Give Your Dungeons & Dragons Character an Animal Companion With These Subclasses

A new Dungeons & Dragons supplement provides three new subclasses to give more classes the option of having an animal companion. Dungeons & Dragons players love animal companions. Many a D&D player has begged their DM to give them some sort of in-game pet or attempts an Animal Handling pet on every beast, monstrosity, or fey creature that doesn't immediately try to bite their head off. While Dungeons & Dragons has several sets of rules on how to manage an animal companion (usually through the use of the Find Familiar spell or rules managing NPCs and sidekicks, only the controversial Beast Master Ranger subclass integrates the animal companion into official class features.

Earlier this week, E.R.F. Jordan released Wild Masters, a DMs Guild supplement containing three new subclasses that feature official animal companions. The College of Birdsong Bard gains a songbird companion that can provide inspiration to allies or increase the potency of certain spells. The Beast Domain Cleric has a Beast Emissary that can provide minor healing and can even sacrifice itself to prevent their master from being killed. Finally, the Kennelmaster Fighter gains a loyal hound that supports the Fighter in battle. The College of Birdsong Bard is definitely the most innovative of the three subclasses, but all three present players with solid and balanced options for players who want to have an animal companion that either grows in strength as they do, or provide some mechanical options for an animal companion during battle. All three animal companions also act similarly to the Beast Master's animal companion, with the exception that they can be ordered to attack or use another action in their stat block by using a bonus action instead of an action.

If you're looking for a subclass built around an animal companion, pick up Wild Masters today. These are balanced subclasses modeled after official Dungeons & Dragons subclasses, and should at least inspire players to want to get a pet for their next D&D character. Wild Masters is available for $2.49 on the DMs Guild.