Beastmaster

Beastmasters are more at home with the beasts of the wild than they are with human beings. Some may have actually been raised by apes or wolves in the wild. Others just find they have a preternatural connection with the beasts that roam the natural world. They tend to be feral in temperament and savage in their attitude. At their best they are brusque and slow to trust humans and demi-humans, but when you gain the trust of a beastmaster, you have a friend for life. Their loyalty is beyond question and unflinching.

The core of the beastmaster is their link to the animal kingdom in two ways: an animal companion and a familiar.

Beast Links

When you take this path at 3rd level, you gain an animal companion and a standard familiar. These are two different animals and each fulfills a different purpose. See Animal Companions vs. Familiars. You need not take the animal companion nor summon familiar advantages to gain these companions.

Pack Tactics

Beginning at 7th level, you, your animal companion and your familiar are so in sync that you function as a pack. So long as the three of you are within 10 feet of one another, one of you gains advantage on attacks, and another’s enemy has disadvantage attacking him, her or it. You decide who has advantage and who benefits from their enemy having disadvantage. You can change this designation as a reaction, but only once per round, and at no time may one of you benefit from both advantage and disadvantage in a given round.

Transfer Familiar Abilities

Beginning at 11th level, you may transfer any or all of the abilities you gain from your familiar to your animal companion. Making this change is a bonus action, and the transfer lasts for 1 minute.

After you use this ability you must finish a short rest before you can transfer abilities to your animal companion again.

Wild Shape

At 15th level, you gain the ability of Wild Shape, exactly as a druid of the same level, but you may only shift into an animal of the same type as your familiar or animal companion. Thus, if your familiar is an owl and your animal companion a dog, you may shift only into a bird or canine of up to CR 1. In all other ways, this ability functions exactly as the Druid ability of the same name.

Table 9-2: Standard Ranger Familiar

Master Class Level	Natural Armor Adj.	Int	Special
3rd	+1	6	Conceal, Combat Marauder, Move Silently, Survival, Traps, Track
5th	+2	7
7th	+3	8	Speak with master, Favored Enemy
9th	+4	9	Speak with animals of its kind
11th	+5	10	–
13th	6th	11	Speak with any animal
15th	+7	12
17th	+8	13	–
19th	+9	14	–
20th	+10	15	–

Natural Armor Adj.: The number noted here is an improvement to the familiar’s existing natural armor bonus. It represents the preternatural toughness of the ranger’s familiar.

Int: The familiar’s Intelligence score (if higher than the familiar’s natural Intelligence). Familiars are as smart as people, though not necessarily as smart as smart people.

Favored Enemy: A ranger’s familiar shares the favored enemies of the ranger and gains the same benefits against those enemies.

Track: All ranger familiars gain the ability to track (as per the feat), regardless of their previous ability to track (if any).

Table 9-3: Greater Ranger Familiar

Master Class Level	Natural Armor Adj.	Int	Special
3rd	+1	7	Conceal, Combat Marauder, Move Silently, Survival, Traps, Track
5th	+2	8	–
7th	+3	9	Speak with master, greater familiar ability, Favored Enemy
9th	+4	10	Speak with animals of its kind
11th	+5	11	Greater familiar ability
13th	6th	12	Speak with any animal
15th	+7	13	–
17th	+8	14	–
19th	+9	15	Greater familiar ability
20th	+10	16	–

Natural Armor Adj.: The number noted here is an improvement to the familiar’s existing natural armor bonus. It represents the preternatural toughness of the ranger’s familiar.

Int: The familiar’s Intelligence score (if higher than the familiar’s natural Intelligence). Familiars are as smart as people, though not necessarily as smart as smart people.

Favored Enemy: A ranger’s familiar shares the favored enemies of the ranger and gains the same benefits against those enemies.

Track: All ranger familiars gain the ability to track (as per the feat), regardless of their previous ability to track (if any).

Greater Familiar Ability: Select one greater familiar ability from Table 9-5 below.

Table 9-4: Supreme Ranger Familiar

Master Class Level	Natural Armor Adj.	Int	Special
3rd	+1	9	Conceal, Combat Marauder, Move Silently, Survival, Traps, Track
5th	+2	10
7th	+3	11	Speak with master, greater familiar ability, Favored Enemy
9th	+4	12	Speak with animals of its kind
11th	+5	13	Greater familiar ability
13th	6th	14	Speak with any animal, supreme familiar ability
15th	+7	15	Trackless step
17th	+8	16	–

Table 9-6: Ranger Supreme Familiar Abilities

Antimagic Field

Blasphemous Call

Companion’s Veil

Damage Reduction

Divine Health

Familiar Growth

Familiar Rage, Greater

Find the Path

Holy Call

Natural Armor, Supreme

Spell Resistance, Supreme

Supreme Leap

Table 9-5: Ranger Greater Familiar Abilities

Animal Trance

Antiplant Shell

Blessed Companion

Blink

Enhance Attribute

Commune with Nature

Countercall

Courageous Roar

Deafening Call

Defensive Roll

Encompassing Vision

Endure Elements

Familiar Rage

Freedom of Movement

Guided Strike

Great Leap

Haste

Natural Armor, Greater

Nondetection

Opportunist

Resist Energy

Spell Resistance, Greater

Uncanny Dodge, Improved

Wholeness of Body

Woodland Stride