Beast Friend

While there are Rangers who focus on woodland magic and Rangers who focus on straight-up murder, one of the most iconic Rangers is that of the beast friend, who goes into battle with an animal companion. This concept was done infamously poorly in the PHB. The revised version was generally better received, but while it’s acceptable, it’s only scratching the surface of how cool a concept an animal companion can be. We can do better - and now we have.

Animal Companion

When you join this conclave at 3rd level, you can magically summon a fey spirit in the form of an animal to travel and fight by your side with a ritual that can be completed as part of a short rest. Whenever you complete this ritual, your companion may shift into a new animal form or restore their HP to maximum. This ritual restores them even if their HP had been reduced to 0, as they do not die when reduced to 0 HP. As fey spirits, they are almost incapable of death, and when their physical form is slain, their incorporeal spirit enters into a slumber until given physical form again. For most fey, this process takes at least a year and a day, and often centuries, but luckily your ritual can reliably coalesce their spirit into physical form again whenever you have time for a short rest.

Your animal companion must be of either the beast or monstrosity type, and must have a Maximum CR of your Ranger Level -2 (so when you join this conclave at 3rd level, you can have any beast or monstrosity of CR 1 or lower as your animal companion, while at 20th level, you can have any beast or monstrosity of CR 18 or lower). Creatures with fractional CR count as 0 for purposes of this ability.

If your animal companion’s INT, WIS, or CHA are lower than 6, they rise to 6. They have a proficiency bonus equal to yours, which might alter their saves or attack bonuses compared to the default stat block.

There are a lot of really cool animal companion candidates who are monstrosity type instead of beast type, like the winter wolf, hydra, and purple worm. There’s also a couple of creatures in the monstrosity type that probably should’ve just been humanoids, like the yuan-ti abomination, harpy, and ettercap. You might choose to intentionally avoid them for roleplaying reasons. On the other hand, you might decide not to, instead. If your fey spirit companion can transform into a yuan-ti, that’s not really any weirder than transforming from a wolf into a bear. If it fits your theme, go for it.

Calls of Wild

Starting from third level, you may perform any of the following calls as an action. You may perform a total number of calls equal to your proficiency bonus before taking a long rest to refresh them. Except where otherwise stated, each call has a range of 60 ft. and ends if the companion exceeds this range, lasts one minute, and requires the concentration of your companion.

• Call of Ferocity: You direct your animal companion to fight with savage fury. For the duration of the call, they make attacks at advantage and deal bonus damage equal to your proficiency bonus on each hit.

• Call of Haste: You direct your animal companion to act with incredible speed. Their movement speed is doubled, they gain +2 AC, have advantage on DEX saves, and get an extra action on each of their turns. This action may only be used to make a single attack, dash, hide, or use an object.

• Call of Protection: You direct your animal companion to fight cautiously. For the duration of the call, attacks against them take disadvantage, and their saves are made at advantage.

Shape Companion

Starting from third level, you can apply any of the following alterations to your animal companion. Each alteration increases the animal companion’s CR by 1 for purposes of max CR for animal companion. For example, if you are a 5th level Ranger, your animal companion’s maximum CR is 3. You could instead take a CR 1 creature with two of the following alterations. Fractional CR counts as 0 for purposes of max CR, so even a level 3 Ranger can apply one of the below alterations to a companion with default CR of ½, ⅓, etc. etc. You may reshape your companion whenever you take a short rest, as part of the same ritual that allows you to reshape them into an entirely different creature and restore their HP.

• Aquatic. Your animal companion can breathe water and gains a swim speed equal to their land speed. You may apply this alteration twice, doubling their swim speed on the second alteration.
• Burrow. Your animal companion gains a burrow speed equal to half their land speed, rounded down to the nearest 5 ft. You may apply this alteration twice, granting them a burrow speed equal to their land speed with the second alteration.
• Charge. If the animal companion moves at least 20 ft. before attacking an enemy and hits with their first attack, the attack is automatically a critical hit. Subsequent attacks cannot benefit from charge in this way.
• Critical Master. Your animal companion’s natural weapons score a critical hit on a 19-20.
• Elemental Weapon. One of your animal companion’s natural weapons deals an extra die of damage. This die of damage is one of acid, cold, fire, lightning, or thunder damage, chosen when you apply the alteration. You may apply this alteration multiple times, giving an elemental die to a different natural weapon each time.
• Elemental Resistance. Your animal companion becomes resistant to one of acid, cold, fire, lightning, poison, or thunder damage. You may apply this alteration multiple times, making your companion resistant to a different damage type each time.
• Flight. Your animal companion gains a fly speed equal to their land speed. You may apply this alteration three times, doubling or tripling their fly speed on the second and third alterations, respectively.
• Grab. Pick one of the animal companion’s natural weapons. Once per turn, they automatically grapple and restrain a target when they land a blow with that weapon, with an escape DC equal to 8 + your companion’s STR bonus + your proficiency bonus.
• Keen Sense. Your animal companion gains one of Keen Hearing, Keen Scent, or Keen Sight, giving them advantage on Perception checks to do with the selected sense. You may take this alteration multiple times, choosing a different sense each time.
• Natural Armor. Your animal companion gets a +2 bonus to natural AC.
• Poison. One of your animal companion’s natural weapons becomes poisonous, dealing 2d6 poison damage and inflicting the poisoned condition if it hits, with a CON save for half damage and to negate the poisoned condition. The DC for the save is 8 + your animal companion’s CON bonus + your proficiency bonus. Creatures poisoned by this attack can repeat the save at the end of each of their turns to end the effect.
• Trip. One of your animal companion’s natural weapons trips its targets, who must make a STR save against DC of 8 + your animal companion’s STR bonus + your proficiency bonus or else be knocked prone.

Advanced Shapping

At 7th level, you may apply the following alterations to your animal companion when reshaping them on a short rest. These alterations count as two alterations for determining the animal companion’s CR (for example, a CR 3 animal companion with one of these alterations would count as CR 5).

• Breath Weapon. The animal companion gains a breath weapon that is either a 30 ft. cone or a 60 ft. line. The breath weapon deals d6s of damage equal to your proficiency bonus of either acid, cold, fire, lightning, poison, or thunder damage, chosen when you make this alteration. The damage can be halved with a DEX save of DC 8 + your animal companion’s CON bonus + your proficiency bonus. When the breath weapon has been used, roll a d6 at the start of each of the animal companion’s turns. On a roll of a 6, the weapon is available again.
• Elemental Immunity. The animal companion is completely immune to one of acid, cold, fire, lightning, poison, or thunder damage. You may take this alteration multiple times, choosing a different element each time.
• Natural Weapon. The animal companion may add a claw attack dealing 2d6 slashing damage, a bite attack dealing 2d6 piercing damage, a slam attack dealing 2d6 bludgeoning damage, or a spine attack with a range of 30/120 ft. dealing 2d6 piercing damage. This is a natural weapon and it may be used as part of a multiattack. You may take this alteration multiple times, adding a different natural weapon each time.
• Swallow Whole. The animal companion may attempt to swallow whole any creature who is at least one size category smaller and who they have grappled with their mouth. The target must make a STR save against DC of 8 + your animal companion’s STR bonus + your proficiency bonus, and if they fail, they are swallowed. Swallowed creatures take 8d6 acid damage at the start of each of their turns with no save. They are grappled and restrained so long as they are swallowed, but may make attacks from inside the creature. Swallowed creatures remain swallowed until the creature who has swallowed them is reduced to 0 HP (whether from the inside or outside).

Call of Restoration

At 11th level, you can revive your animal companion from 0 HP to 1 HP with a call. This call is an instantaneous effect, but otherwise works like any of your other wild calls (including taking an action).

Expert Shaping

Expert Shaping: At 15th level, you may apply the following alterations to your animal companion when reshaping them on a short rest. These alterations count as three alterations for determining the animal companion’s CR (for example, a CR 10 animal companion with one of these alterations would count as CR 13).

• Frightful Presence. The animal companion is terrifying to look upon. All creatures who get within 30 ft. of the animal companion must make a WIS save against DC of 8 + your animal companion’s CHA bonus + your proficiency bonus. If they fail, they are frightened of your animal companion. Frightened creatures may repeat the save to end the effect at the end of each of their turns. Creatures who succeed on the save (initially or at the end of their turn) are immune to your animal companion’s frightful presence for 24 hours. The frightful presence is indiscriminate, but presumably all your party members make their saves (possibly taking a few minutes to do so) at the start of the day and are subsequently unaffected for the length of the actual adventure.
• Innate Spellcasting. Your animal companion has the innate ability to cast spells, which they may cast once before they need a long rest to refresh it. Each time you take this alteration, pick up to six spell levels’ worth of spells, with each spell being a maximum of 3rd level.
• Petrifying Gaze. Your animal companion can petrify a creature with a look. This takes an action and must target a single creature within 60 ft. who can see your animal companion’s eyes. The target must make a CON save of DC 8 + your animal companion’s CHA bonus + your proficiency bonus. If they fail, they are paralyzed until the end of your animal companion’s next turn. If they fail by 5 or more points, they are petrified.
• Reflective Armor. Your animal companion is covered with some kind of reflective surface, whether that be a carapace, crystalline scales, bony plates of natural armor, or metallic, reflective fur. The animal companion has advantage on all saves against spells or other magical effects, and all spell attacks against them take disadvantage. If they save for half against a magical effect, they instead take no damage. Line effects, cone effects, and single target spells which do not hit or which they make their save against are reflected back to affect the caster, which also prevents the spell from affecting any creatures standing directly behind the animal companion (but not creatures standing in front or to the sides).