Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Beastmaster Ranger

Can we just digress for a moment to discuss the best beast?

I'd like the option to bond with a hound and pick its coloration and patterning from some different options. I know we got Scratch, and he's great for a more mastiff archetype, but what about the sighthound and the shepherd and the bloodhound, or the classic half-wolf? I think there should be a pack of wild hounds in the forest.

Call them the refugees from the blighted village or something, but basically a wild dog pack that is roaming nearby. They could even do a wolfpack dogpack rivalry similar to the gobbos vs the druids hehe, but basically a full pack with some variety. Similar to the way wild horses and such have worked in other games, but something gives more purpose to the talk with animals and tracking type stuff, basically using the dog to offset some of the Ranger nerfs and give some character flair there in the options for which hound to bond with. Then do the same for the cats and birds and bears. Instead of relegating the Ranger to choosing one from a boring generic list make it more like choosing an animal character to bond with that fits inside the game, and having those animals particularly cool. Basically the animal heroes, that sort of stand apart from the more mundane cast of animals. More jungle book supernatural say with its own plot riffs and yarns to spin. Having some gameplay like that more centrally focused on the animal buds in the adjacent starting regions would feel cool for the Ranger as a class. Even though they are somewhat overshadowed by Druids in regard to the animal connection, the Ranger Beastmaster should have companions that somehow make it feel more unique to the class. This could be the vehicle to provide some drama to an animal centered plotline that dovetails on the more humanoid centered drama but just with a bit of a different slant.

I think the PC should for sure be able to restore an animal companion to life. That's a fantasy that I enjoy maintaining. If anyone deserves it, it's the fuzzballs. I'd like to see them focus on the hounds first though because there's so much there to mine. Like using scent as a proxy for stuff that usually gets mystically done up in RPGs as clairvoyance magic, but instead giving a more aesthetic naturalistic vibe. Effectively the Nose Knows instead of the Wizards Eye. That would be cool. I'm always a little disappointed that nobody has figured out how to make playing "as the animal companion" feel somehow different from just a PC with a bite attack and claws.

Like if the camera wasn't so freewheeling already, that would be a cool concept, to have the animal provide a greater field of view. Or especially like with birds, or the smaller animals like ferrets that can climb, like how I imagine halfling POV might be in a cinematic style game, but taken even further to the very tiny. The game just isn't 3d enough really to pull that off I don't think, but if they started with Dogs and Cats and worked from there they might be able to find a way to make that work cooler.

Sure everyone usually is going to take some Lion or Boar or Grizzly bear as soon as they can to maul, but I think the hound companion has a lot of potential for characterization, so they could lean into that as a draw. Be the D&D crpg that really does it up proper. Not just like a slightly smaller wolf with a different stat spread, but do the full visual with the ears and the colors and spots and marking like facial tattoos or whatever in custom PC. Animal style. Like you choose the length of your coat, and the patterning, pick a name and select from 4 different voice bark options hehe.

Just like I hope we can choose our PCs outfit colors, it would be rad to choose our animal colors. Even ravens could be show some variety there, some with cooler blue blacks, some with more muted gray blacks, or brownish blacks, even the rarer versions with a few spots, or the mythic white raven, stuff like that. Just a lot they could do with it, and people who like animals could get into it. But basically they need to infuse it with some epic.

Right now it's pretty much all comic relief, but they could take it somewhere a little dark too, you know like a Rats of NIMH sort of thing, so it feels properly Baldur's Gate enough. Just some rambles, but I'd like to see Beastmasters have more to work with in that department.