack. I just phrased it poorly.

My Animal Companion rules let you command your pet to take any action it is capable of (including Multiattack) as an action.

My Beast Master feat adds that if you take the Attack action and you can make multiple attacks, you can command your beast to make some of them (up to the maximum number of attacks it could make with Multiattack)

So if you are a Fighter who can make 4 attacks and your companion is a bear that can make 2, the animal companion rules let you EITHER make 4 attacks OR command your bear to make 2. The Beast Master feat lets you up UP TO 2 of your 4 attacks to your bear (e.g. you make 3 it makes 1, or you make 2 it makes 2).

The intended benefit is that you can fight in two places at once, or take advantage of your beast's special attacks without giving up your own extra attacks.

[Yakk]

Oh, then I have no idea how your rules work, as they are intensely tied to a huge host of unknown to me rules in your beastiary.

Note that in 5e core, CR is the meaningful limit; HD is a vestigial stat with little to no impact on the game.

[GalacticAxekick]

Oh, then I have no idea how your rules work, as they are intensely tied to a huge host of unknown to me rules in your beastiary.

My rules are written to accommodate the bestiary, but they aren't tied to it at all . All you need to know about the bestiary is that it contains beasts stronger than those in the Monster Manual.

My only objection to your suggestions based on the Bestiary was "we can't add the PC's proficiency to a companion's attacks/damage/AC/saves, because a companion could have a CR anywhere between 0 and 10."

My other objections, which have nothing to do with the bestiary, are as follows:

1. Wouldn't capping the HD increase at your proficiency bonus mean that beasts are too fragile for mid- and high-level adventure? I'm open to a new hit point scaling system, as long as it raises the beast the PCs level.
2. Wouldn't granting a set number of bonus HD across the board mean that the strongest beasts stay strongest and the weakest stay weakest? I'm open to a new hit point scaling system, as long as it makes all beasts close to equally viable.
3. Even if the beast fails to improve a PC's damage output, isn't it beneficial to have a second pool of hit points nearly as big (or perhaps bigger) than your own?
4. The "forgo an attack when you make two attacks or more" rule couldn't work any other way. If you are only capable of one attack and you forgo that attack let your beast attack in your place, it's no different from if you hadn't taken the Attack action at all, and just ordered your beast to attack. Is there a clearer way for me to write the rule?
5. I see the need to buff Beast Bond, but I don't want to do so with magic or by making the beast unkillable. What is a non-magical way to buff it?

Note that in 5e core, CR is the meaningful limit; HD is a vestigial stat with little to no impact on the game.

Sure! I'll limit starting companions/mounts by CR instead of hit dice. I'll say CR 1/8 for companions and CR 1/2 for mounts.

[Yakk]

Why are companions weaker than mounts? Is there a mechanical difference?

A mount is a companion you can ride. So ... by making it ridable, you get more CR?

...

The scaling HP of the BM companion is the major feature of the subclass. It single handedly turns that subclass into HP sponge that rivals the Bearbarian.

The companion you wrote up has HP similar to that, but next to no offensive features (again, this will depend on the monster manual expansion you have). So it puts most of its "oomph" into HP, and the only thing mitigating the raw scale of that oomph (doubling the characters controlled total HP) is that the creature's offence is abysmal (so monsters should mostly just ignore it). Your MM extension might just change that, making it insanely good.

A really good feat in 5e is one that you might consider swapping for +2 in your primary attack attribute at level 4. SS/PAM/GWM/XBE are at this scale. And that scale is about 3-5 damage per round, give or take. That honestly doesn't leave much design room, unless you want to make it a must-have feat.

And doubling your HP budget is more than 3-5 damage per round. A decent model of character power is the square root of HP times damage output; you can tweak offence and defence and the power (1.7 is a bit better than 2), but it is it. Regardless, doubling the HP you have available is HUGE in terms of impact.

(OTOH, if you are dropped your companion probably becomes useless. That again makes the "damage the companion" a trap for monsters.)

I dunno. This is hard.

[GalacticAxekick]

Spoiler: For Yakk

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Why are companions weaker than mounts? Is there a mechanical difference?

A mount is a companion you can ride. So ... by making it ridable, you get more CR?

A mount is a companion that only obeys orders while you are riding it, and that cannot be ordered to take any action other than Dash, Disengage, or Dodge. That's all laid out in the Player's Handbook.

Because mounts are harmless, and because the ways you can interact with them are significantly more limited, I think it's safe to allow higher CR mounts. For example a warhorse has a CR of 1/2, and seems to me like a suitable mount for a 1st level PC. But a crocodile has a CR of 1/2, and is way too powerful as a companion. A mastiff (1/8), eagle (0) or poisonous snake (1/8) are more in line.

The scaling HP of the BM companion is the major feature of the subclass. It single handedly turns that subclass into HP sponge that rivals the Bearbarian.

The companion you wrote up has HP similar to that, but next to no offensive features (again, this will depend on the monster manual expansion you have). So it puts most of its "oomph" into HP, and the only thing mitigating the raw scale of that oomph (doubling the characters controlled total HP) is that the creature's offence is abysmal (so monsters should mostly just ignore it). Your MM extension might just change that, making it insanely good.

A really good feat in 5e is one that you might consider swapping for +2 in your primary attack attribute at level 4. SS/PAM/GWM/XBE are at this scale. And that scale is about 3-5 damage per round, give or take. That honestly doesn't leave much design room, unless you want to make it a must-have feat.

And doubling your HP budget is more than 3-5 damage per round. A decent model of character power is the square root of HP times damage output; you can tweak offence and defence and the power (1.7 is a bit better than 2), but it is it. Regardless, doubling the HP you have available is HUGE in terms of impact.

Okay, so the Beast Master has to be weakened to prevent it from being a must-have. I'll rewrite the beast's HP scaling so that (like a Beast Master Ranger's companion) it scales with the player's level, but at a low rate.

(OTOH, if you are dropped your companion probably becomes useless. That again makes the "damage the companion" a trap for monsters.)

Oh! I should probably write a clause that says "if you are incapacitated or absent, your companion continues to act according any orders you left it and its best judgement." This way the DM could have the companion continue fighting.

I'll steal one from the Beast Master Ranger.

Spoiler: New & Revised Homebrew Rules (changes to old rules in bold)

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Charisma (Animal Handling)
Animal Handling is now a Charisma skill, representing the user's ability to influence the behavior of beasts. If you begin the game proficient with Animal Handling, you also begin with one companion or mount of your choice from either the official Monster Manual or my homebrew Bestiary. In either case, your companion must be a beast with a CR of 1/8 or lower, or your mount must be a beast with a CR of 1/2 or lower. For example, camels, donkeys, horses, and ostriches are acceptable mounts, but bulls and elephants are not. Dogs, cats, birds, and venomous snakes are acceptable companions, but wolves and cheetahs are not.

Animal Companions
You can command an animal companion only if it has been trained to accept you as a master. Your animal companion obeys your commands as best as it can. It takes its turn on your initiative. On your turn, you can verbally command the companion where to move, and you can command it to take Dash, Disengage, Dodge, Help, or Hide actions (no action required by you). You can use your action to command your companion to take any other action it is capable of. If you are incapacitated or absent, the companion acts on its own, focusing on protecting you and itself.

Feat: Beast Master
Prerequisite: proficiency in Animal Handling

Choose an animal companion of yours. Over the course of one day, you train the beast to fight alongside you. The beast then gains the following benefits until you train another animal companion:

• The companion's hit point maximum equals its normal maximum or four times your level: whichever is higher.
• The companion's proficiency bonus increases (but never decreases) to equal your own
• When you take the Attack action, you can forgo one or more of your attacks and order your companion to make them instead, up to the maximum number of attacks it could make with its own Attack or Multiattack action.
• Your companion's weapon attacks benefit from any features you have that improve upon your weapon attacks (e.g. Divine Smite, Fighting Style, Rage, Sneak Attack). If a feature requires that the weapon has a specific property, your companion's weapon attacks are considered to have that property.

Feat: War Rider
Prerequisite: proficiency in Animal Handling

Choose a mount that is loyal to you. Over the course of one day, you train the beast to fight alongside you. The beast then gains the following benefits until you train another mount:

• The mount's hit point maximum equals its normal maximum or four times your level: whichever is higher
• The mount's proficiency bonus increases (but never decreases) to equal your own
• While you are riding your mount, you can use your action to command it to take any action it is capable of.
• While you are riding your mount, you can forgo one or more of your Attack action attacks and order the mount to make them instead, up to the maximum number of attacks it can make with its Attack or Multiattack action.
• While you are riding your mount, its weapon attacks benefit from any features you have that improve upon your weapon attacks (e.g. Divine Smite, Fighting Style, Rage, Sneak Attack). If a feature requires that the weapon has a specific property, your mount's weapon attacks are considered to have that property.

Feat: Beast Whisperer
Prerequisite: proficiency in Animal Handling

You have cultivated the ability to empathize with beasts, especially those close to you. You gain the following benefits:

• You can comprehend and verbally communicate with beasts.
• You can nonverbally communicate with any animal companions or mounts you have, as long as they can see you.
• As long as you can see or hear your animal companion or mount, you can perceive through its senses, and vice versa. Anything that the beast cannot comprehend (such as writing) or recognize (such as a stranger's face) appears vague you perceive it using this feature.

[GalacticAxekick]

Spoiler: Example: Attack Dog Fighter

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A 1st level Fighter takes the Dueling Fighting Style and proficiency in Animal Handling. He chooses a mastiff as his animal companion, and his mastiff has the following features and statistics:

• 5 (1d8 + 1) hit points
• Keen Hearing & Smell
• +3 (+1 Wisdom +2 proficiency) Perception
• +3 (+1 Strength +2 proficiency) to hit with its Bite
• 4 (1d6 +1 Strength) piercing damage from its Bite
• DC 11 (8 +1 Strength +2 proficiency) Strength save or the bitten target falls prone

The mastiff is useful to Help or Search in or out of combat, no action required. Its Bite attack is also a good way to knock an enemy prone while damaging it.

At 4th level, the Fighter takes the Beast Master feat. The mastiff gains the following benefits, which make it more formidable in combat:

• 16 (4 * 4) hit points
• 6 (1d6 +1 Strength +2 Dueling Style) piercing damage from its Bite

At 5th level, the Fighter gains several features that interact with the Beast Master feat:

• The mastiff now has 20 (5 * 4) hit points
• The mastiff now share's the Fighter's +3 proficiency bonus, increasing its Perception and attack rolls to +4, and save DC to 12
• When the Fighter takes the attack action, he can forgo one of his attacks and command the mastiff to Bite in his place.

Spoiler: Example: Falconer Rogue

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A 1st level Rogue gains proficiency in Animal Handling. She chooses an owl as her animal companion, and her owl has the following features and statistics:

• 1 (1d4 - 1) hit points
• Darkvision
• Keen Hearing & Sight
• Flyby
• +3 (+1 Wisdom +2 proficiency) Perception
• +3 (+1 Dexterity +2 proficiency) Stealth
• +3 (+1 Dexterity +2 proficiency) to hit with its Talons
• 1 piercing damage from its Bite

The owl is useful to Help or Search in or out of combat, no action required. The owl's Flyby feature means it can fly in and out of melee without provoking opportunity attacks, making it the best way for the Rogue to score Sneak Attacks unless it is shot and killed.

At 4th level, the Rogue takes the Beast Whisperer feat. The she gains the following features that make her and her owl a formidable team of spies:

• The Rogue can speak to all animals verbally
• The Rogue can speak to her owl nonverbally (e.g. while sneaking)
• As long as the Rogue can see or hear her owl, she can perceive through its senses. The Rogue gains a literal bird's-eye view of the world, with Darkvision, Keen Hearing and Keen Sight.

At 6th level, the Rogue can then take the Beast Master feat:

• The owl now has 24 (6 * 4) hit points
• The owl now shares the Rogue's +3 proficiency bonus, increasing its Perception, Stealth and attack rolls to +4.
• The owl can deliver Sneak Attacks on the Rogue's behalf, for 11 (1 + 3d6) slashing damage.

Spoiler: Example: Jousting Paladin

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A 1st level Paladin gains proficiency in Animal Handling. She chooses an warhorse as her mount, and her horse has the following features and statistics:

• 19 (3d10 + 3) hit points
• +6 (+4 Strength +2 proficiency) to hit with its Hooves
• 11 (2d6 + 4) bludgeoning damage from its Hooves
• DC 14 (8 +4 Strength +2 proficiency) Strength save or a trampled target falls prone

The warhorse increases the Paladin's speed to 60 feet, and it can Dash or Disengage no action required. However it cannot attack, and it does not take orders when it is not mounted.

At 2nd level, the Paladin takes the Great Weapon Fighting Style and gains Divine Smite, which will be relevant soon..

At 4th level, the Paladin takes the War Rider feat. The warhorse gains the following benefits, which make it more formidable in combat:

• The warhorse can now be commanded to attack while the Paladin is riding it, allowing it to use its Hooves and Trampling Charge
• The warhorse now benefits from GWF Style. It can reroll 1s and 2s on its 2d6 +4 Hooves attack.
• The warhorse can now deliver the Paladin's Smite

At 5th level, the Paladin gains several features that interact with the War Rider feat:

• The warhorse now has 20 (5 * 4) hit points
• The warhorse now shares the Paladin +3 proficiency bonus, increasing its attack rolls to +7, and save DC to 15
• When the Paladin takes the attack action, she can forgo one of her attacks and command the horse to make a Hooves attack in her place.

What this thought experiment says to me is that Animal Companions, the Beast Master feat, and the Beast Whisperer feat look pretty good, but that the War Rider feat is too powerful in conjunction with CR 1/2 mounts. Give 4th level PCs and Variant Humans 2d6+4 damage attacks that knock prone and lead to bonus action attacks is too much.

I think it's fine if a player can acquire such a mount by adventuring (the same way that a player can acquire magic items and such). So I'll limit just starting mounts to CR 1/4 (which includes draft horses, riding horses, camels and axe beaks) and leave the feats unchanged. That look good?

[brian 333]

Domesticated animals are more loyal and easier to train than wild ones. Perhaps offer a bonus to control of animals bred to be companions, such as dogs or horses.

[GalacticAxekick]

Domesticated animals are more loyal and easier to train than wild ones. Perhaps offer a bonus to control of animals bred to be companions, such as dogs or horses.

Well, there's no set DC to handle an animal, just like there's no set DC to persuade a person. The DM can set the DC however they think is appropriate, which realistically means handling domestic animals is a lower DC task most of the time.

On top of that, the CR limit for starting companions/mounts means you can start with any domestic specific (all of which are low CR), but with few wild species (most of which are high CR).

Do you have any suggestions for the companion rules or feats?