Beast Scholar

Magical creatures have fascinated you for as long as you can remember. You've devoted your life to understanding the secrets behind their magic.

Bonus Proficiencies 

At 2nd level, you gain proficiency in Nature and Animal Handling. 

Creature Specialization

Beginning at 2nd level, you have significant experience studying, tracking, and observing certain types of creatures.

Choose 2 creature specializations: aberrations, beasts, celestials, constructs, dragons, elementals, fey, fiends, giants, monstrosities, oozes, plants, or undead.

You have advantage on Wisdom (Survival) checks to track these creatures.

You choose one additional creature specialization, at 6th and 10th level. As you gain levels, your choices should reflect the types of creatures you have encountered on your adventures.

Aberrations

Aberrations are utterly alien beings. Many of them have innate magical abilities drawn from the creature's alien mind rather than the mystical forces of the world. The quintessential aberrations are aboleths, and slaadi.

Beasts

Beasts are nonhumanoid creatures that are a natural part of the fantasy ecology. Some of them have magical powers, but most are unintelligent and lack any society or language. Beasts include all varieties of ordinary animals, dinosaurs, and giant versions of animals.

Celestials

Celestials are creatures native to the Upper Planes. Many of them are the servants of deities, employed as messengers or agents in the mortal realm and throughout the planes. Celestials are good by nature, so the exceptional celestial who strays from a good alignment is a horrifying rarity. Celestials include angels, couatls, and pegasi.

Constructs

 

Dragons

 

Elementals

 

Fey

 

Fiends

 

Giants

 

Humanoids

Humanoids are the main peoples of a fantasy gaming world, both civilized and savage, including humans and a tremendous variety of other species. They have language and culture, few if any innate magical abilities (though most humanoids can learn spellcasting), and a bipedal form. The most common humanoid races are the ones most suitable as player characters: humans, dwarves, elves, and halflings. Almost as numerous but far more savage and brutal, and almost uniformly evil, are the races of goblinoids (goblins, hobgoblins, and bugbears), orcs, gnolls, lizardfolk, and kobolds.

Monstrosities

 

Oozes

 

Plants

 

Undead

 

Shared Information

You shout out critical details on the vulnerabilities you've learned in your studies.

Starting at 6th level, allies that can hear you, within a 30ft radius have advantage on attack rolls and saving throws against one of your creature specializations for 1 minute.

At 10th level attack rolls made against the chosen creature type deal an additional 1d6 damage. Every 4 levels after attacks deal an additional 1d6 damage (2d6 at 14th, 3d6 at 18th)

You can use this a number of times per day equal to your proficiency modifier. 

Personal Bestiary

By 6th level, you have spent a significant amount of time researching the tomes, scrolls, and other writings surrounding creatures, including myths and legends. When you encounter a creature you can use your action to make an Intelligence (Nature or Arcana) check (DC equals 7 + the creature's CR, minimum 1) to consult your notes in an attempt to quickly find pertinent information. If you have access to a library, university, scriptorium, or observe a creature outside of combat for at least an hour, the DC is lowered by 1 for each hour you devoted to research. If you are successful, you learn whether the creature has any known damage immunities, resistances, condition immunities, or vulnerabilities and what they are. You may also learn other significant information relating to the creature’s combat ability (CR), lore, habitat, harvesting, and other statistics.  Once information is recalled in this way, the creature is recorded in your Field Notes and you no longer need to make an Intelligence check to recall information about this creature in the future.

You have advantage on these checks if the creatures are from your creature specializations.

Theory to Practice

At 10th level, you gain one of the following features of your choice.

 

Escape the Horde

Opportunity attacks against you are made with disadvantage.

Multiattack Defense

When a creature hits you with an attack, you gain a +4 bonus to AC against all subsequent attacks made by that creature for the rest of the turn.

Steel Will

You have advantage on saving throws against being frightened.

Cram Session

At 10th level, you can quickly teach an ally some of your defensive techniques.

As an action, you can expend a spell slot of 3rd level or higher to grant an ally or allies the use of your Theory to Practice for 1 minute. for every spell level higher than 3rd you can choose an additional ally.

At 15th level, you can grant the use of your Practice Makes Perfect.

Practice Makes Perfect

At 14th level, you gain one of the following features of your choice.

Evasion

When you are subjected to an effect, such as a red dragon’s fiery breath or a lightning bolt spell, that allows you to make a Dexterity saving throw to take only half damage, you instead take no damage if you succeed on the saving throw, and only half damage if you fail.

Signs of Attack

When a hostile creature misses you with a melee attack, its next attack against you is at disadvantage.

Uncanny Dodge

When an attacker that you can see hits you with an attack, you can use your reaction to halve the attack’s damage against you.