Beast Master
A Ranger Archetype with a beast companion of Power Rating 1/4 or lower that acts on the ranger's initiative, attacks on the ranger's bonus action, and grows in level.
Identity
The Beast Master is the Ranger Archetype that works in a pair. Sometimes the bond was chosen, a hunt-priest's pick out of the kennel-pit or a woodsman raising a wing-cat from kithood. Sometimes it was an accident: a wounded animal nursed back, a stowaway tamed, a laboratory subject let out of a crate by somebody who did not think past the latch. Either way, the bond works through a faint Rift link between two minds.
Features
- L3 Beast Companion
You gain a beast companion with a Power Rating of 1/4 or lower, approved by the GM. Suggested options are a wing-cat, a scout-drone-bonded raptor, a Zyrrak hunt-hound, a plains harrier, a void-rated falcon, a small primate, or a low-tier construct built as a beast. The companion has its own stat block and acts on your initiative. Its hit points equal 4 times your Ranger level, its proficiency bonus equals yours, and it adds your proficiency bonus to attack rolls, damage, Armor Class, saving throws, and skill checks it is proficient in. On your turn, you can verbally command the companion to take any action it can take. If it is Incapacitated or you give no command, it takes the Dodge action. The companion understands your spoken language at the level of a clever animal: commands, names, and simple two-step instructions. If the companion dies, you can bond a new one during a long rest spent in an appropriate environment.
- L7 Coordinated Attack
When you take the Attack action on your turn, you can use your bonus action to command your beast companion to take the Attack action with one of its attacks against a creature within its reach. When your companion hits a creature you have attacked this turn, it deals an extra 1d6 damage.
- L11 Bestial Fury
Your companion can make two attacks instead of one when it takes the Attack action. Its hit points increase to 5 times your Ranger level, and it gains proficiency in two saving throws of your choice and one additional skill of your choice.
- L15 Share Spells
When you cast a Ranger spell that targets or affects only you, such as a personal buff, a sense extension, or a movement enhancement, you can extend its effect to your beast companion if it is within 30 feet of you, at no additional slot cost. You and your companion also share a passive telepathic link while within 1 mile of each other. The link conveys simple emotions, alert and wary states, and signals for "I am safe" and "I am in trouble," with no audible language.
- L18 Shared Defense Capstone
The companion gains immunity to the Frightened and Charmed conditions and resistance to one damage type of your choice. You declare the damage type during a long rest and can change it at the next long rest. While you and the companion are within 30 feet of each other, each of you can use your reaction to take half of any damage about to be dealt to the other from a single source. Resolve this after the damage is rolled and before hit points are deducted. The redirected damage cannot be reduced further by resistances.
