Giant badger (terrible ac but burrow and nasty attacks) - burrow below enemy walls, undermine buildings, dig alternative entrances and exits, Share tuberculosis Giant poisonous snake (poison) good ac / th / reach Wolf spider (spiderclimb - under par unless small ranger for mount) Giant Frog - weak ac / hits but bite restrains* very useful (whats that? frog stuck to your foot?) Male Steeder (spiderclimb sticky leg grapple, acid bite) wolf - good th / damage / scent track / pack adv - not great with bows as trips
unusual cr 1/8 pick - stirge at 3rd / 16ac / +7th / 1d4+5 / 12 hits (blood drain avoids spending action at start of turn 1d4+3 at 5th / 17ac / +8th / 1d4+6 / 20 hits (blood drain avoids spending action at start of turn 1d4+3 at 9th / 18ac / +9th / 1d4+7 / 36 hits (blood drain avoids spending action at start of turn 1d4+3
'Scumbag pick and eternal champion of the dont play at my table again award'
Rotgrub - slap Rottie onto someone. Her th is pretty amazing compared to normal, her 1 hitpoint? not a problem she has loads now. Try burning her off in that one round before she digs in! You can run away as she eats her fill nomnomnom. Ginormous monster killed.
Want to go even crazier? custom build an arrow with a rottie cleft on the interior of the barb and launch Your loveable girl from extreme range, sure she might take some damage on impact but 12+ hitpoints of damage? unlikely, shes inside now and the opponent cant see her, thats gotta be advantage right? Omnomnomnom.
@Moondruid that’s great and thanks. But a sound class / subclass design shouldn’t require such tutelage. Not to mention the fact that many of us don’t want our effectiveness dependent upon our willingness to ally our BM’s with disgusting creepy crawlies like stirges and rotgrubs... with respect, I say ‘thanks but no thanks’. It’s okay in any case I’m over it. I’ve designed my own take on the subclass and it’s working nicely: https://www.dndbeyond.com/characters/subclasses/67623-beast-warden
Cheers
PS- but yes, respect to you, giant badger is a good one but the action economy in PHB still not great.
Hmm you might be right Sash, but I think that a subclass (or class) that rewards you with a bigger pay off than an option that requires less thought is as it should be. Admittedly that doesnt happen a lot but still :)
Specifically with any ability that allows access to an independent or subdependent contractor you are going to need time to think about it - thats not tutelage as I see it, its just a factor of having to plan what to choose that complements you, and maybe how to get it. Enjoy your game and I hope your table is enriched by your presence.
Thanks. All I’m saying is I don’t think rotgrubs and stirges are the answer for many of us. By all means if that’s what people want then brilliant but if such companions are de facto requirement for the subclass to work well then I’m not digging it. Likewise I wish you all the best in your game too amigo! :-)
I MUST TELL YOU PAL, I HAVE A HOOK HORROR AS A COMPANION! No really, her names Micj, a 15 year old hook horror, let me explain. You see, my character, before any campaign, was going through the Underdark looking for glowing mushrooms for experiments, but dropped his torch which blowed out. Ka-Ka, my character which is a Dragonborn ranger/Biologist, picked up the torch & lit it but saw once the flame was up...A Hook Horror staring at him, he walked into a hook horror den without knowing. He only got out by giving the hook horrors some biscuits, but a baby hook horror followed him back to his make-shift Hut. Now Ka-Ka was left with a baby hook horror, which he raised after several attempts to get rid of her. Now after 13 years, shes become a good companion.
It can fly, it can scout, it can do a 'fly-by' 'help' to your attack and disengage - meaning it stays safe while giving your Ranger an advantage on one of their attacks at higher levels. It's HP is based on character level and it's skills are boosted too.
Our DM is a bit... loose, to say the least, when it comes to allowed animal companions in our campaigns. Thus, me being the obsessed freak that I am, chose a Copper Dragon for my human ranger. At first she was just carrying around the dragon egg in her Bag of Holding, but when she hit level 3, the egg hatched, and they've been best friends ever since. My ranger has a really complicated story as to how she got the egg, involving a dying dragon's last wish and a lot of kobolds. Ranger is one of my favorite classes to play, and my dragon has GOT to be my favorite 'pet' so far.
This is definitely a problem I faced while I was making my ranger character but I would say it is a tie between black bear, panther, and ape. But really you don't need to choose just one because of the new unearthed arcana rules you can really change your beast companion pretty often without taking a lot of time, so looking at your situation and assesing what companion would be helpful can definitely make having an animal companion more fun. Another approach is talking to the DM about letting you have a animal that isn't usually allowed but fits your character story or personality. For example my DM is letting me have a tiger bc it fits my background. But really if you're playing by hardcore book rules you have to asses the situation.
This is definitely a problem I faced while I was making my ranger character but I would say it is a tie between black bear, panther, and ape. But really you don't need to choose just one because of the new unearthed arcana rules you can really change your beast companion pretty often without taking a lot of time, so looking at your situation and assesing what companion would be helpful can definitely make having an animal companion more fun. Another approach is talking to the DM about letting you have a animal that isn't usually allowed but fits your character story or personality. For example my DM is letting me have a tiger bc it fits my background. But really if you're playing by hardcore book rules you have to asses the situation.
Are you referring to the 8 hrs to bond with a replacement companion? That's not in a UA, that's in the official rules. There was recent errata aimed at the Rangers, but it didn't affect this particular trait.
Currently using a pseudodragon as companion and she has definitely helped out with the campaign. We use her to scout ahead in the dark, her ability to communicate psychically confused and ettin into attacking itself and her poison stinger recently saved us against a mindflayer that was set to took the group.
My Firbolg has Giant Frog goes by 'Friend'. The auto-restrain on hits is awesome and it's successfully eaten a couple of small enemies, much to everyone's delight. Plus, it's just generally super fun. They're pretty stealthy, so Friend makes it a goal to hide in odd places whenever possible. Friend is also a big fan of being used as a mount by kids and other small humanoids in the towns we pass through.
I have Gibble and Tromp, a Goblin Beast master ranger and his Deep Rothe companion/ mount. Gibble dropped some hard tack on the ground one day, and the Deep Rothe thought it was a treat for him, and started following Gibble. It annoys Gibble when people refer to Tromp as "Cute".
I'm also making a Ghostwise Halfling character but I'm making mine a Hunter that uses a Giant Owl as a regular mount... I'm currently making two backstories for the character one where the owl is central to my character's development and the other where he ends up just a normal-ish ranger. This way I'm not interfering with game mechanics too much. But if you really want to use an actual Giant Owl with the Beastmaster archetype you can make it so it was the runt of the litter and customize it's size and hp when you look at its stats on the creature tab in your character sheet.
My DM let me have a swarm of beetles, which are technically not allowed, but aren't op at all. I enjoy making people in towns nervous as I walk around with a cloud of iridescent beetles. The swarm were recently heroically squashed by a monster and I am thinking of picking a strige as their replacement.
In one game, my DM let me play a very short Gnome Ranger with a large Owl as my companion. This allowed to fly around on the back of an owl and created some interesting situations. I don't think many DMs would allow something like that, but it's definitely worth asking.
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If your a small race you must take Pteradon!
Flyby and 60 flying speed = never going to get hit
Blink Dog, I know it’s not really within the rules, but DM let me have one. It’s really cool and super useful because of its teleport and sentience.
Beast masters, (orginal PHB version) maligned and hated, always underated. Lets do this for them.
pteradon - medium cr 1/4 (fly 60')
halfling beastmaster sky archer, or flying scout
at 3rd / 15ac / +5th / 2d4+3 / 13 hits
at 5th / 16ac / +6th / 2d4+4 / 20 hits
at 9th / 17ac / +7th / 2d4+5 / 36 hits
or
Giant Crab - cr 1/8 move 30. swim 30
at 3rd / 17ac / +5th / 1d6+3 / 13 hits
at 5th / 18ac / +6th / 1d6+4 / 20 hits
at 9th / 19ac / +7th / 1d6+5 / 36 hits
Other options
Giant badger (terrible ac but burrow and nasty attacks) - burrow below enemy walls, undermine buildings, dig alternative entrances and exits, Share tuberculosis
Giant poisonous snake (poison) good ac / th / reach
Wolf spider (spiderclimb - under par unless small ranger for mount)
Giant Frog - weak ac / hits but bite restrains* very useful (whats that? frog stuck to your foot?)
Male Steeder (spiderclimb sticky leg grapple, acid bite)
wolf - good th / damage / scent track / pack adv - not great with bows as trips
unusual cr 1/8 pick - stirge
at 3rd / 16ac / +7th / 1d4+5 / 12 hits (blood drain avoids spending action at start of turn 1d4+3
at 5th / 17ac / +8th / 1d4+6 / 20 hits (blood drain avoids spending action at start of turn 1d4+3
at 9th / 18ac / +9th / 1d4+7 / 36 hits (blood drain avoids spending action at start of turn 1d4+3
'Scumbag pick and eternal champion of the dont play at my table again award'
Rotgrub - slap Rottie onto someone. Her th is pretty amazing compared to normal, her 1 hitpoint? not a problem she has loads now. Try burning her off in that one round before she digs in! You can run away as she eats her fill nomnomnom. Ginormous monster killed.
Want to go even crazier? custom build an arrow with a rottie cleft on the interior of the barb and launch Your loveable girl from extreme range, sure she might take some damage on impact but 12+ hitpoints of damage? unlikely, shes inside now and the opponent cant see her, thats gotta be advantage right? Omnomnomnom.
@Moondruid that’s great and thanks. But a sound class / subclass design shouldn’t require such tutelage. Not to mention the fact that many of us don’t want our effectiveness dependent upon our willingness to ally our BM’s with disgusting creepy crawlies like stirges and rotgrubs... with respect, I say ‘thanks but no thanks’. It’s okay in any case I’m over it. I’ve designed my own take on the subclass and it’s working nicely: https://www.dndbeyond.com/characters/subclasses/67623-beast-warden
Cheers
PS- but yes, respect to you, giant badger is a good one but the action economy in PHB still not great.
---
Don't be Lawful Evil
#OpenDND
Hmm you might be right Sash, but I think that a subclass (or class) that rewards you with a bigger pay off than an option that requires less thought is as it should be. Admittedly that doesnt happen a lot but still :)
Specifically with any ability that allows access to an independent or subdependent contractor you are going to need time to think about it - thats not tutelage as I see it, its just a factor of having to plan what to choose that complements you, and maybe how to get it. Enjoy your game and I hope your table is enriched by your presence.
Thanks. All I’m saying is I don’t think rotgrubs and stirges are the answer for many of us. By all means if that’s what people want then brilliant but if such companions are de facto requirement for the subclass to work well then I’m not digging it. Likewise I wish you all the best in your game too amigo! :-)
---
Don't be Lawful Evil
#OpenDND
I MUST TELL YOU PAL, I HAVE A HOOK HORROR AS A COMPANION! No really, her names Micj, a 15 year old hook horror, let me explain. You see, my character, before any campaign, was going through the Underdark looking for glowing mushrooms for experiments, but dropped his torch which blowed out. Ka-Ka, my character which is a Dragonborn ranger/Biologist, picked up the torch & lit it but saw once the flame was up...A Hook Horror staring at him, he walked into a hook horror den without knowing. He only got out by giving the hook horrors some biscuits, but a baby hook horror followed him back to his make-shift Hut. Now Ka-Ka was left with a baby hook horror, which he raised after several attempts to get rid of her. Now after 13 years, shes become a good companion.
An owl.
It can fly, it can scout, it can do a 'fly-by' 'help' to your attack and disengage - meaning it stays safe while giving your Ranger an advantage on one of their attacks at higher levels. It's HP is based on character level and it's skills are boosted too.
Our DM is a bit... loose, to say the least, when it comes to allowed animal companions in our campaigns. Thus, me being the obsessed freak that I am, chose a Copper Dragon for my human ranger. At first she was just carrying around the dragon egg in her Bag of Holding, but when she hit level 3, the egg hatched, and they've been best friends ever since. My ranger has a really complicated story as to how she got the egg, involving a dying dragon's last wish and a lot of kobolds. Ranger is one of my favorite classes to play, and my dragon has GOT to be my favorite 'pet' so far.
I'm trying to get a swarm of ravens so I can ride them because I'm a kobold. I'm going to fly high into the sky and shoot arrows at Strahd.
Extended Signature! Yay! https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/off-topic/adohands-kitchen/3153-extended-signature-thread?page=2#c21
Haven’t used this account in forever. Still a big fan of crawling claws.
This is definitely a problem I faced while I was making my ranger character but I would say it is a tie between black bear, panther, and ape. But really you don't need to choose just one because of the new unearthed arcana rules you can really change your beast companion pretty often without taking a lot of time, so looking at your situation and assesing what companion would be helpful can definitely make having an animal companion more fun. Another approach is talking to the DM about letting you have a animal that isn't usually allowed but fits your character story or personality. For example my DM is letting me have a tiger bc it fits my background. But really if you're playing by hardcore book rules you have to asses the situation.
Are you referring to the 8 hrs to bond with a replacement companion? That's not in a UA, that's in the official rules. There was recent errata aimed at the Rangers, but it didn't affect this particular trait.
You're right my bad, but it still lets you change your animal companion relatively quickly.
Currently using a pseudodragon as companion and she has definitely helped out with the campaign. We use her to scout ahead in the dark, her ability to communicate psychically confused and ettin into attacking itself and her poison stinger recently saved us against a mindflayer that was set to took the group.
Is Pseudodragon a ranger option for a pet now? If yes what else can they choose?
My Firbolg has Giant Frog goes by 'Friend'. The auto-restrain on hits is awesome and it's successfully eaten a couple of small enemies, much to everyone's delight. Plus, it's just generally super fun. They're pretty stealthy, so Friend makes it a goal to hide in odd places whenever possible. Friend is also a big fan of being used as a mount by kids and other small humanoids in the towns we pass through.
I have Gibble and Tromp, a Goblin Beast master ranger and his Deep Rothe companion/ mount. Gibble dropped some hard tack on the ground one day, and the Deep Rothe thought it was a treat for him, and started following Gibble. It annoys Gibble when people refer to Tromp as "Cute".
I'm also making a Ghostwise Halfling character but I'm making mine a Hunter that uses a Giant Owl as a regular mount... I'm currently making two backstories for the character one where the owl is central to my character's development and the other where he ends up just a normal-ish ranger. This way I'm not interfering with game mechanics too much. But if you really want to use an actual Giant Owl with the Beastmaster archetype you can make it so it was the runt of the litter and customize it's size and hp when you look at its stats on the creature tab in your character sheet.
My DM let me have a swarm of beetles, which are technically not allowed, but aren't op at all. I enjoy making people in towns nervous as I walk around with a cloud of iridescent beetles. The swarm were recently heroically squashed by a monster and I am thinking of picking a strige as their replacement.
In one game, my DM let me play a very short Gnome Ranger with a large Owl as my companion. This allowed to fly around on the back of an owl and created some interesting situations. I don't think many DMs would allow something like that, but it's definitely worth asking.