Harder to be maximally effective, true, but if you fancy roleplaying a ranger with an animal companion that can help in battle then Beast Master at level 3 is the way to go! Or you can just pick a smaller familiar with Beast Tamer at level 1 that’s not really helpful in combat but can scout and be situationally useful. Or you can do as I did with my Lolth-sworn drow ranger and have both, though you can only have one summoned at a time.
Is that still true?
I tried summoning both the Ranger's companion and a familiar this patch and I was able to. But I didn't try in combat, admittedly.
