Would the Ranger be overpowered if their Animal Companion kept attacking once ordered?

Question

For an Animal Companion to attack, the Ranger has to use his action to command it.

I am looking to see some math on just why this restriction is in place. Is the ranger way over-powered if the animal companion can keep attacking once ordered, or if gets to attack as an interact with object or verbal command from the ranger?

I'd like to see calculations for the following 3 scenarios:

• act as rules as written
• continue an action once given (1st attack takes a ranger action to activate)
• act as an interact with object by the ranger

How does the above compare with an identical ranger with colossus slayer?

I am hoping to understand why the designers limited it so much.

Answer 1

In a word: Yes.

While it may be fairly well-accepted (though debatable) that a Beast Master Ranger is weaker than a Hunter Ranger, allowing the beast to attack freely swings things wildly in the other direction.

For the purposes of demonstration, I'll be using a basic Longbow Ranger, taking the Archery fighting style, starting with 16 dexterity, and taking +2 dex at level 4 and 8 to reach 20 dexterity. I'll be ignoring feats and other ranger builds to keep things simple, but they wouldn't really change the end result much anyways.

I'm using Damage per Round (DpR) as my measuring stick, taking into account chance to hit and chance to crit, using an average enemy AC at each level to get as practical a number as I can.

Basic Longbow Ranger

• Level 3: 5.5 DpR
• Level 5: 13.1 DpR
• Level 11: 16.6 DpR
• Level 20: 15.7 DpR

Wolf Animal Companion:

• Level 3: 5.2 DpR
• Level 5: 6.8 DpR
• Level 11: 16.1 DpR
• Level 20: 17.0 DpR

Longbow Ranger with Colossus Slayer:

• Level 3: 9.6 DpR
• Level 5: 18.4 DpR
• Level 11: 21.0 DpR
• Level 20: 20.0 DpR

Longbow Ranger plus Companion:

• Level 3: 10.7 DpR
• Level 5: 20.9 DpR
• Level 11: 32.7 DpR
• Level 20: 32.7 DpR

As you can see, while things start out OK at low levels, with the Ranger+Beast combo coming out only a bit ahead of the Colossus Slayer, this quickly changes once the Beast gets it's second attack. At this point, the ranger is now competing toe-to-toe with the better Fighter builds for damage potential.

Requiring the Beastmaster to use an action for the initial beast attack helps balance this out a bit, but ultimately it's still very powerful, and probably not wise to allow. As an interaction, it's just straight-up overpowered.

Answer 2

In a word: No

(The Ranger would not be overpowered if their Animal Companion kept attacking once ordered.)

Companions must have a challenge rating 1/4 or lower. Many beasts that a player may choose are not capable of attacks of any consequence. Examples; cat, frog, bat, hawk, raven etc. only deal 1 damage point.

A player's choice to use a companion that is unthreatening may have more to do with their character's background or role-play interests. The companion being able to attack on its own brings more realism to the game as real animals would defend themselves if attacked and would not require a verbal command every 6 seconds. It also brings more consistency to the game world as NPC beasts act on their own.

WOTC acknowledged in the preface of Unearthed Arcana: Revised Ranger that the Ranger Archetype beast master has been unpopular to play as it is underpowered.

Many players want to play rangers, but few were happy with the class, which held its place at the bottom of class power rankings by a significant margin. The class’s individual features also filled the top-tenlist of lowest-rated individual character features.

They attempted to rectify the issue with specific changes to the animal companion in the Revised Ranger archetype Beast Conclave allowing the companion to attack on its own.

The companion may take its own initiative and turn controlled by the player. The companion also gains the following features in addition to its own attack: at level 5, it may attack as a reaction to your attack; at level 11, it may attack multiple enemies during its attack on its own turn.

Coordinated Attack

Beginning at 5th level, you and your animal companion form a more potent fighting team. When you use the Attack action on your turn, if your companion can see you, it can use its reaction to make a melee attack.

Storm of Claws and Fangs

At 11th level, your companion can use its action to make a melee attack against each creature of its choice within 5 feet of it, with a separate attack roll for each target.

Keep in mind that the base Revised Ranger class does not get an extra attack at level 5.

The beast cannot multi-attack.

Answer 3

It would be overpowered compared to other Ranger variations. I don't believe it would be overpowered next to a fighter or other damage dealer. As is, the ranger kind of specializes in clearing small minions, but doesn't do the best job, and a companion that attacks one target continuously would help fill in some single target dps, an animal that continues to attack unguided may be overkill but would make the ranger a master in the role of multi target take down.

Answer 4

It wouldn’t be and is not, as confirmed by Jeremy Crawford you would only need to make the attack command once for it to attack and only when you want to change that command would you need to use another action to command it.

nothingjacob

@JeremyECrawford there’s been some debate in the RAW community. Can Ranger BM give their companion a command like ‘attack’ and have the animal continue to attack each turn without issuing the command on consecutive turns ......? Thanks

Jeremy Crawford

Ranger's Companion—when you and the companion are fighting as a unit, the beast takes whatever action on its turn that you chose for it on your previous turn. If you chose no action for it on your previous turn, it takes the Dodge action on its turn.

--- Tweeted Nov 27 2018 by Jeremy Crawford