I'm finding it difficult to understand the 3rd level Primal Companion and 7th level Exceptional Training.
Primal Companion states:
'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.'
My understanding is that you use your bonus action to command your beast to take any action you want (attack, dash, help, hide, etc.) and if you want sacrifice one of your attacks when you take the Attack action to make the creature attack, potentially making it attack twice in one turn.
The confusing part is Exceptional Training which states:
'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.'
This doesn't make any sense to me. Couldn't you use your bonus action to command the beast to take Dash, Disengage, or Help action before at level 3?
Yeah, Primal Companion is replacing Ranger's Companion from the original class. With the orig, you had to use your action to have the beast attack--so ExceptionalTraining was an improvement to only a bonus action.
Primal Companion is better, obviously, but it lessens the benefit of Exceptional Training. You still get beast-attacks-are-now-magical. But, yeah, kind of an empty improvement now. (But, really, you've just gained the improvement way earlier than 7th level)
I do find it odd that they didnt tweak Exceptional Training as part of the options in Tashas to give some extra benefit for Primal Companions, even if it is effectively just a ribbon. It doesnt feel good leveling up only to find out half of your ability is redundant. But, as TieflingLew pointed out, in the grand scheme of things the Beastmaster as a whole didnt lose anything, just had the timing of certain aspects rearranged.
I tried to write up an optional feature of my own as a replacement (but obviously it is homebrew and not RAW). The goal of it is to give the beast master limited command over there beast on turns where they spend their bonus action casting a spell, which I do not think would be overpowered at 7th level by any means.
Arcane Training
7th-level Beastmaster feature, which replaces the Exceptional Training feature
Your bond to the magical forces suffusing nature extends into your bond with your primal beasts, weaving simple commands and signals into the verbal and somatic components of your spellcasting. Attacks made by your primal beast now count as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to non-magical attacks and damage.
Additionally, whenever you use your bonus action to cast a Ranger spell, you can command your primal beast to Dash, Disengage, or Hide as part of the same bonus action
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Three-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews! Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
Re-imagining unpopular subclasses as part of FIFY WotC. Let us know what you think of our changes!
If it's any consolation, the level 11 ability is pretty huge. So 7 is just kind of a lame duck level but you catch up a few levels later.
It really was an attempt at errata without actually being errata. I am hopeful that the subclass is fully reworked and resolved in the updated PHB coming out in a couple years, because I love the class thematically but the design is in a really weird place.
I'm finding it difficult to understand the 3rd level Primal Companion and 7th level Exceptional Training.
Primal Companion states:
'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.'
My understanding is that you use your bonus action to command your beast to take any action you want (attack, dash, help, hide, etc.) and if you want sacrifice one of your attacks when you take the Attack action to make the creature attack, potentially making it attack twice in one turn.
The confusing part is Exceptional Training which states:
'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.'
This doesn't make any sense to me. Couldn't you use your bonus action to command the beast to take Dash, Disengage, or Help action before at level 3?
Yeah, Primal Companion is replacing Ranger's Companion from the original class. With the orig, you had to use your action to have the beast attack--so ExceptionalTraining was an improvement to only a bonus action.
Primal Companion is better, obviously, but it lessens the benefit of Exceptional Training. You still get beast-attacks-are-now-magical. But, yeah, kind of an empty improvement now. (But, really, you've just gained the improvement way earlier than 7th level)
I do find it odd that they didnt tweak Exceptional Training as part of the options in Tashas to give some extra benefit for Primal Companions, even if it is effectively just a ribbon. It doesnt feel good leveling up only to find out half of your ability is redundant. But, as TieflingLew pointed out, in the grand scheme of things the Beastmaster as a whole didnt lose anything, just had the timing of certain aspects rearranged.
I tried to write up an optional feature of my own as a replacement (but obviously it is homebrew and not RAW). The goal of it is to give the beast master limited command over there beast on turns where they spend their bonus action casting a spell, which I do not think would be overpowered at 7th level by any means.
Arcane Training
7th-level Beastmaster feature, which replaces the Exceptional Training feature
Your bond to the magical forces suffusing nature extends into your bond with your primal beasts, weaving simple commands and signals into the verbal and somatic components of your spellcasting. Attacks made by your primal beast now count as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to non-magical attacks and damage.
Additionally, whenever you use your bonus action to cast a Ranger spell, you can command your primal beast to Dash, Disengage, or Hide as part of the same bonus action
Three-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews! Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
Re-imagining unpopular subclasses as part of FIFY WotC. Let us know what you think of our changes!
If it's any consolation, the level 11 ability is pretty huge. So 7 is just kind of a lame duck level but you catch up a few levels later.
It really was an attempt at errata without actually being errata. I am hopeful that the subclass is fully reworked and resolved in the updated PHB coming out in a couple years, because I love the class thematically but the design is in a really weird place.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm