Ranger ➙ Beastmaster

Since Beastmaster would be more fun if it were stronger, mechanically (as compared to other classes’ somewhat scaling summoning options or wildshapes, for example) while not too overpowered, or simply if it didn’t have such illogical rules — and I didn’t think the “Unearthed Arcana” version was a very good attempt at an adequate fix for many issues I have with such a poorly designed subclass — the following are some house-rules I've used to “fix” Beastmaster in case anyone is interested or playing in a not totally RAW game wherein a DM might be open to something like this… In my humble opinion (as a DM as often as a player, myself), I think the mechanics below are relatively well balanced and make the animal-companion fun enough to be worthwhile compared to other Ranger subclasses while not adding too much cumbersome complexity… (as well as providing more fun roleplaying incentive to choose Ranger: Beastmaster over other classes)
✷I may update parts of this in the future to default to the revision attempted in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything instead of the PHB Beastmaster, but the most substantive elements of this homebrew relate to expanded and more “natural” commands for the beast, and could thus be easily used by any mechanical version or statblock／power-level that might be preferred… Some of these rules could also be easily adapted for use with Artificer “Steel Defender” robots or other similar “pets” or intelligent but obedient mounts or familiars, if desired.

• Beastmaster Ranger’s Companion: at 3rd level, the Beastmaster gains a beast companion that accompanies the Ranger on his or her adventures and is trained to fight alongside the Beastmaster. Choose a beast no larger than Medium size and that has a challenge rating of ¼ or lower. Add the Ranger’s proficiency bonus to the beast’s AC, attack-rolls, damage-rolls, any saving-throws the Ranger is proficient with, and any skills the beast is proficient in. Its hit-point maximum equals the hit-point number in its stat-block plus four-times the Ranger’s class-level in temporary-HP (which it regains after completing a long rest, or can restore by expending its hit-dice during a short-rest, but which cannot be healed by other means or combined with any other source of temporary-hit-points). Like any creature, it can spend Hit-Dice during a short-rest to regain hit-points (and/or regain its temporary-hit-points up to a maximum of four-times the Ranger’s class-level). It has the number of hit-dice listed in its stat block. Beast companions attack once per round, and cannot perform the multi-attack action, even if it’s listed in their stat-block (exception: see “Bestial Fury” below).
• The Animal Companion takes its turn on the Beastmaster’s initiative, and will automatically defend itself or the Beastmaster against any obviously hostile nearby mêlée attackers each round unless commanded otherwise or unable due to some condition imposed on it. It will continue fighting perceivable＆accessible attacker(s) until neither the Beastmaster nor it remains engaged by attackers, it becomes incapacitated, or the Beastmaster commands it otherwise using the “Command Beast” feature. However, while it could intimidatingly menace or threaten (“Intimidate” skill-check) if circumstances warrant or commanded to do so, because of its training it will not usually ever aggressively initiate combat by attacking an opponent first without being commanded to unless that opponent first attacks the Beastmaster or beast or there is some other severe provocation. At the DM’s discretion, the beast might also automatically move to attack hostile ranged-attackers it can perceive if no closer hostile mêlée threat is present and the ranged threat is accessibly not too far away or separated by terrain too daunting to the beast’s movement capabilities (i.e. generally within “short-range” of most longer-range weapons only unless the Beastmaster spends an action to explicitly command the beast to Dash forward to seek and eventually attack more distant targets using the Command Beast feature).
• If the Beastmaster is incapacitated or absent, the beast acts on its own, focusing on protecting its companion Ranger＆itself. The beast never requires any command to use its reaction, such as when making an opportunity-attack against an already hostile creature. The extent to which the beast may also form some lesser bond with (and may be willing to automatically defend) any other allied PCs who are close companions of the Beastmaster as a secondary objective is up to player＆DM discretion — but should not happen instantaneously or automatically without some experience adventuring＆bonding together, and should never eclipse loyalty to the Ranger unless by that Beastmaster’s explicit command (and perhaps also a successful Wisdom: Animal-Handling check if the Beastmaster orders the beast to defy its strongest instinctively protective bond).
• While traveling through the Ranger’s favored terrain with only the beast, the Beastmaster＆beast can move stealthily at a normal pace.
• Command Beast: Beastmaster Rangers have the ability to issue simple and commonly practiced commands quickly to a trained beast companion (no action required by the Ranger beyond being able to use a “free-action” for short phrases and/or gestures as usual). Once per turn at any point during his or her six-second turn, the Beastmaster can use his or her “free-action” to command the companion beast to attack (the closest clearly aggressive threat, if any) or to come to “heel” (the beast will Disengage if necessary then attempt to move＆stay directly behind the Ranger until commanded otherwise, taking the Dodge action as soon as possible on each turn while in this mode unless needing to take the Dash action to keep pace following closely on the Ranger’s heels), or to flee／retreat／take-cover／hide (the beast will Disengage if necessary then “evade” by Dashing evasively away from any threats as best it can perceive during each of its turns, and will “take cover” well behind the Beastmaster and/or away from any threats if possible, finding the best cover it can and then attempting to Hide if possible, as best the DM’s discretion and terrain description dictates — but the beast will be reluctant to entirely “flee the field” beyond the audible range of the Beastmaster’s commands in any way that would completely abandon the Ranger).
  • Alternatively, the Beastmaster can use his or her own action to “command the beast” to perform more complex actions on its next and/or subsequent turns using more complex verbal signals and/or gestures: such as to carry a rider of a size it can bear, move to guard a specific location and/or take the Dash, Disengage, Dodge, or Help action in some unusual way not covered by the previous “general order” modalities — or to interact with an object in any way within the companion creature’s physical capabilities, including to fetch an item it can carry then attempt to return it to the Beastmaster (however, these more complex commands may also require a successful Wisdom: Animal-Handling check). The Beastmaster can also use his or her action to command the beast to “stay” (defending a specific location or ally instead of the Beastmaster) or to attack a specific target (rather than the nearest clear threat or opponent threatening the Beastmaster) — or to “scout” a perceivable general area (with a successful Wisdom: Animal-Handling check), or to repeatedly feint＆distract an enemy with the Help Action each turn, etc. The Beastmaster can also use multiple actions across subsequent turns to combine multiple or even conditional commands (with a successful Wisdom: Animal-Handling check to determine degree of success depending on complexity), such as “Stay”＋“Dodge” or “Stay”＋“make a loud warning noise” (if threatened)＋“Heel”, etc.
  • Once engaged in combat, a Beastmaster’s companion beast will typically continue attacking a creature or following its most recent command or directed “behavioral modality” until that creature is defeated, the beast is incapacitated, the Beastmaster issues a different command, or a condition is imposed on the beast that changes its behavior.
• Raise Beast Companion: when the Beastmaster’s companion beast reaches zero hit-points, it makes death saving throws like a player-character or important NPC on each subsequent turn. If the beast dies, the Ranger can expend three spell-slots (of any level) to perform a Raise Beast Companion ritual on its corpse (if “adequately” intact＆recoverable). The ritual takes one hour and can be performed during a short-rest (though doing so would deny the Ranger any benefit of that rest); if completed, the ritual raises the animal companion from the dead with one hit-point, and reattaches any dismembered parts that were recovered＆reconnected during the ritual. Alternatively, the Beastmaster can obtain a new companion by spending eight hours finding (assuming availability of a suitable companion animal in local terrain), magically bonding with, and training a beast that isn’t hostile to the Ranger and that meets the requirements＆limitations in these rules or is sanctioned as a special exception by the DM (in case a Beastmaster’s initial companion is lost, released/dismissed to the wild in preparation to focus on training another type of companion-animal, or killed).
• Exceptional Training: beginning at 7th level of the Ranger: Beastmaster class, the Ranger can optionally use a bonus-action (instead of an action) to issue advanced commands to the beast companion, optionally including combining two advanced commands in one turn if using both the Beastmaster’s action＆bonus-action!
• Bestial Fury: starting at 11th level of the Ranger: Beastmaster class, the beast companion can take the Multiattack action if it has that action. In addition, the beast companion’s attacks are considered “magical” for the purpose of overcoming resistance to physical damage that is not magical.
• Share Spells: beginning at 15th level of the Ranger: Beastmaster class, when the Ranger casts a spell targeting himself and the beast companion is within 30feet of the Beastmaster, the Ranger can choose for the spell to also affect the beast. Also, the Beastmaster can now obtain a beast companion that is a “beast” type creature of CR½ or lower. Additionally, if the Ranger expends one second-level spell-slot to cast the Beast Sense spell／ritual (PHB page 217) on the beast companion, the Beastmaster can perceive through the senses of the beast companion as usual with that spell but can also control the beast, make use of any of its special attacks＆qualities, and undertake any action the animal can physically accomplish (even if the animal would normally lack the intelligence to perform the action in question despite advanced training) — though the beast may get a Wisdom saving-throw if extreme or unnatural or suicidal actions are commanded; while concentrating on this spell, the Beastmaster PC has the “blinded” condition and can only see＆hear what the beast can, but can blindly take the move action or otherwise blindly act normally on the Beastmaster’s turn as long as Concentration＆control is maintained directing the beast’s actions through its perception during that turn.
• Beastlord: beginning at 17th level of the Ranger: Beastmaster class, the Beastmaster can obtain a beast companion that is a “beast” type creature of CR1 or lower or that is Large size or smaller.
• optional Command-Beast-mechanic with DM approval (which could be granted right at 3rd level then potentially upgraded or replaced by a magical version of this item at higher-levels at the DM’s discretion): a command-whistle could work in parallel or alternative to any verbal or silent-gesture commands that a bonded companion can receive from the Ranger whose authority it respects (using the same rules as Beastmaster free／basic-mode or advanced “Command-Beast” options above as appropriate), with the range probably limited to how far the creature can hear (requiring a Perception-check at the DM’s discretion if on the edge of maximum range where the companion might not hear the whistle): but potentially farther than line-of-sight or even farther than shouted verbal commands (with DM approval or with more powerful magic-item versions of this whistle); regardless, the whistle should have a clasp allowing it to be attached to a necklace or chain so that it can be worn around a character’s neck and used hands-free by being placed at the ready between a character’s lips using the one free object interaction per turn (as long as a Beastmaster has at least a couple fingers free to place the whistle between their lips even while holding most items, or could make a Dexterity-check to maneuver the whistle into position for blowing if wearing the necklace with no hands available, including while bound／restrained). Such whistles normally make sounds at frequencies most humanoids cannot hear (though creatures with superior auditory senses such as animal-companions can either hear it automatically or perhaps make a Perception-check to try to hear it at the DM’s discretion).

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