How To Get An Animal Companion As A Barbarian

This entry comes as a Patron request and will be a part of DMDave Magazine #i released sometime at the end of March/early on Apr.

Here is the original request:

Barbarian pact leader. Kinda like the ranger beast conclave, but brand it feel less like your taming the animal but ur working with a pack mate

Playtest Content

The material here is presented for playtesting and to spark your imagination. These game mechanics are in typhoon form, usable in your campaign but not refined by final game design and editing. They aren't officially part of the game.

Constructive feedback is welcome and appreciated in either comments or social media. If you tin can give me a valid reason with examples why something is off, ix/x I'm probable to make changes to the content and credit you for doing so. Otherwise, feedback without anything to back it up gets ignored (or at well-nigh a grinning emoji like this 🙂 ) Thank you!

Design Notes

So what's a barbarian? A tank. DPR. Crowd control. And that'southward about it, right? There are a few versions that take buffs, just more than or less their job is to take the hits and hit the affair that gave the hits. So, throwing in a pet changes the dynamics some.

The biggest consideration I had to make while creating this bracket was nerfing the fauna companion then that it only worked when raging (which I hated doing).

Otherwise, it would have been too powerful. Rangers can get away with it because their baseline powers are kinda bleh. But with the beast companion, they get a little juice.

Of course, one time the barbarian gets its Actress Set on, its beast companion operates on its own and all is right in the world.

Combat Bond is just repurposed from mounted combatant, finally making this a truthful tank subclass (meat shield, infant).

Yous get a selection at 10th level for your power–obviously many volition see a lot of synergy with the pack tactics power and the 14th capstone, but the others are nice, besides, specially for those folks who like to get crit line-fishing.

The 14th-level capstone is probably going to be the most controversial. Mathematically speaking, the joint assault allows you to deal an boilerplate of ~3 more damage on a hit since it's basically the same as rolling advantage on both your attacks. Still, this should work out to about the same that the other reaction-based barbarian capstones would. Plus, it only works if you're fauna companion is standing. At 14th level, they've got 56 hit points, far less than the 160+ your barbarian is going to take at the same level and none of your skilful saves.

Let me know what you retrieve downwards in the comments beneath.

Edit: made a bunch of correction thanks to some sharp minds over on reddit that noticed some boo-boos. Thanks, folks!

Primal Paths

At tertiary level, a barbarian gains the Primal Path feature. The following Pack Leader choice is available to a barbarian, in add-on to those commonly offered.

Pack Leader

Having a stiff connection to nature, barbarians are often around animals. Of course, many barbarians take on the aspects of those animals as their totem. There are some, though, who believe that nature and man should still remain separate, still equal. These followers of the key path of the pack leader walk alongside animals, encouraging their companions to work alongside them, but always with gratis will.

Barbarian's Companion

At 3rd level, you gain a beast companion that accompanies you on your adventures and is triggered to fight aslope yous while you are raging. Choose a brute that is no larger than Medium that has a challenge rating of 1/iv or lower (appendix D of the PHB presents statistics for the hawk, panther, and wolf as examples). Add your proficiency bonus to the beast's Air conditioning, assault rolls, and damage rolls, also equally to any saving throws and skills it is proficient in. Its hit signal maximum equals the striking betoken number in its stat cake or iv times your barbarian level, whichever is higher. Like any creature, it can spend Striking Dice during a short rest to regain hit points.

Your beast acts independently of y'all, but it always obeys your commands. In combat, information technology rolls its own initiative and acts on its own turn. On your plough, yous tin can verbally command the animal where to move (no activeness required by you lot). You can utilize your activity to verbally command it to have the Nuance, Disengage, Dodge, or Help action. While y'all are raging, y'all tin can make 1 weapon attack yourself when you command the beast to take the Attack action. Additionally, one time y'all have the Extra Attack feature, yous tin brand i weapon set on yourself when you command the creature to take the Attack action.

If you are incapacitated or absent, the fauna acts on its own, focusing on protecting you and itself. The beast never requires your command to use its reaction, such as when making an opportunity attack.

If the beast dies, you can obtain a new companion past spending viii hours magically bonding with a beast that isn't hostile to you and that meets the requirements.

Gainsay Bond

Starting at sixth level, yous and your beast companion have learned how to work together in combat. As long as you and your companion are within 5 anxiety of each other, you tin can strength an assault targeted at your beast companion to target y'all instead and vice versa.

Beast Tactics

At 10th level, you lot and your animate being have trained extensively to work as one cohesive unit. You gain one of the post-obit features of your choice.

Improved Critical . Your beast companion's weapon attacks score a critical hitting on a roll of 19 or twenty.

Pack Tactics . Your beast companion has advantage on assail rolls against a creature if y'all are within 5 anxiety of the animate being and you lot aren't incapacitated.

Protector . When a animal that your beast companion tin can run across attacks a target other than it that is inside 5 feet of it, it can use its reaction to impose disadvantage on the attack coil.

Joint Assail

At 14th level, while yous are raging, every bit long equally you and your companion are within five anxiety of each other, you can make ane weapon attack yourself when you command the beast to take the Help action. In addition, any hit you score confronting a creature while your creature is helping you is a disquisitional hitting.

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Fine art by Tong Yan on Artstation.

Source: https://dmdave.com/barbarian-pack-leader-primal-path/

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