Beast Master

The Beast Master archetype embodies a friendship between the civilized races and the beasts of the world. United in focus, beast and ranger work as one to fight the monstrous foes that threaten civilization and the wilderness alike. Emulating the Beast Master archetype means committing yourself to this ideal, working in partnership with an animal as its companion and friend.

Ranger's Companion

At 3rd level, you gain a beast companion that accompanies you on your adventures and is trained to fight alongside you, to the point where you behave almost as a single being.

Choose a beast that is no larger than Medium and that has a challenge rating of 1/4 or lower (appendix D presents statistics for the hawk, mastiff, and panther as examples).

Add your proficiency bonus to the beast’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 its normal maximum or four times your ranger level, whichever is higher. Thanks to your mystical bond, when the beast is injured, you can choose to deduct the damage from your own hit points. Likewise, when you use Hit Dice to regain hit points during a Short Rest, you can let your beast companion regain hit points instead.

The beast obeys your commands as best as it can. It takes its turn on your initiative, though it doesn’t take an action unless you command it to. On your turn, you can verbally command the beast where to move (no action required by you). When you take a Dash, Disengage, Dodge, or Help action, your companion will take the same action.

When you perform an Attack action, you or the beast can attack. If both you and the beast are adjacent to the target, the beast's attack counts as a one-handed weapon attack for you, for the purpose of the Duelist fighting style, dual-wielding, and other purposes. Once you have the Extra Attack feature, you or the animal can take any of the extra attacks during the Attack action.

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

If the beast dies, you can obtain another one by spending 8 hours magically bonding with another beast that isn’t hostile to you, either the same type of beast as before or a different one.

Exceptional Training

Beginning at 7th level, 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, Dodge, or Help action on its turn.

This lets your companion take a different action from the action you take during the turn, but does not grant your companion any extra actions.

Bestial Fury

Starting at 11th level, your beast companion's attacks score a critical hit on a roll of 19 or 20.

Share Spell

Beginning at 15th level, when you cast a spell targeting yourself, you can also affect your beast companion with the spell if the beast is within 30 feet of you.