Ok, so I know there's like a million people who have proposed fixes like this, but I've never been satisfied with any of them. So here's my version. As we go, I'll include pictures of all of the things a ranger is supposed to be able to be.
Basically, the only problem with the ranger is that the beastmaster's animal companion feature is junk. It's mostly just poorly written. I can see the theory behind what they were aiming for, but they missed their mark for a number of reasons. Here is the original feature, edited with my revisions. It will be followed by an explanation.
Ranger's Companion
Choose a up to your ranger level number of beast creatures that is no larger than Medium and that have a total challenge rating of 1/4 your ranger level or lower. Your companion(s) must be beasts or of your favored enemy creature type, and can be a swarm. Your companion(s) can not have an intelligence greater than 2 unless affected by the enlightenment spell. Add your proficiency bonus to the creature’s AC, attack rolls, and damage rolls, as well as to any saving throws and skills it is proficient in. Its hit point maximum equals its normal maximum or four times your ranger level, whichever is higher.The creature obeys your commands as best as it can. It takes its turn on your initiative, though it doesn’t take an action unless you command it to. If not given any commands, it will act on it's own behalf and toward your benefit. On your turn, you can verbally command the creature where to move (no action required by you). You can use your action to verbally command it to take the Attack, Dash, Disengage, Dodge, Interact With an Object or Help action. Once you have the Extra Attack feature, you can make one attack yourself and you can command the creature to take an Attack action.While traveling through your favored terrain with only the creature, you can move stealthily at a normal pace. If the beast dies, you can obtain another one by spending 8 hours magically bonding with another beast that isn’t hostile to you, either the same type of beast as before or a different one.If your companion is reduced to 0hp it immediately falls unconscious and is stable. If your companion is killed, you can take time during a long rest to obtain a new one if you are outdoors. You may use a long rest to change or replace your animal companion(s) while outdoors at no additional cost. Like any creature, the creature can spend Hit Dice during a short rest. If you are incapacitated or absent, the creature acts on its own, focusing on protecting you and itself. It never requires your command to use its reaction, such as when making an opportunity attack.
When you gain a level, you can change your animal companion(s) at no cost. It is up to the players and DM to come up with explanations for how this is done, if such explanation is even deemed necessary at all.
Explanation
Ok! So! That was a little ugly! Let's go over what was changed and why.
By far the biggest change is the rules as to what counts as a companion. First off, you'll notice that I made it possible to have multiple animal companions. This is to facilitate the creation of "swarmer" type beastmasters, or the beastmaster with a team of partners rather than one ally. Now you can build Willard! The limit is based on total CR, and a secondary limit of count is based on ranger level. The secondary limit is to control the maximum number of 1/4 and 0 CR monsters you can have. This change was driven primarily to alleviate a weakness of the class to represent its archetype in related media. Some beastmasters have multiple companions. This has also gone toward including swarms as valid companions.
Next, you'll notice that the CR limit is now a function of ranger level. It seems the original limit was 1/4 to make the companion equivalent to a 1st level character threat. The idea being that if the player was sacrificing their action to command their companion, it should be equivalent to them. However, you don't get the companion until third level, so the base power was too low to begin with. Also, the bonuses to the companion's stats do not allow any of them- even the best choices- to keep up with the PC. The higher your level got, the worse of a choice it was to command your companion. The feature wilted as you gained levels, rather than growing with you. Being able to obtain more numerous and powerful companions allows the feature to keep up. At level 3, 1/4 of your level is CR 3/4. Thus, you can have any number of creatures that add up to that total. A 1/2 and a 1/4 creature team fills it completely, as would 3 1/4 monsters. Essentially, every level you gain, you can add another 1/4 CR to your companion budget.
I removed the size class restriction because there is no discernable reason for it. Size class does not contribute to creature power in any way that is not accounted for by CR. CR is an abstract measure of power, so that's all that should count. Also, that restriction explicitly made it impossible to have a horse as an animal companion: an obvious failure to represent archetypes such as Link from Legend of Zelda, or Wander from Shadow of the Colossus. There is no reason why small rangers get mount-companions but medium rangers do not.
I also expanded the type restriction to include your favored enemies. The favored enemy feature doesn't make you into a slayer of monsters, it just makes you really knowledgeable about a certain type of threat. It seams reasonable that such knowledge might be used to tame and control such a threat, rather than kill them. It opens the door for many more types of rangers, and the power is still maintained by the CR restriction. To stop the player from taking intelligent people monsters as companions, an intelligence restriction was added. No creature with INT below 3 counts as a person, even in 5e. I allowed an exception for the enlighten spell so a ranger could still have an enlightened companion, because that suits the trope and it's cool.
The next major change came in the action economy. With my changes, your companion now functions exactly the same as a mount: you can have it move for free, and you can use your action to have it take an action, or you can let it act of its own own accord. I included a line of guidance specifying what "of its own accord" looks like: that is to say, helpful.
This comes as a response to the most fundamental flaw with the original rules. As written, your companion either cost you your action, or it was a useless lump that sat idly by as it watched you do all the fighting. In other words, it was clumsy and useless. The whole point of having an animal companion is that you can fight alongside it. If you can't charge into battle with your ally at your side, what is the point of it?! The core feature was effectively reduced to a ribbon.
I added the option for a companion to use the interact with an object action because baboons have hands, and that has great roleplay and combat potential.
Then I dealt with the survivability issue. Plain and simple, an animal companion is a class feature. It is part of your character. It dying should be a minor setback and consequence for poor usage of said feature. DMs should not be able to arbitrarily deprive a player of one of their core class features. While I was at it, I also introduced a method by which players can change their animal companion more easily to undo poor partner choices or to upgrade the base power as they gain levels. They are a beastmaster- almost all wild things can come under their command. They are not limited to one best friend if they don't want to be.
As a result, the animal companion feature is fundamentally changed in nature. In the original form, the animal itself was the feature. In its updated form, the feature is actually an ability to befriend and tame animals to act on your behalf, but the animals themselves are treated as gear accessible only through the feature.
I also expanded the type restriction to include your favored enemies. The favored enemy feature doesn't make you into a slayer of monsters, it just makes you really knowledgeable about a certain type of threat. It seams reasonable that such knowledge might be used to tame and control such a threat, rather than kill them. It opens the door for many more types of rangers, and the power is still maintained by the CR restriction. To stop the player from taking intelligent people monsters as companions, an intelligence restriction was added. No creature with INT below 3 counts as a person, even in 5e. I allowed an exception for the enlighten spell so a ranger could still have an enlightened companion, because that suits the trope and it's cool.
The next major change came in the action economy. With my changes, your companion now functions exactly the same as a mount: you can have it move for free, and you can use your action to have it take an action, or you can let it act of its own own accord. I included a line of guidance specifying what "of its own accord" looks like: that is to say, helpful.
This comes as a response to the most fundamental flaw with the original rules. As written, your companion either cost you your action, or it was a useless lump that sat idly by as it watched you do all the fighting. In other words, it was clumsy and useless. The whole point of having an animal companion is that you can fight alongside it. If you can't charge into battle with your ally at your side, what is the point of it?! The core feature was effectively reduced to a ribbon.
I added the option for a companion to use the interact with an object action because baboons have hands, and that has great roleplay and combat potential.
As a result, the animal companion feature is fundamentally changed in nature. In the original form, the animal itself was the feature. In its updated form, the feature is actually an ability to befriend and tame animals to act on your behalf, but the animals themselves are treated as gear accessible only through the feature.
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