How to calculate a revised ranger's animal companion's skill bonuses?

Question

The Beast Conclave revised ranger (from Unearthed Arcana: Revised Ranger) gains an animal companion. The Companion's Bond feature description states:

Your companion uses your proficiency bonus rather than its own. [...]

Your animal companion gains proficiency in two skills of your choice.

I'm confused about how to calculate a ranger's animal companion's skill bonuses.

Say I'm playing a level 3 revised ranger (proficiency bonus +2) with the Beast Conclave who has a panther as his animal companion. The panther stat block (MM pg. 333) gives the panther stat bonuses of Perception +4, Stealth +6 (with DEX 15 [+2], WIS 14 [+2], CR ¼).

The DMG (pg. 274) states that monsters with a CR of ¼ get a proficiency bonus of +2, though I don't know if that is relevant here.

How do I calculate the animal companion's skill bonuses?

I would guess I ignore the skill bonuses given in the animal's stat block and calculate them as I would a PC.

Say I choose Stealth (DEX) and Survival (WIS) as the panther's skill proficiencies.

If my understanding is correct, the panther's skill bonuses are:

• Perception +2 (ignoring the standard panther's skill bonus)
• Stealth +4 (ranger's prof. bonus + DEX)
• Survival +4 (ranger's prof. bonus + WIS)

Is that accurate? It almost feels like a downgrade (though when the ranger reaches high levels it won't be as bad).

Answer 1

The Companion gains new skills, doesn't replace them

The panther by default has proficiency in Perception and double proficiency in Stealth. These are not replaced by the 2 skills you get for the beast, but you can choose two new skills (emphasis mine):

Your animal companion gains proficiency in two skills of your choice.

As such, I don't recommend choosing Stealth as the panther seems to already has double proficiency for that skill¹. This is especially good since that doubled proficiency will scale very well as you level. Extra bonuses like this are addressed in the Introduction to the Monster Manual:

Other modifiers might apply. For instance, a monster might have a larger-than-expected bonus (usually double its proficiency bonus) to account for its heightened expertise.

If you did choose Stealth and Survival, the panther would have these skills:

• Perception +4 (ranger's prof + Wisdom modifier)
• Stealth +6 (2*ranger's prof + Dexterity modifier)
• Survival +4 (ranger's prof + Wisdom modifier)

Stealth wouldn't benefit again because you can't benefit from proficiency from more than one source.

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^{1: It is possible but unlikely that the Panther just gets a flat +2 bonus to Stealth meaning the ranger's proficiency bonus wouldn't be doubled but the skill would be slightly higher (the same at levels 1-4). I know of 0 examples where a flat bonus is applied different than a monster's proficiency bonus.}