Options for Animal Handlers

Animal Handling represents the user's ability to influence the behavior of beasts.

If you begin the game proficient with Animal Handling, you also begin with one companion or mount of your choice from either the official Monster Manual or my homebrew Bestiary. If you choose to start with a companion, it must be a beast with a CR of 1/8 or lower. If you choose to start with a mount, it must be a beast with a CR of 1/2 or lower.

For example, dogs, cats, birds, and venomous snakes are acceptable companions, but wolves and cheetahs are not. Camels, donkeys, horses, and ostriches are acceptable mounts, but bulls and elephants are not.

Animal Companions

You can command an animal companion only if it has been trained to accept you as a master. Your animal companion obeys your commands as best as it can. It takes its turn on your initiative.

On your turn, you can verbally order the companion where to move, and you can command it to take Dash, Disengage, Dodge, Help, or Hide actions (no action required by you), or you can use your action to order your companion to take any action it is capable of.

If you are incapacitated or absent, the companion acts on its own, focusing on protecting you and itself.

Feat: Beast Master

Prerequisite: proficiency in Animal Handling

Choose an animal companion of yours. Over the course of one day, you train the beast to fight alongside you. The beast then gains the following benefits until you train another animal companion:

  • The companion's hit point maximum equals its normal maximum or four times your level: whichever is higher.
  • The companion's proficiency bonus increases (but never decreases) to equal your own
  • When you take the Attack action, you can forgo one or more of your attacks and order your companion to make them instead, up to the maximum number of attacks it could make with its own Attack or Multiattack action.
  • Your companion's weapon attacks benefit from any features you have that improve upon your weapon attacks (e.g. Divine Smite, Fighting Style, Rage, Sneak Attack). If a feature requires that the weapon has a specific property, your companion's weapon attacks are considered to have that property.

Feat: War Rider

Prerequisite: proficiency in Animal Handling

Choose a mount that is loyal to you. Over the course of one day, you train the beast to fight alongside you. The beast then gains the following benefits until you train another mount:

  • The mount's hit point maximum equals its normal maximum or four times your level: whichever is higher
  • The mount's proficiency bonus increases (but never decreases) to equal your own
  • While you are riding your mount, you can use your action to command it to take any action it is capable of.
  • While you are riding your mount, you can forgo one or more of your Attack action attacks and order the mount to make them instead, up to the maximum number of attacks it can make with its Attack or Multiattack action.

Feat: Beast Whisperer

Prerequisite: proficiency in Animal Handling

You have cultivated the ability to empathize with beasts, especially those close to you. You gain the following benefits:

  • You can verbally communicate with beasts
  • You can nonverbally communicate your animal companion or mount as long as you can see one another
  • As long as you can see or hear your animal companion or mount, you can perceive through its senses, and vice versa. Anything that the beast cannot comprehend (such as writing) or recognize (such as a stranger's face) appears vague when you perceive it using this feature.