So I'm a little confused about Primal Companions taking the Attack action.
Each Companion type has a Melee Weapon Attack in its stat block: Maul, Binding Strike, and Shred. They use spell attack modifier to hit according to the book, but what about str/dex/prof bonus being added to the hit modifier, as you would do with a normal melee attack?
Next, let's take Maul for example. Is commanding it to take the Maul action, since it's a melee weapon attack, the same as commanding it to take the Attack action? ie if you're level 11+, can the pet get its extra attack if it Mauls? Is every attack a Maul, by default?
Next, if commanding it to take the Attack action and the Maul action are 2 separate things (you have to choose to command it to either Maul once or Attack twice), then what stats apply to the Companion making a regular Attack? We know Maul uses Wisdom/spell attack modifier (at the least, see question 1), but what about a normal Attack action? The book doesn't say it uses the spell attack modifier here. Does this mean the pet reverts to using the normal Attack modifiers of str/dex + Proficiency Bonus? And would its Attack modifier just be str/dex?
The ambiguity here is really annoying, considering this is supposed to finally, after years, "fix" the Beastmaster. The book gives us clear instructions for actions like Maul, but tells us nothing for a normal attack. This lack of direction and clarity really makes it difficult to tell how the interplay of various mechanics and modifiers is actually supposed to work and requires various assumptions at least, if not a GM ruling.
The Maul, binding strike, and shred actions listed under the various primal companion stat blocks are attacks customized within the star locks to grow and rely on your rangers stats to stay impactful and competitive. While the design team did take liberty with the bonuses used to calculate its attack and damage, they do follow the creature stat block rules. All creatures have actions in their stat blocks, some are much more specialized than others. All creatures also have access to the same actions that the PHB calls out for too, though a creatures specialized actions often give them actions that give specialized bonuses. the primal companions can attack using unarmed fighting rules, but their stats would be horrible. Unarmed fighting would give them a 1+str mod for damage, and a str mod+proficiency for attack roll.
The attack action is described because it’s what players are familiar with. It’s also used instead of multiattack because the multiattack feature is actually very restrictive in mister stat blocks. Multiattack attack requires exactly what it describes, sometimes limiting who a creature can target, how often a creature can target another creature, and the exact actions they have to take. The attack action gives flexibility, as you can do quite a lot with the attack action between w/e attacks you have available including grappling and shoving.
So, if I'm reading you right, then a level 11 Primal Companion would essentially attack using Maul/Strike/Shred, and get to make a second, identical attack thanks to the level 11 ability. Correct?
Yes, but remember that the primal companion still only has one action. At level 11 the creature can now attack twice when you tell it to attack with your bonus action or by sacrificing one of your attacks with you’re action.
unless a feature like action surge exists, a creature still only has one action.
Yes, but remember that the primal companion still only has one action. At level 11 the creature can now attack twice when you tell it to attack with your bonus action or by sacrificing one of your attacks with you’re action.
unless a feature like action surge exists, a creature still only has one action.
No, that's not entirely true. As per Primal Companion, you can use your Bonus Action to command the chosen beast only to perform one of the actions in its stat block. But that action is not the Attack action. You have to take the Attack action and give up one of your own attacks to use Bestial Fury.
You can get up to 4 total attacks, 3 from your chosen beast and 1 from you, but only if you use your Bonus Action to do so. Which means not using one of the many Bonus Action spells out there. On the other hand, it means you can cast spells with a casting time of 1 Action and still get the beast to attack.
No, that's not entirely true. As per Primal Companion, you can use your Bonus Action to command the chosen beast only to perform one of the actions in its stat block. But that action is not the Attack action.
You can get up to 4 total attacks, 3 from your chosen beast and 1 from you, but only if you use your Bonus Action to do so. Which means not using one of the many Bonus Action spells out there. On the other hand, it means you can cast spells with a casting time of 1 Action and still get the beast to attack.
You can definitely use your bonus action to command it to attack.
From Tasha's:
"In combat, the beast acts during your turn. It can move and use its reaction on its own, but the only action it takes is the Dodge action, unless you take a bonus action on your turn to command it to take another action. That action can be one in its stat block or some other action. You can also sacrifice one of your attacks when you take the Attack action to command the beast to take the Attack action."
So mechanically it should break down to you can get 2 attacks each for 4 total (you attack twice, use bonus action to command beast to attack twice if level 11).
Alternatively, you get 3 attacks by Attacking once and sacrificing the 2nd so your pet can attack twice, and then you have your bonus action freed up to do whatever else you need to with it.
No, that's not entirely true. As per Primal Companion, you can use your Bonus Action to command the chosen beast only to perform one of the actions in its stat block. But that action is not the Attack action.
You can get up to 4 total attacks, 3 from your chosen beast and 1 from you, but only if you use your Bonus Action to do so. Which means not using one of the many Bonus Action spells out there. On the other hand, it means you can cast spells with a casting time of 1 Action and still get the beast to attack.
You can definitely use your bonus action to command it to attack.
From Tasha's:
"In combat, the beast acts during your turn. It can move and use its reaction on its own, but the only action it takes is the Dodge action, unless you take a bonus action on your turn to command it to take another action. That action can be one in its stat block or some other action. You can also sacrifice one of your attacks when you take the Attack action to command the beast to take the Attack action."
So mechanically it should break down to you can get 2 attacks each for 4 total (you attack twice, use bonus action to command beast to attack twice if level 11).
Alternatively, you get 3 attacks by Attacking once and sacrificing the 2nd so your pet can attack twice, and then you have your bonus action freed up to do whatever else you need to with it.
Btw thanks for the replies, guys!
No, it cannot attack 4 times in one turn. Not without having haste cast on it.
*sigh*
Here's the relevant wording from Primal Companion...
In combat, the beast acts during your turn. It can move and use its reaction on its own, but the only action it takes is the Dodge action, unless you take a bonus action on your turn to command it to take another action. That action can be one in its stat block or some other action. You can also sacrifice one of your attacks when you take the Attack action to command the beast to take the Attack action. If you are incapacitated, the beast can take any action of its choice, not just Dodge.
So, judging by that text, you can only command the beast companion to take the Attack action when you also take the Attack action and also give up one of your attacks. You can use your Bonus Action to command it to use the action listed in its stat block (Binding Strike, Maul, or Shred), but that's not the same as taking the Attack action. Taking the Attack action means they can substitute with a special attack, like if they were attempting to grapple a target.
To sum up, you're not commanding it to take the Attack action when you use your Bonus Action. And now here's the wording from Bestial Fury...
Starting at 11th level, when you command your beast companion to take the Attack action, the beast can make two attacks, or it can take the Multiattack action if it has that action.
So you must order the beast companion to take the Attack action in order to benefit from this feature. And that's just not possible with the Bonus Action.
I didn't say the pet could take 4 attacks. I said you get 4 attacks total, 2 apiece, by attacking twice yourself and commanding the pet to attack with a bonus action. You apparently missed the relevant part from Tasha's I bolded, and missed it again when you quoted it in your own post, so here it is again:
"...unless you take a bonus action on your turn to command it to take another action. That action can be one in its stat block OR SOME OTHER ACTION."
Some other action. You know, things like Dash, Hide, or Attack.
Ranger's 1A spell + Beast's 1BA attack (Maul, Binding Strike, or Shred, not Attack)
Ranger's 1A cantrip + Ranger's 1BA spell
And some of the above can be shuffled around, like the ranger casting ensnaring strike before launching an attack. But there's just no way a beast companion can attack twice as a Bonus Action. There's the general rule allowing them to take another action besides one in their stat block, yes. But there's also a specific exception for the Attack action. To say otherwise would be like saying they can take the Dash, Disengage, or Help actions as a Bonus Action before Exceptional Training at 7th-level. And we know they can't do that.
Edit: *This is due to the 11th-level feature Bestial Fury. Assuming the beast only has one action it can take per round, this is the limit of what it can do. The ranger must give up some of their action to get the most out of the companion, which is consistent with the PH Beast Master. Still, the ability of the Beast Master to now command their beast companion as a Bonus Action offers tremendous flexibility.
A DM is free to rule the companion may also take the Maul, Binding Strike, or Shred action as part of the ranger's Bonus Action in addition to their 2 attacks with Bestial Fury. Or any other Bonus Action as part of Exceptional Training. I certainly would, but I recognize it's a more liberal interpretation. The important thing to keep in mind is that the two, ranger and beast companion, act as one unit.
Man I don't know what part you're not getting. It says in plain text that you can use YOUR bonus action to command your companion to take the Attack action. I didn't say anything about the pet's bonus action because we're not talking about the pet's bonus action.
"...unless you take a bonus action on your turn to command it to take another action. That action can be one in its stat block OR SOME OTHER ACTION."
I am taking a bonus action on my turn to command my pet to take an action. The action I'm commanding it to take is the Attack action. The book (quoted directly above) explicitly says you are not limited to the actions listed in the stat block. At level 11, when the pet takes the attack action, it can attack twice.
Therefore, I use my bonus action to command the pet to use its action to attack. It attacks twice at 11. I then use my own Action to attack, and I attack twice. 2 + 2 = 4.
Sacrificing 1 of your own attacks to give the pet an attack command is added afterward purely to allow for the ranger to make use of his bonus action to cast a spell etc. and not have your pet sit around doing nothing but dodging all the time.
Man I don't know what part you're not getting. It says in plain text that you can use YOUR bonus action to command your companion to take the Attack action. I didn't say anything about the pet's bonus action because we're not talking about the pet's bonus action.
"...unless you take a bonus action on your turn to command it to take another action. That action can be one in its stat block OR SOME OTHER ACTION."
I am taking a bonus action on my turn to command my pet to take an action. The action I'm commanding it to take is the Attack action. The book (quoted directly above) explicitly says you are not limited to the actions listed in the stat block. At level 11, when the pet takes the attack action, it can attack twice.
Therefore, I use my bonus action to command the pet to use its action to attack. It attacks twice at 11. I then use my own Action to attack, and I attack twice. 2 + 2 = 4.
Sacrificing 1 of your own attacks to give the pet an attack command is added afterward purely to allow for the ranger to make use of his bonus action to cast a spell etc. and not have your pet sit around doing nothing but dodging all the time.
D&D is a game build on exceptions. For crying out loud, that point is clearly reiterated on page 4 of Tasha's. It's #2 of the Ten Rules to Remember.
With regards to the Primal Companion, there's a specific clause for how the beast companion can take the Attack action. They can only take other actions using their Bonus Action if they have a feature that grants them a Bonus Action. If you break the exception for the Attack action, then you break every exception. It means you strip away the 7th-level feature, and that clearly wasn't the intent.
So relax. They can still take a single attack with their Bonus Action. It just isn't the Attack action. Which is how it works for literally every other creature in the game capable of making an attack with their Bonus Action.
And the ranger can still make 4 attacks. It's just that three of them have to come from the beast companion.
With regards to the Primal Companion, there's a specific clause for how the beast companion can take the Attack action. They can only take other actions using their Bonus Action if they have a feature that grants them a Bonus Action. If you break the exception for the Attack action, then you break every exception. It means you strip away the 7th level feature, and that clearly wasn't the intent.
Duuuuude. Reading comprehension. Primal Companion DOES completely strip away the 7th level feature, except for the attacks counting as magical part. From the moment you get your pet at level 3, you can command it to take actions using your bonus action. This action economy is almost entirely why the Beast Master needed this rework in the first place.
Nowhere in any of the texts surrounding the companion does it mention the companion's bonus action or any action it takes as a bonus action. I don't know why you even keep saying that. The pet takes its actions as actions. It is not using its bonus action to attack. You are using your bonus action to command it to to use its action to attack. Nothing you've cited says you cannot do this. Tasha's explicitly says you can.
So you are saying that “...or some other action” means some other action except for the Attack action?
There are 10 different actions a creature can take in combat. A beast companion can't make use of all of them because they can't, say, Cast a Spell, but they can do a lot of them. Creatures can also improvise an action, which you can find in a sidebar at the bottom of the list. And, if I had to guess, that's what was intended.
Some of the actions performable by a beast companion are gated. That is to say, they cannot be performed with a Bonus Action right away and must be unlocked at a higher level. Beast Master rangers have a 7th-level feature, Exceptional Training, which allows the beast companion to take the Dash, Disengage, or Help action as a Bonus Action. And this isn't replaced by the optional rules in Tasha's, meaning these cannot be used as early as 3rd-level.
The sentence, "That action can be one in its stat block or some other action," isn't meant to give blanket authorization. Rather, it's a form of future-proofing. It's letting the reader know that other actions are possible, and that specific actions may become available later. This is reinforced with the following sentence: "You can also sacrifice one of your attacks when you take the Attack action to command the beast to take the Attack action." That's an exception to the general rule laid out before it. It's how the beast takes the Attack action. And, admittedly, this likely won't come relevant until 11th-level when the beast companion can attack twice while using the Attack action.
What's so strange about this back-and-forth, this misconception, is it ignores the simple truth that no creature, player character or monster, in the game can attack twice as a bonus action. Most don't even have bonus actions. Just being able to attack once, and not having it tied to the Attack action, is an amazing boon. The only other subclass I can think of which allows for this is the Path of the Battlerager. The only other core class I can think of is sorcerer, but it requires casting spells and the expenditure of sorcery points via metamagic.
And, like I said, the ranger can still attack 4 times if their companion attacks 3 times. Otherwise, they can order the beast to take the Attack action twice for a grand total of 5 attacks. And that's 6 levels earlier than swift quiver. To quote Kevin McCallister, "I don't think so."
With regards to the Primal Companion, there's a specific clause for how the beast companion can take the Attack action. They can only take other actions using their Bonus Action if they have a feature that grants them a Bonus Action. If you break the exception for the Attack action, then you break every exception. It means you strip away the 7th level feature, and that clearly wasn't the intent.
Duuuuude. Reading comprehension. Primal Companion DOES completely strip away the 7th level feature, except for the attacks counting as magical part. From the moment you get your pet at level 3, you can command it to take actions using your bonus action. This action economy is almost entirely why the Beast Master needed this rework in the first place.
Nowhere in any of the texts surrounding the companion does it mention the companion's bonus action or any action it takes as a bonus action. I don't know why you even keep saying that. The pet takes its actions as actions. It is not using its bonus action to attack. You are using your bonus action to command it to to use its action to attack. Nothing you've cited says you cannot do this. Tasha's explicitly says you can.
As someone's who went to school for journalism and has written professionally, that's insulting. And no, it doesn't strip away the 7th level feature. You need to listen and pay attention.
Case in point: I haven't once mentioned the beast companion's bonus action. I've only ever typed about the ranger's bonus action.
Some of the actions performable by a beast companion are gated. That is to say, they cannot be performed with a Bonus Action right away and must be unlocked at a higher level. Beast Master rangers have a 7th-level feature, Exceptional Training, which allows the beast companion to take the Dash, Disengage, or Help action as a Bonus Action. And this isn't replaced by the optional rules in Tasha's, meaning these cannot be used as early as 3rd-level.
There you go again man. You're really mixing up the actions here. Again, you are using YOUR bonus action to make the pet take its ACTION.
Exceptional Training
Beginning at 7th level, on any of your turns when your beast companion doesn’t attack, you can use a bonus action to command the beast to take the Dash, Disengage, or Help action on its turn.
What's so strange about this back-and-forth, this misconception, is it ignores the simple truth that no creature, player character or monster, in the game can attack twice as a bonus action.
No one is attacking twice as a bonus action anywhere because the scenario presented involves the Ranger using its ACTION and the beast using its ACTION.
You need to calm down and pay attention because you're contradicting yourself. You have argued that the beast companion can, indeed, take two attacks on the ranger's Bonus Action. This is because you are, falsely, arguing the ranger can command the beast companion can take the Attack action as part of the ranger's Bonus action command. If you think this splitting of hairs is somehow going to save your face, it will not.
The beast is not taking the Attack action with the ranger's Bonus Action. It's not possible. Rather, the ranger is ordering it to make an action detailed in its stat block (Binding Strike, Maul, or Shred) or one of the other actions available to it at later levels (Dash, Disengage, or Help). If the beast companion is to take the Attack action, then the ranger must also take the Attack action and sacrifice one of their own attacks.
Or are you seriously trying to argue that the ranger can order the beast companion to take the Attack action twice: once with their Attack action and once with their Bonus Action?
The beast only has one action. Even if the ranger ordered it to take the Attack action once with the ranger’s bonus action and once with the ranger’s action, the beast can only take one action. Right?
The beast only has one action. Even if the ranger ordered it to take the Attack action once with the ranger’s bonus action and once with the ranger’s action, the beast can only take one action. Right?
Every creature can only take one action during its turn, barring special features like the fighter's Action Surge. But beast companions don't get their own turn. They're considered extensions of the ranger and, as such, expand the ranger's action economy. Specifically, "In combat, the beast acts during your turn." Presumably, the beast companion is bound by the same rules and simply treats the ranger's turn as their own. But it's a special case. And, generally, things only do what they say they do. Nothing more, and no less.
We know the beast companion can make an attack with its natural weapon as part of the ranger's Bonus Action. And we know the same feature that allows for this does not call it the Attack action, though it does allow for other actions at the DM's discretion. That language, calling it the Attack action, only appears if the ranger also takes the Attack action and gives up one of their attacks; possibly their only attack.
This is why the beast companion can make up to 3 attacks after the ranger reaches 11th-level; the bonus action isn't considered an Attack action. That's how the ranger and beast companion, together, are able to make up to 4 attacks. Whether the bonus action attack comes from the ranger (via Two-Weapon Fighting) or the beast companion doesn't matter. During the Attack action, the ranger commands the beast to take it's Attack action; something it cannot do with just the ranger's Bonus Action.
You’re wrong but I dont know how to respond in any way that hasn’t been conveyed to you multiple times already. Copy and pasting the rules doesn’t work, and neither does attempting to explain them. I wish you well on your adventures.
So I'm a little confused about Primal Companions taking the Attack action.
Each Companion type has a Melee Weapon Attack in its stat block: Maul, Binding Strike, and Shred. They use spell attack modifier to hit according to the book, but what about str/dex/prof bonus being added to the hit modifier, as you would do with a normal melee attack?
Next, let's take Maul for example. Is commanding it to take the Maul action, since it's a melee weapon attack, the same as commanding it to take the Attack action? ie if you're level 11+, can the pet get its extra attack if it Mauls? Is every attack a Maul, by default?
Next, if commanding it to take the Attack action and the Maul action are 2 separate things (you have to choose to command it to either Maul once or Attack twice), then what stats apply to the Companion making a regular Attack? We know Maul uses Wisdom/spell attack modifier (at the least, see question 1), but what about a normal Attack action? The book doesn't say it uses the spell attack modifier here. Does this mean the pet reverts to using the normal Attack modifiers of str/dex + Proficiency Bonus? And would its Attack modifier just be str/dex?
The ambiguity here is really annoying, considering this is supposed to finally, after years, "fix" the Beastmaster. The book gives us clear instructions for actions like Maul, but tells us nothing for a normal attack. This lack of direction and clarity really makes it difficult to tell how the interplay of various mechanics and modifiers is actually supposed to work and requires various assumptions at least, if not a GM ruling.
The Maul, binding strike, and shred actions listed under the various primal companion stat blocks are attacks customized within the star locks to grow and rely on your rangers stats to stay impactful and competitive. While the design team did take liberty with the bonuses used to calculate its attack and damage, they do follow the creature stat block rules. All creatures have actions in their stat blocks, some are much more specialized than others. All creatures also have access to the same actions that the PHB calls out for too, though a creatures specialized actions often give them actions that give specialized bonuses. the primal companions can attack using unarmed fighting rules, but their stats would be horrible. Unarmed fighting would give them a 1+str mod for damage, and a str mod+proficiency for attack roll.
The attack action is described because it’s what players are familiar with. It’s also used instead of multiattack because the multiattack feature is actually very restrictive in mister stat blocks. Multiattack attack requires exactly what it describes, sometimes limiting who a creature can target, how often a creature can target another creature, and the exact actions they have to take. The attack action gives flexibility, as you can do quite a lot with the attack action between w/e attacks you have available including grappling and shoving.
So, if I'm reading you right, then a level 11 Primal Companion would essentially attack using Maul/Strike/Shred, and get to make a second, identical attack thanks to the level 11 ability. Correct?
Yes, but remember that the primal companion still only has one action. At level 11 the creature can now attack twice when you tell it to attack with your bonus action or by sacrificing one of your attacks with you’re action.
unless a feature like action surge exists, a creature still only has one action.
No, that's not entirely true. As per Primal Companion, you can use your Bonus Action to command the chosen beast only to perform one of the actions in its stat block. But that action is not the Attack action. You have to take the Attack action and give up one of your own attacks to use Bestial Fury.
You can get up to 4 total attacks, 3 from your chosen beast and 1 from you, but only if you use your Bonus Action to do so. Which means not using one of the many Bonus Action spells out there. On the other hand, it means you can cast spells with a casting time of 1 Action and still get the beast to attack.
You can definitely use your bonus action to command it to attack.
From Tasha's:
"In combat, the beast acts during your turn. It can move and use its reaction on its own, but the only action it takes is the Dodge action, unless you take a bonus action on your turn to command it to take another action. That action can be one in its stat block or some other action. You can also sacrifice one of your attacks when you take the Attack action to command the beast to take the Attack action."
So mechanically it should break down to you can get 2 attacks each for 4 total (you attack twice, use bonus action to command beast to attack twice if level 11).
Alternatively, you get 3 attacks by Attacking once and sacrificing the 2nd so your pet can attack twice, and then you have your bonus action freed up to do whatever else you need to with it.
Btw thanks for the replies, guys!
No, it cannot attack 4 times in one turn. Not without having haste cast on it.
*sigh*
Here's the relevant wording from Primal Companion...
So, judging by that text, you can only command the beast companion to take the Attack action when you also take the Attack action and also give up one of your attacks. You can use your Bonus Action to command it to use the action listed in its stat block (Binding Strike, Maul, or Shred), but that's not the same as taking the Attack action. Taking the Attack action means they can substitute with a special attack, like if they were attempting to grapple a target.
To sum up, you're not commanding it to take the Attack action when you use your Bonus Action. And now here's the wording from Bestial Fury...
So you must order the beast companion to take the Attack action in order to benefit from this feature. And that's just not possible with the Bonus Action.
I didn't say the pet could take 4 attacks. I said you get 4 attacks total, 2 apiece, by attacking twice yourself and commanding the pet to attack with a bonus action. You apparently missed the relevant part from Tasha's I bolded, and missed it again when you quoted it in your own post, so here it is again:
"...unless you take a bonus action on your turn to command it to take another action. That action can be one in its stat block OR SOME OTHER ACTION."
Some other action. You know, things like Dash, Hide, or Attack.
The action economy for a Beast Master with a Primal Companion, post-11th-level, breaks down as follows:
1 Action
1 Action + 1 Bonus Action
And some of the above can be shuffled around, like the ranger casting ensnaring strike before launching an attack. But there's just no way a beast companion can attack twice as a Bonus Action. There's the general rule allowing them to take another action besides one in their stat block, yes. But there's also a specific exception for the Attack action. To say otherwise would be like saying they can take the Dash, Disengage, or Help actions as a Bonus Action before Exceptional Training at 7th-level. And we know they can't do that.
Edit:
*This is due to the 11th-level feature Bestial Fury. Assuming the beast only has one action it can take per round, this is the limit of what it can do. The ranger must give up some of their action to get the most out of the companion, which is consistent with the PH Beast Master. Still, the ability of the Beast Master to now command their beast companion as a Bonus Action offers tremendous flexibility.
A DM is free to rule the companion may also take the Maul, Binding Strike, or Shred action as part of the ranger's Bonus Action in addition to their 2 attacks with Bestial Fury. Or any other Bonus Action as part of Exceptional Training. I certainly would, but I recognize it's a more liberal interpretation. The important thing to keep in mind is that the two, ranger and beast companion, act as one unit.
So you are saying that “...or some other action” means some other action except for the Attack action?
Man I don't know what part you're not getting. It says in plain text that you can use YOUR bonus action to command your companion to take the Attack action. I didn't say anything about the pet's bonus action because we're not talking about the pet's bonus action.
"...unless you take a bonus action on your turn to command it to take another action. That action can be one in its stat block OR SOME OTHER ACTION."
I am taking a bonus action on my turn to command my pet to take an action. The action I'm commanding it to take is the Attack action. The book (quoted directly above) explicitly says you are not limited to the actions listed in the stat block. At level 11, when the pet takes the attack action, it can attack twice.
Therefore, I use my bonus action to command the pet to use its action to attack. It attacks twice at 11. I then use my own Action to attack, and I attack twice. 2 + 2 = 4.
Sacrificing 1 of your own attacks to give the pet an attack command is added afterward purely to allow for the ranger to make use of his bonus action to cast a spell etc. and not have your pet sit around doing nothing but dodging all the time.
D&D is a game build on exceptions. For crying out loud, that point is clearly reiterated on page 4 of Tasha's. It's #2 of the Ten Rules to Remember.
With regards to the Primal Companion, there's a specific clause for how the beast companion can take the Attack action. They can only take other actions using their Bonus Action if they have a feature that grants them a Bonus Action. If you break the exception for the Attack action, then you break every exception. It means you strip away the 7th-level feature, and that clearly wasn't the intent.
So relax. They can still take a single attack with their Bonus Action. It just isn't the Attack action. Which is how it works for literally every other creature in the game capable of making an attack with their Bonus Action.
And the ranger can still make 4 attacks. It's just that three of them have to come from the beast companion.
Duuuuude. Reading comprehension. Primal Companion DOES completely strip away the 7th level feature, except for the attacks counting as magical part. From the moment you get your pet at level 3, you can command it to take actions using your bonus action. This action economy is almost entirely why the Beast Master needed this rework in the first place.
Nowhere in any of the texts surrounding the companion does it mention the companion's bonus action or any action it takes as a bonus action. I don't know why you even keep saying that. The pet takes its actions as actions. It is not using its bonus action to attack. You are using your bonus action to command it to to use its action to attack. Nothing you've cited says you cannot do this. Tasha's explicitly says you can.
There are 10 different actions a creature can take in combat. A beast companion can't make use of all of them because they can't, say, Cast a Spell, but they can do a lot of them. Creatures can also improvise an action, which you can find in a sidebar at the bottom of the list. And, if I had to guess, that's what was intended.
Some of the actions performable by a beast companion are gated. That is to say, they cannot be performed with a Bonus Action right away and must be unlocked at a higher level. Beast Master rangers have a 7th-level feature, Exceptional Training, which allows the beast companion to take the Dash, Disengage, or Help action as a Bonus Action. And this isn't replaced by the optional rules in Tasha's, meaning these cannot be used as early as 3rd-level.
The sentence, "That action can be one in its stat block or some other action," isn't meant to give blanket authorization. Rather, it's a form of future-proofing. It's letting the reader know that other actions are possible, and that specific actions may become available later. This is reinforced with the following sentence: "You can also sacrifice one of your attacks when you take the Attack action to command the beast to take the Attack action." That's an exception to the general rule laid out before it. It's how the beast takes the Attack action. And, admittedly, this likely won't come relevant until 11th-level when the beast companion can attack twice while using the Attack action.
What's so strange about this back-and-forth, this misconception, is it ignores the simple truth that no creature, player character or monster, in the game can attack twice as a bonus action. Most don't even have bonus actions. Just being able to attack once, and not having it tied to the Attack action, is an amazing boon. The only other subclass I can think of which allows for this is the Path of the Battlerager. The only other core class I can think of is sorcerer, but it requires casting spells and the expenditure of sorcery points via metamagic.
And, like I said, the ranger can still attack 4 times if their companion attacks 3 times. Otherwise, they can order the beast to take the Attack action twice for a grand total of 5 attacks. And that's 6 levels earlier than swift quiver. To quote Kevin McCallister, "I don't think so."
As someone's who went to school for journalism and has written professionally, that's insulting. And no, it doesn't strip away the 7th level feature. You need to listen and pay attention.
Case in point: I haven't once mentioned the beast companion's bonus action. I've only ever typed about the ranger's bonus action.
There you go again man. You're really mixing up the actions here. Again, you are using YOUR bonus action to make the pet take its ACTION.
Exceptional Training
Beginning at 7th level, on any of your turns when your beast companion doesn’t attack, you can use a bonus action to command the beast to take the Dash, Disengage, or Help action on its turn.
No one is attacking twice as a bonus action anywhere because the scenario presented involves the Ranger using its ACTION and the beast using its ACTION.
You need to calm down and pay attention because you're contradicting yourself. You have argued that the beast companion can, indeed, take two attacks on the ranger's Bonus Action. This is because you are, falsely, arguing the ranger can command the beast companion can take the Attack action as part of the ranger's Bonus action command. If you think this splitting of hairs is somehow going to save your face, it will not.
The beast is not taking the Attack action with the ranger's Bonus Action. It's not possible. Rather, the ranger is ordering it to make an action detailed in its stat block (Binding Strike, Maul, or Shred) or one of the other actions available to it at later levels (Dash, Disengage, or Help). If the beast companion is to take the Attack action, then the ranger must also take the Attack action and sacrifice one of their own attacks.
Or are you seriously trying to argue that the ranger can order the beast companion to take the Attack action twice: once with their Attack action and once with their Bonus Action?
The beast only has one action. Even if the ranger ordered it to take the Attack action once with the ranger’s bonus action and once with the ranger’s action, the beast can only take one action. Right?
Every creature can only take one action during its turn, barring special features like the fighter's Action Surge. But beast companions don't get their own turn. They're considered extensions of the ranger and, as such, expand the ranger's action economy. Specifically, "In combat, the beast acts during your turn." Presumably, the beast companion is bound by the same rules and simply treats the ranger's turn as their own. But it's a special case. And, generally, things only do what they say they do. Nothing more, and no less.
We know the beast companion can make an attack with its natural weapon as part of the ranger's Bonus Action. And we know the same feature that allows for this does not call it the Attack action, though it does allow for other actions at the DM's discretion. That language, calling it the Attack action, only appears if the ranger also takes the Attack action and gives up one of their attacks; possibly their only attack.
This is why the beast companion can make up to 3 attacks after the ranger reaches 11th-level; the bonus action isn't considered an Attack action. That's how the ranger and beast companion, together, are able to make up to 4 attacks. Whether the bonus action attack comes from the ranger (via Two-Weapon Fighting) or the beast companion doesn't matter. During the Attack action, the ranger commands the beast to take it's Attack action; something it cannot do with just the ranger's Bonus Action.
You’re wrong but I dont know how to respond in any way that hasn’t been conveyed to you multiple times already. Copy and pasting the rules doesn’t work, and neither does attempting to explain them. I wish you well on your adventures.