Monster Tamer

They say a dog is a man's best friend. Whilst this can be true, some individuals take this further, and seek out rare and exotic beasts in order to tame them and bring them on their journeys to be of assistance. These people are known as monster tamers. These individuals have an innate bond with the natural world, and as such can easily bond with these creatures. Such creatures can be persuaded to join the tamer's cause either through an act of kindness, or perhaps even through being bested one on one in the heat of battle.

Tamers, as seen by the name, can also train the beasts they travel with, being renowned for the enhanced training capabilities, teaching the beasts under their quarry new skills to better help them serve their masters. 

Once a tamer manages to convince a beast to follow it, they must complete a one hour ritual which creates a contract between beast and tamer. The beast is then sealed away inside a trinket, which has a small demiplane within it, which conforms to the conditions the creature sealed within would find most comfortable. The strain of these bonds is great however, and even the greatest tamers can only hold up to 6 bonds at a time. When holding 6 creatures, the tamer must sever the bond of one of them if they were to take on another monster. The unbonded creature is released to the wild, and flees from the trainer, forgetting the bond they shared.

Monster Bond

When you take this subclass at level 3, you gain the ability to bond with up to two monsters of the beast category. You may bond with any creature up to 2 CR at level 3. At level 7, this increases to 4 CR, and at level 11, this increases again to 6 CR. If you prefer to use lower CR monsters, ask your DM to buff lower CR monsters to the level of monster you can summon, or propose your own changes to be agreed upon by the DM.

The bonding process can only take place once the respect of a creature is earned. An animal handling check will not be enough to convince a creature to bond with you, but it may make the trial it requires easier. Once a creature's respect has been earned, you can bond with it in a ceremony lasting one hour, in which the creature is sealed inside a small trinket, which contains a demiplane with conditions favourable to the creature. You may only have one active creature at a time from the pool of creatures you have bonded with. You can change which creature this is on each short rest. At level 7, you will be able to hold bonds with 4 monsters instead of 2, and at level 11 you can hold bonds with up to 6 creatures.

 

 

Summon Tamed Monster

At level 3, when you take this subclass, you can summon a creature you are bonded with by using an action. This creature will be controlled by you and has it's own turn in intiative. Once you have selected a bonded creature to summon, you may not summon a different one until you have completed a short rest.

Magical Bonded Attacks

When you reach level 7 in this class, the attacks of your bonded creatures are regarded as magical when calculating damage against resistances of other creatures.

Secondary Typing

At level 7, your experiences have taught you much about many different types of monsters. From now on, you can choose to bond with your choice from the following monster type, as well as beasts. At level 11, you may choose an extra option from the list.

Celestial

You can now bond with celestial monsters, as well as your other monster choices.

Dragon

You can bond with dragons, as well as your other chosen monster types.

Elemental

You can now bond with an elemental monster, as well as your other monster choices.

Fiend

You may now bond with fiend monsters, as well as your other monster type choices.

Monstrosity

You can now bond with monstrosity monsters, as well as your other chosen creature types.

Ooze

You can now bond with ooze monsters, as well as other creature types.

Plant

You can now bond with plant monsters, as well as other monster types.

Monster Techniques

From level 11, you may teach each of your monsters a 1st level spell which you may add to it's stat block. It can cast this spell once per short rest. At level 14 you may teach them a 2nd level spell, and at level 17 level your creatures can learn a 3rd level spell.

Perfect Bond

At level 15, the bond you have with your monsters is at it's peak. Once per short rest, you may add your ranger level to the damage your monster makes with one of it's attacks.