Beastmaster Pet Disappointment

[Mystic Bear Knight]

It does not feel like "summon companion" it feels like summon an assortment of random broken underpowered animals and a monstrous spider that is more powerful and useful than it has any right to be.

Firstly I like having a designated companion I can name and have a bond with, and see grow over my journey. If we are not doing that it just feels like a random summon spell not a Ranger's bond with an animal companion he actually has an important relationship with.

So okay, moving past that... they should all be viable in some context then or we should be able to favor one and adapt our playstyle to that. Right now the Spider has way more health than the Bear.

I would assume by looking at their abilities the intention is to do just that, set each up for a role, and stats are currently just broken or not fully implemented. It seems clear to me roles are as follows:

Raven: Scout - useful but literally 1 health...lol

Spider: Crowd control - but has 10 more health than tank, should be weak as hell, with its mobility and crowd control to balance it out, and its creepy ugly like a monster

Bear: Tank - but it needs AC increased and way more health

Wolf: Damage - but its way too squishy and is weak in damage too

Boar: Knockdown, hybrid I guess - its knockdown is buggy with targeting

[SpaceKiwi]

"Beastmaster pet disappointment"

At least it's accurate to 5e hahaha

For real though, it does sound like the beasts need some balancing.

[Sir_Baldur]

As it currently stands the ranger has been turned into some weird summoner.

Larian is missing the complexity of why people pick the beastmaster class.

It's a vehicle for narrating the bond between you and your animal.

Spider: 32 Hp
Bear: 11
Wolf: 11
Raven 1.

5th edition makes any animal that bonds with the ranger into a medium size animal.

That - they got right - but the animal companion is supposed to level up with the beastmaster and gain powers.

A good idea is if at level 5 you get to select an animal companion.

Then - where ever you are - a storycut scene happens where you come across the animal.

Then meet the animal at camp.

Then it has a storyline over the course of the game that you can follow. You can gain a number of companions equal to your wisdom modifier.

I wrote an idea about this too.

It feels more like Baldur's Gate, Dark Alliance, than a sequel for Baldur's Gate 2 right now.

[Sir_Baldur]

SpaceKiwi původně napsal:

"Beastmaster pet disappointment"

At least it's accurate to 5e hahaha

For real though, it does sound like the beasts need some balancing.

No, it's not like in 5th edition. It makes no sense.



Animal Companion

At 3rd level, you learn to use your magic to create a powerful bond with a creature of the natural world.

With 8 hours of work and the expenditure of 50 gp worth of rare herbs and fine food, you call forth an animal from the wilderness to serve as your faithful companion. You normally select your companion from among the following animals: an ape, a black bear, a boar, a giant badger, a giant weasel, a mule, a panther, or a wolf. However, your DM might pick one of these animals for you, based on the surrounding terrain and on what types of creatures would logically be present in the area.

At the end of the 8 hours, your animal companion appears and gains all the benefits of your Companion’s Bond ability. You can have only one animal companion at a time.

If your animal companion is ever slain, the magical bond you share allows you to return it to life. With 8 hours of work and the expenditure of 25 gp worth of rare herbs and fine food, you call forth your companion’s spirit and use your magic to create a new body for it. You can return an animal companion to life in this manner even if you do not possess any part of its body.

If you use this ability to return a former animal companion to life while you have a current animal companion, your current companion leaves you and is replaced by the restored companion.




Companion's Bond



Your animal companion gains a variety of benefits while it is linked to you.

The animal companion loses its Multiattack action, if it has one.

The companion obeys your commands as best it can. It rolls for initiative like any other creature, but you determine its actions, decisions, attitudes, and so on. If you are incapacitated or absent, your companion acts on its own.

When using your Natural Explorer feature, you and your animal companion can both move stealthily at a normal pace.

Your animal companion has abilities and game statistics determined in part by your level. Your companion uses your proficiency bonus rather than its own. In addition to the areas where it normally uses its proficiency bonus, an animal companion also adds its proficiency bonus to its AC and to its damage rolls.

Your animal companion gains proficiency in two skills of your choice. It also becomes proficient with all saving throws.

For each level you gain after 3rd, your animal companion gains an additional hit die and increases its hit points accordingly.

Whenever you gain the Ability Score Improvement class feature, your companion’s abilities also improve. Your companion can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or it can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, your companion can’t increase an ability score above 20 using this feature unless its description specifies otherwise.

Your companion shares your alignment, and has a personality trait and a flaw that you can roll for or select from the tables below. Your companion shares your ideal, and its bond is always, “The ranger who travels with me is a beloved companion for whom I would gladly give my life.”

Your animal companion gains the benefits of your Favored Enemy feature, and of your Greater Favored Enemy feature when you gain that feature at 6th level. It uses the favored enemies you selected for those features.

[Meowella]

So you're saying it's wrong because it has 1 awesome animal and a bunch of rubbish ones?

That's 100% beastmaster in 5e thanks to the giant poisonous snake.
Honestly the only difference is the pet not getting 4hp per ranger level and it being additional damage instead of a different way to attack.

[Mystic Bear Knight]

As Austintool has elaborated above, a cutscene would be great but not even needed, we should be creating a bond with ONE ANIMAL from a selection of them as in dnd, and growing that bond, numerous should be viable but different preferences and roleplay and combat uses, and we should have a meaningful connection with them and impact in game, the least of which would be naming them.