Beast Master (using a wolf): (29.66/round) I'm a firm believer that the appropriate strategy for the beast master (player's handbook version) ranger up until level 10, and perhaps even beyond that, is to have the beast present in combat but dodging with it's respectable AC (17 for a wolf at this level) instead of using one of the ranger's attacks. You can still use a ranger's attack especially when hunter's mark isn't up (because most of the beast attacks are about equal to a ranger with a longbow) and/or you want the rider effect the beast brings (knockdown, grapple, restrained, poison damage, extra claw attack, etc.). But if you are using zero of your action economy to move the beast into good tactical positions, it dodges automatically, and it makes it's reaction attack of opportunity automatically. I find I can get an opportunity attack out of the beast every 2-4 rounds easily, and surprisingly, that adds up more than you'd think. Turn 1: ((1d8 + 5 + 1d6)*2).Turn 2: ((1d8 + 5 + 1d6)*2). Turn 3: ((1d8 + 5 + 1d6)*2). One AoO from the wolf: (2d4 +2 + 4).
the wolf is of course the most iconic choice and probably one of the better ones that is listed in the player's handbook but especially if you can afford studded leather barding the giant poisonous snake is much better both in terms of armor class, accuracy and damage, even when a target succeeds on their saving throw against its poison the attack will still deal most damage per hit than the wolf and even most player characters, having it as a doge tank is a neat idea but is kind of tempting fate a bit much, it only has so much health, especially past 11th level you will only be sacroficing one shitty longbow attack with hunter's mark for two additional attacks by your pet
Fey Wanderer (using dreadful strikes): (28.5/round) Also straight forward to calculate. Just add a 1d4 to an attack once per turn. Each round is (((1d8 + 5 + 1d6)*2) + 1d4).
its +1d4 per turn per enemy, yes if you are using the favorite spell of every ranger hunter's mark that will be the most optimal thing to single down one foe and only target them, but if you are using alternative spells and tactics then you will probably be choosing different targets for each attack, dealing +2d4 damage each turn
Absolutely! Did someone say two weapon fighting?! Attacking three opponents and two weapon fighting that would do 33/round! Awesome!
I mean, all of these subclasses have fiddley bits and subtle pros and strategy to them. Your example is prime.
I just want to point out that, although not the most mechanically pleasing for a lot of players, the PHB beast master is very effective as written when played using ALL of the action economy a available to the ranger and beast.
The giant poisonous snake is better against enemies which do not have resistance (or outright immunity) to poison damage. Otherwise, damage goes to the wolf. Additionally, both are capable of the same armor class. The wolf also has better senses and proficiency with Stealth, which the snake lacks. But the snake has a swim speed.
Every beast is a choice; they all have trade-offs. I like the panther because it has a bonus action and a climb speed. To each their own.
First of all, without applying your proficiency bonus to their attacks the giant poisonous snake deals 1d4 + 4 piercing damage with its bite (average of 6.5) and the wolf deals an average of 2d4 + 2 (average of 7), so even against an enemy who is fully immune to poison damage the giant poisonus snake will still deal basically the same damage on average (not accounting for crits) and depending on the AC of the particular opponent it might even have higher average damage compared to the wolf even if they are immune to poison by virtue of their +2 to hit compared to the wolf.
against an enemy with resistance to poison damage who suceeds on their saving throw the poisonous snake will still be dealing more damage per hit on average, especially when you take into account that you get to add your proficiency bonus once to the damage roll for the piercing damage and once to the damage roll of the poison damage
Not entirely certain what you mean with that the wolf is capable of the same armor class, not without armor they aint, and certainly not with any affordable armor, only once you start to get into medium or heavier armor does the advantage of 18 dex vs 14 dex balance out
second of all i do fully agree that every beast is a choice and that many have something unique going for them, wolves can knock opponents prone, giant frogs will automatically inflict a potent debuff without a save and deny action economy of their victim to escape, some will have blindsight, others will not, some will fly and have flyby and others don't, some have climbing speeds, some even have burrowing speeds and tremmorsense (like the cave badger), some will be amphibious and some will not, panthers get to temporarily outclass the stealth modifier of the typical 16 dex individual with expertise (and so does the giant wolf spider but better), each has their own niche and is cool in its own way, the wolf is by no means bad just if you want pure damage output the giant poisonous snake is way better
Just as taking a battle master fighter subclass, precision attack maneuver, crossbow expert feat, and sharpshooter feat is the "best" thing to do for damage for a ranged martial character, taking the giant poisonous snake for the PHB beast master ranger is the "best" thing to do for the most damage output (31.25/round to 33/round with just one AoO every three 3 rounds, poison working) from the subclass, no question. 100%. But if you are going for pure damage (well, 90% damage and 10% utility) then you are better off with the beast of the land from Tasha's. If you are looking for all the other stuff a beast companion can bring to the subclass, then you have many options, and honestly, the giant poisonous snake is still a good one, but the others, including the wolf, get you a lot that other options can't even touch.
Beast Master pets are pretty decent damage wise; for one of your attacks you can get multiple attacks from the pet at higher levels.
The problem with them isn't damage output but survivability; while every point of attack damage they take is a point that you don't have to (and vice versa), big area of effect spells/abilities can put them in danger very quickly at higher levels, and if a big bad does go for the pet with attacks it can be taken out in a single round if you're not careful.
During Critical Role season one, managing Vex's pet resulted in a lot of customisation from the DM, and she still hardly ever used it despite a death-ward amulet that teleported it away if it was reduced to 0 HP, custom armour, and the pet being a higher than normal level). Of course a DM is free to give similar bonuses, or even go further, as having to find a new pet after every battle isn't going to be fun.
I feel like Warding Bond would have been a perfect spell to give Beast Masters, though it'd need to ignore Share Spells; a generous DM might allow it, as otherwise with it being a 2nd level spell it's an awkward one to get. With Share Spells you can at least cast healing and such on both of you at the same time, which is great for spell economy, and the 4th level Stoneskin can give you both protection against non-magical physical damage, but it's competing for concentration (i.e- you'll be relying on your pet for bonus damage in place of Hunter's Mark).
Assuming the UA class variants make it into the upcoming Tasha's book it ought to make a big difference; free uses of Hunter's Mark without concentration means the spells you cast on your pet don't need to compete with it, and there's the possibility of a higher level pet option.
Laura could have actually used Trinket a lot more. But she was so attached to that bear that she was prone to not using it. Matt customized things and added things like the Amulet so that she wuold in fact use him more because Laura was very against losing her pet bear. Though a couple of changes he did were play test quality of life changes as well. Just like Tallesin was actively playtesting the Gunslinger and Matt made changes to the class based upon his play in that game as well. Matt wasn't entirely trying to Beef trinket up with his changes but to get Laura to play that aspect of her character a bit more.
That being said. Animal Companions are suprisingly replacable in 5e for better or worse. It just requires the downtime to bond with a new one. Which is way easier than ever before even with that taking 8 hours. In previous editions there was a period of time where you actually had to function without that beast and some times at reduced capacity on top of that before you could get a new animal companion. An IC month was a common limitation when it came to that.
So in 5e there is technically a potential ability to cycle through various animal companions over time. Though to some, such as Laura, that is not nearly as desirable.
An Actual easy alternative to this is actually presented to us in Tasha's with the Primal Companion. The ability to easily ressurect a companion or simply summon a new one after your long rest. And I think it's because of players like Laura that they made these quality of life changes when they created that optional feature. There are a few things about that feature that can be good home brews to port over onto the normal animal companion, such as that one and the bonus action commanding ability.
Haven't read the whole *whole* thing, but I'll add my current Beast Master as an example, hope it helps. Currently at level 16 (Ranger 15/Sorcerer 1, unrelated to the pet).
Using PHB Beast Master and a Panther (actually it's a miniature displacer beast I've got from Fai Chen, but it works just as a regular panther, but it can cast Blur 1/day). I've switched it over my old Wolf after finally reading the whole Pounce ability (the last sentence sealed the deal, "If the target is prone, the panther can make one bite attack against it as a bonus action.", that doesn't require the panther to have actually knocked it prone, just requires it to be prone to make a 3rd attack, which is nice).
Panther's Gear: Plate +2 (barding, AC currently 25, maxing at 27 when I get +7 Proficiency with level and an Ioun Stone of Mastery, and since I'm able to cast Shield, sometimes it will float to 32 due to Share Spells), Belt of Fire Giant Strength (getting upgraded to Storm as soon as I actually manage to find one).
Panther's Attack: +14 to hit (+7 Strength, +2 Panther's Proficiency, +5 Ranger's Proficiency), 1d4+12 damage (or 1d6 with Bite), if the Panther moves at least 20 ft and hits with a Claw attack, the target must make a DC 17 Strength (8 Base + 2 Proficiency + 7 Strength) saving throw or be knocked prone. If the target is prone, the Panther gets one additional bonus action attack and I can switch attacks to Bites, which increase damage by 1 in average.
Minimum average DPR (2 Claw attack hits, not knocked prone): 2d4+24 = 29 average. Maximum average DPR (3 Bite attack hits against prone target, with Guardian of Nature): 6d6+36 = 57 average.
Choosing a Panther over a Wolf does sacrifice Pack Tactics (which is awesome) and you only get one turn of chances to knock your target prone (the first 2 Claw attacks, possibly), though a chance for a 3rd attack with a flat damage bonus that high was too good to pass. Additionally, if the Panther manages to knock someone prone and there is no one else adjacent to it, it can safely risk an AoO at disadvantage (prone) with such a high AC. The whole tactic is to Pounce and hope to be able to knock the target prone, and draw the Panther back more than 20 ft away if so.
The only real bad thing is the Animal Companion's Hit Points and your reliance on party members to circumvent that. I was hopeful when the Unearthed Arcana class feature variants had Death Ward added to the Ranger Spell List, but the actual print in Tasha's unfortunately didn't have it. Things like Stoneskin and Protection from Energy help, sure, but they don't do anything against Power Word: Kill (and I've had to procure a Resurrection for this Panther already, after a PWK xD), so be sure to have a friendly Cleric or Paladin nearby.
Most parties don't get magic items thrust at them so much that they can afford to give stuff that powerful to a pet.
They may not be able to throw stuff that powerful. But there are things that can potentially still be thrown at the pet. Specially at higher levels and even if not all of it is even magical.
Barding is a no brainer. Surely by at LEAST levels 10,11, or 12 your beast will have studded leather or scale mail. If you paladin or fighter has half plate or plate mail your beast should have those. Then we are talking about a 20+ AC that is dodging. And with attunent slots being so crucial, at these same levels there should be a couple of uncommon magic items going unused. Even if magic is rare in that game, that just means the beast will be balanced to the power level of the game naturally. I know folks complain about the hit points a lot. But the beast isn’t a PC. It’s not supposed to ha r the same hit points as a fighter or barbarian. It has the hit points around the same as magic users and some of the average constitution score d8 characters. And WAY more hit points than a familiar or found steed. The beast should not be taking all of the hits as it’s not the tank of the party. Also, I’ve never met a DM that didn’t give the beast companion death saving throws, I certainly do, and anyone can heal the beast the same way you can heal a PC.
Barding is a no brainer. Surely by at LEAST levels 10,11, or 12 your beast will have studded leather or scale mail. If you paladin or fighter has half plate or plate mail your beast should have those. Then we are talking about a 20+ AC that is dodging. And with attunent slots being so crucial, at these same levels there should be a couple of uncommon magic items going unused. Even if magic is rare in that game, that just means the beast will be balanced to the power level of the game naturally. I know folks complain about the hit points a lot. But the beast isn’t a PC. It’s not supposed to ha r the same hit points as a fighter or barbarian. It has the hit points around the same as magic users and some of the average constitution score d8 characters. And WAY more hit points than a familiar or found steed. The beast should not be taking all of the hits as it’s not the tank of the party. Also, I’ve never met a DM that didn’t give the beast companion death saving throws, I certainly do, and anyone can heal the beast the same way you can heal a PC.
that will depend on DM leniency a bit however, as there are no rules for training creatures to become proficient in armor (not completely unreasonable with proficiency in animal handling, it just might take a bit of in game time or gold or something, a DM might not fancy the idea of the ranger having an heavily armored warsnake following it around)
also its hit points will be 2 points less than the hit points of a wizard with a pretty low constitution score of 10 assuming that particular wizard always uses the average result of 4 instead of rolling for hit points (the boring but optional way to attain hit points), at least past the threshold were 4 times your ranger level is more than the starting health of the beast. Yes it is a negligible difference but it is still more than the pet, and most people will be able to have a constiution score of 12 and 90% of players will play a class with a d8 hit dice instead of a d6 one, so this difference will become way bigger for the vanilla beastmaster pets, a single fireball could easily take out the beast ally of a 5th level ranger with all its hit points
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i am soup, with too many ideas (all of them very spicy) who has made sufficient homebrew material and character to last an thousand human lifetimes
Animals wear barding with no issue. I’m not aware of any proficiency requirement. And it’s made to fit them custom.
Depends on the level, but again, I’ve never seen a DM not give the companion death saving throws. Past level 7 most of the time a fireball won’t KO your beast buddy.
Animals wear barding with no issue. I’m not aware of any proficiency requirement. And it’s made to fit them custom.
Barding is armor and armor requires proficiency. Nothing in the barding rules say otherwise.
Barding is specially created for each animal. The cost and weight might be the same, but the actual shape of a breastplate for a mastiff and panther are radically different. The animal is also an NPC, so the DM decides whether or not they are proficient. But even if the DM decides they aren't, what are the penalties? They suffer disadvantage on any ability check, saving throw, or attack roll that involves Strength or Dexterity. But how much of all that explicitly relies on Strength or Dexterity? None. It all has to be reverse-engineered.
Now, if you want to be punitive to your players, that's your business. But this is very much one of those "talk to your DM" situations. That said, the general consensus is to allow barding without jumping through any special hoops.
And you can always give the companion class levels. Crawford has even suggested as much in the past.
Beast Master (using a wolf): (29.66/round) I'm a firm believer that the appropriate strategy for the beast master (player's handbook version) ranger up until level 10, and perhaps even beyond that, is to have the beast present in combat but dodging with it's respectable AC (17 for a wolf at this level) instead of using one of the ranger's attacks. You can still use a ranger's attack especially when hunter's mark isn't up (because most of the beast attacks are about equal to a ranger with a longbow) and/or you want the rider effect the beast brings (knockdown, grapple, restrained, poison damage, extra claw attack, etc.). But if you are using zero of your action economy to move the beast into good tactical positions, it dodges automatically, and it makes it's reaction attack of opportunity automatically. I find I can get an opportunity attack out of the beast every 2-4 rounds easily, and surprisingly, that adds up more than you'd think. Turn 1: ((1d8 + 5 + 1d6)*2).Turn 2: ((1d8 + 5 + 1d6)*2). Turn 3: ((1d8 + 5 + 1d6)*2). One AoO from the wolf: (2d4 +2 + 4).
the wolf is of course the most iconic choice and probably one of the better ones that is listed in the player's handbook but especially if you can afford studded leather barding the giant poisonous snake is much better both in terms of armor class, accuracy and damage, even when a target succeeds on their saving throw against its poison the attack will still deal most damage per hit than the wolf and even most player characters, having it as a doge tank is a neat idea but is kind of tempting fate a bit much, it only has so much health, especially past 11th level you will only be sacroficing one shitty longbow attack with hunter's mark for two additional attacks by your pet
I was going to say that snakes in genal reverse the Plan by frank I am Partial to having Flying snakes use flyby and get away. its Less damage potential but more consistent (no save and always close to 10 Damage at early levels) and safer for the pet. This ranger usually stands next to the enemy with a shield. tanking the damage for a bit and switching out if it gets dangerous near the end. I have found the beast pet usually can take one bad set of attacks(one enemy turn) from the enemies at appropriate cr.
Beast Master (using a wolf): (29.66/round) I'm a firm believer that the appropriate strategy for the beast master (player's handbook version) ranger up until level 10, and perhaps even beyond that, is to have the beast present in combat but dodging with it's respectable AC (17 for a wolf at this level) instead of using one of the ranger's attacks. You can still use a ranger's attack especially when hunter's mark isn't up (because most of the beast attacks are about equal to a ranger with a longbow) and/or you want the rider effect the beast brings (knockdown, grapple, restrained, poison damage, extra claw attack, etc.). But if you are using zero of your action economy to move the beast into good tactical positions, it dodges automatically, and it makes it's reaction attack of opportunity automatically. I find I can get an opportunity attack out of the beast every 2-4 rounds easily, and surprisingly, that adds up more than you'd think. Turn 1: ((1d8 + 5 + 1d6)*2).Turn 2: ((1d8 + 5 + 1d6)*2). Turn 3: ((1d8 + 5 + 1d6)*2). One AoO from the wolf: (2d4 +2 + 4).
the wolf is of course the most iconic choice and probably one of the better ones that is listed in the player's handbook but especially if you can afford studded leather barding the giant poisonous snake is much better both in terms of armor class, accuracy and damage, even when a target succeeds on their saving throw against its poison the attack will still deal most damage per hit than the wolf and even most player characters, having it as a doge tank is a neat idea but is kind of tempting fate a bit much, it only has so much health, especially past 11th level you will only be sacroficing one shitty longbow attack with hunter's mark for two additional attacks by your pet
I was going to say that snakes in genal reverse the Plan by frank I am Partial to having Flying snakes use flyby and get away. its Less damage potential but more consistent (no save and always close to 10 Damage at early levels) and safer for the pet. This ranger usually stands next to the enemy with a shield. tanking the damage for a bit and switching out if it gets dangerous near the end. I have found the beast bet usually can take one bad set of attacks(one enemy turn) from the enemies at appropriate cr.
Yeah! That's what's so great about it is the many options in when and how to use the interactions all on the same turn, and no matter what, you can still continue to get the animal in good position to make as many AoOs as possible.
Even with hunter's mark up (1d8 + 5 +1d6) at level 9, you might be better served doing the best's damage, let's say a wolf (2d4 + 2 + 4) if the chance at a knock down is really more helpful than a point or two of damage. Or the target is behind cover so your wolf has a better chance at hitting. Or the beast is a giant crab or giant frog and you want to grapple the target and have it dragged from behind said cover. Tactics.
Animals wear barding with no issue. I’m not aware of any proficiency requirement. And it’s made to fit them custom.
Barding is armor and armor requires proficiency. Nothing in the barding rules say otherwise.
If the DM says animals need to have proficiency in barding for the beast to not get all of the penalties, then that's on them. I think you'll find most DMs don't interpret it that way. If they do, the player has a choice! A wolf at levels 9-12 has a naked AC of 17. I find that more than respectable. The beast might be dodging much of the time as well. SO then we are talking (mathematically) around the equivalent of a 21-22 AC. Again, naked. A fireball does an average of 28 damage on a failed save, and the beast is likely dodging so has a better than 50% chance of making the save if so. Even if it fails the saving throw, it has 36 hit points at level 9. I know everyone hates the PHB beast master and beast(s), but it is simply not as bad as folks make it out to be.
Most parties don't get magic items thrust at them so much that they can afford to give stuff that powerful to a pet.
It's less about the fact that I have many magic items and more about the fact that almost all my magic items are being worn by my pet (the Ranger only has an Amulet of Health and a magic dagger).
Though, to be fair, that character is in Adventurer's League, so magic items are pretty much guaranteed if you look around and trade.
Absolutely! Did someone say two weapon fighting?! Attacking three opponents and two weapon fighting that would do 33/round! Awesome!
I mean, all of these subclasses have fiddley bits and subtle pros and strategy to them. Your example is prime.
I just want to point out that, although not the most mechanically pleasing for a lot of players, the PHB beast master is very effective as written when played using ALL of the action economy a available to the ranger and beast.
First of all, without applying your proficiency bonus to their attacks the giant poisonous snake deals 1d4 + 4 piercing damage with its bite (average of 6.5) and the wolf deals an average of 2d4 + 2 (average of 7), so even against an enemy who is fully immune to poison damage the giant poisonus snake will still deal basically the same damage on average (not accounting for crits) and depending on the AC of the particular opponent it might even have higher average damage compared to the wolf even if they are immune to poison by virtue of their +2 to hit compared to the wolf.
against an enemy with resistance to poison damage who suceeds on their saving throw the poisonous snake will still be dealing more damage per hit on average, especially when you take into account that you get to add your proficiency bonus once to the damage roll for the piercing damage and once to the damage roll of the poison damage
Not entirely certain what you mean with that the wolf is capable of the same armor class, not without armor they aint, and certainly not with any affordable armor, only once you start to get into medium or heavier armor does the advantage of 18 dex vs 14 dex balance out
second of all i do fully agree that every beast is a choice and that many have something unique going for them, wolves can knock opponents prone, giant frogs will automatically inflict a potent debuff without a save and deny action economy of their victim to escape, some will have blindsight, others will not, some will fly and have flyby and others don't, some have climbing speeds, some even have burrowing speeds and tremmorsense (like the cave badger), some will be amphibious and some will not, panthers get to temporarily outclass the stealth modifier of the typical 16 dex individual with expertise (and so does the giant wolf spider but better), each has their own niche and is cool in its own way, the wolf is by no means bad just if you want pure damage output the giant poisonous snake is way better
i am soup, with too many ideas (all of them very spicy) who has made sufficient homebrew material and character to last an thousand human lifetimes
Just as taking a battle master fighter subclass, precision attack maneuver, crossbow expert feat, and sharpshooter feat is the "best" thing to do for damage for a ranged martial character, taking the giant poisonous snake for the PHB beast master ranger is the "best" thing to do for the most damage output (31.25/round to 33/round with just one AoO every three 3 rounds, poison working) from the subclass, no question. 100%. But if you are going for pure damage (well, 90% damage and 10% utility) then you are better off with the beast of the land from Tasha's. If you are looking for all the other stuff a beast companion can bring to the subclass, then you have many options, and honestly, the giant poisonous snake is still a good one, but the others, including the wolf, get you a lot that other options can't even touch.
Laura could have actually used Trinket a lot more. But she was so attached to that bear that she was prone to not using it. Matt customized things and added things like the Amulet so that she wuold in fact use him more because Laura was very against losing her pet bear. Though a couple of changes he did were play test quality of life changes as well. Just like Tallesin was actively playtesting the Gunslinger and Matt made changes to the class based upon his play in that game as well. Matt wasn't entirely trying to Beef trinket up with his changes but to get Laura to play that aspect of her character a bit more.
That being said. Animal Companions are suprisingly replacable in 5e for better or worse. It just requires the downtime to bond with a new one. Which is way easier than ever before even with that taking 8 hours. In previous editions there was a period of time where you actually had to function without that beast and some times at reduced capacity on top of that before you could get a new animal companion. An IC month was a common limitation when it came to that.
So in 5e there is technically a potential ability to cycle through various animal companions over time. Though to some, such as Laura, that is not nearly as desirable.
An Actual easy alternative to this is actually presented to us in Tasha's with the Primal Companion. The ability to easily ressurect a companion or simply summon a new one after your long rest. And I think it's because of players like Laura that they made these quality of life changes when they created that optional feature. There are a few things about that feature that can be good home brews to port over onto the normal animal companion, such as that one and the bonus action commanding ability.
Haven't read the whole *whole* thing, but I'll add my current Beast Master as an example, hope it helps. Currently at level 16 (Ranger 15/Sorcerer 1, unrelated to the pet).
Using PHB Beast Master and a Panther (actually it's a miniature displacer beast I've got from Fai Chen, but it works just as a regular panther, but it can cast Blur 1/day). I've switched it over my old Wolf after finally reading the whole Pounce ability (the last sentence sealed the deal, "If the target is prone, the panther can make one bite attack against it as a bonus action.", that doesn't require the panther to have actually knocked it prone, just requires it to be prone to make a 3rd attack, which is nice).
Panther's Gear: Plate +2 (barding, AC currently 25, maxing at 27 when I get +7 Proficiency with level and an Ioun Stone of Mastery, and since I'm able to cast Shield, sometimes it will float to 32 due to Share Spells), Belt of Fire Giant Strength (getting upgraded to Storm as soon as I actually manage to find one).
Panther's Attack: +14 to hit (+7 Strength, +2 Panther's Proficiency, +5 Ranger's Proficiency), 1d4+12 damage (or 1d6 with Bite), if the Panther moves at least 20 ft and hits with a Claw attack, the target must make a DC 17 Strength (8 Base + 2 Proficiency + 7 Strength) saving throw or be knocked prone. If the target is prone, the Panther gets one additional bonus action attack and I can switch attacks to Bites, which increase damage by 1 in average.
Minimum average DPR (2 Claw attack hits, not knocked prone): 2d4+24 = 29 average.
Maximum average DPR (3 Bite attack hits against prone target, with Guardian of Nature): 6d6+36 = 57 average.
Choosing a Panther over a Wolf does sacrifice Pack Tactics (which is awesome) and you only get one turn of chances to knock your target prone (the first 2 Claw attacks, possibly), though a chance for a 3rd attack with a flat damage bonus that high was too good to pass. Additionally, if the Panther manages to knock someone prone and there is no one else adjacent to it, it can safely risk an AoO at disadvantage (prone) with such a high AC. The whole tactic is to Pounce and hope to be able to knock the target prone, and draw the Panther back more than 20 ft away if so.
The only real bad thing is the Animal Companion's Hit Points and your reliance on party members to circumvent that. I was hopeful when the Unearthed Arcana class feature variants had Death Ward added to the Ranger Spell List, but the actual print in Tasha's unfortunately didn't have it. Things like Stoneskin and Protection from Energy help, sure, but they don't do anything against Power Word: Kill (and I've had to procure a Resurrection for this Panther already, after a PWK xD), so be sure to have a friendly Cleric or Paladin nearby.
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Most parties don't get magic items thrust at them so much that they can afford to give stuff that powerful to a pet.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
They may not be able to throw stuff that powerful. But there are things that can potentially still be thrown at the pet. Specially at higher levels and even if not all of it is even magical.
Barding is a no brainer. Surely by at LEAST levels 10,11, or 12 your beast will have studded leather or scale mail. If you paladin or fighter has half plate or plate mail your beast should have those. Then we are talking about a 20+ AC that is dodging. And with attunent slots being so crucial, at these same levels there should be a couple of uncommon magic items going unused. Even if magic is rare in that game, that just means the beast will be balanced to the power level of the game naturally. I know folks complain about the hit points a lot. But the beast isn’t a PC. It’s not supposed to ha r the same hit points as a fighter or barbarian. It has the hit points around the same as magic users and some of the average constitution score d8 characters. And WAY more hit points than a familiar or found steed. The beast should not be taking all of the hits as it’s not the tank of the party. Also, I’ve never met a DM that didn’t give the beast companion death saving throws, I certainly do, and anyone can heal the beast the same way you can heal a PC.
that will depend on DM leniency a bit however, as there are no rules for training creatures to become proficient in armor (not completely unreasonable with proficiency in animal handling, it just might take a bit of in game time or gold or something, a DM might not fancy the idea of the ranger having an heavily armored warsnake following it around)
also its hit points will be 2 points less than the hit points of a wizard with a pretty low constitution score of 10 assuming that particular wizard always uses the average result of 4 instead of rolling for hit points (the boring but optional way to attain hit points), at least past the threshold were 4 times your ranger level is more than the starting health of the beast. Yes it is a negligible difference but it is still more than the pet, and most people will be able to have a constiution score of 12 and 90% of players will play a class with a d8 hit dice instead of a d6 one, so this difference will become way bigger for the vanilla beastmaster pets, a single fireball could easily take out the beast ally of a 5th level ranger with all its hit points
i am soup, with too many ideas (all of them very spicy) who has made sufficient homebrew material and character to last an thousand human lifetimes
Animals wear barding with no issue. I’m not aware of any proficiency requirement. And it’s made to fit them custom.
Depends on the level, but again, I’ve never seen a DM not give the companion death saving throws. Past level 7 most of the time a fireball won’t KO your beast buddy.
Barding is armor and armor requires proficiency. Nothing in the barding rules say otherwise.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Barding is specially created for each animal. The cost and weight might be the same, but the actual shape of a breastplate for a mastiff and panther are radically different. The animal is also an NPC, so the DM decides whether or not they are proficient. But even if the DM decides they aren't, what are the penalties? They suffer disadvantage on any ability check, saving throw, or attack roll that involves Strength or Dexterity. But how much of all that explicitly relies on Strength or Dexterity? None. It all has to be reverse-engineered.
Now, if you want to be punitive to your players, that's your business. But this is very much one of those "talk to your DM" situations. That said, the general consensus is to allow barding without jumping through any special hoops.
And you can always give the companion class levels. Crawford has even suggested as much in the past.
I was going to say that snakes in genal reverse the Plan by frank I am Partial to having Flying snakes use flyby and get away. its Less damage potential but more consistent (no save and always close to 10 Damage at early levels) and safer for the pet. This ranger usually stands next to the enemy with a shield. tanking the damage for a bit and switching out if it gets dangerous near the end. I have found the beast pet usually can take one bad set of attacks(one enemy turn) from the enemies at appropriate cr.
Yeah! That's what's so great about it is the many options in when and how to use the interactions all on the same turn, and no matter what, you can still continue to get the animal in good position to make as many AoOs as possible.
Even with hunter's mark up (1d8 + 5 +1d6) at level 9, you might be better served doing the best's damage, let's say a wolf (2d4 + 2 + 4) if the chance at a knock down is really more helpful than a point or two of damage. Or the target is behind cover so your wolf has a better chance at hitting. Or the beast is a giant crab or giant frog and you want to grapple the target and have it dragged from behind said cover. Tactics.
If the DM says animals need to have proficiency in barding for the beast to not get all of the penalties, then that's on them. I think you'll find most DMs don't interpret it that way. If they do, the player has a choice! A wolf at levels 9-12 has a naked AC of 17. I find that more than respectable. The beast might be dodging much of the time as well. SO then we are talking (mathematically) around the equivalent of a 21-22 AC. Again, naked. A fireball does an average of 28 damage on a failed save, and the beast is likely dodging so has a better than 50% chance of making the save if so. Even if it fails the saving throw, it has 36 hit points at level 9. I know everyone hates the PHB beast master and beast(s), but it is simply not as bad as folks make it out to be.
It's less about the fact that I have many magic items and more about the fact that almost all my magic items are being worn by my pet (the Ranger only has an Amulet of Health and a magic dagger).
Though, to be fair, that character is in Adventurer's League, so magic items are pretty much guaranteed if you look around and trade.
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