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Beast Master Extended
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##### Beast Master Extended Features | Level | Features | Spells | Maneuvers Known | Bond Points | |:---:|:---|:---|:---:|:---:| | 3rd | Beastmaster Magic, Basic Bond | *druidcraft, beast bond* | 2 | 2 | | 5th | — | *beast sense, enlarge/reduce* | 2 | 3 | | 7th | Veil-Piercing Claws, Strong Bond | — | 4 | 4 | | 9th | — | *feign death, haste* | 4 | 5 | | 11th | Bestial Fury, Exceptional Bond | — | 6 | 6 | | 13th | — | *death ward, dominate beast* | 6 | 7 | | 15th | Spell Sharing, Transcendent Bond | — | 8 | 8 | | 17th | — | *awaken, commune with nature* | 8 | 9 | | 19th | — | — | 8 | 10 |
# Beast Master Extended The Beast Master Extended is a re-tooling of the D&D 5e PHB Ranger subclass, inspired & heavily influenced by the [UA Revised Ranger](https://media.wizards.com/2016/dnd/downloads/UA_RevisedRanger.pdf) and Dael Kingsmill's [Beast Master Redux](https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-LYAcJoZua4r2yYnEKBp). In modifying and expanding the changes these made to the original subclass, my goal is to offer a Beast Master with new options and steadier progression -- in both mechanical and role-playing aspects of the Ranger's relationship with their companion. ### Ranger's Companion At 3rd level, you learn to use your knowledge and kinship with the natural world to create a powerful bond with a creature. Your chosen beast must have a CR lower than your Ranger level. How you go about obtainting your companion is up to you and your DM, but afterward your animal companion joins your service and gains all the benefits of your Companion’s Bond ability. You can have only one animal companion at a time. The creature uses its ordinary stat block except for the following: * Add your proficiency modifier to its attack rolls and any saving throws and skills in which it is proficient, in place of its own. * Its hit point maximum at this level is equal to its ordinary hit point maximum OR four times your ranger level, whichever is higher. * The beast does not have Multiattack. As you level, your companion will grow alongside you. In addition to rolling your own hit point increases when leveling, roll increases for your animal companion using the hit dice listed on the creature’s ordinary stat block. When you gain ability score improvements at 4th, 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th levels, your animal companion may increase any one of its physical ability scores by 1. \columnbreak > ##### Becoming Beast Friends > Raise it, best it...if all else fails, just ply it with treats and ear skritches until it loves you. It's up to you! #### Beast Master Magic Starting at 3rd level, you learn an additional spell when you reach certain levels in this class, as shown in the Beast Master Spells table. The spell counts as a Ranger spell for you, but it doesn’t count against the number of Ranger spells you know. #### Veil-Piercing Claws Starting at 7th level, your animal companion has seen enough combat with you -- especially magical combat -- to have a basic grasp of how to fight creatures beyond what it had previously encountered in the natural world. While the beast and its physical features remain mundane, its attacks now count as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage. #### Bestial Fury Starting at 11th level, your animal companion now fights with a ferocity it would normally reserve for defending a member of its own family. When you command your beast companion to take the Attack action, the beast can make two attacks, or it can take the Multiattack action if it has that action. #### Spell Sharing Starting at 15th level, you and your animal companion operate so much as one entity that your self-targeted magic bleeds between you over short distances. When you cast a spell targeting yourself, you can also choose to affect your companion with the spell at no additional spell slot cost if the beast is within 30 feet of you. \pagebreakNum ### Companion’s Bond The beast obeys your commands as best it can with the skills it possesses. In combat the beast acts during your turn to follow any commands you give it, and may move up to its full movement for free as part of fulfilling a command. You may spend your bonus action and the beast’s reaction to verbally command the beast to take the Attack, Dash, Disengage, Dodge or, if appropriate, Hide or Help action; or, to spend Bond Points to perform a Bond Maneuver (unless cost otherwise specified by the Maneuver.) Once your beast has begun following a command, it will continue to pursue that course of action until instructed otherwise. For example, if you have commanded your beast companion to attack a specific target, it will continue attacking that target each turn thereafter without the necessity of you using your action to command it. You will, however, need to command it to target a new enemy if the one it was targeting falls. If you are incapacitated or absent, your companion acts autonomously according to the Bond level you have attained together. If the beast has a reaction available, it will make attacks of opportunity as a creature normally would. When using your Natural Explorer feature, you and your animal companion can both move stealthily at a normal pace. If your animal companion is ever slain and you are unable to bring it back via magical means (such as *revivify*, *resurrection*, or *true resurrection*) the magical bond you share allows you to return it to life - albeit at great cost. With a captured wild creature of the same species as your slain companion and 8 hours spent in a trance-like state, you call forth your companion’s spirit and use your magic to house it in the captured beast's body. The spirit of the captured creature ceases to exist, and the transfer is traumatic for your companion -- they return to life in the new body at one Bond level lower than the level they had attained before death, and must train intensively with you to regain the lost kinship (see Retraining Your Companion.) Additionally, you sacrifice a part of your life force -- roll 1d10 + your Constitution modifier and subtract this total from your maximum Hit Points, and remove one Hit Die from your pool. This effect lasts until you have helped your companion regain your former Bond Level. You can return an animal companion to life in this manner even if you do not possess any part of its body. If you use this ability to return a former animal companion to life using the body of a current animal companion… well, that's fucked up, and you should feel bad. ### Bond Maneuvers Beginning at 3rd level, the time and training spent with your beast is represented by a pool of Bond Points equal to half your ranger level rounded up. These points replenish after a short or long rest. Upon attaining each Bond Level, your beast gains access to the Maneuvers on that Bond Level's Maneuver list, and can memorize 2 additional Maneuvers from that Level and those below. These can also be exchanged for another Maneuver with an investment of training time (see the Retraining Your Companion section for details.) If a maneuvre that can be extended is interrupted, its cost must be paid again to resume the maneuver. Your DM has final say on whether a Bond Maneuver is available to your specific beast or against a specific enemy. \columnbreak ### Bond Levels #### Basic Bond Starting at 3rd level, your animal companion submits to you and obeys your commands; however, it does not necessarily respect or trust you yet, and as such is not considered fully tamed. You may need to lead the beast while traveling with it, or tie it at night to keep it from running away. Should you fall unconscious, it is not yet loyal enough to attempt to protect you -- it will fight for its own life, but only to the point necessary to disengage from combat and flee. **Your companion may be trained to perform Bond Maneuvers from the Basic Bond Maneuvers list, and has the capacity to remember 2 Maneuvers total.** #### Strong Bond Starting at 7th level, your animal companion is beginning to respect and trust you, and it is considered tamed. It obeys your commands, and does not need to be contained or restrained in order to stay by your side, even when you are asleep, incapacitated or unconscious. Should you fall unconscious, it is now loyal enough to be protective of you, but only to a point -- it will defend you, but it will not give its life to save you. **Your companion may now be trained to perform Bond Maneuvers from the Strong Bond Maneuvers list, and has the capacity to remember 4 Maneuvers total.** #### Exceptional Bond Starting at 11th level, your animal companion now respects and trusts you fully, and not only obeys your commands but may begin to act on its own (when not already acting on a command from you) in order to help, please or impress you. It now sees you as it would a member of its own pack, flock, herd, etc., and as such should you fall unconscious, it will fight more fiercely to protect you -- up to and including giving its life to save yours. **Your companion may now be trained to perform Bond Maneuvers from the Exceptional Bond Maneuvers list, and has the capacity to remember 6 Maneuvers total.** #### Transcendent Bond Starting at 15th level, your animal companion becomes nearly an extension of yourself -- you harbor a deep love and respect for each other, would die to protect the other, and operate almost more as a unit than as separate creatures. You communicate on such a near-telepathic level that you no longer need to issue it verbal commands as long as it can see you -- your body language is enough for it to read your intent and act accordingly. Should you fall unconscious, once per day your companion may use an action to draw on its devotion to you, licking your wounds or comforting you as best it can, and returning you to consciousness with 1 Hit Point. **Your companion may now be trained to perform Bond Maneuvers from the Transcendent Bond Maneuvers list, and has the capacity to remember 8 Maneuvers total.**
**Bond Maneuver Save DC** =
8 + your proficiency bonus +
your Wisdom modifier
\pagebreakNum ### Retraining your Companion Several scenarios could necessitate retraining an animal companion: starting from square one with a new companion after the first beast's death or dismissal, the loss of a Bond Level upon bringing a slain companion back via the previously described ritual, or even merely wanting to exchange one already-trained Bond Maneuver for another. In all of the aforementioned scenarios, as long as enough time is dedicated to the endeavor (as seen in the Retraining Time table) either all at once or broken up over many in-game days, common sense and your DM's discretion are the only rules to determine what activities with your animal companion constitute training. Retraining a Maneuver is a simple matter of repeated practice, but retraining a Bond Level is more complex and therefore more open to interpretation.
> ##### A Note to DMs: RP over Rules > It's by design that I've left certain aspects of this subclass mechanically vague; namely, the obtaining, training and retraining of the chosen beast companion. First and foremost, I think that the more freedom a player and a DM have in working out the context and specifics of choosing, taming, training & retraining a companion, the better chance there is that the player will organically develop an attachment to the beast that goes beyond its mechanical usefulness. Does your Triton player want to attempt to tame a shark to accompany her underwater? Let them give it a try. Do they want to steal a giant crocodile egg from its nest and attempt to hatch it themselves? Their success can depend on how well they research the species and their ingenuity in caring for the egg. Did your player mistreat his beast, forget it and leave it behind, or otherwise betray its loyalty to him? Perhaps impose a consequence like the loss of a Bond level until the player finds a way to earn back the animal's trust in-character. Did your player distinguish themselves with a particularly inspired use of a Maneuver or a good RP moment? Perhaps reward it with a new ability or bonus to their companion. **Try to say "Yes, and..." or "Yes, but..." instead of "No," remember Rule Zero, and have fun!**
\columnbreak ##### Bond Level Retraining Examples
* ***Retrain Basic Bond.*** Spend 6 hours one-on-one with the beast, speaking softly to it and tossing food closer and closer until it feels safe enough to eat from your hand. * ***Retrain Strong Bond.*** Spend 12 hours hunting alone with the beast, sharing your kills equally with it and protecting each other from threats until it begins to trust you and know it can rely on you, and you on it. * ***Retrain Exceptional Bond.*** Spend 24 hours living among the beast's pack, flock, herd or kind in general; sleep where they sleep, eat what they eat, share in their hunts and social behaviours, even help protect their home should the need arise. Be as loyal as a member of its own family, and earn its loyalty in return. * ***Retrain Transcendent Bond.*** Spend 48 hours in silent seclusion with the beast, focusing only on each other, learning and memorizing the other's presence, body language, smallest sounds, and barely-perceptible reactions. Use this knowledge to practice Maneuvers nonverbally, until you can communicate, move and fight in tandem as fluidly as one entity acting alone.
##### Retraining Time
| Bond Level | Retrain a Level | Retrain a Maneuver | |:---|:-----:|:-----:| | Basic Bond | 6 hours | 2 hours | | Strong Bond | 12 hours | 4 hours | | Exceptional Bond | 24 hours | 6 hours | | Transcendent Bond | 48 hours | 8 hours |
Stealing: a DM's Sincerest Form of Flattery
I developed this Frankenstein-esque mashup of the UA Revised Ranger Beast Conclave, Dael Kingsmill's Beast Master Redux, and my own additions because I have a Beastmaster Ranger player in the game I DM who just hit level 3. She's an excited first time D&D player, and I want her to be able to play a subclass that feels useful, feels powerful, and presents lots of opportunities for flavorful choices and fun RP. If she enjoys playing it, that's all I need — but I hope it's useful for other people too! Cover Art: [Luke Mancini](http://conceptartworld.com/artists/luke-mancini/)
This is my first public homebrew attempt, so please feel free to leave me feedback if you have constructive critiques or suggestions! Also, you can check out [my website](https://cryptideart.wixsite.com/cryptide) if, for some reason, you want to see my art — I'm even open for commissions sometimes! Thanks ~Cryptide
[WWW.GMBINDER.COM](https://www.gmbinder.com)
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##### Credits & Thanks
Credit to the Wizards of the Coast team for regularly reimagining their product and making UA content for us picky bastards who can't play a class without customizing *something!* ___ [Dael Kingsmill on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/user/MonarchsFactory)
A big thank you to Dael Kingsmill for both her YouTube D&D thoughts and the great homebrew documents based on them, go watch her stuff and throw money at her on Patreon! ___ [Dael Kingsmill on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/user/MonarchsFactory) [My Terrible Rules for Animal Companions](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDaBHexJYu4) [Beast Master Ranger Ideas](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14CSvRGdqoM) ___ [Dael Kingsmill on Patreon](https://www.patreon.com/DaelKingsmill) ___ [Beast Master Redux](https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-LYAcJoZua4r2yYnEKBp)
##### Art Credits
___ *Huntmaster* by [Luke Mancini](http://conceptartworld.com/artists/luke-mancini/) ___ *Fitz and Nighteyes* by [Michelle Tolo](https://www.artstation.com/artwork/O8XJb) ___ *The Hunters* by [Ollie Cuthbertson](http://cuthbo.co.uk/portfolio/the-hunters/) ___ *Half Elf with Lynx* by [Aurore Folny](https://www.artstation.com/aurorefolny)
##### Special Thanks
Thanks to my brainstorming buddies Asa, Christina and Scott for the help fleshing out ideas (and especially to Asa for putting up with me not shutting up about rangers for well over a week, you're a champ <3)