Fighter - Houndmaster
Hound Tamer, by Randy Vargas
The Houndmaster is a warrior who knows the value of a steadfast ally - so well, in fact, that they’ll train those allies up from pups.
The Houndmaster’s been a long time coming - it’s been in second place in almost every patreon poll since the beginning. It’s a fighter who travels with loyal hounds, adding to their pack as they advance in level. They work best as melee combatants, but don’t need to be heavy-armor bruisers; with their hounds to help distract and harry enemies, they’re only one small part of a solid front line.
Design-wise: There’s a lot of features in here, but it’s not as complex as it looks. Friend to Beasts is a straightforward expertise in a situational skill, along with mastery of a key spell to help keep their hounds around. Leader of the Pack is their core feature - the Houndmaster gets their companion here, and the ability to grant attacks to their war hounds. One wrinkle worth noting is that the war hounds intentionally heal pretty poorly, to help balance out the raw quantity of hit points on the field. Commanded Attack gives the Houndmaster a limited number of bonus attacks with their pack - a powerful enough ability that you might be tempted to prioritize Wisdom over Constitution to get the most out of it. At 7th, they get Sniffing Trouble for a utility feature and Dogs of War to help the war hounds keep pace in both offense and defense. At 10th, Masterful Hounds lets you customize your hounds and gives them all a non-damage combat boost. At 15th, Unleash the Pack is a major upgrade to Commanded Attack, potentially tripling its damage. And Pack Savagery at 18th boosts the Houndmaster’s own damage when they work together with their hounds.
Worth a mention is that you don’t have to make a houndmaster who trains dogs; it’s easy enough to reflavor the War Hound stat block as something else, and you can retheme its mechanics fairly easily by taking out Fierce Packmate and adding flavorful features in its place.
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