Improved Beast Master

Ranger’s 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 you 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 Benefits 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 Benefits

Expanding Companion Options
Depending on the nature of your campaign, the DM might choose to expand the options for your animal companion. As a rule of thumb, a beast can serve as an animal companion if it is Medium or smaller, has 15 or fewer hit points, and cannot deal more than 8 damage with a single attack. In general, that applies to creatures with a challenge rating of 1/4 or less, but there are exceptions.

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, however you must use a bonus action to command your companion to use the attack action. It acts on your turn, and if you are incapacitated or absent, your companion acts on its own.

Additionally, you and your companion share stealth, meaning you do not need to roll two separate stealth checks for your ranger and companion, your companion may also move stealthily alongside you using your natural explorer feature.

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 in one major(Wisdom, Dexterity, Constitution) and one minor(Intelligence, Strength, Charisma) saving throw of your choice.

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 animal companion gains the benefits of your Favored Enemy feature, and has the same favored enemy you selected.

Exceptional Training

Beginning at 7th level, you can use a bonus action to command the beast to take the Dash, Disengage, or Dodge action in addition to it's normal action.

In addition, the beast's attacks now count as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage.

Frenzied Attack

At 11th level, your companion can use its action to make a melee attack against each creature of its choice within 5 feet of it, using the same attack roll for each target.

Beast's Defense

At 15th level, whenever an attacker that your companion can see hits it with an attack, it can use its reaction to gain resistance to the damage done by that attack.