A player in my campaign wishes to become a Beast Master Ranger and were having trouble figuring out just how the animal interacts with turns. It states that animal companions takes its turn on your initiative. On your turn, you can verbally command the beast where to move (no action required by you). 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. Does this mean that the animal companion gets to be commanded on the turn of the ranger and then using the same initiative it gets to take its own turn or is it that the animal companion has no turn of its own and can only act as directed by the ranger during the rangers turn in combat. I haven't been able to find a truly definitive answer on the internet and the wording is set up to where its just confusing enough for me to have trouble with it, any clarification that people could give me would be greatly appreciated.
Every creature involved in combat has its own turn. So does the animal companion of a Beastmaster. The ranger commands the companion on its turn and the companion follows the command on its (the companion's) turn, which happens right after the ranger's.
Every creature involved in combat has its own turn. So does the animal companion of a Beastmaster. The ranger commands the companion on its turn and the companion follows the command on its (the companion's) turn, which happens right after the ranger's.
Does this mean that lets say its my turn as the ranger, I use my action to tell the animal companion to attack and then it waits till its turn to complete that attack action; or is it that I command it to attack on my turn, which it does immediately and then it goes to its turn where it can make its own attack action?
Every creature involved in combat has its own turn. So does the animal companion of a Beastmaster. The ranger commands the companion on its turn and the companion follows the command on its (the companion's) turn, which happens right after the ranger's.
Does this mean that lets say its my turn as the ranger, I use my action to tell the animal companion to attack and then it waits till its turn to complete that attack action
This is correct. The result of your command occurs on the companion's turn, which is immediately after your's.
The beast does not get additional attacks beyond what you command it to do.
If you fail to command it, it can only take the Dodge action.
Jeremy Crawford’s tweets have been interpreted as the Beast Master takes their turn, finishes it and then the animal companion takes its turn. The video of Crawford explaining mounts sure sounds to me like he is saying that the mount and rider each have a whole turn but that the rider and mount can sort of weave their turns together. I would think the Beast Master and animal companion could do the same.
I really don’t know which interpretation is correct but I know which I would use when I’m the DM. If beast master and companion take their turns one after the other, the interaction is very clunky and aggravating. The companion becomes more helpful to the ranger’s allies then to the ranger. Having the ranger and companion taking concurrent turns makes the ranger and companion work better as a team. If this has to be considered a house rule, so be it.
The beast obeys your commands as best as it can. It takes its turn on your initiative. On your turn, you can verbally command the beast where to move (no action required by you). 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.
Reading this from the Player’s Handbook, it sounds like either the Ranger can act or use their action to command their beast to act. Only when the Ranger has the Extra Attack feature can they both take an action.
I was excited to take the Beast Master archetype for my ranger until I read this. I was hoping to fight along side my beast companion not just give it directions to act instead of me. I don’t see the point of having a beast companion when they do less damage if it’s not damage additional to my ranger’s. I really wish commanding the beast companion was a bonus action.
I interpret the beast master archetype description as Specific changes to the general rules that would normally be applied to a beast. In other words, it the archetype description doesn’t mention it, it’s not changed rather than the animal companion can’t do it. This solves the problem of why Hide, Search, Use Object and Ready aren’t mentioned. Most people (actually everyone apparently) disagree with this but I think it makes the Beast Master/ Animal Companion team much more flexible and fun to play. I use this logic to allow the ranger to command the companion to take the Ready without using the ranger’s action. This allows the companion to make an attack (note: this does not mean take the Attack action) without using the ranger’s action but using both the companion’s action and reaction. This may seem overpowered but the animal companion is fragile so the ranger wouldn’t be able to use it all the time without potentially getting the companion killed.
Ooo, I like your logic. I would really like it if the Beast Master/Animal Companion team were more flexible and fun to play. My husband says if he were DM and this pairing was in his game he would have the command to the beast be a bonus action for the ranger so both ranger and animal would have their own action. I am going to show him your comment and see what he thinks. Thank you for your response.
For those of you wanting more from the Ranger and Beast Master, have a look at this. It's an amalgam of sorts, bringing together recent work done by Mike Mearls to give the ranger alternate class features, whilst at same time avoiding a whole 'new class'. It has a bit also from Unearthed Arcana and a very light touch of home brew. My hope is that in near future, we see an official release through UA, DM's Guild or something of the work Mearls did on the alternate features. (In particular, it grants a pathway to a more robust beast companion, and also provides versions of Natural Explorer and Favored Enemy that are not terrain and creature specific). Link: https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-L_S_F4wZF9yza6ZOCjd
My Question to this would be the part of the text that reads
Once you have the Extra Attack feature, you can make one weapon attack yourself when you command the beast to take the Attack action.
So once you have the class feature and you use your action to command the beast to attack you are granted one weapon attack. But that it still just one action, and you could use your extra action to deliver a second command to your beast granting you another weapon attack. This would give you 4 attacks issued from one character and would mean an significant increase in potential damage output helping it keep up with other classes. But is that a correct interpretation of the phrase?
From page 93 of the PHB, "The beast obeys your commands as best as it can. It takes its turn on your initiative." So the two of you are sharing an initiative, which makes sense since you have to command it where to move and to do almost anything.
The underlying benefit that almost everyone misses is that it now auto-dodges each round it doesn’t attack, and also uses its reaction automatically. So now you’re even more sticky and clogging up those front lines. Trust me, no one will hit your beast from levels 1-5, the AC is too high (should be 16-18 if you took a good animal) and the disadvantage from dodge is very difficult to overcome. But don’t attack with it unless you have to - just let it constantly get its AoO and chip. Even better, take a Giant Crab and watch as the beastie becomes basically a sentinel beast.
Beyond that, wait for later on when you can order it to Help as a bonus action, and move it out of the way as you go. There are a lot of synergies that only come through if you play tactically and strategically.
And for goodness sake, it’s not a Pokémon - They will die and you will replace them once in a while. Deal with it.
The beast companion takes it's turn as part of the ranger's turn, together, in tandem. The beast is an extension of the ranger's action economy and turn in initiative, adding to it, enhancing it, like any other class ability. The beast master ability reads:
"The beast obeys your commands as best as it can. It takes its turn on your initiative. On your turn, you can verbally command the beast where to move (no action required by you). 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."
Reading the (errata version of the) beast master ranger's 7th level feature:
"Beginning at 7th level, on any of your turns when your beast companion doesn’t attack, you can use a bonus action to command the beast to take the Dash, Disengage, or Help action on its turn."
Especially, when comparing it to the very specific wording of the battle smith artificer:
"In combat, the steel defender shares your initiative count, but it takes its turn immediately after yours. It can move and use its reaction on its own, but the only action it takes on its turn is the Dodge action, unless you take a bonus action on your turn to command it to take one of the actions in its stat block or the Dash, Disengage, Help, Hide, or Search action.
The ranger ability alone tells me that this subclass ability is a specific change to the general rule, just as in the case of a controlled mount, which Crawford mentions in the mounted combat video for Dragon Talk. The ranger and beast are one, and coincide on the same turn. This is what makes the beast master ranger so special from other "animal buddies".
Take the Find Familiar spell's wording:
"Your familiar acts independently of you, but it always obeys your commands. In combat, it rolls its own initiative and acts on its own turn."
The Find Steed spell has wording that implies the general rules of mounted combat and initiative:
"Your steed serves you as a mount, both in combat and out..."
"The initiative of a controlled mount changes to match yours when you mount it. It moves as you direct it, and it has only three action options: Dash, Disengage, and Dodge. A controlled mount can move and act even on the turn that you mount it."
"An independent mount retains its place in the initiative order. Bearing a rider puts no restrictions on the actions the mount can take, and it moves and acts as it wishes."
And finally, the spell Conjure Animals has this wording:
"Roll initiative for the summoned creatures as a group, which has its own turns."
What makes the beast master so special and unique is this shared turn action economy.
People also complain about the damage output of the subclass. Other than a few specific beast choices, the purpose of the beast is not to add or replace damage of that of a baseline ranger (which is competitive with all other martial classes on it's own up until level 11, at which point the damage of most beasts surpasses that of the ranger). The purpose is increased battlefield control through more threatened spaces and additional possible attacks of opportunity, and other "effects" that the beast provides, like grappling or restraining on a hit, knocking a target prone, pushing or shoving, and helping, just to name a few. This is all just combat. Many beasts will have senses of perception far beyond that of any PC outside a very focused rogues build.
The beast companion takes it's turn as part of the ranger's turn, together, in tandem. The beast is an extension of the ranger's action economy and turn in initiative, adding to it, enhancing it, like any other class ability. The beast master ability reads:
"The beast obeys your commands as best as it can. It takes its turn on your initiative. On your turn, you can verbally command the beast where to move (no action required by you). 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."
This is a misinterpretation. It still has its own turn separate from yours, but on the same initiative number. If your initiative is on 14, the beast's initiative is also 14.
From the Player's Handbook: "If a tie occurs, the DM decides the order among tied DM-controlled creatures, and the players decide the order among their tied characters."
This lines up with Jeremy Crawford's Sage Advice: "Ranger's Companion—when you and the companion are fighting as a unit, the beast takes whatever action on its turn that you chose for it on your previous turn. If you chose no action for it on your previous turn, it takes the Dodge action on its turn. #DnD"
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Mr. Crawford's tweets are no longer considered official rulings, just guides for curious players and DMs. Via Twitter, he has changed his mind and/or contradicted himself over the years on multiple occasions.The Sage Advice Compendium document is the official rulings and clarification source, along with any current and future errata. From the 2020 Sage Advice Compendium:
"Official rulings on how to interpret rules are made here in the Sage Advice Compendium by the game’s lead rules designer, Jeremy Crawford (@JeremyECrawford on Twitter). The public statements of the D&D team, or anyone else at Wizards of the Coast, are not official rulings; they are advice. Jeremy Crawford’s tweets are often a preview of rulings that will appear here. A Dungeon Master adjudicates the game and determines whether to use an official ruling in play. The DM always has the final say on rules questions."
The PHB passage you referenced is referring to each player's character, not each character or creature a player controls. My interpretation, and the interpretation I understand to be correct, is the beast companion mechanics from the beast master ranger subclass uses specific rules that supersede general rules.
You missed the part that I also bolded in the class feature you quoted.
It takes its turn on your initiative.
It is a creature. It has its own turn during combat, complete with its own move and action. It's just on the same initiative as you and follows the directions you gave it on your turn. It's functionally the same as when multiple players' characters roll the same initiative.
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I hear what you are saying. I just disagree. There are so many other words in this class and other rules in the game that make me believe this is is a specific exception to the norm. Take the exceptional training ability at level 7:
”Beginning at 7th level, on any of your turns when your beast companion doesn’t attack, you can use a bonus action to command the beast to take the Dash, Disengage, or Help action on its turn.”
The first part of this ability would always be the case. If the beast takes its own separate turn then it would never be attacking on the ranger’s turn so it could always also take one of the other 3 actions. It doesn’t make any sense.
I hear what you are saying. I just disagree. There are so many other words in this class and other rules in the game that make me believe this is is a specific exception to the norm. Take the exceptional training ability at level 7:
”Beginning at 7th level, on any of your turns when your beast companion doesn’t attack, you can use a bonus action to command the beast to take the Dash, Disengage, or Help action on its turn.”
The first part of this ability would always be the case. If the beast takes its own separate turn then it would never be attacking on the ranger’s turn so it could always also take one of the other 3 actions. It doesn’t make any sense.
Once again, the bold part ("on it's turn") is relevant.
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A player in my campaign wishes to become a Beast Master Ranger and were having trouble figuring out just how the animal interacts with turns. It states that animal companions takes its turn on your initiative. On your turn, you can verbally command the beast where to move (no action required by you). 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. Does this mean that the animal companion gets to be commanded on the turn of the ranger and then using the same initiative it gets to take its own turn or is it that the animal companion has no turn of its own and can only act as directed by the ranger during the rangers turn in combat. I haven't been able to find a truly definitive answer on the internet and the wording is set up to where its just confusing enough for me to have trouble with it, any clarification that people could give me would be greatly appreciated.
Every creature involved in combat has its own turn. So does the animal companion of a Beastmaster. The ranger commands the companion on its turn and the companion follows the command on its (the companion's) turn, which happens right after the ranger's.
Does this mean that lets say its my turn as the ranger, I use my action to tell the animal companion to attack and then it waits till its turn to complete that attack action; or is it that I command it to attack on my turn, which it does immediately and then it goes to its turn where it can make its own attack action?
This is correct. The result of your command occurs on the companion's turn, which is immediately after your's.
The beast does not get additional attacks beyond what you command it to do.
If you fail to command it, it can only take the Dodge action.
Jeremy Crawford’s tweets have been interpreted as the Beast Master takes their turn, finishes it and then the animal companion takes its turn. The video of Crawford explaining mounts sure sounds to me like he is saying that the mount and rider each have a whole turn but that the rider and mount can sort of weave their turns together. I would think the Beast Master and animal companion could do the same.
I really don’t know which interpretation is correct but I know which I would use when I’m the DM. If beast master and companion take their turns one after the other, the interaction is very clunky and aggravating. The companion becomes more helpful to the ranger’s allies then to the ranger. Having the ranger and companion taking concurrent turns makes the ranger and companion work better as a team. If this has to be considered a house rule, so be it.
Reading this from the Player’s Handbook, it sounds like either the Ranger can act or use their action to command their beast to act. Only when the Ranger has the Extra Attack feature can they both take an action.
I was excited to take the Beast Master archetype for my ranger until I read this. I was hoping to fight along side my beast companion not just give it directions to act instead of me. I don’t see the point of having a beast companion when they do less damage if it’s not damage additional to my ranger’s. I really wish commanding the beast companion was a bonus action.
I interpret the beast master archetype description as Specific changes to the general rules that would normally be applied to a beast. In other words, it the archetype description doesn’t mention it, it’s not changed rather than the animal companion can’t do it. This solves the problem of why Hide, Search, Use Object and Ready aren’t mentioned. Most people (actually everyone apparently) disagree with this but I think it makes the Beast Master/ Animal Companion team much more flexible and fun to play. I use this logic to allow the ranger to command the companion to take the Ready without using the ranger’s action. This allows the companion to make an attack (note: this does not mean take the Attack action) without using the ranger’s action but using both the companion’s action and reaction. This may seem overpowered but the animal companion is fragile so the ranger wouldn’t be able to use it all the time without potentially getting the companion killed.
Ooo, I like your logic. I would really like it if the Beast Master/Animal Companion team were more flexible and fun to play. My husband says if he were DM and this pairing was in his game he would have the command to the beast be a bonus action for the ranger so both ranger and animal would have their own action. I am going to show him your comment and see what he thinks. Thank you for your response.
For those of you wanting more from the Ranger and Beast Master, have a look at this. It's an amalgam of sorts, bringing together recent work done by Mike Mearls to give the ranger alternate class features, whilst at same time avoiding a whole 'new class'. It has a bit also from Unearthed Arcana and a very light touch of home brew. My hope is that in near future, we see an official release through UA, DM's Guild or something of the work Mearls did on the alternate features. (In particular, it grants a pathway to a more robust beast companion, and also provides versions of Natural Explorer and Favored Enemy that are not terrain and creature specific). Link: https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-L_S_F4wZF9yza6ZOCjd
---
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#OpenDND
My Question to this would be the part of the text that reads
Once you have the Extra Attack feature, you can make one weapon attack yourself when you command the beast to take the Attack action.
So once you have the class feature and you use your action to command the beast to attack you are granted one weapon attack. But that it still just one action, and you could use your extra action to deliver a second command to your beast granting you another weapon attack. This would give you 4 attacks issued from one character and would mean an significant increase in potential damage output helping it keep up with other classes. But is that a correct interpretation of the phrase?
The Attack action and an attack are two different things.
Taking the Attack action allows you to make an attack.
Extra Attack is a feature of several classes that allows you to make another attack when you take the Attack action.
It can be confusing.
From page 93 of the PHB, "The beast obeys your commands as best as it can. It takes its turn on your initiative." So the two of you are sharing an initiative, which makes sense since you have to command it where to move and to do almost anything.
This helps if you're not already aware:
https://media.wizards.com/2016/dnd/downloads/UA_RevisedRanger.pdf
The underlying benefit that almost everyone misses is that it now auto-dodges each round it doesn’t attack, and also uses its reaction automatically. So now you’re even more sticky and clogging up those front lines. Trust me, no one will hit your beast from levels 1-5, the AC is too high (should be 16-18 if you took a good animal) and the disadvantage from dodge is very difficult to overcome. But don’t attack with it unless you have to - just let it constantly get its AoO and chip. Even better, take a Giant Crab and watch as the beastie becomes basically a sentinel beast.
Beyond that, wait for later on when you can order it to Help as a bonus action, and move it out of the way as you go. There are a lot of synergies that only come through if you play tactically and strategically.
And for goodness sake, it’s not a Pokémon - They will die and you will replace them once in a while. Deal with it.
The beast companion takes it's turn as part of the ranger's turn, together, in tandem. The beast is an extension of the ranger's action economy and turn in initiative, adding to it, enhancing it, like any other class ability. The beast master ability reads:
"The beast obeys your commands as best as it can. It takes its turn on your initiative. On your turn, you can verbally command the beast where to move (no action required by you). 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."
Reading the (errata version of the) beast master ranger's 7th level feature:
"Beginning at 7th level, on any of your turns when your beast companion doesn’t attack, you can use a bonus action to command the beast to take the Dash, Disengage, or Help action on its turn."
Especially, when comparing it to the very specific wording of the battle smith artificer:
"In combat, the steel defender shares your initiative count, but it takes its turn immediately after yours. It can move and use its reaction on its own, but the only action it takes on its turn is the Dodge action, unless you take a bonus action on your turn to command it to take one of the actions in its stat block or the Dash, Disengage, Help, Hide, or Search action.
The ranger ability alone tells me that this subclass ability is a specific change to the general rule, just as in the case of a controlled mount, which Crawford mentions in the mounted combat video for Dragon Talk. The ranger and beast are one, and coincide on the same turn. This is what makes the beast master ranger so special from other "animal buddies".
Take the Find Familiar spell's wording:
"Your familiar acts independently of you, but it always obeys your commands. In combat, it rolls its own initiative and acts on its own turn."
The Find Steed spell has wording that implies the general rules of mounted combat and initiative:
"Your steed serves you as a mount, both in combat and out..."
"The initiative of a controlled mount changes to match yours when you mount it. It moves as you direct it, and it has only three action options: Dash, Disengage, and Dodge. A controlled mount can move and act even on the turn that you mount it."
"An independent mount retains its place in the initiative order. Bearing a rider puts no restrictions on the actions the mount can take, and it moves and acts as it wishes."
And finally, the spell Conjure Animals has this wording:
"Roll initiative for the summoned creatures as a group, which has its own turns."
What makes the beast master so special and unique is this shared turn action economy.
People also complain about the damage output of the subclass. Other than a few specific beast choices, the purpose of the beast is not to add or replace damage of that of a baseline ranger (which is competitive with all other martial classes on it's own up until level 11, at which point the damage of most beasts surpasses that of the ranger). The purpose is increased battlefield control through more threatened spaces and additional possible attacks of opportunity, and other "effects" that the beast provides, like grappling or restraining on a hit, knocking a target prone, pushing or shoving, and helping, just to name a few. This is all just combat. Many beasts will have senses of perception far beyond that of any PC outside a very focused rogues build.
This is a misinterpretation. It still has its own turn separate from yours, but on the same initiative number. If your initiative is on 14, the beast's initiative is also 14.
From the Player's Handbook: "If a tie occurs, the DM decides the order among tied DM-controlled creatures, and the players decide the order among their tied characters."
This lines up with Jeremy Crawford's Sage Advice: "Ranger's Companion—when you and the companion are fighting as a unit, the beast takes whatever action on its turn that you chose for it on your previous turn. If you chose no action for it on your previous turn, it takes the Dodge action on its turn. #DnD"
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Mr. Crawford's tweets are no longer considered official rulings, just guides for curious players and DMs. Via Twitter, he has changed his mind and/or contradicted himself over the years on multiple occasions.The Sage Advice Compendium document is the official rulings and clarification source, along with any current and future errata. From the 2020 Sage Advice Compendium:
"Official rulings on how to interpret rules are made here in the Sage Advice Compendium by the game’s lead rules designer, Jeremy Crawford (@JeremyECrawford on Twitter). The public statements of the D&D team, or anyone else at Wizards of the Coast, are not official rulings; they are advice. Jeremy Crawford’s tweets are often a preview of rulings that will appear here. A Dungeon Master adjudicates the game and determines whether to use an official ruling in play. The DM always has the final say on rules questions."
The PHB passage you referenced is referring to each player's character, not each character or creature a player controls. My interpretation, and the interpretation I understand to be correct, is the beast companion mechanics from the beast master ranger subclass uses specific rules that supersede general rules.
You missed the part that I also bolded in the class feature you quoted.
It takes its turn on your initiative.
It is a creature. It has its own turn during combat, complete with its own move and action. It's just on the same initiative as you and follows the directions you gave it on your turn. It's functionally the same as when multiple players' characters roll the same initiative.
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I hear what you are saying. I just disagree. There are so many other words in this class and other rules in the game that make me believe this is is a specific exception to the norm. Take the exceptional training ability at level 7:
”Beginning at 7th level, on any of your turns when your beast companion doesn’t attack, you can use a bonus action to command the beast to take the Dash, Disengage, or Help action on its turn.”
The first part of this ability would always be the case. If the beast takes its own separate turn then it would never be attacking on the ranger’s turn so it could always also take one of the other 3 actions. It doesn’t make any sense.
Once again, the bold part ("on it's turn") is relevant.
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