Here's the story: I had an idea for a character build: a Kobold Ranger with the Beastmaster subclass, and their animal companion would be a Pteranodon. According to the rules, you can mount a creature if they are 1 size larger than you and have appropriate anatomy. So in the PHB the rules for a companion are that they have to a beast with CR less than 1/4, which a Pteranodon has. However, Tasha's updated Primal Companion has a stat-block for "Beast of the Sky" that specifies that it is a small beast.
Now, obviously the Primal Companion rules are better, as they only take a Bonus Action to Command the companion to do something. In general the stats on the Primal Companion of the Sky are better than the Pteranodon or equal.
So how would you rule it? If I want the Pteranodon I have to use the PHB Beastmaster rules? Or would you allow the Pteranodon as a "Beast of the Sky" for Tasha's rule set?
Here's the story: I had an idea for a character build: a Kobold Ranger with the Beastmaster subclass, and their animal companion would be a Pteranodon. According to the rules, you can mount a creature if they are 1 size larger than you and have appropriate anatomy. So in the PHB the rules for a companion are that they have to a beast with CR less than 1/4, which a Pteranodon has. However, Tasha's updated Primal Companion has a stat-block for "Beast of the Sky" that specifies that it is a small beast.
Now, obviously the Primal Companion rules are better, as they only take a Bonus Action to Command the companion to do something. In general the stats on the Primal Companion of the Sky are better than the Pteranodon or equal.
So how would you rule it? If I want the Pteranodon I have to use the PHB Beastmaster rules? Or would you allow the Pteranodon as a "Beast of the Sky" for Tasha's rule set?
Absolutely not. The PC ability is a whole ability you take or not, which both a) replaces the Beast Companion command economy and b) replaces the list of legal stat blocks. The only thing I'd absolutely do for mixing PC back into Beast Master is that the PC wasn't written to actually properly combine with the later BC abilities, so I'd house-rule that later BC abilities do work on the PC.
I disagree that "the primal companions rules are Obviously better." At first glance they appear better.
More and more I dislike tasha's beast for the following reasons.
Bonus action conflict with spells and other features.
Loss of subtle utility. Blindsight, harvested poison, medium flying creatures
More restrictive turns not less. There are plenty of "free" actions and uses for PHB pets that the Tasha's "spirit" cannot do raw. scouting is impossible with tasha's.
tasha's is beast "too smart" for many beast related spells
phb creates narratively better interactions.
I say if you want tashas you have to play with its downsides and if you want the OP features of PHB beastmaster you have to accept some of its downsides.
Here's the story: I had an idea for a character build: a Kobold Ranger with the Beastmaster subclass, and their animal companion would be a Pteranodon. According to the rules, you can mount a creature if they are 1 size larger than you and have appropriate anatomy. So in the PHB the rules for a companion are that they have to a beast with CR less than 1/4, which a Pteranodon has. However, Tasha's updated Primal Companion has a stat-block for "Beast of the Sky" that specifies that it is a small beast.
Now, obviously the Primal Companion rules are better, as they only take a Bonus Action to Command the companion to do something. In general the stats on the Primal Companion of the Sky are better than the Pteranodon or equal.
So how would you rule it? If I want the Pteranodon I have to use the PHB Beastmaster rules? Or would you allow the Pteranodon as a "Beast of the Sky" for Tasha's rule set?
The primal companion rules are “better” (I 100% disagree with this statement) because you have 3 hyper specific options for your companion. Period. The handbook beast master has a huge amount of use and utility, in and out of combat. The rules for using a handbook companion in combat is “worse” because of some of the crazy great options they have access to, not considering any homebrew beasts you and your DM come up with using the handbook beast master guidance and rules for creating adjusting stat blocks from the DMG. Think of the pteranodon, giant poisonous snake, flying snake, giant frog, and wolf. Amazing.
If you choose the Tasha’s, 100% optional and DM dependent, primal companion subclass variant, then you must take the entire replacement. And that includes the 3 primal companion options.
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Here's the story: I had an idea for a character build: a Kobold Ranger with the Beastmaster subclass, and their animal companion would be a Pteranodon. According to the rules, you can mount a creature if they are 1 size larger than you and have appropriate anatomy. So in the PHB the rules for a companion are that they have to a beast with CR less than 1/4, which a Pteranodon has. However, Tasha's updated Primal Companion has a stat-block for "Beast of the Sky" that specifies that it is a small beast.
Now, obviously the Primal Companion rules are better, as they only take a Bonus Action to Command the companion to do something. In general the stats on the Primal Companion of the Sky are better than the Pteranodon or equal.
So how would you rule it? If I want the Pteranodon I have to use the PHB Beastmaster rules? Or would you allow the Pteranodon as a "Beast of the Sky" for Tasha's rule set?
Absolutely not. The PC ability is a whole ability you take or not, which both a) replaces the Beast Companion command economy and b) replaces the list of legal stat blocks. The only thing I'd absolutely do for mixing PC back into Beast Master is that the PC wasn't written to actually properly combine with the later BC abilities, so I'd house-rule that later BC abilities do work on the PC.
I disagree that "the primal companions rules are Obviously better." At first glance they appear better.
More and more I dislike tasha's beast for the following reasons.
I say if you want tashas you have to play with its downsides and if you want the OP features of PHB beastmaster you have to accept some of its downsides.
ON a different note you could
The primal companion rules are “better” (I 100% disagree with this statement) because you have 3 hyper specific options for your companion. Period. The handbook beast master has a huge amount of use and utility, in and out of combat. The rules for using a handbook companion in combat is “worse” because of some of the crazy great options they have access to, not considering any homebrew beasts you and your DM come up with using the handbook beast master guidance and rules for creating adjusting stat blocks from the DMG. Think of the pteranodon, giant poisonous snake, flying snake, giant frog, and wolf. Amazing.
If you choose the Tasha’s, 100% optional and DM dependent, primal companion subclass variant, then you must take the entire replacement. And that includes the 3 primal companion options.