# Weirdo Whoever Plays D&D: Companions
WThe first document of *Weirdo Whoever Plays D&D* introduces homebrew materials, specifically class archetype options based on the ranger's Animal Companion feature.
The *Unearthed Arcana* article [The Ranger, Revised](https://media.wizards.com/2016/dnd/downloads/UA_RevisedRanger.pdf) was a saving throw from Wizards of the Coast in order to redeem what was considered to be one of the most, if not *the* most, underpowered class presented in *Player's Handbook.* The most revised part is the animal companion, which was originally flat, weak, and otherwise little more than a cannon fodder (or arrow fodder?) on higher level, now redesigned to become more resourceful and interesting.
Gameplay-wise, having an animal companion on your side is always resourceful. An animal companion can serve as both a bruiser with enhanced offensive abilities, living walls and tanks that disperse the focus of attacks and soaks enough damages for squishier humanoid friends, and strategic implementation in securing points, blocking movements, and generally being a fluffy friend that is awesome just by existing. On a flip side, granting animal companions could be a bit risky in balancing features, which is probably why druids no longer have animal companions.
The good thing of having homebrew materials in the game is, you can implement anything you want in the game, as long as your DM allows it and you can make things balanced and interesting enough to keep things in control. So here are two class archetype features, each based on the features that actually existed in previous editions and supplements: a druid Circle that grants an animal companion and a reimagination of prestige class from 3.5rd edition supplements *Complete Arcane* into a wizard Arcane Tradition.
#### Copyright Disclaimer
This document may resemble content endorsed by, sponsored by, and/or affiliated with *Dungeons and Dragons* franchise, and/or include content directly affiliated with and/or owned by Wizards of the Coast. Weirdo Whoever neither claims nor implies any rights to *Dungeons and Dragons* copyrights, trademarks or logos, nor any owned by Wizards of the Coast. This document is for non-profit use only.
Furthermore, the following content is a derivate work that falls under and the use of which is protected by the [Fair Use](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use) designation of U.S. Copyright and Trademark Law.
#### Feedbacks and Suggestions
This document presents homebrew materials by Weirdo Whoever. These game mechanics are in draft form, usable in your campaign but not refined by design iterations or full game development. If you have any comments or suggestions concerning the materials, please contact Weirdo Whoever ([weirdowhoever@gmail.com](mailto:weirdowhoever@gmail.com)).
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## Druid Circle
At 2nd level, a druid gains the Druid Circle feature. Here is a new homebrew option for that feature: the Circle of the Wildlife.
### Circle of the Wildlife
Druids of the Circle of the Wildlife are friends of life of animal kingdom. These druids seldom make a gathering of more than three druids, but their gathering almost always includes many beasts of the local wildlife. They emulate the lifestyle of animals and beasts, hunting and gathering only what they need at the moment, and occasionally serve as the vigilante, disabling traps and warding off poachers.
Druids of the Circle of the Wildlife can be easily recognized by their companions, beasts that have befriended and influenced by the druids. Druids' companions are empowered by wild magic, channeled by their friends, and in return, druids are empowered by lore and secrets of the wild whispered by their companions.
#### Animal Companion
When you choose this circle at 2nd level, you learn to use your magic to create a powerful bond with a creature of the natural world.
With 8 hours of work and the expenditure of 150 gp worth of rare herbs and fine food, you call for an animal from the wilderness to serve as your faithful companion. You normally select your companion among the following animals: an ape, a black bear, a boar, an elk, a mastiff, a panther, a pony, or a wolf. However, your DM might pick one of these animals for you, based on the surrounding terrain and what types of creatures would logically be present in the area.
At the end of the 8 hours, your animal companion appears and gains all benefits of your Companion's Bond feature. You can have only one animal companion at a time.
If your animal companion is ever slain, the magical bond you share allows you to return it to life. With 8 hours of work and the expenditure of 75 gp worth of rare herbs and find food, you call forth your companion's spirit ant use your magic to create a new body for it. 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 feature to return a former animal companion to life while you have a current animal companion, your current companion leaves you and is replaced by the restored companion.
#### Companion's Bond
Your animal companion gains a variety of benefits while it is linked with you.
Your animal companion loses its Multiattack action, if it has one.
Your animal companion understands any language you can speak, but it cannot speak on its own. It also knows Druidic and recognizes it when it sees one.
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Your animal companion obeys your commands as best it can. It rolls for initiative like any other creature, but you determine its actions, decisions, attitudes, and so on. If you are incapacitated or absent, your companion acts on its own.
Your animal companion uses your proficiency bonus, instead of its own. In addition to the areas where it normally uses its proficiency bonus, your animal companion also adds its proficiency bonus to its AC and its damage rolls.
For every two levels you gain after 2nd, your animal companion gains an additional Hit Die and increases its hit points accordingly.
When you reach 6th level, and again when you reach 14th level, your companion's abilities improve. Your companion's abilities also improve. Your companion can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, your animal companion cannot increase an ability score above 20 this way, unless its description specifies otherwise.
Your companion shares your alignment and ideal, and its bond is always, "The druid who travels with me is a beloved friend for whom I would gladly risk any danger."
#### Beast Affinity
Also starting at 2nd level, whenever you make a Charisma check when interacting with beasts, your proficiency bonus is doubled if it applies to the check.
Additionally, you are always under the effect of the *speak with animals* spell.
#### Primal Strike
Beginning at 6th level, your animal companion's attacks count as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage.
#### Primal Tag
When you reach 10th level, your animal companion has advantage on saving throws against effects of your druid spells, and moving through difficult terrains created by the effects of your druid spells costs no extra movement for your animal companions.
Additionally, when you target a creature with a druid spell, your animal companion can use its reaction to make a melee attack against it if it is within the reach.
#### Animal Proxy
At 14th level, when you cast a druid spell targeting yourself, you can also affect your animal companion with the spell if it is within 30 feet of you.
Additionally, when you cast a druid spell with a range of touch, your animal companion can deliver the spell as if it had cast the spell. Your animal companion must be within 100 feet of you, and it must use its reaction to deliver the spell when you cast it. If the spell requires an attack roll, you use your attack modifier for the roll.
## Arcane Tradition
At 2nd level, a wizard gains the Arcane Tradition feature. Here is a new homebrew option for that feature: the Alienist.
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### Alienist
The alienists deal with powers and entities from terrifyingly remote reaches of space and time. Best described with adjectives like *eldritch*, *unfathomable*, or *unspeakable*, the entities from the most distant realms are channeled into the Material Plane, manifesting as bane to all mortal sentience and blessings to those who are willing to risk a fragment of sanity in return of immense power it grants.
In most societies, alienists are treated just like the entities they deal with - blasphemous, dangerous, insane, and most of all, different. Most alienists take such hostility and apathy as ignorance of mortal beings, not knowing how insignificant they are compared to the world *they* know. Some alienists suffer from their inner dilemma, and very few even seeks to protect their beloved world and realms against the alien terror with the very same power they "stole" from the farthest corner of the world.
#### Aberrant Inclination
When you choose this tradition at 2nd level, whenever you make a Charisma check when interacting with aberrations, your proficiency bonus is doubled if it applies to the check.
Additionally, you can speak Deep Speech. Although it is very uncommon to see Deep Speech in written forms, you can read and write Deep Speech written in any scripts you can read or write.
#### Pseudonatural Companion
Also starting at 2nd level, you can perform an eldritch ritual to bring forth entities from otherworldly planes and bind its essence into a beast that is no larger than Medium and that has a challenge rate of 1/4 or lower. The ritual takes 8 hours, and you must expend 250 gp worth of rare herbs and incenses in order to perform the ritual. The beast in which you bind the otherworldly essence must be present during the ritual, and must stay alive for the entirety of the ritual.
At the end of the 8 hours, the beast undergoes a horrifying transformation and becomes your pseudonatural companion. Your pseudonatural companion gains all the benefits of the Pseudonatural Quirks feature, as described below. You can have only one pseudonatural companion at a time. If your pseudonatural is ever slain, you can perform another ritual by following the same ritual above.
Additionally, when you cast the *find familiar* spell, your familiar can be an aberration in addition to other creature types presented in the spell's description.
#### Pseudonatural Quirks
Your pseudonatural companion is magically linked to you, and gains a variety of benefits from your link and the otherworldly essences imbued to it.
The pseudonatural companion loses its Multiattack action, if it has one.
Your pseudonatural is an aberration instead of a beast. It understands Deep Speech, and it can telepathically speak to any creature it can see within 30 feet of it. It does not need to share a language with the creature for it to understand its telepathic speech, but the creature must be able to understand at least one language.
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The pseudonatural companion obeys your commands as best it can. It rolls for initiative like any other creature, but you determine its actions, decisions, attitudes, and so on. If you are incapacitated or absent, your companion acts on its own.
Your pseudonatural companion has abilities and game statistics determined in part of your level. Your companion uses your proficiency bonus rather than its own. In addition to the areas where it normally uses its proficiency bonus, your companion also adds its proficiency bonus to its AC and to its damage rolls.
For every two levels you gain after 2nd, your pseudonatural companion gains an additional Hit Die and increases its hit points accordingly.
When you reach 6th level, and again when you reach 14th level, your companion's abilities improve. Your companion's abilities also improve. Your companion can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, your animal companion cannot increase an ability score above 20 this way, unless its description specifies otherwise.
Your companion's alignment is any chaotic alignment of your choice. Your companion shares your ideal, and its bond is always, "My summoner granted this vessel of flesh and bone for me, and is willing to interact with me sincerely for a mortal being. I am more than willing to risk any threats for my summoner."
When you cast a spell with a range of touch, your companion can deliver the spell as if it had cast the spell. Your companion must be within 100 feet of you, and it must use its reaction to deliver the spell when you cast it. If the spell requires an attack roll, you use your attack modifier for the roll.
#### Blessings from Insanity
Starting at 6th level, when you make an Intelligence, Wisdom or Charisma checks or saving throw, you can choose to gain advantage on the die roll. Each time you use this feature before you finish a long rest, you gain a cumulative -1 penalty to all Intelligence, Wisdom or Charisma checks and saving throws, to a minimum of -5. When you finish a long rest, the penalty resets to 0.
#### Unfathomable Mentality
At 10th level, you and your pseudonatural companion develop mental oddities. Your companion has immunity against psychic damage, and it is immune to being charmed or frightened.
Additionally, you have advantage on saving throws against being charmed or frightened.
#### Aberrant Longevity
When you reach 14th level, your association with alien entities greatly renders your physiological activities different from what it should be. You suffer none of the frailty of old age, you cannot be aged magically, and you no longer need food or water to survive. However, you can still die of old age.
Additionally, you can use your action to expend one spell slot to channel your magical power to your pseudonatural companion, if it is within 100 feet of you. Your pseudonatural companion gains 1d6 hit points per level of spell slots you expended. If you expend a spell slot of 6th level or higher, it also gains the benefit of the greater restoration spell, as if you had cast it on your companion.
## Credits
All contents are created by Created by [Weirdo Whoever](http://weirdoworkshop.blogspot.com) unless noted otherwise. Special thanks to [D&D Wiki](http://www.dandwiki.com) and [NaturalCrit Homebrewery tool](http://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com) for providing the templates for my imaginations.
***Circle of the Wildlife.*** Inspired by [D'Artagnan](https://goo.gl/vmqaxX)'s [Circle of Animals](https://goo.gl/DDyZgz). Originally posted on [D&D Wiki](https://goo.gl/yBGhkj).
***Alienist.*** Converted from 3.5rd edition supplement *Complete Arcane.* Originally posted on [D&D Wiki](https://goo.gl/6Bs1gS).