Critter Caller

"No one ever suspects the butterfly"

The Critter Caller befriends small animals to help them gain the upper hand in a variety of situations, whether it's gaining of knowledge from unsuspecting enemies or distracting foes in battle. The Critter Caller believes in the little guy and once the little guy believes in the Critter Caller they form a force that many a foe underestimate, some laugh, some scoff... those fools lie in a pool of blood covered in tiny scratches and bite marks.

Critter Companions

At 3rd level, you gain a swarm of critter companions that accompanies you on your adventures and are obliged to fight alongside you. Choose a critter type that would match your characters backstory or personality and work with your DM to create a balanced companion using Swarm of Rats or Swarm of Ravens as a template (challenge rating of 1/4 or lower.). Some examples of critter companions could be squirrels, lizards, insects, mice, bats, or even a homebrew fantasy critter. Add your proficiency bonus to the critter's AC, attack rolls, and damage rolls, as well as to any saving throws and skills it is proficient in. Its hit point maximum equals the hit point number in its stat block or four times your ranger level, whichever is higher. Unlike most creatures, critter companions can't spend Hit Dice during a short rest to regain hit points however you may spend time during travel or rests to find and recruit more critters unless your DM says otherwise ("No, you can't find any squirrels in the volcano while resting"). At any point, you may swap your critter type for a new critter given you spend time feeding and befriending them.

The critters obey your commands as best as they can. They take their turn as a collective on your initiative. On your turn, you can verbally command them where to move (no action required by you). You can use your action to verbally command them to take the Attack, Dash, Disengage, or Help action. If you don't issue a command, the beast takes the Dodge action. Once you have the Extra Attack feature, you can make one weapon attack yourself when you command the beast to take the Attack action.

If you are incapacitated or absent, the critters act on their own, focusing on protecting you and themselves. The critters never require your command to use its reaction, such as when making an opportunity attack.

While traveling through your favored terrain with only your critters, you can move stealthily at a normal pace.

If the critters die, you can obtain new critters by spending 6-8 hours magically bonding with critters that aren't hostile to you and that meets the requirements.

Critter Combat Training

Beginning at 7th level, you double the critter companions able to follow you (2 swarms). You may require a second bag to keep them in, if they are of a different critter type. Both critter swarms follow the same attack action as a collective or you may use two separate attack actions to give each critter swarm a different order.

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.

In addition, the critter's attacks now count as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage.

Convincing Critters

Starting at 11th level, You can use an action to command your critters to attempt to befriend a beast that you can see within range. It must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or be charmed by you and your critters for 10 minutes. If you or creatures that are friendly to you are fighting it, it has advantage on the saving throw.

While the beast is charmed, you can issue commands to the creature while you are conscious (no action required), which it does its best to obey. You can specify a simple and general course of action, such as "Attack that creature," "Run over there," or "Fetch that object." If the creature completes the order and doesn't receive further direction from you, it defends and preserves itself to the best of its ability.

You can only have one beast charmed this way at any time. If you choose to use this ability on a new beast, your previous beast may become aggressive depending on your DM's decision.

Critter Commander

Beginning at 15th level, You can use a bonus action to command one critter swarm to take the attack action. In addition, you triple the critter companions able to follow you (3 swarms). You may require another bag to keep them in, if they are of a different critter type.