When looking at pure facts a Beast Master might seem to be the weakest Class in the game
To be honest that's the exact reason why i chose him to be in my party.
But after having played a while i discovered a stunning Fact
Beast Masters are actually Quite powerful
No metal weapons (or armor i found out) can a Beast master use
That means no Swords no Hammers no Spears, Helbards or any of the cool waepons
Untill i found out he could use a Bow and he's a hell of an archer (so why haven't i an archer you ask? i'll come back to that one) And when you have to fight melee well there are some really good staves out there (staf of rhynn of instance) that you can give to your beast master (also beastmasters can use sciminars so if you are one of the sadists killing Drizzt you beatsmaster can dualwield Twinkel and that other sciminar drizzt has)
What about him not being able to wear metal armor?
Well i found out having Studded Leather instead of Heavier armor has one big advantance: You actually use a Ranger's Steath ability something i never did with my normal Ranger. Also I think a beastmaster should be able to wear dragonscale armor but i haven't tried that yet
Well Rikard Why Not an Archer instead of a Beastmaster (or a Stalker for that matter)
Well a Beastmaster can for one summon aminals to aid him
ok these are not the most powerful creatures alive but they are a good distraction when fighting big baddies and it saves slots in your mage book and your sorcerer book (where you have no space to put in a spell like monster summoning) And best of All You can Cast Find Familiar Not that a familiar is so very useful but it's fun to have one
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The Last Of the Red