Identity
Beast-Bonded Rangers are paired. Sometimes the bond was a choice — a Zyrrak hunt-priest selected from the kennel-pit; a frontier woodsman raising a wing-cat from kithood; an Aurelion solar-falconer initiated by the corona itself. Sometimes the bond was an accident — a wounded beast nursed back, a stowaway tamed, a lab subject freed. The mechanism is the same: a low-grade Rift resonance between two minds that grows into something neither participant can fully describe. The Beast-Bonded Ranger does not own their companion. They share a country with it.
Features
- L3 Beast Companion
You acquire a beast companion of CR 1/4 or lower (GM-approved; suggested options: wing-cat, scout drone-bonded raptor, Zyrrak hunt-hound, plains harrier, void-rated falcon, small primate, low-tier construct-as-beast). The companion has its own stat block but acts on your initiative. Its HP equals 4× your Ranger level, its proficiency bonus equals yours, and it adds your proficiency bonus to attack rolls, damage, AC, saves, and skill checks it is proficient in. On your turn, you can verbally command the companion to take any action it is capable of. If it is incapacitated or you give no command, it takes the Dodge action by default. The companion can understand your spoken language at the level of a clever animal — commands, names, 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. Additionally, when your companion hits a creature you have attacked this turn, the companion's attack deals an additional 1d4 damage.
- L11 Bestial Fury
Your companion's combat training matures. The companion can make two attacks instead of one when it takes the Attack action. Additionally, the companion's HP increases to 5× your Ranger level, and it gains proficiency in two saving throws of your choice and one additional skill of your choice.
- L15 Share Channels
When you channel a Ranger effect that targets only yourself or affects you specifically (a personal buff, a sense-extension, a movement enhancement), you can also extend the effect to your beast companion if it is within 30 ft of you when you channel, with no additional slot cost. Additionally, you and your companion share a passive low-grade telepathic link while within 1 mile of each other — simple emotions, alert/wary states, and "I am safe" or "I am in trouble" signaling — no audible language.
- L18 Beast's Defense
Your bond has made your companion something more than a beast. The companion gains immunity to the Frightened and Charmed conditions and resistance to one damage type of your choice (declared during a long rest; can be changed at the next long rest). Additionally, while you and the companion are within 30 ft 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 after damage is rolled but before HP is deducted; you cannot reduce the redirected damage further with resistances). The cost of the bond runs both ways.