Never said your views are wrong or don't matter. The satisfaction with a product (whatever that product is) is highly subjective. As such, I disagree that the introduction of a Revised Ranger will dissatisfy no one. The introduction of an alternative Ranger 5 years after the release of the PHB will dissatisfy many.
But I digress. That is not even the point. The point is that WotC is the only one with the final say on the release of a product of theirs on DDB. Be it Unearthed Arcana material or a map pack, they have the copyright and the final say.
On your first point we can agree to disagree. On your second point I understand and agree. I don’t mean to beat up on DDB here- and I get that ultimately this is a WotC issue but my hope is that they do monitor these boards and certainly discuss these topics with DDB managers. Cheers.
‘The only reason the current Artificer is up and the other wasn’t is that the current one was published after the cut off date for UA content that appears on Beyond, it has nothing to do with “close” to done.
Everything that came before that cut off date had either been followed through to completion or abandoned as a design. So yes, it had to do with how close the designers got to something publishable. That iteration of the Artificer was 100% dead, much like the Revised Ranger. We could still see another attempt at improving the Ranger's class features, but whatever that looks like, it won't be the Revised Ranger you know.
So a wolf has advantage on a +6 to do 2d4+4 with a 40% chance to knock prone (and that percentage can only go down as you go higher in level, and depending on initiative order knocking prone may be useless) and to give him that I have to position him in the fray where he is a glass cannon because his ac/hit points are garbage and I have to give up my attack of +9 to hit for 1d8+1d6+5 or (assuming a hunter) my +9 to hit dealing 2d8+1d6+5 if the enemy has been hit at all. So yeah, I don’t see that being worth it.
My numbers were for a level 3 Beast Master. A level 3 hunter can't have +9 to hit using point buy or standard array or +5 to damage rolls. They have +7 to attack rolls and +3 to damage rolls at best (+2 proficiency, +3 DEX, +2 Fighting Style.) So you're looking at +6 with advantage for 9 damage or 10/14.5 damage (with/without Colossus Slayer), no advantage. Your hypothetical Hunter will miss more due to lack of advantage, and the Beast Master saved a spell slot, so that's a fair trade. Your Hunter doesn't have 18 passive perception against enemy ambushes either.
By the time your Hunter has two ASIs to hit 20 DEX, the Beast Master doesn't have to give up Hunter's Mark any more (Extra Attack) and the beast's AC, attack roll bonus and damage roll bonus have all gone up because of the Ranger's proficiency bonus being 1-2 points higher.
I wish the BM was viable, but if you play one, you have to accept that you are going to do crap damage compared to a hunter or any other Ranger and that your pet is going to die 9/10 times there is an AOE attack.
Or you could play with a DM that doesn't hate Beast Masters and gives the pet Death Saving throws like any other party member. Healing Spirit or a cleric willing to pitch in will go a long way towards keeping an animal companion in the fight too. Heroism, Aid, Warding Bond and Death Ward are all good ways to keep an animal companion in the fight if you're expecting a tough encounter.
The Beast Master isn't without its flaws and it certainly takes additional effort from the players. But you're vastly overstating the power difference and at the end of the day, people pick Beast Master to have an animal companion, not to be the DPS king. A lot of people don't mind being somewhat underpowered if they're playing a character they're happy with. The Champion Fighter is still plenty popular despite being barely any better than having no subclass from 3rd to 9th level, and the majority of players don't pick Variant Human as their race even though an extra feat almost always outweighs the benefits of other race's class features.
I admit that 5e is so well balanced that even being weak, you will have fun with any option you choose to go with and I know combat isn't everything. Maybe I am being a bit harsh on the PHB BM, but both Hunter and BM seem to offer a player a lot less then the newer subclasses, especially compared to other classes. Every class has received new subclasses as 5e has grown, but they all seem in line with what came before. The newer Ranger stuff seems to significantly outpace what came before, so much so that is really emphasizes how seemingly half baked the Ranger was at release.
I do think the revised is a bit overpowered in areas, and ultimately I would like to see an update that blends the two more and give players the option to use either. I would also like to see a free errata added to the Ranger that gives the PHB options spell list and for new printed editions to include that content.
The reason I am so energized about the Ranger is because I really love the class, but feel like they failed to really get the feel right. Some of it works, but I think a number of the aspects don't work as they are. I remember reading the UA Fighter Scout and thinking, hell, that is a better Ranger then the Ranger.
The real sticking point for me is the idea that the beast can only act using your action. So for 4 levels you have to decide if you are attacking or your beast, then at 5 you both can, but it stills feels like you are diminishing the pet. The UA Beast Conclave really fixes the issue, but WoTC was between a rock and a hard place because it is hard to revamp a major subclass, and the longer they go without changing it, the harder it is to do so later.
I love 5e because it allows you to blend options. My current build in one game using Revised is going to be a 13 Rogue Scout/7 Ranger Gloomstalker and in the game using the PHB 15 Rogue Scout and 5 Ranger Gloomstalker as both are STK. Maybe if they introduce new options, or in a different campaign I could see building a pure Ranger Beast Master, but who know. Either way I enjoy the discussion.
When I first got back into 5e I built a BM with a Giant Poisonous Snake pet, it was fun, but then as I learned more about the game and the options and classes I ultimately built Ryder as a rogue/ranger and feel it better fits my concept for the character. To each their own though.
I do think the revised is a bit overpowered in areas, and ultimately I would like to see an update that blends the two more and give players the option to use either. I would also like to see a free errata added to the Ranger that gives the PHB options spell list and for new printed editions to include that content.
I fully agree- absolutely. that's it there, if they could offer this it's problem solved. And they wouldn't have to put up with us whinging anymore! lol.
Pitching in my 2 cents here... Disclaimer, I'm new at DnD, and have not seen anything in Unearthed Arcana.
I completely agree with whoever said it before that in order for the base PHB Ranger to get any mileage out of Favored Enemy and Natural Explorer, you are required to metagame based on information about the campaign you are about to play. Which then sets you walking directly into, effectively, a bear-trap, because most DMs will punish you relentlessly for metagaming. Case and point, the character I've built for a one-shot campaign I'm attending tomorrow is a lvl 5 Lizardman Ranger/Hunter. The only reason I'm even playing it (I would have rolled Rogue/Scout instead) was that I learned we were doing pirate things. Where do pirates exist? In Coastal Terrain, so Natural Explorer is resolved. Beyond that, I have no information, but seeing how many other Proficiencies and Languages I have from everything else, I just opted to use Favored Enemy on Humanoids, and picked Sahuagin (sea trolls/giants?) because it fit with the fuzzy backstory going on in my head, and Goblinoid because goblins are everywhere. I have no idea if either of those 2 choices are going to be relevant.
The fact that anyone can even say that 1 of 2 core class functional components attached at level 1 may or not be relevant is a pretty clear indication that something is not in an ideally functional state. And in that scenario, I had foreknowledge that allowed me to "rig" the other item -- had I not had access to that knowledge, I had a 1 in 8 chance of picking the "right" one. More over, moving into a different biome invalidates that choice. You can effectively not have any class related actions or features until level 2 when you get your Fighting Style.
None of this is to say that the Ranger is ineffective. After all, I'm still going to be playing one tomorrow. But the class is way too laser-focused on items that you can't change, and could not pick "correctly" without "illegal" foreknowledge that will usually get you focus fired by your DM. These immutable choices need to be made less restrictive.
Having not played Beast Master, I can't comment in deep detail, but the simple fact that you must give up your own action in order to command your Beast Companion to take any action at all immediately made me set the archetype aside. Only when re-reading for my game tomorrow did I realize that this changes as you level up, but honestly that doesn't matter to me at that point. This is only exacerbated if the worst should happen, and your Companion goes over the rainbow bridge, in order to replace it you have to first encounter a beast that is friendly to you (highly dependent of the DM being nice. Again. Sensing a theme here...), then spend 8 hours bonding to it. Can you do that during a Long Rest? The page doesn't say. And I'm assuming you can't purchase armor of any kind, like you would for a Mount, for your Companion to wear? So your new Companion is just as vulnerable as your old one.
I also find the suggestion that you must depend on a different player expending spell slots to protect your Companion to be a bit of an eyebrow raiser. At level 3 when the Ranger can choose Beast Master, a Cleric or Druid that might be in your party at the same level will have 6 spell slots to work with (2 of them lvl 2's). Depending on the encounters you are playing through, you might be hard pressed to make that work just protecting and healing player characters. You're already very tight on actions to contribute to the offense while also providing protection and healing as it is. And now you also have to spend actions and spell slots protecting a fragile creature, belonging to another player, that is of questionable effectiveness to party survival? More importantly, what other class or feature has this kind of dependence in order to make use of it? You could make a case for Blood Hunter's Crimson Rite health costs, but that's about the only other thing I can come up with.
And to the point about a Wolf specifically giving 18 for passive Perception.... that depends entirely on how you loadout your starting character. If you did roll your 4d6 drop lowest, and get an 18 (3 6's), you could put that into Wisdom (though you probably won't on a Ranger -- you'll want Dex), giving you a +4 mod to passive Perception. And as a Ranger, you're probably going to put one of your Proficiencies (of which you have many options, between Ranger/Race/Background options)into Perception, for another +5 mod to passive Perception. 10 base + 4 Wis + 5 Prof = 19. Again, you're more likely to do that on a Cleric or a Druid for the class related casting ability than on a Ranger, who's a Dex combat warrior, but I think the point I'm making here is apparent.
As for how to resolve any of this, Natural Explorer would be really easy. Tweak the level 1 to allow choosing 3 Terrains, and gain 1 at each of the later iterations as it currently does. This gives you, at level 10, 5 out of 8 terrain types. If that's too much, 2 at level 1 would be 4 at level 10. This gives you a much higher chance of being relevant in the shot-in-the-dark nature of the Feature. A lot of the reworks I see proposed want to let you reselect your Terrain type(s) when performing some action (a Long Rest, some sort of ritual, etc), but I feel that contradicts the nature of the Class itself. You have spend a long time learning about the biome(s) you choose, as dictated by your backstory and (probably) the events of your campaign. Being able to reselect those skills arbitrarily just flat out doesn't make any sense (can't gain a lifetime of experiences over a Long Rest), and doesn't fit the Class. Perhaps also consider adding the ability to reroll damage dice some number of times per Long Rest while in one of your selected biomes, if the class is showing to be underselling in the damage department. Although, I don't think it will be, and honestly I don't think it fits Natural Explorer as well.
Favored Enemy would be a little trickier. This would probably require a rework of how the races are categorized, not only to break up Humanoid into multiple groupings, but also to increase versatility and allow more overlap. After that reworking, make Favored Enemy a selection of 2 or 3 groupings, continuing to gain 1 at levels 6 and 10. This gives you, at level 10, 4/5 groups of Favored Enemies. The groups would, in this scenario, be smaller, but you'd have more of them to work with, again braking away from the theme of permanent sweeping selections being useful or irrelevant based on your awareness of what you are going to be up against. Additionally, while I think Natural Explorer doesn't fit, Favored Enemy would be a great place to sneak in a little extra damage. Something like rolling extra d4s for damage, or always having advantage on attack rolls, or always forcing disadvantage on saving throws. But such things would be attached directly to your Favored Enemy groupings, so it only works against them.
Having not played or theory-crafted one, I'm more unsure of how to augment Beast Master, although it sounds like this Beast Conclave that was in Unearthed Arcana was very popular (I also haven't seen that). Obviously, the Companion needs to be capable of contributing to offense from level 3, right out of the gate. How that is handled, though, is a little trickier. It could be done by taking a bonus action to give a targeting command to the Companion on a specific monster, against which it will attempt to take action against, to the best of it's ability. Or perhaps it will attempt, to the best of it's ability, to attack the same target that you do. Perhaps allow the Companion to wear armor that is crafted/purchased by the player, at cost of resources/gold. Again, I don't have a good handle on this bit. But... if the Beast Conclave from Unearthed Arcana was so popular.... why not just add it as a separate Archetype? Players who like the existing Beast Master can play it. Players who prefer the new Beast Conclave can play that. Yeah, at first people might find it confusing, since they both have the term "Beast" in the title. But would that really be that problematic?
I think at this point they (Wizards) just need to suck it up, rework it, and accept that doing so while a little messy, isn’t going to cause anymore of an issue then people playing with the Revised unpublished options, people playing with a combination of both, people just flat out playing with their own house-ruled versions, or any of the other dozen things that are happening right now because they made the class feel half baked in a number of ways, acknowledged that many people feel that way, and then seemingly abandoned any real fix.
Beginning at 1st level, you have significant experience studying, tracking, hunting, and even talking to a certain type of creature commonly encountered. Choose a type of favored creature: beasts, fey, humanoids;monster [ex: Goblins, Kobolds, etc], humanoids;men [ex: Human, Elf, etc], monstrosities, or undead.
This choice grants the following benefits:
• You gain a +2 bonus to damage rolls with weapon attacks against favored creatures.
• You have advantage on Wisdom (Survival) checks to track your favored enemies, Intelligence checks to recall information about them, and Charisma checks to interact with them.
• You also learn one language of your choice, typically one spoken by your favored enemy or creatures associated with it. However, you are free to pick any language you wish to learn.
Greater Favored Enemy
At 6th level, you are ready to hunt even deadlier game. Choose a type of greater favored enemy: aberrations, celestials, constructs, dragons, elementals, fiends, or giants. You may alternatively select a group from the favored creature list. You gain all the benefits against this chosen enemy that you normally gain against your favored enemy, including an additional language.
Additionally, you have advantage on saving throws against the spells and abilities used by any favored creature.
Natural Explorer
You are particularly familiar with environments in which you have honed your craft and are adept at traveling and surviving in such regions. Choose one environmental group as favored terrain:
Inhospitable: Arctic/Desert/Mountain
Natural: Forest/Grassland/Swamp
Urban: Coast/Cities/Towns
Desolate: Dungeon/Ruins/Underdark
While in any favored terrain you gain the following benefits:
• You ignore difficult terrain.
• You have advantage on initiative rolls.
• On your first turn during combat, you have advantage on attack rolls against creatures that have not yet acted.
While traveling for an hour or more in your favored terrain, you gain the following benefits:
Difficult terrain doesn’t slow your group’s travel.
Your group can’t become lost except by magical means.
Even when you are engaged in another activity while traveling (such as foraging, navigating, or tracking), you remain alert to danger.
If you are traveling alone, you can move stealthily at a normal pace.
When you forage, you find twice as much food as you normally would.
While tracking other creatures, you also learn their exact number, their sizes, and how long ago they passed through the area.
You choose additional favored terrain types at 6th, 11th, and 17th level.
Primeval Awareness
Beginning at 3rd level, your mastery of ranger lore allows you to establish a powerful link to beasts and to the land around you. You have an innate ability to communicate with beasts, and they recognize you as a kindred spirit. Through sounds and gestures, you can communicate simple ideas to a beast as an action, and can read its basic mood and intent. You learn its emotional state, whether it is affected by magic of any sort, its short-term needs (such as food or safety), and actions you can take (if any) to persuade it to not attack. You cannot use this ability against a creature that you have attacked within the past 10 minutes.
Additionally, you can attune your senses to determine if any of your favored enemies lurk nearby. By spending 1 uninterrupted minute in concentration (as if you were concentrating on a spell), you can sense whether any of your favored enemies are present within 5 miles of you. This feature reveals which of your favored enemies are present, their approximate numbers, and the creatures’ general direction and distance (in miles) from you. If there are multiple groups of your favored enemies within range, you learn this information for each group. You can attune your senses in this way a number of times up to your Wisdom modifier (minimum 1) and regain all expended uses on a long rest.
Revised Ranger 2019 As a ranger, you gain the following class features.
Hit Points Hit Dice: 1d10 per ranger level Hit Points at 1st Level: 10 + your Constitution modifier Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d10 (or 6) + your Constitution modifier per ranger level after 1st
Proficiencies Armor: Light armor, medium armor, shields Weapons: Simple weapons, martial weapons Tools: None Saving Throws: Strength, Dexterity Skills: Choose three from Animal Handling, Athletics, Insight, Investigation, Nature, Perception, Stealth, and Survival
Equipment You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background:
(a) scale mail or (b) leather armor (a) two shortswords or (b) two simple melee weapons (a) a dungeoneer’s pack or (b) an explorer’s pack A longbow and a quiver of 20 arrows
Hunter’s Mark Beginning at 1st level you are able to mark your prey, exploiting weakness to do additional damage. As a bonus action you can mark a target within 90ft of you, dealing an additional 1d6 damage each time you hit the target with an attack. The target remains marked until you use this feature again. This damage increases with experience to 2d6 at level 10. Once a creature is marked it gains no benefit from being unseen by you and you gain advantage on Survival checks to track it.
Favored Creature Beginning at 1st level, you have significant experience studying, tracking, hunting, and even talking to a certain type of creature commonly encountered. Choose a type of favored creature: beasts, fey, humanoids;monster [ex: Goblins, Kobolds, etc], humanoids;men [ex: Human, Elf, etc], monstrosities, or undead.
This choice grants the following benefits: • You gain a +2 bonus to damage rolls with weapon attacks against favored creatures. • You have advantage on Wisdom (Survival) checks to track your favored enemies, Intelligence checks to recall information about them, and Charisma checks to interact with them. • You also learn one language of your choice, typically one spoken by your favored enemy or creatures associated with it. However, you are free to pick any language you wish to learn.
Natural Explorer You are particularly familiar with environments in which you have honed your craft and are adept at traveling and surviving in such regions. Choose one environmental group as favored terrain:
While in any favored terrain you gain the following benefits: • You ignore difficult terrain. • You have advantage on initiative rolls. • On your first turn during combat, you have advantage on attack rolls against creatures that have not yet acted.
While traveling for an hour or more in your favored terrain, you gain the following benefits:
• Difficult terrain doesn’t slow your group’s travel. • Your group can’t become lost except by magical means. • Even when you are engaged in another activity while traveling (such as foraging, navigating, or tracking), you remain alert to danger. • If you are traveling alone, you can move stealthily at a normal pace. • When you forage, you find twice as much food as you normally would. • While tracking other creatures, you also learn their exact number, their sizes, and how long ago they passed through the area.
You choose additional favored terrain types at 6th, 11th, and 17th level.
Fighting Style At 2nd level, you adopt a particular style of fighting as your specialty. Choose one of the following options.
You can’t take a Fighting Style option more than once, even if you later get to choose again.
Archery You gain a +2 bonus to attack rolls you make with ranged weapons.
Defense While you are wearing armor, you gain a +1 bonus to AC.
Dueling When you are wielding a melee weapon in one hand and no other weapons, you gain a +2 bonus to damage rolls with that weapon.
Two-Weapon Fighting When you engage in two-weapon fighting, you can add your ability modifier to the damage of the second attack.
Close Quarters Archer You gain a +1 bonus to attack rolls you make with ranged weapons. Additionally you can make a melee attack with a projectile (arrow/bolt) dealing 1d6 damage. This attack can be made with either Strength or Dexterity and allows you to make opportunity attacks.
Spellcasting By the time you reach 2nd level, you have learned to use the magical essence of nature to cast spells, much as a druid does. See Spells Rules for the general rules of spellcasting and the Spells Listing for the ranger spell list.
Spell Slots The Ranger table shows how many spell slots you have to cast your ranger spells of 1st level and higher. To cast one of these spells, you must expend a slot of the spell’s level or higher. You regain all expended spell slots when you finish a long rest.
For example, if you know the 1st-level spell animal friendship and have a 1st-level and a 2nd-level spell slot available, you can cast animal friendship using either slot.
Spells Known of 1st Level and Higher You know two 1st-level spells of your choice from the ranger spell list.
The Spells Known column of the Ranger table shows when you learn more ranger spells of your choice. Each of these spells must be of a level for which you have spell slots. For instance, when you reach 5th level in this class, you can learn one new spell of 1st or 2nd level.
Additionally, when you gain a level in this class, you can choose one of the ranger spells you know and replace it with another spell from the ranger spell list, which also must be of a level for which you have spell slots.
Spellcasting Ability Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for your ranger spells, since your magic draws on your attunement to nature. You use your Wisdom whenever a spell refers to your spellcasting ability. In addition, you use your Wisdom modifier when setting the saving throw DC for a ranger spell you cast and when making an attack roll with one.
Spell save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom modifier
Spell attack modifier = your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom modifier
Ranger Archetype At 3rd level, you choose an archetype that you strive to emulate: the Hunter that is detailed at the end of the class description or one from another source. Your choice grants you features at 3rd level and again at 7th, 11th, and 15th level.
Primeval Awareness Beginning at 3rd level, your mastery of ranger lore allows you to establish a powerful link to beasts and to the land around you. You have an innate ability to communicate with beasts, and they recognize you as a kindred spirit. Through sounds and gestures, you can communicate simple ideas to a beast as an action, and can read its basic mood and intent. You learn its emotional state, whether it is affected by magic of any sort, its short-term needs (such as food or safety), and actions you can take (if any) to persuade it to not attack. You cannot use this ability against a creature that you have attacked within the past 10 minutes.
Additionally, you can attune your senses to determine if any of your favored enemies lurk nearby. By spending 1 uninterrupted minute in concentration (as if you were concentrating on a spell), you can sense whether any of your favored enemies are present within 5 miles of you. This feature reveals which of your favored enemies are present, their approximate numbers, and the creatures’ general direction and distance (in miles) from you. If there are multiple groups of your favored enemies within range, you learn this information for each group. You can attune your senses in this way a number of times up to your Wisdom modifier (minimum 1) and regain all expended uses on a long rest.
Ability Score Improvement When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can’t increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.
Using the optional feats rule, you can forgo taking this feature to take a feat of your choice instead.
Extra Attack Beginning at 5th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.
Greater Favored Creature At 6th level, you are ready to interact with even deadlier game. Choose a type of greater favored creature: aberrations, celestials, constructs, dragons, elementals, fiends, or giants. You may alternatively select a group from the favored creature list. You gain all the benefits against this chosen enemy that you normally gain against your favored creature, including an additional language.
Additionally, you have advantage on saving throws against the spells and abilities used by any favored creature.
Lastly You choose one additional favored creature, as well as an associated language, at 14th level. As you gain levels, your choices should reflect the types of monsters you have encountered on your adventures.
Land’s Stride Starting at 8th level, you gain additional benefits both inside and outside of you favored terrains:
Inside a favored terrain: You can dash, disengage, or hide as a bonus action.
Outside a favored terrain: Moving through nonmagical difficult terrain costs you no extra movement. You can also pass through nonmagical plants without being slowed by them and without taking damage from them if they have thorns, spines, or a similar hazard. In addition, you have advantage on saving throws against plants that are magically created or manipulated to impede movement, such those created by the entangle spell.
Hide in Plain Sight Starting at 10th level, you can remain perfectly still for long periods of time to set up ambushes. When you attempt to hide on your turn, you can opt to not move on that turn. If you avoid moving, creatures that attempt to detect you take a −10 penalty to their Wisdom (Perception) checks until the start of your next turn. You lose this benefit if you move or fall prone, either voluntarily or because of some external effect. You are still automatically detected if any effect or action causes you to no longer be hidden. If you are still hidden on your next turn, you can continue to remain motionless and gain this benefit until you are detected.
Vanish Starting at 14th level, outside a favored terrain, you can use the Hide action as a bonus action on your turn. Inside a favored terrain if you start your turn hidden and miss with an attack you do not reveal your position. Additionally, you can’t be tracked by nonmagical means, unless you choose to leave a trail in any terrain type.
Feral Senses At 18th level, you gain preternatural senses that help you fight creatures you can’t see. When you attack a creature you can’t see, your inability to see it doesn’t impose disadvantage on your attack rolls against it.
You are also aware of the location of any invisible creature within 30 feet of you in the dim light or darkness and 60ft of you in a bright light, provided that the creature isn’t hidden from you and you aren’t blinded or deafened.
Supreme Ranger At 20th level, you have become an unparalleled hunter. Your Hunter’s Mark applies to all attacks (no action required) and you can attack three times, instead of twice, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.
Beastmaster Many rangers are more at home in the wilds than in civilization, to the point where animals consider them kin. Rangers of the Beast Conclave develop a close bond with a beast, then further strengthen that bond through the use of magic.
Animal 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 may select any medium or smaller beast with a challenge rating of ¼ or less. At the end of the 8 hours, your animal companion appears and gains all the benefits of your Companion’s Bond 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 Bond 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 and acts on your initiative. If you are incapacitated or absent, your companion acts on its own. Your companion benefits from your Natural Explorer feature.
When you gain your animal companion at 3rd level, it has the maximum hit points and its proficiency bonus matches yours at +2. As you gain levels and increase your proficiency bonus, remember that your companion’s proficiency bonus improves as well, and is applied to the following areas: Armor Class, skills, saving throws, attack bonus, damage rolls, and DC checks. Your animal companion has abilities and game statistics determined in part by your level. Your animal companion gains proficiency in two skills of your choice. It also becomes proficient with all saving throws. For each level you gain after 3rd, your animal companion gains an additional hit die and increases its hit points accordingly, receiving the maximum hit points. 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 companion shares your alignment, and has a personality trait and a flaw that you can roll for or select from the tables below. Your companion shares your ideal, and its bond is always, “The ranger who travels with me is a beloved companion for whom I would gladly give my life.” Your animal companion gains the benefits of your Favored Creature feature, and of your Greater Favored Creature feature when you gain that feature at 6th level. It uses the favored creatures you selected for those features.
d6 Trait 1 I’m dauntless in the face of adversity. 2 Threaten my friends, threaten me. 3 I stay on alert so others can rest. 4 People see an animal and underestimate me. I use that to my advantage. 5 I have a knack for showing up in the nick of time. 6 I put my friends’ needs before my own in all things.
d6 Flaw 1 If there’s food left unattended, I’ll eat it. 2 I growl at strangers, and all people except my ranger are strangers to me. 3 Any time is a good time for a belly rub. 4 I’m deathly afraid of water. 5 My idea of hello is a flurry of licks to the face. 6 I jump on creatures to tell them how much I love them.
Coordinated Attack Beginning at 5th level, you and your animal companion form a more potent fighting team. When you use the Attack action on your turn, if your companion can see you, it can use its reaction to make a melee attack.
Beast’s Defense At 7th level, while your companion can see you, it has advantage on all saving throws.
Storm of Claws and Fangs 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, with a separate attack roll for each target.
Superior Team Defense At 15th level, whenever an attacker that you and your companion can see hits either of you with an attack, the target can use it’s reaction to halve the attack’s damage or you can both use your reaction to first halve the damage and then split the remaining damage between the two of you.
Why No Multiattack? Multiattack is a useful design tool that keeps monsters simple for the DM. It provides a boost in offense, but that boost is meant to make a beast threatening for one battle—a notion that doesn’t mesh well with a beast intended to fight with the party, rather than against it. Project Multiattack across an entire adventure, and an animal companion runs the risk of outclassing the fighters and barbarians in the party. So in story terms, your animal companion has traded in some of its ferocity (in the form of Multiattack) for better awareness and the ability to fight more effectively in concert with you.
Barding. Your companion is proficient in light armor and you can have light armor commissioned for your companion to replace it’s natural armor. It still gains your proficiency bonus added to its armor class while armored.
On your first point we can agree to disagree. On your second point I understand and agree. I don’t mean to beat up on DDB here- and I get that ultimately this is a WotC issue but my hope is that they do monitor these boards and certainly discuss these topics with DDB managers. Cheers.
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Don't be Lawful Evil
#OpenDND
I admit that 5e is so well balanced that even being weak, you will have fun with any option you choose to go with and I know combat isn't everything. Maybe I am being a bit harsh on the PHB BM, but both Hunter and BM seem to offer a player a lot less then the newer subclasses, especially compared to other classes. Every class has received new subclasses as 5e has grown, but they all seem in line with what came before. The newer Ranger stuff seems to significantly outpace what came before, so much so that is really emphasizes how seemingly half baked the Ranger was at release.
I do think the revised is a bit overpowered in areas, and ultimately I would like to see an update that blends the two more and give players the option to use either. I would also like to see a free errata added to the Ranger that gives the PHB options spell list and for new printed editions to include that content.
The reason I am so energized about the Ranger is because I really love the class, but feel like they failed to really get the feel right. Some of it works, but I think a number of the aspects don't work as they are. I remember reading the UA Fighter Scout and thinking, hell, that is a better Ranger then the Ranger.
The real sticking point for me is the idea that the beast can only act using your action. So for 4 levels you have to decide if you are attacking or your beast, then at 5 you both can, but it stills feels like you are diminishing the pet. The UA Beast Conclave really fixes the issue, but WoTC was between a rock and a hard place because it is hard to revamp a major subclass, and the longer they go without changing it, the harder it is to do so later.
I love 5e because it allows you to blend options. My current build in one game using Revised is going to be a 13 Rogue Scout/7 Ranger Gloomstalker and in the game using the PHB 15 Rogue Scout and 5 Ranger Gloomstalker as both are STK. Maybe if they introduce new options, or in a different campaign I could see building a pure Ranger Beast Master, but who know. Either way I enjoy the discussion.
When I first got back into 5e I built a BM with a Giant Poisonous Snake pet, it was fun, but then as I learned more about the game and the options and classes I ultimately built Ryder as a rogue/ranger and feel it better fits my concept for the character. To each their own though.
I fully agree- absolutely. that's it there, if they could offer this it's problem solved. And they wouldn't have to put up with us whinging anymore! lol.
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Don't be Lawful Evil
#OpenDND
Pitching in my 2 cents here... Disclaimer, I'm new at DnD, and have not seen anything in Unearthed Arcana.
I completely agree with whoever said it before that in order for the base PHB Ranger to get any mileage out of Favored Enemy and Natural Explorer, you are required to metagame based on information about the campaign you are about to play. Which then sets you walking directly into, effectively, a bear-trap, because most DMs will punish you relentlessly for metagaming. Case and point, the character I've built for a one-shot campaign I'm attending tomorrow is a lvl 5 Lizardman Ranger/Hunter. The only reason I'm even playing it (I would have rolled Rogue/Scout instead) was that I learned we were doing pirate things. Where do pirates exist? In Coastal Terrain, so Natural Explorer is resolved. Beyond that, I have no information, but seeing how many other Proficiencies and Languages I have from everything else, I just opted to use Favored Enemy on Humanoids, and picked Sahuagin (sea trolls/giants?) because it fit with the fuzzy backstory going on in my head, and Goblinoid because goblins are everywhere. I have no idea if either of those 2 choices are going to be relevant.
The fact that anyone can even say that 1 of 2 core class functional components attached at level 1 may or not be relevant is a pretty clear indication that something is not in an ideally functional state. And in that scenario, I had foreknowledge that allowed me to "rig" the other item -- had I not had access to that knowledge, I had a 1 in 8 chance of picking the "right" one. More over, moving into a different biome invalidates that choice. You can effectively not have any class related actions or features until level 2 when you get your Fighting Style.
None of this is to say that the Ranger is ineffective. After all, I'm still going to be playing one tomorrow. But the class is way too laser-focused on items that you can't change, and could not pick "correctly" without "illegal" foreknowledge that will usually get you focus fired by your DM. These immutable choices need to be made less restrictive.
Having not played Beast Master, I can't comment in deep detail, but the simple fact that you must give up your own action in order to command your Beast Companion to take any action at all immediately made me set the archetype aside. Only when re-reading for my game tomorrow did I realize that this changes as you level up, but honestly that doesn't matter to me at that point. This is only exacerbated if the worst should happen, and your Companion goes over the rainbow bridge, in order to replace it you have to first encounter a beast that is friendly to you (highly dependent of the DM being nice. Again. Sensing a theme here...), then spend 8 hours bonding to it. Can you do that during a Long Rest? The page doesn't say. And I'm assuming you can't purchase armor of any kind, like you would for a Mount, for your Companion to wear? So your new Companion is just as vulnerable as your old one.
I also find the suggestion that you must depend on a different player expending spell slots to protect your Companion to be a bit of an eyebrow raiser. At level 3 when the Ranger can choose Beast Master, a Cleric or Druid that might be in your party at the same level will have 6 spell slots to work with (2 of them lvl 2's). Depending on the encounters you are playing through, you might be hard pressed to make that work just protecting and healing player characters. You're already very tight on actions to contribute to the offense while also providing protection and healing as it is. And now you also have to spend actions and spell slots protecting a fragile creature, belonging to another player, that is of questionable effectiveness to party survival? More importantly, what other class or feature has this kind of dependence in order to make use of it? You could make a case for Blood Hunter's Crimson Rite health costs, but that's about the only other thing I can come up with.
And to the point about a Wolf specifically giving 18 for passive Perception.... that depends entirely on how you loadout your starting character. If you did roll your 4d6 drop lowest, and get an 18 (3 6's), you could put that into Wisdom (though you probably won't on a Ranger -- you'll want Dex), giving you a +4 mod to passive Perception. And as a Ranger, you're probably going to put one of your Proficiencies (of which you have many options, between Ranger/Race/Background options)into Perception, for another +5 mod to passive Perception. 10 base + 4 Wis + 5 Prof = 19. Again, you're more likely to do that on a Cleric or a Druid for the class related casting ability than on a Ranger, who's a Dex combat warrior, but I think the point I'm making here is apparent.
As for how to resolve any of this, Natural Explorer would be really easy. Tweak the level 1 to allow choosing 3 Terrains, and gain 1 at each of the later iterations as it currently does. This gives you, at level 10, 5 out of 8 terrain types. If that's too much, 2 at level 1 would be 4 at level 10. This gives you a much higher chance of being relevant in the shot-in-the-dark nature of the Feature. A lot of the reworks I see proposed want to let you reselect your Terrain type(s) when performing some action (a Long Rest, some sort of ritual, etc), but I feel that contradicts the nature of the Class itself. You have spend a long time learning about the biome(s) you choose, as dictated by your backstory and (probably) the events of your campaign. Being able to reselect those skills arbitrarily just flat out doesn't make any sense (can't gain a lifetime of experiences over a Long Rest), and doesn't fit the Class. Perhaps also consider adding the ability to reroll damage dice some number of times per Long Rest while in one of your selected biomes, if the class is showing to be underselling in the damage department. Although, I don't think it will be, and honestly I don't think it fits Natural Explorer as well.
Favored Enemy would be a little trickier. This would probably require a rework of how the races are categorized, not only to break up Humanoid into multiple groupings, but also to increase versatility and allow more overlap. After that reworking, make Favored Enemy a selection of 2 or 3 groupings, continuing to gain 1 at levels 6 and 10. This gives you, at level 10, 4/5 groups of Favored Enemies. The groups would, in this scenario, be smaller, but you'd have more of them to work with, again braking away from the theme of permanent sweeping selections being useful or irrelevant based on your awareness of what you are going to be up against. Additionally, while I think Natural Explorer doesn't fit, Favored Enemy would be a great place to sneak in a little extra damage. Something like rolling extra d4s for damage, or always having advantage on attack rolls, or always forcing disadvantage on saving throws. But such things would be attached directly to your Favored Enemy groupings, so it only works against them.
Having not played or theory-crafted one, I'm more unsure of how to augment Beast Master, although it sounds like this Beast Conclave that was in Unearthed Arcana was very popular (I also haven't seen that). Obviously, the Companion needs to be capable of contributing to offense from level 3, right out of the gate. How that is handled, though, is a little trickier. It could be done by taking a bonus action to give a targeting command to the Companion on a specific monster, against which it will attempt to take action against, to the best of it's ability. Or perhaps it will attempt, to the best of it's ability, to attack the same target that you do. Perhaps allow the Companion to wear armor that is crafted/purchased by the player, at cost of resources/gold. Again, I don't have a good handle on this bit. But... if the Beast Conclave from Unearthed Arcana was so popular.... why not just add it as a separate Archetype? Players who like the existing Beast Master can play it. Players who prefer the new Beast Conclave can play that. Yeah, at first people might find it confusing, since they both have the term "Beast" in the title. But would that really be that problematic?
I think at this point they (Wizards) just need to suck it up, rework it, and accept that doing so while a little messy, isn’t going to cause anymore of an issue then people playing with the Revised unpublished options, people playing with a combination of both, people just flat out playing with their own house-ruled versions, or any of the other dozen things that are happening right now because they made the class feel half baked in a number of ways, acknowledged that many people feel that way, and then seemingly abandoned any real fix.
Worked a little on updating the Ranger
Favored Creature
Beginning at 1st level, you have significant experience studying, tracking, hunting, and even talking to a certain type of creature commonly encountered. Choose a type of favored creature: beasts, fey, humanoids;monster [ex: Goblins, Kobolds, etc], humanoids;men [ex: Human, Elf, etc], monstrosities, or undead.
This choice grants the following benefits:
• You gain a +2 bonus to damage rolls with weapon attacks against favored creatures.
• You have advantage on Wisdom (Survival) checks to track your favored enemies, Intelligence checks to recall information about them, and Charisma checks to interact with them.
• You also learn one language of your choice, typically one spoken by your favored enemy or creatures associated with it. However, you are free to pick any language you wish to learn.
Greater Favored Enemy
At 6th level, you are ready to hunt even deadlier game. Choose a type of greater favored enemy: aberrations, celestials, constructs, dragons, elementals, fiends, or giants. You may alternatively select a group from the favored creature list. You gain all the benefits against this chosen enemy that you normally gain against your favored enemy, including an additional language.
Additionally, you have advantage on saving throws against the spells and abilities used by any favored creature.
Natural Explorer
You are particularly familiar with environments in which you have honed your craft and are adept at traveling and surviving in such regions. Choose one environmental group as favored terrain:
Inhospitable: Arctic/Desert/Mountain
Natural: Forest/Grassland/Swamp
Urban: Coast/Cities/Towns
Desolate: Dungeon/Ruins/Underdark
While in any favored terrain you gain the following benefits:
• You ignore difficult terrain.
• You have advantage on initiative rolls.
• On your first turn during combat, you have advantage on attack rolls against creatures that have not yet acted.
While traveling for an hour or more in your favored terrain, you gain the following benefits:
You choose additional favored terrain types at 6th, 11th, and 17th level.
Primeval Awareness
Beginning at 3rd level, your mastery of ranger lore allows you to establish a powerful link to beasts and to the land around you. You have an innate ability to communicate with beasts, and they recognize you as a kindred spirit. Through sounds and gestures, you can communicate simple ideas to a beast as an action, and can read its basic mood and intent. You learn its emotional state, whether it is affected by magic of any sort, its short-term needs (such as food or safety), and actions you can take (if any) to persuade it to not attack. You cannot use this ability against a creature that you have attacked within the past 10 minutes.
Additionally, you can attune your senses to determine if any of your favored enemies lurk nearby. By spending 1 uninterrupted minute in concentration (as if you were concentrating on a spell), you can sense whether any of your favored enemies are present within 5 miles of you. This feature reveals which of your favored enemies are present, their approximate numbers, and the creatures’ general direction and distance (in miles) from you. If there are multiple groups of your favored enemies within range, you learn this information for each group. You can attune your senses in this way a number of times up to your Wisdom modifier (minimum 1) and regain all expended uses on a long rest.
Revised Ranger 2019
As a ranger, you gain the following class features.
Hit Points
Hit Dice: 1d10 per ranger level
Hit Points at 1st Level: 10 + your Constitution modifier
Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d10 (or 6) + your Constitution modifier per ranger level after 1st
Proficiencies
Armor: Light armor, medium armor, shields
Weapons: Simple weapons, martial weapons
Tools: None
Saving Throws: Strength, Dexterity
Skills: Choose three from Animal Handling, Athletics, Insight, Investigation, Nature, Perception, Stealth, and Survival
Equipment
You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background:
(a) scale mail or (b) leather armor
(a) two shortswords or (b) two simple melee weapons
(a) a dungeoneer’s pack or (b) an explorer’s pack
A longbow and a quiver of 20 arrows
Hunter’s Mark
Beginning at 1st level you are able to mark your prey, exploiting weakness to do additional damage. As a bonus action you can mark a target within 90ft of you, dealing an additional 1d6 damage each time you hit the target with an attack. The target remains marked until you use this feature again. This damage increases with experience to 2d6 at level 10. Once a creature is marked it gains no benefit from being unseen by you and you gain advantage on Survival checks to track it.
Favored Creature
Beginning at 1st level, you have significant experience studying, tracking, hunting, and even talking to a certain type of creature commonly encountered. Choose a type of favored creature: beasts, fey, humanoids;monster [ex: Goblins, Kobolds, etc], humanoids;men [ex: Human, Elf, etc], monstrosities, or undead.
This choice grants the following benefits:
• You gain a +2 bonus to damage rolls with weapon attacks against favored creatures.
• You have advantage on Wisdom (Survival) checks to track your favored enemies, Intelligence checks to recall information about them, and Charisma checks to interact with them.
• You also learn one language of your choice, typically one spoken by your favored enemy or creatures associated with it. However, you are free to pick any language you wish to learn.
Natural Explorer
You are particularly familiar with environments in which you have honed your craft and are adept at traveling and surviving in such regions. Choose one environmental group as favored terrain:
Inhospitable: Arctic/Desert/Mountain
Natural: Forest/Grassland/Swamp
Urban: Coast/Cities/Towns
Desolate: Dungeon/Ruins/Underdark
While in any favored terrain you gain the following benefits:
• You ignore difficult terrain.
• You have advantage on initiative rolls.
• On your first turn during combat, you have advantage on attack rolls against creatures that have not yet acted.
While traveling for an hour or more in your favored terrain, you gain the following benefits:
• Difficult terrain doesn’t slow your group’s travel.
• Your group can’t become lost except by magical means.
• Even when you are engaged in another activity while traveling (such as foraging, navigating, or tracking), you remain alert to danger.
• If you are traveling alone, you can move stealthily at a normal pace.
• When you forage, you find twice as much food as you normally would.
• While tracking other creatures, you also learn their exact number, their sizes, and how long ago they passed through the area.
You choose additional favored terrain types at 6th, 11th, and 17th level.
Fighting Style
At 2nd level, you adopt a particular style of fighting as your specialty. Choose one of the following options.
You can’t take a Fighting Style option more than once, even if you later get to choose again.
Archery
You gain a +2 bonus to attack rolls you make with ranged weapons.
Defense
While you are wearing armor, you gain a +1 bonus to AC.
Dueling
When you are wielding a melee weapon in one hand and no other weapons, you gain a +2 bonus to damage rolls with that weapon.
Two-Weapon Fighting
When you engage in two-weapon fighting, you can add your ability modifier to the damage of the second attack.
Close Quarters Archer
You gain a +1 bonus to attack rolls you make with ranged weapons. Additionally you can make a melee attack with a projectile (arrow/bolt) dealing 1d6 damage. This attack can be made with either Strength or Dexterity and allows you to make opportunity attacks.
Spellcasting
By the time you reach 2nd level, you have learned to use the magical essence of nature to cast spells, much as a druid does. See Spells Rules for the general rules of spellcasting and the Spells Listing for the ranger spell list.
Spell Slots
The Ranger table shows how many spell slots you have to cast your ranger spells of 1st level and higher. To cast one of these spells, you must expend a slot of the spell’s level or higher. You regain all expended spell slots when you finish a long rest.
For example, if you know the 1st-level spell animal friendship and have a 1st-level and a 2nd-level spell slot available, you can cast animal friendship using either slot.
Spells Known of 1st Level and Higher
You know two 1st-level spells of your choice from the ranger spell list.
The Spells Known column of the Ranger table shows when you learn more ranger spells of your choice. Each of these spells must be of a level for which you have spell slots. For instance, when you reach 5th level in this class, you can learn one new spell of 1st or 2nd level.
Additionally, when you gain a level in this class, you can choose one of the ranger spells you know and replace it with another spell from the ranger spell list, which also must be of a level for which you have spell slots.
Spellcasting Ability
Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for your ranger spells, since your magic draws on your attunement to nature. You use your Wisdom whenever a spell refers to your spellcasting ability. In addition, you use your Wisdom modifier when setting the saving throw DC for a ranger spell you cast and when making an attack roll with one.
Spell save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom modifier
Spell attack modifier = your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom modifier
Ranger Archetype
At 3rd level, you choose an archetype that you strive to emulate: the Hunter that is detailed at the end of the class description or one from another source. Your choice grants you features at 3rd level and again at 7th, 11th, and 15th level.
Primeval Awareness
Beginning at 3rd level, your mastery of ranger lore allows you to establish a powerful link to beasts and to the land around you. You have an innate ability to communicate with beasts, and they recognize you as a kindred spirit. Through sounds and gestures, you can communicate simple ideas to a beast as an action, and can read its basic mood and intent. You learn its emotional state, whether it is affected by magic of any sort, its short-term needs (such as food or safety), and actions you can take (if any) to persuade it to not attack. You cannot use this ability against a creature that you have attacked within the past 10 minutes.
Additionally, you can attune your senses to determine if any of your favored enemies lurk nearby. By spending 1 uninterrupted minute in concentration (as if you were concentrating on a spell), you can sense whether any of your favored enemies are present within 5 miles of you. This feature reveals which of your favored enemies are present, their approximate numbers, and the creatures’ general direction and distance (in miles) from you. If there are multiple groups of your favored enemies within range, you learn this information for each group. You can attune your senses in this way a number of times up to your Wisdom modifier (minimum 1) and regain all expended uses on a long rest.
Ability Score Improvement
When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can’t increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.
Using the optional feats rule, you can forgo taking this feature to take a feat of your choice instead.
Extra Attack
Beginning at 5th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.
Greater Favored Creature
At 6th level, you are ready to interact with even deadlier game. Choose a type of greater favored creature: aberrations, celestials, constructs, dragons, elementals, fiends, or giants. You may alternatively select a group from the favored creature list. You gain all the benefits against this chosen enemy that you normally gain against your favored creature, including an additional language.
Additionally, you have advantage on saving throws against the spells and abilities used by any favored creature.
Lastly You choose one additional favored creature, as well as an associated language, at 14th level. As you gain levels, your choices should reflect the types of monsters you have encountered on your adventures.
Land’s Stride
Starting at 8th level, you gain additional benefits both inside and outside of you favored terrains:
Inside a favored terrain: You can dash, disengage, or hide as a bonus action.
Outside a favored terrain: Moving through nonmagical difficult terrain costs you no extra movement. You can also pass through nonmagical plants without being slowed by them and without taking damage from them if they have thorns, spines, or a similar hazard. In addition, you have advantage on saving throws against plants that are magically created or manipulated to impede movement, such those created by the entangle spell.
Hide in Plain Sight
Starting at 10th level, you can remain perfectly still for long periods of time to set up ambushes.
When you attempt to hide on your turn, you can opt to not move on that turn. If you avoid moving, creatures that attempt to detect you take a −10 penalty to their Wisdom (Perception) checks until the start of your next turn. You lose this benefit if you move or fall prone, either voluntarily or because of some external effect. You are still automatically detected if any effect or action causes you to no longer be hidden.
If you are still hidden on your next turn, you can continue to remain motionless and gain this benefit until you are detected.
Vanish
Starting at 14th level, outside a favored terrain, you can use the Hide action as a bonus action on your turn. Inside a favored terrain if you start your turn hidden and miss with an attack you do not reveal your position. Additionally, you can’t be tracked by nonmagical means, unless you choose to leave a trail in any terrain type.
Feral Senses
At 18th level, you gain preternatural senses that help you fight creatures you can’t see. When you attack a creature you can’t see, your inability to see it doesn’t impose disadvantage on your attack rolls against it.
You are also aware of the location of any invisible creature within 30 feet of you in the dim light or darkness and 60ft of you in a bright light, provided that the creature isn’t hidden from you and you aren’t blinded or deafened.
Supreme Ranger
At 20th level, you have become an unparalleled hunter. Your Hunter’s Mark applies to all attacks (no action required) and you can attack three times, instead of twice, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.
Spell list for PHB Hunter/Beastmaster
Hunter:
3rd Faerie Fire
5th Blindness/Deafness
9th Slow (alternatively take Haste from the the Horizon Walker, give them Blink)
13th Confusion
17th Hold Monster
Beastmaster:
3rd Find Familiar
5th Find Steed
9th Dominate Beast
13th Giant Insect
17th Insect Plague
Beastmaster
Many rangers are more at home in the wilds than in civilization, to the point where animals consider them kin. Rangers of the Beast Conclave develop a close bond with a beast, then further strengthen that bond through the use of magic.
Animal 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 may select any medium or smaller beast with a challenge rating of ¼ or less. At the end of the 8 hours, your animal companion appears and gains all the benefits of your Companion’s Bond 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 Bond
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 and acts on your initiative. If you are incapacitated or absent, your companion acts on its own.
Your companion benefits from your Natural Explorer feature.
When you gain your animal companion at 3rd level, it has the maximum hit points and its proficiency bonus matches yours at +2. As you gain levels and increase your proficiency bonus, remember that your companion’s proficiency bonus improves as well, and is applied to the following areas: Armor Class, skills, saving throws, attack bonus, damage rolls, and DC checks. Your animal companion has abilities and game statistics determined in part by your level.
Your animal companion gains proficiency in two skills of your choice. It also becomes proficient with all saving throws.
For each level you gain after 3rd, your animal companion gains an additional hit die and increases its hit points accordingly, receiving the maximum hit points.
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 companion shares your alignment, and has a personality trait and a flaw that you can roll for or select from the tables below. Your companion shares your ideal, and its bond is always, “The ranger who travels with me is a beloved companion for whom I would gladly give my life.”
Your animal companion gains the benefits of your Favored Creature feature, and of your Greater Favored Creature feature when you gain that feature at 6th level. It uses the favored creatures you selected for those features.
d6 Trait
1 I’m dauntless in the face of adversity.
2 Threaten my friends, threaten me.
3 I stay on alert so others can rest.
4 People see an animal and underestimate me. I use that to my advantage.
5 I have a knack for showing up in the nick of time. 6 I put my friends’ needs before my own in all things.
d6 Flaw
1 If there’s food left unattended, I’ll eat it.
2 I growl at strangers, and all people except my ranger are strangers to me.
3 Any time is a good time for a belly rub.
4 I’m deathly afraid of water.
5 My idea of hello is a flurry of licks to the face.
6 I jump on creatures to tell them how much I love them.
Coordinated Attack
Beginning at 5th level, you and your animal companion form a more potent fighting team. When you use the Attack action on your turn, if your companion can see you, it can use its reaction to make a melee attack.
Beast’s Defense
At 7th level, while your companion can see you, it has advantage on all saving throws.
Storm of Claws and Fangs
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, with a separate attack roll for each target.
Superior Team Defense
At 15th level, whenever an attacker that you and your companion can see hits either of you with an attack, the target can use it’s reaction to halve the attack’s damage or you can both use your reaction to first halve the damage and then split the remaining damage between the two of you.
Why No Multiattack?
Multiattack is a useful design tool that keeps monsters simple for the DM. It provides a boost in offense, but that boost is meant to make a beast threatening for one battle—a notion that doesn’t mesh well with a beast intended to fight with the party, rather than against it. Project Multiattack across an entire adventure, and an animal companion runs the risk of outclassing the fighters and barbarians in the party.
So in story terms, your animal companion has traded in some of its ferocity (in the form of Multiattack) for better awareness and the ability to fight more effectively in concert with you.
Barding.
Your companion is proficient in light armor and you can have light armor commissioned for your companion to replace it’s natural armor. It still gains your proficiency bonus added to its armor class while armored.